Currently Craving: Ice

How is that for an inexplicable, flavorless craving?

I actually bring glasses of ice cubes to bed at night and crunch away. I can even be found eating directly from an IKEA ice tray we have that makes perfect drink stir sticks while watching American Idol.

Charm City Daddy counts it my strangest craving of all. I tend to agree.

Currently Craving: Sweet Tea

Although caffeine-intake is forbidden and/or limited for the most part in pregnancy, I could never make it an entire 9 months without my sweet tea.

Whole Foods sells a delicious decaf sweet tea, but sometimes, some days there is no suitable substitute. Today is one of those days.

I also recommend these sweet teas too, Turkey Hill and Gold Peak which are found in your refrigerated grocery aisles. Mmm.

Currently Craving: Buffalo Wings

Oooh, I love me some buffalo wings and particularly during pregnancy. It mostly hits me in the first trimester--but I feel a comeback binge coming on. I have been known to order them for carryout at lunchtime at work. Yep, that's bad...but hey at least I go boneless in my business attire--although I prefer bone-in.


I like them very saucy, slightly spicy, with ranch dressing and celery, and I prefer the more tender, meaty wingette part of the wing not the mini drumstick.

Guess who else shares my love for buffalo wings? Olivia! I gave her one after she kept begging thinking after she tastes how spicy it is that she wouldn't want it. Well, she cleaned the bone and asked for another.

Currently Craving: Pumpkin Spice Cake Doughnuts

Today is the last day that these amazing, crackish doughnuts will be available.

Krispy Kreme only makes them for a limited time each year for the month of October and November.

I am not even a sweets person but I have eaten more of these over the course of the last 2 months than I care to share with you lovely readers. Take my word for it. I like them a LOT. For example, it's hard for me to drive past a Royal Farms knowing that they sell these bad boys in there. For their big season finale,  I got two half dozen boxes from Sam's Club this weekend. Yep, $6 well spent.

Oooh and if you really want a treat....eat them with a cup of decaf coffee with vanilla latte creamer.
Mmmm!

Currently Craving

Gummy woooooooooooorms!

I find they can be quite uplifting in the middle or at end of the day.

Mocktails Book for Moms-to-Be

Remember my post about mocktails? In browsing through my blog roll yesterday, I read about Preggatinis!

And they have a featured drink recipe every month that you can steal. This month is the "Mamarita!" Mmmm... you had me at limeade. (Btw, I've been on a lime kick for some time now).

These recipes look delicious and are a great idea if you are still planning summer soirees, baby showers, or just nursing.

Cheers!

Cravings Countdown...

I would say my cravings have been relatively moderate and under control throughout my pregnancy...until this week!

I don't know what it is about Mexican food, but I have been really feeling it through my pregnancy. First it was fajitas, and now its hard tacos--or Mexican gumbo! This week and last week alone I've had Mexican fast food 5 times.

What's sad is I actually wanted it more times than that but just compromised with Charm City Daddy on what he wanted for lunch or dinner instead.

So, anyway through my frequent trips to Qdoba and Chipotle, I've been able to decifer which is my favorite. By the way, I've totally given up on Baja Fresh. I don't know what happened to them. They used to be so good, but my last two trips there were very bland and disappointing.





Qdoba wins by a mile for me. Their ingredients just taste juicy and fresh. What should be cold taste cold (like sour cream is cold) and what should be warm is warm. Their crispy tacos stay crispy and don't go soggy quickly like Chipotle. Their pico de gallo is chunkier. I like their green chile better than Chipotle. And, Qdoba has Mexican gumbo--the best thing EVER on a rainy day.

Qdoba also has something Chipotle doesn't have...Cholula Hot Sauce. Mmmm.







I love that I can just sit privately with the cute little wooden capped bottle at my table whilst I devour my messy tacos.


