Our little girl's tunes II: John Coltrane- A Love Supreme

Ok, so I probably should have either warned her ahead of time or started with the volume softer, but I didn't and I think I might have startled our little girl with that first trumpet blast (although I personally wouldn't quite use the word "blast"...) Jude recently got a pair of Sennheiser headphones (I call them his Princess Leia headphones) and he thought it would be a good idea to prop it on my belly to play something for the baby tonight. His first choice- John Coltrane's A Love Supreme. Something about the grace and transcendence of the suite seems particularly appropriate for the occasion :)

After an initial jab (and I mean a real*jab*) right behind my belly button with the opening of Part I, she seemed to settle down a little. Jude's imagining the amniotic fluid amplifying the music in there and that our little girl is virtually buoyed in her own personal concert hall surrounded by the strains of Coltrane and his quartet. I think her favorite part is between 1:56 and 4:16 of Part 3 when the piano solo kicks in- there was definitely heightened kicking... ;)

A Love Supreme, Part 1: Acknowledgement - John Coltrane

A Love Supreme, Part III: Pursuance - John Coltrane Quartet

The perfect salad

A couple of years ago, I posted something about what wonderfully scrumptious entrees salads can be, especially as the warmer weather approaches (not tonight though, what with the frost advisory and all...). For lunch today, I think I stumbled on what might be the perfect salad combination- fresh, bright, flavorful, hearty, healthy, and doesn't make me feel like a bunny who just chomped through a cabbage patch. It's actually inspired by the Cyprus Salad at Zingerman's and starts with our favorite salad cheese, halloumi, a pungent, salty Cypriot cheese that becomes all gooey and squeaky when you pan-fry it.

Salad ingredients:
- One package of halloumi (just under half a pound is usually enough for Jude and I- it's a hearty cheese...). We buy ours either from the Middle Eastern markets or Whole Foods.
- Salad leaves (we like a mixture of romaine and arugula)
- 2 fresh tomatoes (vine-ripen or heirloom if available)
- Handful of pitted Kalamata olives, 5 or 6 per person (ours is brined in water and olive oil)
- Slices of red onions or chopped green onions

Dressing:
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon lemon juice or red wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon salt
Dash of pepper
A squirt of honey (I know, I try to be exact in my recipes...)
Lemon zest (don't leave out!)

1. Slice halloumi into about 1/2 inch slices. Dry excess moisture. Heat non-stick pan to medium heat.
2. As pan is heating, assemble salad and dressing (except lemon zest) separately.
3. Pan-fry halloumi in oil-less pan. Don't worry about the moisture that will start bubbling; it'll evaporate and you'll get a lovely toasty exterior- about 4 to 5 minutes on the first side and just a couple of minutes on the other. Don't let it burn or the halloumi will get tough.
4. Just before the halloumi is ready, dress the salad. Plate the halloumi on the salad, and sprinkle lemon zest over.
5. Serve with a chunk of good bread and smidgen of butter (Plugrá preferably...)

I've made halloumi salads many times before (see picture here with mangoes and mesclun) but I think today's combination of the olives, lemon zest, and Greek dressing went especially well with the punchy saltiness of the cheese. And it really filled us up till the evening. Testimony to how yummy it was- I forgot to take a photo... :)

The Proust Questionnaire

Since the trend of memes hit blogs and Facebook a couple of years ago, I think I've done my fair share of soul-searching and public self-exposure. But I have to say that this one was tough. The Proust Questionnaire-- popularized (though not devised) by Marcel Proust in the late 19th century-- is supposed to reveal an individual's truest nature. James Lipton often gives an adapted version to his guests on Bravo's Inside the Actor's Studio and periodically, there's a section devoted to celebrities' responses to the questions on Vanity Fair. I always feel as if I should be clever or witty when answering these types of questions but for this one, I've really tried to be as honest as possible, which I think is also what made it so hard.

1. What is your idea of perfect happiness?
Shared love, genuine laughter, and good food.

2. What is your greatest fear?
That I won't be a good mom.

3. What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?
My need to be liked.

4. What is the trait you most deplore in others?
Not so much deplore, but I get impatient with people who only like to talk about themselves.

5. Which living person do you most admire?
Aung San Suu Kyi

6. What is your greatest extravagance?
A good haircut.

7. What is your current state of mind?
Hopeful

8. What do you consider the most overrated virtue?
Being nice.

9. On what occasion do you lie?
When someone asks me if they look fat in an outfit. So don't ask me.

10. What do you most dislike about your appearance?
My feet.

11. Which living person do you most despise?
I don't think despising someone is a very healthy attitude to have.

12. What is the quality you most like in a man?
The absence of chauvinism or machismo. And the courage to cry.

13. What is the quality you most like in a woman?
Self-assuredness, the kind of confidence that makes you so secure about yourself that you don't need to be mean, catty, or unkind to other women to make yourself feel better.

14. Which words or phrases do you most overuse?
"I'm sorry."

15. What or who is the greatest love of your life?
Jude.

16. When and where were you happiest?
Sometime in 2001 when I knew I wanted to spend the rest of my life with #15.

17. Which talent would you most like to have?
Self-control. And to play jazz piano.

18. If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
To be braver.

19. What do you consider your greatest achievement?
I'd like to think that it hasn't happened yet. It gives me hope and makes me work harder.

20. If you were to die and come back as a person or a thing, what would it be?
I kinda like being me, so I'd like to be me again, please.

21. Where would you most like to live?
Anywhere where I'd be surrounded by my family and loved ones.

22. What is your most treasured possession?
My health.

23. What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery?
To not be surrounded by people whom I love and who love me.

24. What is your favorite occupation?
Making lists. Grocery lists, Things-To-Do lists, baby names lists, etc...

25. What is your most marked characteristic?
That I smile a lot.

26. What do you most value in your friends?
Honesty and loyalty, which I realize can be mutually exclusive.

27. Who are your favorite writers?
Shakespeare and Shel Silverstein. And the people who write for The Today Show.

28. Who is your hero of fiction?
Atticus Finch from To Kill a Mockingbird.

29. Which historical figure do you most identify with?
I really wanted to have a good answer for this, but as of right now, I really don't have a clue.

30. Who are your heroes in real life?
Anyone who spends their lives bettering the plight of others.

31. What are your favorite names?
Chloe, Eliot, Emma, Liam, Noah, Sophie

32. What is it that you most dislike?
Cruelty and bigotry.

33. What is your greatest regret?
Every occasion when I did something I knew beforehand I shouldn't but did it anyway.

34. How would you like to die?
Content.

35. What is your motto?
"This too, shall pass."

Build-Baby's-First-Library Shower

1. 30 books!, 2. With a garland of pacifiers, 3. Reading "Olivia", 4. Cutting my shower cake, 5. With Christina, 6. With Lillian and Christine, 7. My shower cake, 8. Enjoying the company, 9. Non-book gifts

So this afternoon, my friend Tanya threw me a shower with the folks in my research project office. We do research into early literacy development and so she thought it would be a great idea to have a Build-Baby's-First-Library theme shower where everyone would bring one or two of their favorite books as gifts. Jude and I really love the idea and it was made all the more wonderful by the knowledge that they would be really good books because everyone on the project is in one way or another knowledgeable about the kinds of books that are both fun and good for little children. On top of that, many people also brought books that held a special meaning for them-- the first book they read to themselves, their favorite book from their childhood, a book whose main character reminded them of themselves, etc.-- and so when it was time for me to open the presents, everyone had something interesting to share about why they brought the books that they did.

