Monthly Archives: September 2010

So there’s this mom. We’ve hung out a couple of times. She’s super cool. Her kid is super cool. She’s pregnant with another kid who I’m sure will be just as cool.

But, she’s a flake.

I’ll text her “Hey! I’m heading to the playground! You wanna hang out?”

No response.

I previously chalked it up to the fact that, she probably doesn’t want to be my friend, which is sad. But okay, I can handle it. I’ll live.

However, lately, I’ve been running into her on the playground with another mom friend who I can’t help but give the evil eye to.

I’m sure this woman is perfectly nice, she has no obvious deformities physically or emotionally. She seems fine. But, obviously she’s won out over me. I’m not cool enough to hang out with apparently.

Today, my ego was bruised enough to confront my maybe-friend. I couldn’t take it anymore.

We were sitting on a bench, and the conversation went a little something like this:

“So, I was going to text you today, but I figured you wouldn’t respond.”
“I know,” she said “I’m sorry, I’m a horrible friend.”
“No, it’s fine. I just get the distinct feeling that you don’t wanna hang out with me. That’s how it’s coming across.”
“No, no! I promise. It’s not that. I’m just terrible at getting back to people.”

I understand that. I could almost buy it. But if she’s so terrible at getting back to people, how have she and this other woman managed to make plans? I’ve seen them together at least two times.

Look, if she doesn’t want to be my friend, I’m okay with it, but enough with the mixed signals already. I can’t take it anymore!

Have you ever been unsure if someone wanted to be your mom friend or not?

In all my 30 years of avoiding making lasagna, I always assumed that it was a cheese-centric dish. It is, for the most part, but my lovely friend Amanda makes a bad ass vegan lasagna! Amanda is vegan and an amazing cook and baker. If you never tried her cookies, click here to find out what I’m talking about.

This one’s for all you vegans out there. She’s agreed to reveal her top secret vegan lasagna recipe. Here she is, all the way from PDX: take it away Amanda:

This is a semi-difficult yet totally worth it recipe. Some of you may have no clue what these ingredients are all about. Nutritional yeast, what the heck?! I promise your local health food store will have it, along with the rest of the ingredients. This will serve 4-6 people.

Ingredients:

* 1-2 jars of spaghetti sauce, depending on how saucy you like things. We use a jar and a half. A lot of sauces aren’t vegan and contain goat’s milk, of all things, so be sure to check ingredients.
* 16oz frozen spinach
* 1/2 lb carrots, chopped
* 1/4 cup chopped parsley
* 4 cloves minced garlic
* 1/4 cup vegetable broth
* 1 package of extra firm tofu, drained, pressed http://toomanycombined.blogspot.com/2008/10/how-to-press-tofu-in-five-easy-steps.html and crumbled to resemble feta cheese. Season to taste with italian seasoning and black pepper.
* 8 oz container of herbed Tofutti cream cheese
* 2 Tbsp lemon juice
* 1/8 tsp nutmeg (trust me!)
* Lasagna noodles, boiled al-dente before baking.
* 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
* *Toppings of choice. I normally go for mushrooms or olives - or both!

Get cooking:

1.) Slice carrots and steam

2.) Add a splash of olive oil to a large pot and saute parsley and garlic for about 2 minutes on medium heat.

3.) Add carrots and veggie broth, simmer uncovered for 5 minutes. (Meanwhile, heat the sauce and frozen spinach together in a pot until the spinach thaws.)

4.) Add crumbled/herbed tofu, cream cheese, and lemon juice. Stir until the cream cheese melts.

5.) Stir in nutmeg and nutritional yeast.

6.) Arrange noodles in the bottom of a loaf pan. If you’re doubling the recipe to serve more people, you’ll obviously need a bigger pan.

7.) Layer the tofu-ricotta mixture on top of the first layer of noodles. Layer sauce and frozen spinach mixture on top of that, and then repeat with another layer of noodles. I usually end up with two layers of the vegan ricotta and sauce. I top it off with one last layer of noodles and sauce with some mushrooms and olives.

8.) Cover your lasagna with foil and bake for 15 minutes at 375 degrees. Remove foil and bake an additional 30-40 minutes.

My blog is private, so if you would like to check out more vegan recipes - or read my daily ramblings about life as a new mom - shoot me over an email at stumptowncrunchbakery@gmail.com.

Thank you Sarah for featuring little ol’ me on your fantastic blog!

Okay relax. This is not going to be a sappy post about how we should all hold hands and love each other. Are you relieved? Fabulous.

I had a nightmare. It ended with me waking up and thinking:
“I love Ari MORE than I love Wil.”
My heart was racing, my whole body was sweating, and I felt awful.

I couldn’t understand this feeling. It traumatized me. I love Wil. He’s my partner in crime, my “one day husband.” I love him to death. Did I mention “love?”

