Alex's new job

Alex has picked up a new duty around the house: wife reviving! Every so often I totally crash and burn and he scrapes me up from the floor and feeds me until I can get going again.

An example happened last night, when in the space of about five minutes I went from totally fine to having a headache, aversion to light, feverish feeling, and exhaustion. Now, when such situations come up, it's pretty much all I can do to wave my hands in the air and yelp that I'm going down. So I tottered off to crash in bed and just lay in the dark for a while.

This is where Alex somehow saves the day pretty much every time. I don't know how he does it, because when I get into this state, no food is appealing but he finds out which food secretly is the one I need.

In this instance, he put a whole rack of ribs into the oven for me and just brought me a plate of ribs when they were done. I went from bedraggledly picking at the plate while still laying down to sitting up and ravenously devouring the remainder and not even needing a nap afterward.

How does he do it? I think I would be a goner by now if not for the magical words, "The Husband, I need to eat something." Ones that also work are "I need some food but I don't know what," and "Wow, I think I'm hungry."

I think I married a superhero. :)

grilled chicken

So I don't know how I did it (especially since all my past attempts have basically sucked), but I made really yummy pan-grilled chicken. I laid down just a bit of olive oil and then sprinkled the chicken with garlic, salt and basil. It was deeelishus. :) Maybe it's because I used a different pan this time?

seafood update

I'm sure some of you already know this: I'm pregnant! :)

Unfortunately, this means that my seafood adventures have been somewhat curtailed by my whimsically (maddeningly) finicky tummy --not to mention the fact that I've acquired some pretty good anti-mercury paranoia.

Sooo, the seafood adventures will probably have to wait a while longer. I just wanted to set the record straight that I'm not just being chicken about it. :P

Valentine's dinner

Alex and I made breaded pork morsels, delicious salad and chocolate pudding. Damn tasty, and easy to boot!

pasta primavera, PS

I forgot that the awesome thing about the pasta primavera was how I cooked it! I don't have a steamer, but I wanted to steam the veggies. SO. I took a big pot and boiled the spaghetti in the bottom of it. Then I put my pasta strainer (which is metal) over the top and steamed the veggies right in it! When the veggies were done it was just time to drain the pasta, so I dumped the veggies, strained the pasta, and had a big meal with only two dirty dishes!!

pasta primavera

I had forgotten about this tasty dish until today, but I made it as soon as I remembered:

spaghetti with olive oil, garlic, salt, basil, oregano, and "Italian" seasoning, with steamed broccoli, carrots and peppers.

Yum, yum. I ate a vat of it, which was very satisfying. :)

Toys I want

Have I mentioned that I want a KitchenAid mixer? With a bread hook? And a pasta attachment? And a grinder/mill attachment?

I SOOOO WANT ONE!!

Also, Kitchen Santa, please bring me a wok and a vegetable steamer, and a thin metal spatula. And a biiig pot with a canning rack. :)

good breakfast

I am trying to be good about eating breakfast, so I got granola for morning cereal. THEN totally coincidentally I got a big tub of vanilla yogurt. Well, there was only so much time before I realized that these two needed to be combined. The result was the most DELICIOUS bowl of 25 grams of protein for breakfast that I've met yet! Kashi makes really good granola.

Whole Foods

AKA my new favorite place in the UNIVERSE!!

Alex and I just went to a Whole Foods in Nashville with an old friend of mine/ours (Kelsey) and her boyfriend. We knew we were meeting up, and didn't know where to go. I said, "I want potato salad, sushi, and pizza." Now, I was pretty sure we were going to have to go to at least two locations to achieve this, but No! Kelsey informed me that Whole Foods would have all of these. And more!

So I totally ate my hungry little heart out. I won't even write down how much it cost, because it was really somewhat obscene (but totally worth it), but here was MY meal:

potato salad (a really light, fresh-flavored one)
a slice of pepperoni pizza
roasted vegetables
macaroni salad
a tray of sushi
big, thick slabs of ginger-orange beets
raspberry health-soda (you know the kind, I'm sure)
and for dessert, vegan chocolate mousse with craisins, chocolate chips and fresh strawberries thrown in.

Alex had his own goodies, like a sweet potato & honey soup.

YUM YUM YUM YUM YUM YUM YUM YUM YUM YUM, etc. :)

Yes, I really did just sit there and gobble it all down. To be fair, all I had earlier in the day was a bagel and a pretzel, so I was ready for some GOOD FOOD. And we have some leftovers. But I ate a ton of it and then was just happy for hours afterward. I am going to have to find a Whole Foods in New Hampshire!