Being gifted with these books means a lot to me. I love the fact that even before our little girl is born, she already has a library of 30 wonderful books, many of which are going to last her for years to come. Our daughter may not grow up with the fanciest, hottest, loudest, or flashiest toys that everybody wants, but she will have wonder, joy, awe, adventure, fantasy, and merriment all the same.

She will have books :)

You may have tangible wealth untold.
Caskets of jewels and coffers of gold.
But richer than I you can never be –
I had a father/mother who read to me.
— Strickland Gillilan

Our little girl's tunes: Camera Obscura - The Sweetest Thing

Just because my daughter loves to move to this track while her mom is listening to it :)

The Sweetest Thing - Camera Obscura

New cravings...

...that have only started pretty much in the last two weeks or so. And some of which I'm trying not to give in to too often:

1) Indian food- specifically, the keema matar (ground lamb and peas curry) and naan at Madras Masala.
2) Fresca. Emilee was the one who got me started on this. It was her alternative to beer or Coke for me whenever we went over to their place. But we never actually started buying it for ourselves till recently and now I'm totally addicted. My only comfort is the fact that it's calorie-free. But because it's sweetened with aspartame, I think I'm going to cut down on it soon.
3) Ice-cream. Okay, more specifically, strawberry ice-cream. And even more specifically, either Häagen-Dazs or Archer Farms (from Target). And this is coming from someone who's never been that huge a fan of strawberry ice-cream to begin with. What is this baby girl doing to me???
4) Tomato, garlic, and olive tapenade pasta. It's a recipe I came up with a while ago, and in the past 2 weeks, I think I've made it at least 4 times. I don't really know what it is- maybe the combination of the comforting pasta with the salty-sweetness of the tomatoes and olives (which I've only acquired a taste for after we moved here...), but I'm loving it :)
5) Unagi (broiled eel) on rice. Okay, I totally know why I've been craving this. In place of any kind of raw sushi, every time we go to a Japanese joint, it's been either eel or shrimp tempura sushi rolls. And while shrimp and I are going through a bit of a rough patch right now, dear unagi- you continue to make my wasted sushi-loving heart go pitter-patter until I can have me some chu-toro or hamachi...

Happy thoughts

Finally, Ann Arbor is quiet again- Commencement is over, the undergrads are slowly moving out, and today, I drove into the parking structure with 219 spots open (unheard of at 9.30 in the Fall or Winter semesters). While I love October and November, I really do enjoy these few weeks of cool, breezy tranquility before it gets too hot or the Summer Festival or art fairs start to bring droves of people from the area into town. It's also a time to really appreciate the perks of being in a place that enjoys four very distinct seasons- everything's suddenly so green and trees and shrubs are blossoming like there's no tomorrow :) While just a month ago, we were experiencing snow storms.

Yoga this week was about renewal- it's the beginning of May and Spring is in full bloom (pun fully intended) and it was wonderfully calming to be practicing while feeling all that breezy, sunshiney energy spill into the studio as I focused on the tulip bulbs outside during Vrksasana (tree pose). I'm feeling really good these days-- hopeful and inspired-- and on a beautiful morning like today's, no matter how your day or week has been going, I hope you're blessed with some positive radiance as well :)

And we'll collect the moments one by one
I guess that's how the future's done...
-Feist, "Mushaboom"

Yay Jude!

As I'm typing this, Jude's probably wrapping up his dissertation proposal defense. He's worked so hard on this for so long and I'm so very very proud of him! He's got a great study going and I think it'll make a kick-ass contribution to the field :) Clearly, the baby thinks so too- she was kicking (or punching) me excitedly all through last night as I listened to him go through his slides for the defense. I think our little girl already loves the sound of her Daddy's voice :)

We'll be at Cafe Zola for dinner tonight- I think after so many sleepless nights and nervous days, Jude definitely deserves it!

Eating from the earth

On Monday, we attended our first CSA meeting at the public library. It was uplifting to say the least, where we got to see a slide show of the farm, all the various activities that you can participate in as members, and more importantly, the different processes that go into planting, caring for, harvesting, and ultimately preparing the produce for pick-up. It made us feel like we were part of something good, not just for ourselves, but also for the community writ large. Jude and I decided that this season, we'll definitely try to make it down to the farm a couple of times if for nothing else but to see where our veggies are coming from, which for someone who grew up in a big city, is an awesome prospect. And that's one of the reasons why we decided to join a farm share to begin with- apart from the assurance of fresh, organic produce every week, it's also that we know exactly where our food is grown, how, and by whom that really appeals to us. The fact that our friend, Eric, says that Tantré Farm has the best vegetables he's ever tasted (I think his exact phrase was "vegetable epiphany") definitely helps :)

And we got a preview of exactly how true that is when we took home with us a whole bag of fresh spinach, French fingerling potatoes, and chives from the meeting. Tonight, I made a spinach-mushroom quiche (recipe adapted from here) and boiled fingerling potatoes with a garlic mayo-sour cream dip (garnished with the chives). Everything was delicious and I don't think either one of us realized that it was completely vegetarian! We would probably have been able to appreciate the flavor of the spinach a little more had it not been baked in a quiche (I can't wait for all the crunchy raw salad leaves and herbs!), but the potatoes were definitely yummy- creamy and rich (even without the dip), with a slightly nutty flavor that I've not noticed in many other varieties of potatoes.

If tonight's meal is any indication of the simple delights of fresh produce coming our way in June, Jude and I really can't hardly wait! :)

Nesting- The Beginning

1. At our first Oliebollen warehouse sale, 2. Nesting (sort of...), 3. Peg Perego Pliko P3 stroller, 4. Jude's favorite outfit

This weekend was definitely Operation-It's-All-About-the-Baby. From the moment we woke up on Saturday morning till just before dinner tonight, it was virtually all systems go to prepare in some way or another for the little girl's arrival.

Saturday:
9:00- Wake up remembering that we were supposed to meet Amy at the Oliebollen warehouse sale. Apparently, they only have a few every year and with discounts at 50%-90%, we weren't about to miss it.

9:10- Amy calls to tell us that we should probably get there early because the good stuff disappears really soon. She also said she was holding on to some really cute girls stuff for us just in case. She's so awesome!