There is a Chipotle within walking distance of my house, so I often settle for that, but whenever I get an excuse to travel a short 6-8 miles north, I partake in Qdoba, which is conveniently located near the Babies R Us as is another local favorite place of mine "Pickles and Chips" good sandwiches but ENORMOUS $1 pickles...need I say more?

A great thing about being pregnant is people don't judge you when you are a regular at one of these establishments and can often be found at any time of day eating in a booth by your lonesome. They just smile and say "awwww."

(Sigh) So the countdown begins. Only 9 weeks left to stuff my face with no remorse. I think I'm gonna miss this part of pregnancy the most.

Pregnant or not...what are you craving?

No Problem, Mon!

Jamaica was just what we needed right when we needed it.

Friends had planned their destination wedding there more than 2 years ago and nearly 100 folks turned out for the event in over the holiday weekend.

For CCD it was a college and fraternity reunion of sorts, but for me it was time to relax, take my first preggo dip in the deep blue, and enjoy some delicious caribbean cuisine.

Little has changed about Montego Bay since my last trip there four years ago. Since it was CCD's first trip to the island, I was excited to share with him the few local points of interest I knew and of course we explored many more new ones together.

One spot I couldn't wait to revisit was a local jerk shanty called Scotchies. This is constructed of a number of materials including, sticks, hay, palms, cinderblocks and sits humbly on the side of the road with a tiny dirt parking lot complete with random goats that come and go.

Scotchies is a MoBay landmark and the jerk chicken is beyond compare. They marinate, slow cook and smoke the chicken over soaked applewood ALL. DAY. LONG. You can just see the plume of smoke coming from the place as you approach it. It was soo good we went there Day 1, and then made the entire airport shuttle bus stop on the way to airport where others got off with us to get more jerk chicken and festival (deep fried cornbread dumplings).

Being the (un)civilized people we are, we proceeded to take our foil-wrapped, smoky, jerk chicken right into the Air Jamaica Executive Lounge at the airport to eat in front of all of the first class passengers waiting with us. We should have been embarassed but it was soooo good and the bartender didn't even bat an eye, which must mean we weren't the first or the last to do this.

I also debuted my maternity swimsuit and that took some getting used to.

I quickly dubbed it my "birga" as the black ruffles that went down my tummy to the skirt that I thought were so cute felt more like a hot cloak and it flared out in the water. I kept joking with CCD "Look what you did to me. This is the most material I've ever worn at any pool at any age and it's all your fault. I hope you're happy that I'm all covered up. Where's my bikini?" We laughed it off, but I did expose my belly for some sun when I laid out on the lounge chairs. Felt soo good. That and the 4 coconut ice cream cones I had in one sitting. Soooo good.

I was the only preggo at the wedding so lots of our friends were being really sweet about my appearance (the swimsuit) and applauding me for rolling with the group from activity to activity. When you're sugared up on virgin daiquiris and pina coladas it's easy!

Here's my virgin "bobsled" from the Bobsled Cafe on the MoBay "Hip Strip."

After my OB appt yesterday I guess I spent a little too much time in the sun (and enjoying the sugar)--b/c my fluids were low and now I have to drink tons of water and see the doc again in a week. Whoops!

I hope we get to squeeze in one more trip while I am up for it, before the baby arrives. It was a great time AND best of all we didn't have to check any bags! We know that won't last forever...

Another Weekend Away...

Since November, Charm City Daddy has been great about planning little weekend getaways each month while we still have the freedom and flexibility to travel--without checking any bags.

The latest trip was to Martha's Vineyard this past weekend. It was lovely.

The trip began with a quick flight to Boston and from there to get to the island we hopped on a teeny tiny, 6-seat, Cessna plane that FREAKED me out. All I could think about was JFK Jr's accident.

Even the sight of the plane creeps me out all over again. You feel every bump and sway from the wind AND on top of that you see the pilot in action hitting tons of dials and buttons. I'm proud I fought through and made the trip to and fro. I couldn't utter a word the entire flight and kept thinking 'stay calm for the baby.' But I'm sure she realized mommy was freaking out.

