Food, oh food!

I joined a blog roll (from now on, I am not going to tell you just how much I hate the word "blog" and how I cringe every time I type it, but please know that I HATE THAT WORD) a few months back and then completely forgot about it. I've skipped all the assignments. Until now! Even though my contribution to this one will be laaaaame, it's a start. Some of the past questions have been more suited to me, but I need to get my rear in gear with something, yes? So, without further ado:

What's the most expensive meal you've ever eaten, and what's the best meal you've ever had?

I do not know what the most expensive meal I have ever eaten was because my husband and I are just coming out of the Poor College Student years, and most expensive meals have been on someone else's dime. We are moochers! Just kidding. Well, mostly. We aren't technically moochers because we do like to treat other people when possible. It's just that we usually treat them to Subway or Denny's. If I had to guess what my most expensive meal ever was--excluding weddings, because I have had some pretty fancy wedding meals, and I can't possibly remember them all--, it would have to be at my husband's family reunion in Canada two summers ago.

There was a salad buffet, if I remember correctly, but then we all got our own entrees. I ordered a steak, medium rare. I do not know if this is a Canadian thing, but my "medium rare" steak came out of the kitchen still thrashing its hooves about. Also, it was huge. Like, the size of my torso huge. The rareness of the steak really put me off; I have a hard time eating meat that is undercooked (I know it's safe; it's entirely in my head), but it WAS delicious. Despite feeling a little green around the gills, I could but recognize that it was one of the best steaks I've ever had in my life. And I've had a lot of steaks.

The best meal I've ever had was at Bunky's restaurant in Madison, WI. I've eaten there twice, which is a shame because it is, as I said, the best food I've ever had in my life. It's Mediterranean food, from Italian to Moroccan, and it is fabulous. There's the hummus and pita, which makes all other hummuses (hummusim?) and pitas hang their heads in shame. There were some other appetizery things that I do not know the names of, and this makes me sad because I like to remember such fond memories using actual words. Such beautiful things should not be treated like a cheap date. There was the fettuccine carciofi, which was your basic fettuccine alfredo, except with artichoke hearts the size of my fist. They have a special place in my heart forever. And, finally, the tiramisù, the crown jewel of the entire dinner. I can't even describe it. I have never had anything like it, and probably never will again, since we've now moved and Bunky's is a bit pricey for us anyway. Perhaps it will still be there when we finally win the lottery.

2.0 is nicer. So far.

Hi, yes, still here. The Child 2.0 (for lack of a better name) is not yet wreaking havoc on my stomach the way The Child did. But, oh, the fatigue! I could nap all day. In fact, that's what I did with The Child, but now The Child is on the outside and wreaking havoc on other things. So naps are out, unless she's napping. And you know what I'm going to do to the next person who tells me to sleep when the baby sleeps? Something terribly painful and very creative that I'm too tired to think of right nozzzzzzzzz

Um. Hello. Oh, yes, this problem is compounded by my crazed fits of nesting (nesting did not begin last time until I was approximately the size of Rhode Island, if I remember correctly). I get up in the morning and spend the next four hours cooking and smashing up baby food or washing and folding laundry (but not putting it away, of course, so we have gargantuan stacks of clean, folded laundry EVERYWHERE) or scrubbing the floors. Then The Child wakes up from her nap, and I fall asleep feeding her while she plays with my nose and claws my face skin to bits.

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Speaking of The Child, she is a big, fat bundle of energy. My muscly little string bean. She climbs, she crawls, she speechifies, she shovels anything and everything into her mouth that she can find, and I'm not really sure I want to know what kinds of things I haven't caught her putting in her mouth. Although, if she becomes a spider- and centipede-killer the way cats are supposed to be (if someone would earn her KEEP, I wouldn't have to be training a baby to do these things, CAT), I will be very happy. Provided she does not attempt one of her charming French kisses while still eating a spider. She's very much into the French kisses these days.

Yes, the things The Child will eat:

anything orange
anything white
anything brown
anything yellow
carpet lint
dirt
Mama leg
Daddy arm
hair
Cat
pillow
couch
shoes (OH, NOM NOM SHOES OH I LOVE YOU, SHOES, THE DIRTIER THE BETTER)
dining room floor
kitchen floor
her own arm
piano bench leg
anything that tastes of dirt or varnish

The things The Child won't eat:

steamed and mashed sweet peas, prepared lovingly by me
steamed and mashed green beans, prepared lovingly by me
steamed and mashed asparagus, prepared lovingly by me

Are we seeing a pattern here? Dirty, bitter, sour, vinyl or fleshy, she's TOTALLY THERE. Green--whether it be sweet or savory--is the food of THE DEVIL, DON'T MAKE ME EAT IT. Except for avocados. Huge fan of avocados.

I do not think this is my child. I have only encountered three vegetables in my lifetime that I did not like, and one of them is not even green. She'll accept peas if they're mixed with (*huge amounts of) apples or pears. Have not yet tried that with the beans or asparagus.

*So huge that the microscopic amount of vegetable is not even worth the trouble.

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Anyhow, my own stomach is, as I said, not in that delicate a condition (yet), but there are a couple things. Wheat bread. I choked two pieces down this morning on the way to church because I was starving but did not have time to get breakfast (this is what I get for putting off piano practice until the morning of). Tasted like cigarette and cat butts. And a few days ago I made a giant batch of hummus. Hummus! It's bland, full of fiber and protein! Can't go wrong! HAHAHAH. It's now sitting in my fridge, taunting me. I can hear it all the way in the living room.

Maybe if I make a giant batch of ice cream and cheeseburgers, I will develop aversions to those, too. We went on a long walk, and the first leg was to the hamburger stand here in town. This tiny little place appears to have nothing--no shops, no clothing stores, no Target, for crying out loud, but tucked away here and there are little gems. One of these is the hamburger stand. I believe I consumed around 1500 calories on our walk. This is okay because while breastfeeding AND pregnant, I get 500-700 (breastfeeding) PLUS 300 (pregnant) extra calories a day. That's 800-1000 calories a day, for free! And today I ate almost nothing until that hamburger fest. So it's all good!

This is what I tell myself.

(I might not be completely wrong, either, because I suddenly started losing weight again, despite my constant, all-consuming hunger)

I need to make a few big batches of food to freeze so James has something to eat over the next few weeks. I've already made a gallon of spaghetti sauce and a bunch of pasta. I need some more recipes that I can make in a crock pot and freeze flat in a bag (tiny freezer). Ideas?

Okay, I was going to write more, but now I'm tired. Good night.