9:55- Arrive at warehouse sale after a little mistaken detour to an abandoned Best Western (don't ask...). Amy's gleefully waiting for us and we spend the next hour or so in a whirlwind of whimsical prints, darling designs, and so many outfits in hand that we needed a box to carry everything. In the end, we had to set ourselves a budget and whittle everything down to only what we thought were absolutely irresistible in terms of bargain and design. See our haul here. (Note to self: baby is going to actually need more practical clothes like onesies, bodysuits, and sleepers, especially in the first 3 months. Second note to self: Baby registry.)

11:30- Back home, pretty smug about the deal we scored. We notice that the neighborhood is having a yard sale just outside our house. High on the bargains we just got, we nosy our way around to see if we can find anything else. Lo and behold, we leave with a solid wood playpen and adorable bumper guard (brand new) for under $50. Score twice!

1:30- Meet our friend, Tanya at Babies R' Us and Target to take us on a "guided" tour to set up our registries. I remember the first time Jude and I went to BRU- it was maybe a couple of weeks after we found out we were pregnant. It was all so overwhelming and we walked out barely 10 minutes after walking in. It was sooooo helpful to have Tanya with us to translate product terms into simple English (I now know what a Pack-and-Pay is!) and to tell us which things we really need and which ones are completely worthless (really, a diaper stacker? Why would I want to take out diapers that are already neatly stacked in a package just to restack them in something else?)

Setting up a registry is very new to us and we approached it with a tad of discomfort, almost something akin to shyness. Maybe it's an Asian thing since it's not traditional practice back home where money gifts are more typical. The whole idea of a baby registry is so that your friends know exactly what you need/want and will get it for you. But it also felt odd, like saying to them, "Get us this. And this. And this too." So to make sure it was easy for everyone, we tried to register for things that ranged in terms of price. This way, friends who want to get something on their own won't feel like they need to spend a lot, but friends who want to get a gift together as a group will have some choices too.

Sunday-
1.00- Decide to make space for baby's clothes. After all that shopping yesterday and the gifts we've been receiving from home, our little girl might now officially have more clothes than I did when we first moved here :) Now to figure out where to put them all. We clear up a couple of drawers in our dressers and put away clothes that we'll either give away or store in the basement (off-season clothes and stuff I can't wear anymore like my many Threadless tees... *sniff*). I still don't think there's enough space but we'll probably get one of those large plastic storage drawer things for her daily wear when the time comes.

4:00- Stroller purchase. After much, much, MUCH research (as my friend Teresa says, we can now write books on shopping for strollers and car seats), Jude and I had narrowed our choices of strollers and car seats to a few contenders. A few things that are really important to us are design and safety. And the cost of course. And while we knew for sure we're getting our crib and infant car seat brand new, we didn't mind Craigslisting or eBaying our stroller as long as it's lightly used and manufactured recently. The problem is that the brands and models we want are either rarely listed or listed at prices that aren't that much cheaper compared to their first-hand counterparts. But finally, on Thursday, I saw a listing on Craigslist for a Peg Perego Pliko P3, an Italian-made stroller and one of our first stroller choices, and made an appointment immediately. After literally a 12-email back-and-forth and getting lost in Newport, MI, Jude and I finally got a look at it and put an end to literally weeks, if not months, of researching and online shopping by eventually buying it. It's an older model but at $399.99, the 2009 model is just way out of our budget. And we really do like the Peg Peregos for their high ratings in design and quality. Plus this one was barely used (why anyone would spend $400 on a stroller and hardly use it is beyond me...).

A couple of things that have been absolutely indispensable in this whole process has been 1) Jude's (and my own growing) tenacity in terms of scouring the Internet for the best deals without sacrificing quality. We refuse to pay full price for something if we can get it cheaper elsewhere. The money we save can go to buying something else for the baby. But we're not going to compromise on quality or safety either; which is why we've been relying on 2) Baby Bargains (a.k.a. the Baby Merchandise Bible, as Jude likes to think of it). It gives you the low-down on almost everything you're going to need for your baby and where you might be able to find them at a reasonable price. Based on their product ratings (and an extraordinary amount of time spent reading reviews on the Internet), Jude and I now know which stroller, car seat, and crib we want, and it's just a matter of finding them at a price that we like. Which brings us to 3) the amazing support from our family and friends. Without the invaluable advice and tips in terms of what we need to get, offers of various gifts, promises to adhere to our baby registry so we'll get what we want (and not some frivolous rattle-meets-mp3 player-meets-furry puzzle plaything), or letting us know that they're more than happy to help with some of our bigger purchases, we would not have been able to do all this prep so smoothly. Thank you, thank you, all of you! :)

Love letters

Journaling to Baby before bed
Originally uploaded by ghetto of our mind

So one of the things I've been doing before bed is journaling to the baby. I kept a diary until I was about 17 but this is a whole new experience because eventually, someone else is actually going to read it. I started about a month after we found out we were pregnant- I think of them romantically as love letters to our little one :) It's been a very calming thing to do before bed and I love the fact that after every entry, I fall asleep thinking of her...

I probably wasn't as consistent with it in the first trimester, just because there's only so much I could share with her about how tired she was making me or how little I felt like eating. But now that we're busying ourselves with getting ready for her arrival-- the rapid way my body's changing, music I've been listening to, books I'm reading, all the shopping we're doing, phone calls and emails of love and support we've been getting-- it's like I have something to share with her every other day. I'm hoping to keep this up as long as I can (that's if I'll still be able to write anything through colicky sleepless nights...) and one day, when she's old enough, we can start reading entries to her before she goes to bed :) When I started this little "project", I had visions of giving this to her as a gift at her graduation or her wedding-- I know, I think waaaaaay ahead-- but now, it's almost become a way for me to look back at our experiences and a part of me is doing this as much for us as it is for her.

Joe Wong on Letterman

This guy is funny. Period. Like laugh-out-loud-I-think-our-neighbors-can-hear-us-ouch-the-baby's-laughing-too funny! He looks nothing like a stand-up comedian (he looks more like an MIT professor about to give a Noble Prize winning talk on nuclear astrophysics) but the moment he opens his mouth, you're completely floored :) And so much of it is an almost self-effacing deadpan delivery. We're not talking slapstick comedy here, folks- this guy's got some sophisticated jokes up his sleeves... Some of our favorites:

I'm not good at sports but I love parallel parking. Because unlike in sports, in parallel parking, the worse you are, the more people root for you.

I have a bumper sticker that says, "If you don't speak English, go home." I didn't notice it for two years.

What is Roe vs. Wade? Two ways to come to the United States.

I have a sign on my car that says "Baby on Board." This sign is basically a threat. It just says that I have a screaming baby and a naggy wife and I'm not afraid of dying anymore.

Precious!

