I was pregnant, but now I’m not

We had our FET on May 25th and I got pregnant. Our 1st ultrasound on June 13 showed that we were carrying one baby, and that the gestational and yolk sacs were developing well. Yesterday, we had our 2nd ultrasound to check for the heartbeat. There was none, and based on the size of the baby, it stopped growing last week.

 This is probably the worst pain I have ever felt.

 Thanks for all your support over the past few months. 

 

Another six days

The CCAA sent out this month’s referrals yesterday, and the organization did another six days worth of LIDS (November 2-7).  This is the third month in a row that it has done less than week’s work of dossiers.  

 The only bright side to this is that we now have less than 300 LIDs ahead of us (295 to be exact).   They are going to have to start doing alot more than 6 LIDS a month if we are to get a referral in 2009.

 

Turnips, anyone?

I picked up my crop share on Friday, and it included another vegetable with which I have never cooked, much less eaten (I think)–turnips. 

So I searched my trust allrecipes.com site and found this great recipe called vegan moroccan couscous, which uses turnips. I am making this recipe either tonight or tomorrow night. Stay tuned.

 

Things to do while on bedrest

With my transfer coming up soon, I have had to brainstorm things I can do while on bedrest for three days.  Here’s what I’ve come up with:

1) Crossword puzzles: I bought a collection of New York Times weekday and weekend puzzles.

2) Books: I have three books lined up–The World According to Mimi Smartypants (Mimi Smartpants), Kabul Beauty School: An American Woman Goes Behind the Veil (Deborah Rodriquez), and Grace (Eventually): Thoughts on Faith (Anne Lamott).

3) TV shows:  SnowMonkey and I got the first half of season one of Gilmore Girls from NetFlix.

4) The phone: I have several long distance friends with whom I plan to catch up that weekend.

5) SLEEP!

 

A good day

After a productive work day, Paul and I went out for an early dinner at my favorite Milwaukee restaurant, Roots.  It has great food, great architecture, and a great view of downtown.  Also, various magazines have voted it one of the top twenty green restaurants in the country.

 Then, in a few hours, we are going to watch the two-hour season finale of Lost.  Woo Hoo! 

Here’s a photo that I took of Roots tonight. If you look closely, you can see SnowMonkey sitting on the deck.

 Here’s the view of downtown as seen (without a wide angle lens, unfortunately) from the sidewalk in front of Roots:

Speaking of photos, here’s one that I took earlier today of the Tiger Lily that I got at my Mother-in-the-Making brunch. Ten days later, and it is still going strong.  Hopefully I didn’t just jinx it!)

 

The pudding that is really a sauce

I made the Rhubarb Berry Pudding that I cooked yesterday.  It’s quite good, but not thick enough to be considered pudding.  I think I’ll buy an angel food cake today and use the pudding as a topping for it.  It would also make a good sauce for vanilla ice cream.  

 I STILL have a few stalks of rhurbarb left, though.  Next week, I think I’m going to make the rhubarb bread pudding.  

 UPDATE: Here’s a photo of the sauce over angel food cake. It’s very good!

 

Rhubarb? What do you do with rhubarb?

When we picked up our crop share box on Friday, we were a bit uncertain with what to do with all the rhubarb.  Because there was a lot of rhubarb.  And I have never cooked with rhubarb, nor do I have any sense of how to use it.  Luckily, the newsletter that came with the produce contained a recipe for rhubarb custard pie, which I turned into a strawberry rhubarb custard pie.   SnowMonkey and I have been eating it for several days now, and it is quite good.

Despite the pie, we’re still left with lots of rhubarb.  We thought about making the pie again, but we decided that we should make something else. What that something else would be, however, was unclear. So this morning, I visited AllRecipes.com and found some very fabulous sounding desserts.  Here are the ones I’m going to present to SnowMonkey for consideration (blurbs from All Recipes):

Fresh Rhubarb Bread Pudding: “a Standard bread pudding is great by itself, but this one is enhanced with the tart flavor or fresh rhubarb and nuts. Serve with a splash of cream.”

Rhubarb Crumble Pie: “A bit of oats, cinnamon, and rhubarb make for a scrumptious crumble pie!”

Rhubarb Dream Bars: “A little different way to use up that abundant supply of rhubarb. It’s a nice change of pace from the usual rhubarb pie or cake recipe.”

Rhubarb Berry Pudding: “This is a traditional rhubarb pudding with berries for added sweetness. My kids’ big favorite! This can be served with whipped cream on top or vanilla ice cream on the side.”

 And while searching for rhubarb recipes, I came across this one for Mango Cardamom Bread Pudding: “Silky Smooth bread pudding with mangos and a healthy dash of cardamom.”  OMG, f&ck the rhubarb and bring me this instead. ( I am definitely making this dessert after I run out of rhubarb)

 Which ones sound good to you? And do you have any rhubarb recipes that you think we should also consder? If so, pass them on!

 

Our new food adventure

Last week, a friend and I decided to subscribe to a crop share program with a local organic farm, Tipi Produce.   Every week from May 18th through late November, we receive a 5/9 bushel of seasonal vegetables (and some fruits) that the farm grows.  We pick up our box at our local natural food co-op on Fridays. Because my friend and I are sharing a subscription, we each get a box every other week.  

We decided to subscribe to the program for several reasons. First, produce grown locally is healthier than food grown far away, as produce continues to lose nutrients the longer it sits out after being picked. Also, eating locally grown food is good for the environment, as it does not have to be transported long distances by trucks or planes.  Finally, we both like the idea of supporting local farms, especially organic ones.

 Another cool aspect to the crop share program is that it forces us to eat and cook creatively, as we will get items that we don’t normally eat.  I picked up the box this week, and included in it was asparagus, lettuce, arugula, spinach, green garlic, radishes, and rhubarb.  Now, I buy asparagus all the time, and occasionally I buy spinach and lettuce. The other items, however, I never buy.  So today for lunch, SnowMonkey and I made a lettuce, spinach and arugula salad with red peppers, balsamic dressing, and parmesan cheese.  For dessert tonight, we made a strawberry rhubarb custard pie with meringue topping.  Tomorrow, we are going to make another salad, this time using the radishes.  And I’ll probably steam the asparagus for one of my other meals.     Later this week, we’ll use the green garlic (it’s similar to scallions) in a stir fry, and we’ll most likely make another strawberry rhubarb pie.

What’s also cool about the program is that the farm provides a newsletter with each box that describes the items included that week, explains how to store them, and provides some tips and recipes for dishes that use them. That is where learned about the pie recipe.    The farm also puts out a biweekly email newsletter with more information.

 If you’re interested in crop share programs near you, check out Local Harvest.  It has a list of crops share programs across the country and information on local farms more generally.

 

Technical question

I want to switch to another blog layout, but the ones that I like best appear not to have all the features I want (pwp, a subtitle, and a blog list that you can break down into different categories).  Is there a way to add some of these features to the layout, or are you just stuck with what you get? 

 

She’s home!

Congrats to Sbird, who arrives homes today from China with her daughter, Emerson Fu Lu.