Sunday, June 29, 2008

Pregnant Chicks Rock at Fishing!

I caught my first largemouth bass ever yesterday, it was extremely satisfying and alot of fun! And I'm going to keep on fishing through this pregnancy until I weigh down the boat or canoe so much that our trolling motor just gives up.

I've caught plenty of trout, perch, pickerel and sunfish in my life, but until yesterday, I never had the opportunity to fish in a bass-only pond. Thanks to Brian and Sarah for taking us to this private slice of heaven! Always note that all fish were safely released - to be caught again another day...

Our next big camping trip will be in a couple weeks when we'll be trekking back up to Dartmouth's Second College Grant (Wentworth Location, NH) to stay in the Pete Blodgett cabin which is in the Hellgate Gorge Area, where we hope to land some Brook Trout. Hopefully we'll get at least one nice one to eat - trout are on my list of allowed fish to eat a little at a time. This article from Science Daily says that Pregnant Women Should Eat Fish After All and discusses good and bad seafood (I am avoiding swordfish and shellfish) and this one from New Hampshire Environmental Services talks about eating small amounts of freshwater fish, including stocked and native trout.

Indeed, this article notes that women who eat specific types of seafood while pregnant may be boosting their children’s IQ! Note that ALL specifically say to avoid certain types of seafood and to limit consumption of all others...

While we're up in the woods, we're trying to catch the food - all the while trying not to BECOME the food for the many mosquitos and black flies. They say that DEET is safe for pregnant women, but I try to stick with picaridin and lemon eucalyptus, which seem to help. And when the mosquitos are REALLY bad, we have our head nets to keep them at bay!



Finally, here's M who caught his first bass on the fly... he used a little black "streamer" fly on his fly rod. He was pretty proud of that - but mine was bigger!

Thursday, June 26, 2008

Twins Playing Cards


Our latest ultrasound shows the twins trying to pass the time...

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Big Messy Salad to the Rescue

As you know from our Boston Chef food blog, we love to cook! I have never turned my nose up to any food, and yet I find myself doing just that these days. I feel sort of like a pregnant superhero with a heightened sense of smell that is hooked directly to my gag reflex. Why couldn’t I have, instead, been given the superpower of flight? I’ve always wanted to jump up and just start soaring - whether it be to avoid danger, breeze through Boston traffic or simply to dunk a basketball. (ed. note: hmmmmmm...???) But no, no, no, one of my favorite hobbies and loves has been tainted. Not to mention all the items that I am forbidden to consume – cold deli meat and hot dogs, unpasteurized cheeses, sushi, shellfish, eggs over easy, and just about anything that is not well done.

Praise the heavens that it is grilling season and that M can do most of the cooking outside on the grill which is his forte. This way, the house does not become a stink zone for my pregnant honker. However when M set an entire bone-in breast on my plate the other day, all I could think was “that’s a giant piece of meat,” and boy did it look unappetizing. Pasta is a godsend, and we do still try to eat whole wheat pasta so I can get lots of nutrients from it. But I must say that a guilty pleasure these days is ravioli in a can. Whether it’s that childhood sentiment or simply because it doesn’t stink, I find it quite edible. Tacos were a big hit the other night as long as M browned the ground beef with me in another time zone. Once cooked, though, it was very tasty and made the twins very happy.

Another godsend is an oldie, but goodie, the Big Messy Salad. The Big Messy Salad is just that, a large salad consisting of anything and everything we can get our hands on. For this salad, M butterflied some boneless, skinless chicken breasts and let them marinate for a couple of hours in regular-old Wishbone House Italian Dressing. Those went on a grill and were cooked up in no time, then cut into bite-sized chunks for easy consumption.

To go under the chicken: romaine lettuce, cukes, red pepper, beets, chick peas, red onion, and olives. In the past we've also included: seseame seeds, artichoke hearts, hearts of palm (yum!), corn, celery... really whatever you got cold and ready to go works!

Chicken chunks on top of salad and a nice dressing of the same Wishbone Italian (from the bottle, not from the marinade duh!) and we're ready to eat - two full bowls, no problem!

Friday, June 20, 2008

Welcome to Boston Twins!

We have a pretty good reason why our posts have been so few and far between these days – morning sickness! Or should I say all-day sickness..? Yes, we at Boston Chef are pleased to announce that we are now also Boston Twins!

That’s right, our little comfy twosome will be doubling by year’s end, and we couldn’t be more thrilled. Aside from ravioli, nothing was appetizing to me for the first few weeks, but I’ve hopefully crossed into at state of just being hungry all the time. M still needs to prepare the raw meats for me, because raw meat is pretty gross.

For anyone going through morning sickness, some of the things that helped alleviate the nausea for me were saltines, ginger ale, carbonated water and ginger snaps. I keep crackers on my nightstand due to the fact that I will wake up in the middle of the night with a pit of hunger in my stomach! I'll post some more morning sickness remedies in the near future.

I am already putting on some weight but hopefully I won’t get too Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man-y, and instead I’ll have nice thick long hair, perfect nails, a healthy glow and will look super-cute in a sundress. I’m already measuring 16 weeks plus even though I’m just 12 weeks, hence none of my clothes fit. It’s a shopaholic’s dream to have to buy a whole new wardrobe, yet remain on a budget! Also more on maternity clothes - and shopping - soon...

And for the important part, here’s a picture of our last ultrasound taken at 11 weeks!