Orla Kiely

We first came across Orla Kiely at Target actually, where they had commissioned the British designer to create a new line of inexpensive household ware. I quickly fell in love with her quirky circa-'70s vintage aesthetic and wanted to buy up all the kitchen towels, mug hooks, tablecloths, place mats, and melamine plates they had on sale. But I didn't. Much self-control ;) Later, I found out that her designs span women’s-wear, accessories, wallpaper, stationery, plus a collection of note-paper for the Tate Modern.

Coincidentally (or maybe not...), I've also been on the look out for an oversized tote bag to carry my laptop and stuff. Jude got me this wonderful booq Mamba Pack for Christmas that I really love but I suspect that in a month or so, my lower back might start hurting from carry too heavy a load on my back and so I thought a tote might be the solution. One thing led to another and before I knew it, I found myself surfing through Orla Kiely's bag collection. Her Mainline stuff is way too expensive, primarily because they're made of leather, and even her laptop bags-- while designed specifically for laptops-- are neither affordable nor as fun as her other stuff. Then I saw her Etc line, the collection for everything else. The bags still weren't very cheap but at least they were within fantasizing range. And who would then come to the rescue but my bargain maven of a husband :) A quick search on eBay found an only-used-once second-hand bag in just the right dimensions, in the classic Orla Kiely lily stem print in chocolate, and at a fraction of the cost! Yay! With only one bid and 6 hours left, our chances of winning it were good. So we bid just a dollar more than the existing bid and 6 hours later, an Orla Kiely Etc Laminated Dark Multistem Classic Shoulder Bag was mine! And free shipping too! What's best, when I'm not using it to carry my laptop, we can double it up as a diaper bag when the baby arrives :)

Score!

32 more ways to kill time when you actually have work to do

Re-purposed from Tym:

1. Do you like blue cheese?
Not particularly. Maybe a little in a burger, but definitely not in salad dressing. And I can't have it now, anyway.

2. Have you ever smoked?
Nope.

3. Do you own a gun?
No, and I never will.

4. What flavor Kool-Aid was your favorite?
Actually, even after 6 years here and 2 years of teaching preschool, I don't think I've ever had Kool-Aid. Doesn't it turn your tongue blue?

5. Do you get nervous before doctor appointments?
Depends on what I'm going in for.

6. What do you think of hot dogs?
Yumm! And especially if it's a soft, steaming hot bun and a grilled all-beef frank that has that satisfying snap to it :)

7. Favourite Christmas movie?
Love Actually. Hands down. Like "I-know-the-lines-by-heart-stop-all-I'm-doing-and-watch-it-whenever-it's-on-TV" hands down.

8. What do you prefer to drink in the morning?
Black coffee, when I still could. Preferably caffeinated and dark roasted. Like a kopi-O or Starbucks' Pike Place brew.

9. Can you do push-ups?
Not since I stopped power yoga.

10. What's your favorite piece of jewellery?
My wedding band. Because it fits into Jude's. They have our wedding date in Roman numerals engraved across when they're together such that when you take them apart, it looks like imperfections on the edges of our rings. It only makes sense when you put them together. I'll always love what that means :) Our wedding bands were the one thing we didn't mind spending a little more on when we got married.

11. Favourite hobby?
Do people above the age of 12 actually still use that word?

12. Do you have A.D.D.?
If I do, that would explain a lot.

13. What's one trait you dislike about yourself?
Procrastination.

14. Middle names?
Siew Wan. It's my Chinese name and my late grandma gave it to me. She said I was named after a Chinese empress. Apparently. Jude thinks I was just named after a bowl (phonetically, wan sounds like "bowl" in Mandarin).

15. Name 3 thoughts at this exact moment.
I'm cold.
I need more water.
This is taking longer than I expected.

16. Name 3 drinks you regularly drink.
For the past few months, water, sweetened soy bean milk, and decaf coffee (yes, I gave in. Actually, Costco's line of decaf coffee packs all the punch of regular dark-roasted coffee without the caffeine. Even Jude couldn't really tell the difference)

17. Current worry?
Not being able to wake up for tomorrow's 8.15 presentation.

18. Current hate right now?
That I can't eat raw sushi. Although like Tym says, hate is such a strong word...

19. Favourite place to be?
Anywhere with the people I love- it could be the couch watching TV with Jude or back in Singapore at Tiong Bahru Market shopping with the family.

20. How did you bring in the new year?
At our friend's place with champagne & sushi, and watching the CNN telecast of the celebration at Times Square. The next day, we found out we were pregnant :)

21. Where would you like to go?
Like specifically? The store, the Hatcher library, and my office to grab some notes that I forgot. Or in general? Montreal (for bagels, museums, and festivals- not necessarily in that order), Memphis (because Jude wants to check out the music there), Ireland, Italy, Spain...

22. Name three people who will complete this.
Terri, maybe? Jill? Not Jude for sure.

23. Do you own slippers?
Do my Birkenstock thong sandals count?

24 What shirt are you wearing?
A black Gap maternity tee.

25. Do you like sleeping on satin sheets?
I wouldn't know.

26. Can you whistle?
Terribly.

27. Favourite colour?
Green or lavender depending on my mood. Sometimes orange too.

28. Would you be a pirate?
No.

29. What songs do you sing in the shower?
None. It's really more of a functional experience.

30. Favourite girl's name?
Sophie.

31. Favorite boy's name?
Liam.

32. What's in your pocket right now?
A receipt for frozen yogurt at Pinkberry.

Bat for Lashes - Daniel

Again, lagging behind the curve on new music, I only just heard of Natasha Khan's music pseudonym - Bat For Lashes (BFL). According to her wikipedia entry, she's rather big across the pond winning a variety of awards in the breakthrough and new artist categories. She's released a new album this year called Two Suns and the georgeous track below, "Daniel", is the first single off it.



The first impression of the song is that she really reminds me of Kate Bush or Imogen Heep. But BFL does have her own sensibilities and aesthetic, as evidenced in an older track "What's a girl to do" below:



Does she also look like a much "edgier" Lily Allen? Love the coordinated Animals on BMXs :)

And we're having a...

...GIRL! :)

Jude and I decided to find out the gender of the baby at our second trimester ultrasound today. It has less to do with the blog poll (although we'd like to thank everyone who did vote- either way) and more to do with the fact that we know our parents really wanted to find out. And being so far away, this was our way of allowing them to feel closer to the baby :)

So now that we know the gender of the baby, it's like a whole new phase of the pregnancy has kicked in although essentially, nothing has changed from yesterday. Now I'm wondering more concretely who she'll (OMG, she!!) look like, whether we'll keep her hair long, how she'll look like in blue instead of pink, what part of her will be like me, and which parts will be like Jude. Or maybe she'll inherit something from her grandparents, aunts, or uncle :) With the knowledge of her gender, it's like she's gained a real identity now- there's a little girl growing in me, a person who will have traits of her dad, her mom, bits of their family, and a whole lot of her. Like this GORGEOUS song by Marc Cohn and Art Garfunkel says, our girl is going to be the sum of all the things handed down and then some. It's off one of my favorite soundtracks ever-- the TV series Mad About You-- and it truly captures everything we're feeling right now about this person who we feel like we've suddenly come to know. I'll let the song speak for itself. Listen to it and read the lyrics- I've heard it so many times but only today did I truly, truly *get* it. It moves me in such a tremendously profound way, I can't even quite articulate it. Just listen, and you'll know why I started crying buckets the moment he sings the first line...