Once I saw the place, CCD rented for the weekend those 30 minutes of terror in the air were worth it.

and the back of the main house...

the view from the back deck to our private pond the property...

the walkout from the Master Suite overlooking Flat Bottom Pond...

the kitchen...adorable.

There are many more pictures as the property had a guest house, activity barn, writer's studio and so much more. We lucked out on the weather and had a relaxing time--and even entertained friends that came up to visit one day.

Oh, and we ate at this place called Slice of Life in Oak Bluff and everything was sooooo good. I highly recommend it. They had a number of healthy options which CCD enjoyed but I was craving pizza!

It was definitely a slower pace in MV, particularly because we beat the usual Memorial Day rush to the island, but I appreciated that...and the small business owners appreciated us.

I can definitely see us traveling back to the Vineyard by plane and FERRY next time with kids in tow in the future.

Cocktails and Mocktails...

I really don't miss drinking...until I'm around drinks. :)

Charm City Daddy has been great and gave up drinking along with me which has helped a lot. We don't keep much in the house--just wine/beer for guest in the basement. Btw the savings has been incredible on our restaurant bills.

I ran across this article today and it got me thinking that I could share my post on my favorite "mocktails" of choice since getting knocked up.

My favorite drinks come in the form of spritzers like:

-cranberry and club soda w/ lime

-pineapple juice, lemonade, club soda w/ lemon

-pineapple juice, orange juice, spash of soda w/lemon

There are a million possibilities. It's silly but I find the addition of the lime on the glass ( a fancy glass) really makes me feel included when others are drinking.

Hopefully I don't sound like a alcoholic saying this but I really miss having a beer along with my crabs or steamed shrimp. Something about the salty/spicy splendor of the Old Bay mixing with the beer is indescribably Maryland and delicious. It is going to be a looong summer without the beer/crab combo, but I'll just have to add it to the growing list of things I will binge on when baby is out!

While we're on the topic, another favorite summer time fav cocktail of mine is Corona-Lime Juice Punch. Just take a six pack of ice cold Corona's and dump it into a pitcher. Then add a single can of frozen concentrate lime juice. Stir and serve immediately. Delicious!

Okay..I'm working myself up. I need to stop talking about the alcohol. Back to my ginger ale.

My Kind of Town...

This weekend I visited my sister and her family in the "land of good food" a.k.a. Chicago!!!

I arrived on Friday just in time for lunch. A Fattoush Salad at Cedar's Mediterranean Kitchen. Amazing.

Later for dinner--I never leave Chicago without a slice of heaven from Giordano's. My brother-in-law also brought home some authentic jerk chicken and red beans and rice. It was hands down, the best I've had since I was in Jamaica and tasted like it was smoked on applewood. Wow.

Other food over the weekend included a Chicago Pizza Puff (first timer), an Italian Beef (first-timer), and the usual Chicago Dog--or "Magnificent Char Dog" from Gold Coast Dogs...


The next morning I got my first taste of what it may be like to do Charm City Baby's hair when she's two years old, when I volunteered to do my niece's hair and get her dressed for the day.This was really fun b/c she LOVES the camera.

Here's the before...

She told me in her two-year old voice she has "Wild, Wild Hair" quoting one of her favorite children's books by Nikki Grimes.--a book every little brown girl should have, in my opinion.

Anyway...after 20 minutes of hearing her say "ouch" and "finished yet?" and responding "I'm sorry!" and "almost!"we had a finished product (and a smiling face!)...

And just because she LOVES to pose...all dressed in her High School Musical jogging suit...

This was good practice for me. I think I did a good (not perfect) job, but I accidentally did her hair while she was still in her pajamas and had to force her head into her t-shirt without messing up her do--no easy task--but a lot of giggling.

All and all--a great time in Chi-town. I can't wait to go back!