But the love I feel for Ari is different. I created him. He lived inside my body for nearly a year. It is a deep love that is unexplainable. Intangible. A terrifying love. A love where I couldn’t handle it if anything happened to him.

A love that scares me to my core. I explained this disturbing feeling to my friend, Nora. She said:

“Welcome to Motherhood.”

I’m scared. Shaken. I feel the need to protect Ari from the world with my love. But I want him to experience it too. It’s a conflict.

Do you feel this way about your children?

Freedom is saying what you feel when you feel it.
Freedom is going outside when you’re afraid to leave the house.
Freedom is the ability to say”no.”
Freedom is leaping when you can’t see what’s directly in front of you.
Freedom is letting yourself be.
Freedom is going for what you want.
Freedom is what I want.

*This is part of Mama Kat’s Weekly Writing Prompts! Click here for more information or below:

I used to be an articulate person. I used to be able to spell words and form coherent sentences. Unfortunately, that is no longer the case. I find myself unable to express myself…see! I did it again! I was trying to complete a thought and I completely spaced and forgot where I was going.

I have what my dear friend Alana refers to as “the pregnancy stupids.” Yes friends, I am no longer intelligent. Not only am I stupid, but I’m clumsy. When I attempt to pour a beverage of any kind I miss the cup by a long shot and all of the liquid involved ends up on the floor. It’s quite fascinating, actually, to watch this occur.

Now, this is not to say that I’m the most graceful person in “real life.” I am a total klutz and…sorry I just got distracted by the fact that “klutz” is a Yiddish word. I had no idea! It happened again! I can’t focus for more than three seconds at a time on a given task.

GRRRR!

Anyway, the point is, I hope one day to have my brain back. If you notice any typos in my posts, now you know why.

Here’s the trouble though, I not only have the pregnancy stupids, but I also have “mom brain.” This, folks, is a deadly combination.

Is there anyone else out there missing a brain? Please let me know!

Today was my 20 week ultrasound. Despite the fact that I was exhausted from my friend Leigh’s wedding last night (Orthodox Jewish weddings are fun but oy! The food, the dancing!) I had a hard time getting to sleep. I was excited, because today was the day that I would find out the gender of my mystery baby.

When I into the exam room, I immediately informed the ultrasound technician that I wanted to know the gender. It seemed like forever until we got to that part of the exam. She was measuring every single part of the baby. I kept saying:

“Is every thing normal?”
“Yes…so far.” She repeated every time I asked. “So far” (by the way) is an infuriating and nerve racking response. Like there could be something wrong at any moment?

I have to admit I was bored. As long as every thing was fine, there were no toes or a femur missing I wanted to peer in between this baby’s legs and get to the real reason why I was here.

WHAT ARE YOU BABY?

During the course of the exam, the mystery baby yawned and pointed an accusatory finger at myself and Susan, the technician. Yes, Susan is her real name. She has no kids and one male cat. I found this out while I was bored out my mind looking at my fetus’ kidneys.

I also found out that my placenta previa is no longer an issue! My placenta is not blocking the cervix, however, I now have another placenta condition. I had to laugh when I heard the term for this one. It’s called “Battledore Placenta.” It sounds so Medieval!

Essentially, what it means is this: the umbilical cord is supposed to connect to the center of the placenta. Mine connects on the side of the placenta, like a tennis racket (not the analogy I choose to use, I am merely quoting ultrasound tech Susan). Here is a diagram to further confuse you:

Then the moment of truth finally came. Without warning Susan announced that…the umbilical cord was between the baby’s legs! She didn’t know what the baby was!

I couldn’t say I was surprised. This baby obviously did not want to be found out.

Unfortunately, this baby has a persistent Jewish mother. Anonymity was completely unacceptable. I shook my belly until that damn umbilical cord moved.

I refused to be defeated by a being that is only 3/4 of lb. That’s not how I roll.

Turns out…that…this baby is…a…. GIRL!

Yes, a girl. I was so excited and relieved to know!

I told Ari the news over lunch.

This ginger ale was so good, by the way.

“Ari,” I said “you’re going to have a sister! What do you think about that?” Here was his reaction:

Shortly after this picture was taken, he bumped his head on the metal table in the deli and sustained an enormous bruise near his eye. Fortunately a E.R. doctor from the hospital was having a salad behind us. I asked him:
“Does this classify as a head injury?”
“No, he’s fine. He just bumped his eye.”
“Sorry, I know you’re off duty.”I replied.
“Never!” He said with a laugh.

My mom complimented me on being resourceful enough to seek out his advice.

She is very excited to have another granddaughter (my brother has two girls- a step-daughter and a newborn).

And so the mystery baby is no longer a mystery. She is a girl.