The Things Weve Handed Down - Marc Cohn

Don't know much about you
Don't know who you are
We've been doing fine without you
But, we could only go so far
Don't know why you chose us
Were you watching from above
Is there someone there that knows us
Said we'd give you all our love

Will you laugh just like your mother
Will you sigh like your old man
Will some things skip a generation
Like I've heard they often can
Are you a poet or a dancer
A devil or a clown
Or a strange new combination of
The things we've handed down

I wonder who you'll look like
Will your hair fall down and curl
Will you be a mama's boy
Or daddy's little girl
Will you be a sad reminder
Of what's been lost along the way
Maybe you can help me find her
In the things you do and say

And these things that we have given you
They are not so easily found
But you can thank us later
For the things we've handed down

You may not always be so grateful
For the way that you were made
Maybe some feature of your father's
That you'd gladly sell or trade
And one day you may look at us
And say that you were cursed
But over time that line has been
Extremely well rehearsed
By our fathers, and their fathers
In some old and distant town
From places no one here remembers
Come the things we've handed down
- Marc Cohn & Art Garfunkel, "Things We've Handed Down"

Landon Pigg - Falling In Love At a Coffee Shop

Landon Pigg - Falling In Love At A Coffee Shop


Once in a while, you come across a song that wears its heart so plainly on its sleeve- no complex metaphors, no hidden meanings, just a direct and simple message: "I'm falling in love with you. Like hard." Landon Pigg's "Falling in Love at a Coffee Shop" is that kind of a song. We first heard it when we saw the new AT&T ad on TV and the lyrics jumped out at me with its unabashed sappiness, but not in a bad way. Apart from working really well with the ad's narrative-- some girl sending her boyfriend off at the airport and then pining for him as she receives photos of him on her AT&T phone, and then finally reuniting by some park bench-- there is an almost Nick Drakesque sweet longing in Pigg's voice that really draws you in. It's been playing on our stereo for the past hour. Give it a listen- you'll remember the moment you fell in love with that special someone in your life, and then fall in love with him/her all over again :)

I think that possibly
Maybe I'm falling for you
Yes
There's a chance that I've fallen quite hard over you

I've seen the paths that your eyes wander down
I want to come too

I think that possibly
Maybe I'm falling for you

No one understands me quite like you do
Through all of the shadowy corners of me

I never knew just what it was about this old coffee shop I love so much
All of the while I never knew

I never knew just what it was about this old coffee shop I love so much
All of the while I never knew

I think that possibly
Maybe I'm falling for you
Yes
There's a chance that I've fallen quite hard over you

I've seen the waters that make your eyes shine
Now I'm shining too

Because
Oh
Because I've fallen quite hard over you

If I didn't know you I'd rather not know
If I couldn't have you I'd rather be alone

I never knew just what it was about this old coffee shop I love so much
All of the while I never knew

I never knew just what it was about this old coffee shop I love so much
All of the while I never knew

All of the while
All of the while it was you
You
You
You
-Landon Pigg, "Falling in Love at a Coffee Shop"

Namaste

As I'm typing this, the Ann Arbor sky is turning an ash gray as we prepare for the winter storm that's coming out way- complete with rain, sleet, snow and all. Yes, it's April and we're expecting 5 inches of snow by tomorrow. That's a Michigan spring for you, folks... And as testimony to how schizophrenic the weather can be, when I woke up this morning, it was all beautiful sunshine and crisp breeze. Which was a wonderful way to start my prenatal yoga practice. I had been putting it off for a while because I couldn't find a studio I liked or a time that fit my schedule. The school gym I used to go to for my regular yoga practice doesn't have a designated class for would-be mommies and many other studios have their one prenatal yoga session at strange times like Friday mornings when I sometimes need to be in school. So I finally settled on A2 Yoga, which comes highly recommended from many friends (even my adviser!) and about which I've heard really good things for the past few years.

It's a beautiful place- calming and warm without the whole new age incense-burning, water-trickling, patchouli-smelling atmosphere you sometimes get at other studios. And truly, it was a lovely morning to be practicing yoga of any kind, prenatal or not- the sunlight was streaming in through the day curtains, one of the windows was open so there was fresh air breezing in, and we did a lot of shoulder openers that made me-- corny or not-- feel like we were embracing a kind of new-season energy on this Palm Sunday. Prenatal yoga is fairly different from the Power Yoga I'm used too. The props for one- two blankets, two blocks and a bolster- it was initially a little intimidating, but I can see how they'll become indispensable once I can no longer see or touch my toes... Prenatal yoga is also less about sustaining a pose than it is about loosening and stretching those muscles. And the breathing is a lot more calming which helped me focus more as well. One particular pose-- it's not even a pose at all, really-- touched me in a way that made me decide that I will be coming back to A2 Yoga weekly from now now: we were supposed to just sit simply and practice our pranayama (yoga breathing). To help us be aware of whether we were breathing right, the instructor told us to put our right palm on our heart, and our left palm on the core of our stomach (or where the baby is). To feel the intake of breath via the lungs/heart and then the slow pressure of its release around the core area was at once refreshing, calming, centering, and strangely moving. It felt like the baby was a real part of my yoga practice today and it was a beautiful moment... :)

Just food

Now that I've solidly gotten my appetite back and can think about food more objectively, I think I've also gained a little more perspective in terms of the things I crave(d) and am/was averse to during the first trimester and even now.

Things I couldn't eat then and still can't bring myself to now (not because I'm not allowed to but because I can't suffer the smell/flavor):
- anything that tastes too much of chicken (like plain grilled chicken or roast chicken. Fried chicken, chicken stock, chicken wings are all fine. Don't ask me what the difference is...)
- anything with dill
- pesto

Things I crave then and that still satisfy today:
- nuts
- cereal with milk
- peanut butter
- chocolate (in fact, anything sweet, creamy, fluffy, decadent, like that little tres leche cake we got from Whole Foods for dessert tonight... yum yum... )
- Annie's Honey Bunny Graham crackers
- Jimmy John's #6 vegetarian sandwich, no sprouts (I think I've had one every week since the beginning of this year)
- Cheese Delight at Oasis Grill outside my school, which is basically a simple salad, Mediterranean vinaigrette, Spanish cheese and pita chips wrapped in pita.
- fries
- Caprese salad with fresh mozzarella and tomatoes
- cold sweetened soy bean milk (tau huay zui) (not the soy milk you get at the supermarkets here as a milk substitute but the kind from the Asian market. It's so refreshing and so comforting because it reminds me of home. Having my second glass of the night as we speak...)

So I was trying to figure out why I couldn't bring myself to eat all that stuff that I couldn't/can't and realized that it was because they're all related to something that I had just around the time we found out we were pregnant which was on New Year's Day. I had made Bulgarian Spicy Dumpling Soup that had a lot of dill in the dumpling two days before the new year, our New Year's Day dinner was a roast chicken, and lunch the day after (just before I took the pregnancy test), was a cilantro pesto pasta. I'm not sure what it says when I'm averse to the things that remind me of the day I found out I was pregnant, but honestly, even just thinking of how dill smells/tastes right now makes me want to gag... (like that salmon patty I couldn't swallow at Whole Foods just now...)

As for the foods I love, I think it's a combination of things that easily kept the nausea and hunger away during the first trimester (all things dry and crunchy like nuts, peanut butter sandwiches, and crackers), foods that have always comforted (chocolate, sweets, and fries), and things that are cool and refreshing (vegetarian sandwiches and soy bean milk). While I still love a fried chicken dinner or a grease-laden burger now and then, too much of anything greasy actually makes me-- and the baby-- uncomfortable. Maybe we're having a health nut baby who's only going to eat healthy food as prescribed by the nutritional food pyramid ;) Now, that would be a complete hoot!

Soft foods only please...

A huge thanks to everyone who sent me messages today about Jude's oral surgery :) He's doing fine now-- a little groggy and sore-- and just needs to take it easy for a couple of days. I was really anxious the whole day though- he's been having this epic saga of a tooth situation with the dental school here for almost two years and today, they were finally going to fix the mess they had created in the first place. It was going to be a really long and involved procedure (4 hours to be exact) involving his jaw, sinuses(!), cutting, hammering (!!), and suturing of some sort. And he was under strict instructions to make sure there was someone to pick him up after because he was going to be so drugged up. When I saw him getting wheeled out of the periodontics clinic in a wheelchair, I thought my heart would break... :( He might have been able to walk on his own but he really looked groggy and the doctor had to take him in the wheelchair all the way to the car.

So now he's on a strict very soft foods-only diet for at least the next week or so. I scoured my recipes for things to make this week and also got some great advice from friends, so for dinner tonight, it was roasted sweet potato soup with ginger and cumin and a strawberry-banana milkshake for dessert (the man's in pain, I'll make him a milkshake with every meal if he wanted). We also have ingredients for pork congee, rice pudding, mac & cheese, butternut squash risotto (thanks for the idea, Emilee!), mashed potatoes, and mushroom soup. Just because he can't chew doesn't mean he can't have a proper meal. I refuse to let him have Jell-O chocolate pudding cups and ice-cream all week...

Help!

Ok, here goes. Our second trimester ultrasound is in 9 days. That's when we find out if everything's going smoothly for the baby according to schedule and more importantly, the gender if we want to know. As mentioned here, Jude and I haven't decided yet if we do want to find out and nightly "So what do you think, hunny?"s don't help us make up our minds any easier.

Here, our dear blog readers, is where YOU come in. We've set up a poll right here on the blog so you can help us. It's up on the sidebar till the night before our appointment and by that time, we'll see if we come any closer to making a decision thanks to your input! :)

SELMA Café

It can't be a lovelier day for this time of the year- the sky is a bright, cloudless blue, there's a nice brisk spring breeze but nothing unbearable, and the sun, oh yes, the sun :) And Jude and I kicked it off with a lovely breakfast at Selma Café. We've been meaning to go there for a couple of weeks now but only managed to do it today. Selma Café runs out of Lisa Gottlieb and Jeff McCabe's beautiful light-drenched home on the west side of Ann Arbor and is aimed not only at supporting seasonal and local foods but also creating and sustaining a community of people committed to the same ideals.

What draws Jude and I to Selma is the warm, down-home Ann Arbor vibe and also the fact that the whole outfit is completely volunteers- and donation-run. All proceeds go directly to the local farmers and producers that supply the ingredients and to non-profit groups working to expand access to healthy, sustainable food resources. Every week, people who'd like to help out can sign up online and help with the prep work on Thursday night and as wait staff on Friday mornings. The chefs (as well as the menu) rotates weekly and these are people who are either presently or formerly chefs in some of Ann Arbor's swankiest restaurants (like Logan or Eve) volunteering their services at Selma.

And all this out of a house, not that it's an overly huge house at that. The house was B-U-S-Y, many eating, many cooking, many serving, and all were in a great mood. Apparently, on busy days, they serve up to 160 meals out of Lisa and Jeff's kitchen. And not just milk and cereal- we're talking all-American breakfasts, big waffles, bacon, and fruit, and this morning, Spanish tortillas with chorizo, and house-cured ham with biscuits and gravy. The food was great— hearty and delicious. And there was granola, milk, bread and eggs for sale if you wanted. But even greater was the obvious fellowship and the sense of being connected to a community and the way in which the room buzzed around the shared love of food and place.

Jude and I will be back for sure- both as patrons and as volunteers. On top of joining the CSA this year, we think this is another good way for us to support the local food community and to reinforce our commitment to eating and preparing food more thoughtfully and wisely :)

1. Breakfast: Spanish tortillas with home-cured chorizo, 2. Self-serve bread, eggs, and firewood station, 3. Menu for 27 March '09, 4. Selma Cafe

The Boat That Rocked- MUST WATCH!!

Bold, exuberant, irreverent, and fantastically brilliant! Ladies and gentlemen, it's Radio Rock and you can't miss it!!! :)

Where the Wild Things Are trailer

Debuting on Apple Trailers today, the Where the Wild Things Are trailer is a complete delight! Marked indelibly by the magic realism of Spike Jonze and set to the wondrous strains of my favorite Arcade Fire song, "Wake Up", this trailer gave me goosebumps in anticipation of October :) And yes, you saw right, Arcade Fire-- an inspired choice for Maurice Sendak's story-- whose songs are at the end of the day all about child-like abandon, adventure, and escape...

Somethin' filled up
my heart with nothin',
someone told me not to cry.

But now that I'm older,
my heart's colder,
and I can see that it's a lie.

Children wake up,
hold your mistake up,
before they turn the summer into dust.

If the children don't grow up,
our bodies get bigger but our hearts get torn up.
We're just a million little gods causin' rain storms turnin' every good thing to
rust.

I guess we'll just have to adjust.

With my lightnin' bolts a glowin'
I can see where I am goin' to be
when the reaper he reaches and touches my hand.

With my lightnin' bolts a glowin'
I can see where I am goin’
With my lightnin' bolts a glowin'
I can see where I am, go-go, where I am

You'd better look out below
-"Wake Up", The Arcade Fire

Wake Up - Arcade Fire

Getting to know the onion/turnip

According to the maternity websites that I follow, this week, our baby's roughly the size of an onion (or a turnip, depending on which website you look at...) That doesn't seem particularly big (and still far from the watermelon it's expected to become in August), but considering how just a month or so ago, the little thing was the size of a pea, I'd say it's definitely going through a growth spurt. Not only has the baby developed fingers, toes, teeth, and tastebuds (!), this week, it's developing sweat glands. Sweat glands, people, sweat glands!

Also, sometime in April, Jude and I will be getting our second trimester ultrasound, which is when we could potentially find out the gender of our baby if we so choose. And that has been *the* question everyone's been asking us lately. To know or not to know? We were talking about it today and began thinking that back in Singapore, almost all our friends chose to find out the gender of the baby in advance. I don't think I knew anyone who didn't. And so at home, the question was less, "Do you want to find out?" than "Boy or girl?" Here though, the question has invariably been whether or not we even want to know in the first place. And our answer: we haven't decided.

On the one hand, there's something romantic and mysterious about the not knowing, about that one last surprise at the end of the journey. If labor is as painful as I'm imagining it to be, then maybe on top of being gifted with our baby at the end of the trauma, the added bonus of finally finding out whether it's a girl or a boy will make the process a little more bearable. We also won't have to deal with gift baskets full of all blue or all pink onesies... On the other hand, finding out the gender of the baby is a way of getting to know the little one that much more as it continues to grow in me, a kind of bonding, if you will. I mean, if it's already peeing and perspiring in me, and using up 15% of my calorie intake, I should at least know if it's a boy or a girl and stop calling it "it". Besides, it might seriously help the naming debacle Jude and I constantly find ourselves in (right now, our girls name list is almost twice as long as the one for boys- in Sam's words, though, they both need work...)

What about you? Did/Would you choose to find out?

Why it's ok to feel stupid - especially in Science

Some comforting advice for myself ... and perhaps for a few of you out there.

I was amazed that the Journal of Cell Science has the wherewithal to publish an essay like this. Kudos to the author of the essay and the editors of the journal.

Justification for recent bouts of self-flagellation and insecurity ;)

The importance of stupidity in scientific research

Publish at Scribd or explore others: Essays Academic Work stupidity science

Our first lullabies album?

I've loved The Innocence Mission for a while now. They make the kind of music you want to listen to on a lightly rainy day, curled in bed with your sweetheart, a book, and a mug of hot chocolate. Their music is delicate, wistful, and radiant like little fireflies of magic. And sometimes tinged with the delicate soft ache of sadness. My favorite song of theirs so far, "Tomorrow on the Runway":

Tomorrow On The Runway - The Innocence Mission

Then I came across their album, Now the Day is Over. The album is a collection of tunes that vocalist Karen Peris is fond of singing to her children, lullabies of sorts, if you will. Her husband Don is the guitarist and while we can never know such things for sure, you get the sense they are lovely, soft-hearted parents. There is such shimmering beauty in these simple songs-- songs you and I already know-- that it makes me look forward even more to when the time comes for swaddling blankets, tiny fluffed pillows, hushed singing, blurry eyes, and even cries for milk at 3.00 in the morning. Listen to how she's remade the often cheesily sung "Moon River" into an entirely different being altogether:

Moon River - The Innocence Mission

And then there's this one, "Bye-Lo". As one reviewer said, he listened to this track when he and his wife found out that they were having a baby, and for the first time in his life, he cried:

Bye - Lo - The Innocence Mission

I think our baby just got his/her first lullabies album :)

The Year of Eating Locally

Close to a year ago, in commemoration of Earth Day, we posted something about doing more to eat locally, seasonally and sustainably. This year, we've finally taken a decisive step in that direction. Together with our friends, Tanya and Wil, we joined a local Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farmshare. A CSA is a way for the food-buying public to create a relationship with a farm (for us, it's Tantré Farm in Chelsea, MI) and to receive a weekly basket of produce. By making a financial commitment to a farm, people become members (or "shareholders," or "subscribers") of the CSA. The cost was a little high upfront, but between our two households and at the prospect of getting fresh, locally-grown organic vegetables, fruits, and herbs for much of the rest of the year, it actually works itself out in the long run.

I'm excited to receive our first batch of produce come May/June- I think veggies like arugula, peas, and chard come first. It'll be inspiring to cook based on what's at its peak of flavor, freshness, and seasonality. Alice Waters said it best when she writes that cooking seasonally also gives you an appropriate reverence for place and time, for what Nature had intended for us to eat at a certain point of the year. While I appreciate being able to get tomatoes even in the winter, nothing tastes better than the burstful sweetness of heirloom tomatoes smack in the middle of July.

Also, I'm really looking forward to trying vegetables that we may not otherwise buy on our own from the market. I have no idea what to do with beets or kohlrabi, but we'll soon have to learn if we're going to be getting a basketful of them every week. It'll be an adventure to explore new flavors and ways of cooking, or maybe even eating them raw because they will be so fresh and flavorful. Our friends who've joined CSAs in the past warn that it's a lot of veggies for a week even after you share it between two families (for instance, with Tantré Farm, each week we'll expect to get 1 to 4 salad greens (lettuce, arugula, etc.), 1 to 4 cooking greens (collards, Swiss chard, spinach, etc.), 1 to 4 root vegetables (carrots, potatoes, etc.), 1 to 4 fruiting vegetables (tomatoes, corn, squash, etc.), 1 or 2 alliums (onions, garlic, etc.), 1 to 3 brassicas (broccoli/cabbage family), and 1 or 2 herbs), but maybe this will be a way for us to simply incorporate more vegetables into our diet, and learn how to dry, cook, or preserve them in ways that will allow them to keep longer. The possibilities are endless and we can't wait! :)

Elmo, meet your match...

[Typing this as I crawl back up onto my chair having virtually fallen over from laughing too hard...]



Only Ricky Gervais would dare give the eternally 3-year-old reigning prince of Sesame Street a hard time for the incongruity of wearing pajamas when he's naked the rest of the time; only he would give Elmo such a jab the poor muppet looked like he was going to fall over himself; and only a brilliant British comic would broach the subject of necrophilia on a children's show on public television.

I love Jude soooo much for forwarding this to me... :)

(via The Huffington Post)

Not a Facebook poke

SO- I may or may not have felt the baby move last night. Jude and I were watching the Season One marathon of Breaking Bad when I felt a bit of an ache in my abs. Not like a sharp stabbing pain, but it sure was uncomfortable. Maybe it was the baby's way of protesting that I was unglamorously and awkwardly slouched over a throw blanket and two pillows. Apparently the kiddo's limbs are developing fast this week so perhaps it needed to make that known, like a polite "Erm... excuse me mom, but I'm kinda growing in here and you're squishing me" poke.

Or it could have been the little one reacting against my decision to have a triple Blimpy burger with grilled onions, mushrooms, Swiss cheese, mayo, ketchup, tomato, lettuce, and a side of veggie fries at 4 in the afternoon (Yes, it would seem that my appetite is back with a vengeance of epic proportions...). In which case, it was probably a less benign "Good god, woman! You sure this much grease is OK for me?" jab.

Or maybe it was just indigestion... ;)

"I'm not locked in here with you, YOU'RE locked in here with ME!!"

Otherwise known as the best line in the movie/comic and spoken by our favorite character, Rorschach (played by a brilliant Jackie Earle Haley who so boldly and uncannily embodied Rorschach that I can't imagine that had Terry Gilliam's directed the movie, he would have been played by Robin Williams), the most compelling and complete of all the characters in The Watchmen series, if you ask us. The movie was very good- for what it was able to do. The last time I felt vaguely the same way was when we watched the film version of my favorite novel, Possession and hated it. Like The Watchmen, I think it's unfilmable. Layered storylines, narratives within narratives, flashbacks, complex characterization- all things that are hard to capture on film no matter how advanced your CG or skillful your editing. To make The Watchmen work on film, the film-makers had no choice but to pick out the master narrative from the lot and concentrate on that, but in the process, lose the depth, complexity, and intensity that is so much a part of why we love the comic (or comics, depending on how you look at it).

I genuinely appreciate how faithfully Zack Synder abided by the aesthetic of the narrative- to the point of being almost too much of a moving storyboard for some very iconic frames of the comic. Meaning the movie managed to capture the devastating vision of the story, but not quite its tragic soul. Constrained by the film medium, it left me just a little cold at the end, and not quite with the all-consuming bitterness and bleakness I actually felt in a very real way at the end of my challenging week-long struggle with reading it (let's just say it's not the best thing to set aside for bedtime reading if you want to be flipping back and forth between pages, looking for hidden connections, and drawing connections between the various narratives- an experience I re-visted last night at 4 in the morning after returning from our midnight IMAX advanced screening.).

Whether or not you've read the comic, I'd still recommend that you watch the movie- it did the best it could given the difficulty of the source material and I'm glad we saw it. But for those of you who haven't read it, please don't take the movie as a representation of what The Watchmen is- it's so so so much more than the film, and then some...

"Dark was the night" - an awesome compilation

I have been hearing raves about this compilation for sometime now, but it was only recently that I made the time to look for it. And .. oh my... what a compilation this is - not only do the contributing artistes read like a who's who of indie music, each of the songs stand on their own and with repeated listening (as evidenced by my Last.fm status). Produced (or in the Art world - curated) by The National's Aaron & Bryce Dessner - in association with the Red Hot Organization, famous for their stellar charity compilations benefiting HIV and AIDS related projects. Unlike most charity albums, this comp exudes a slow, contemplative mood that has interesting shades of grey.

Red hot allows you to embed up to 3 tracks from the compilation on one's website. Here are my 3 favourites (you have to give Riceboy Sleeps a listen!).

A DIY cooking weekend

1. Topped with homemade crust, 2. A dream fulfilled..., 3. Homemade pizza Layer 1, 4. Homemade pizza Layer 2

If there was anyone who knew what it means to dream of pie, it would be my husband this past week- the kind of deep, profound yearning that one must not take likely. And we're not talking about just any kind of pie- no, not a sweet, syrupy apple pie nor an eggy, dessert-only custard pie. People, we're talking the kind of hearty, rich, alcohol-infused, gravy-drenched, stick-to-your-bones-because-it's-winter, feel-it-in-your-gut-the-next-day kind of meat pie. Ever since reading this article in the the NYT Magazine last week about Fergus Henderson's Guinness and Steak Pie, Jude's been dying for us to try making our own meat pie, trotter gear and all. And since the article advocates a whole large communal pie instead of insipid individual ones, we decided to make it a whole social event with Molly, Jason, Rick and Emilee. It helps too that I'm now graduating into my second trimester and am slowly picking back up my desire to cook (which I thought I had all but lost at Week 6...)

It was a little intimidating initially to think that we would be making everything from scratch, including the crust (which after my sad attempt at Thanksgiving, did not give me much confidence...). Thankfully (or not), Ann Arbor ran out of trotters this weekend (Sparrow Market sold out and the guy behind the meat counter at Whole Foods- believe it or not- had no clue what trotters are! Was everyone equally inspired to make meat pies this weekend?). And so we had no choice but to use another recipe and I settled on this one by Jamie Oliver which got plenty of good reviews. The entire process from prepping the veggies to us actually sitting down to our first bite of pie probably took a little more than 4 hours, but I think it was well worth it. The Guinness ended up smelling and tasting more like a very rich red wine, and the beef was cooked till meltingly tender. Plus, thanks to Rick's patient coaching, my second attempt at making my own crust was a veritable success- light, flaky and tasty! The pie was an all-round hit and I'm glad I helped to fulfill my husband's meat pie dream :)

Inspired by the success of the Guinness steak pie, we decided to experiment with making our own pizza for dinner tonight, although not really from scratch. We bought fresh uncooked wholewheat pizza dough from Trader Joe's, rolled it out and topped it first with a little tomato sauce, baked breaded eggplant (yum!), and fresh mozzarella. We let that bake for about 15 minutes and then added arugula, shaved Parmesan, drizzle of olive oil and sea salt and threw it back in the oven for a couple more minutes. I have to say, I could eat that pizza forever and ever, and ever- deliciously tasty from the eggplant and cheeses, light and crusty (not chewy), a little bite from the arugula, and just so fresh out of the oven that nothing store-bought or delivered even comes close. I'm not sure if it's my appetite slowly coming back after weeks of nuts- and cereal-craving, but honestly, dinner was really quite delicious :) Besides, I don't really like my pizzas heavy with too much cheese, meats, or sauce like it's typical here in the Midwest so the fact that we could choose what and how much we put on the pizza was just perfect! Jude now thinks we should totally invest in a pizza pan (we had to borrow Rick and Emilee's) so we can make the kind of pizzas we love every week :)

Baby names conversations

At Borders a couple of weeks ago:
Serene: So it says in this book that it's always iffy to name children after celebrities.
Jude: You mean like Benicio? I like Benicio.
Serene: Benicio Yew???
Jude: No, Benicio del Yew.
Serene: His last name is del Toro. I don't think del is part of his first name.
Jude: I like Benicio del. Or maybe Gus van.
Serene: as in Sant?
Jude: No, Gus van Yew.

Last night while falling asleep:
Serene: What about Liam if it's a boy?
Jude: But that's so Celtic. We're not English. And if it's a girl? Sinead?
Serene: Hahaha, or Siobhan.
Jude: And then they're going to join Riverdance?

I foresee naming our baby to be a long, painful, process... :) Coincidentally, Jude then found this article on BBC News today: 'Most unfortunate names revealed'.