Planet Earth

We've spent the week lying pretty low, as I've felt pretty terrible. Luckily, Matt has had the week off, and I've had most of it off, although I work overnight again tonight and tomorrow. But we've spent some lovely, lazy, cozy hours on the couch this week--most memorably, watching the Planet Earth series which we borrowed from some friends.

If you haven't seen this, we would highly, highly recommend it. The footage is stunning and also highly entertaining, and the soundtrack (composed for the series by British composer George Fenton) is breathtaking as well. For anybody who loves nature or music, but especially both, it's an experience you don't want to miss.

Deviled Eggs

Recently, we made these deviled eggs to take to a party. They were a big hit and gone in about 15 minutes, and didn't call for anything wacky that we didn't already have in the fridge, so they were a hit with us too. Mind you, peeling hardboiled eggs is always cause for a lot of swearing (no matter how not-fresh our eggs are, or any of the other little tricks we use, it's never anything but a messy pain in the butt), and honestly we had thought they almost looked a little too raggedy to take out in public, but it's amazing what a sprinkle of paprika does to punch up the contrast and cover a multitude of sins. I certainly get why they use that...it really dresses these babies up to the next level.

Making deviled eggs always reminds me of last summer, when I'd gotten a taste for a batch and decided to make them for Matt and me. I was happily mashing away when Matt walked over and said tactfully "Oh, um, where are the whites?" He KNEW where the whites were...mashed in with the yolks...I think he was just too kind to say so.

So the first time we made deviled eggs together, it was really egg salad, but it was good nonetheless.

Knitting Knews

Not only has this turned into this, courtesy of the world's fastest-learning knitter...
...but now, in the space of one evening, we've got this:

Which, as you can see, looks good on just about everybody. But technically, it's for the baby.

And I even helped a little: I made the pompom.

Thanksgiving Bounty

Being sick as a dog that day, all I had was a little scoop of corn and a few mashed potatoes, but the food looked and smelled delicious and was greatly enjoyed by Matt and our guest. Matt kindly cooked the entire meal, cleaned up after it, and also cleaned the apartment from top to bottom before we had someone over to dinner...while my contribution was lying on the couch, moaning and trying not to throw up. Well, and creating human life...all before a busy 12-hour overnight shift.

Better-Than-Stuffing Bread Pudding

Since I've been feeling like crap lately, it's taken me awhile to get this recipe up. But here goes.

This recipe was given to Matt by a friend, and appears to have been photocopied from a magazine or a cookbook, but we don't know which one. We'd be happy to give credit where it's due if anyone knows where that is. Pictured is a double batch.

Better-Than-Stuffing Bread Pudding

Ingredients:
2 Tbsp olive oil
6 oz shiitake mushrooms
6 oz portobello mushrooms
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp dried sage
1 Tbsp fresh basil or 1 tsp dried basil
1 Tbsp fresh thyme or 1 tsp dried thyme
1 Tbsp fresh parsley
5 eggs
2 cups whipping cream
1 cup milk
1/4 cup grated Parmesan
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
6 cups French bread cut into 1-inch pieces
1 Tbsp grated Parmesan

1. Lightly butter an 8x8 baking dish.
2. In a heavy saucepan, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add mushrooms, garlic, and sage. If you're using dried basil and thyme, add now. Cook over medium-high heat about 15 minutes or until mushrooms are tender and browned. Remove from heat. If using fresh basil and thyme, add now with the fresh parsley.
3. In a large bowl, whisk eggs, cream, milk, 1/4 cup Parmesan, salt, and pepper. Add bread pieces, toss to coat, and let sit 15 minutes.
4. Stir mushroom mixture into bread mixture; transfer to the baking dish. Sprinkle with remaining Parmesan.
5. Bake at 350 for about 1 hour, or until browned and puffed and center is set. Makes 6-8 servings.

Thanksgiving Prep

Today we shopped most of the day, and this evening we've been cooking up a storm.

For Thanksgiving, we're having a friend of ours over, and the menu is as follows:

Mushroom Bread Pudding (recipe to follow; it's in the fridge to be cooked tomorrow, and the recipe is typed, awaiting only a picture of the finished product)
Mashed Potatoes (we make them a lot like this)
Pumpkin Dinner Rolls
Green Bean Casserole with homemade French-Fried Onions
Corn Niblets (you know, heat and add butter)
Roasted Asparagus
Pumpkin Roll
Sparkling Apple Cider

We started with the french-fried onions, because we'd never made them before and they sounded like fun. Well, they were, and the next thing we knew, we decided to cut up another onion and make onion rings.

Then, "when-you-give-a-mouse-a-cookie"-style (or what my dad would call "a terminal case of the while-you're-at-its") we decided to make a few french fries, too.
And of course, fried foods just aren't any good if you don't have ranch dressing to dip them into. So we made some of that, too. And it turned out great!

Here are some shots of the pumpkin roll:

Combining the cake ingredientsGreasing and flouring a piece of parchment paper for the bottom of a 10x15" jelly-roll pan
Bake 15-20 minutes until done


Roll up in a clean kitchen towel and let cool

Unroll and spread with cream cheese frosting

Roll back up, dust with powdered sugar, and slice off the endsI wish the color were a little more vibrant, but in my experience, that's just what you get with fresh vs canned pumpkin (I seem to remember reading at one point that some of what's in canned "pumpkin" is actually yams?). The flavor was just fine and besides, I'd eat a dog turd if it was rolled up with cream cheese frosting, and this has that beat by a long shot anyway.

Back and Disoriented

After taking a redeye Monday night, crossing three time zones, getting back to DC around 11 and sleeping until 5pm, we woke up to find it dark and ourselves utterly disoriented.

Some of this is intentional on our parts, since I work nights this week and Matt is off and so he's kind enough to flip his schedule with me.

We'd had high hopes for running errands yesterday, but that didn't happen, so today: grocery shopping, post office, and a few other odds and ends. We're also going to come home and cook for our Thanksgiving and day-after-Thanksgiving celebrations. I'm keeping my fingers crossed on being able to tolerate that one.

Otherwise, not much new to report. We're incredibly happy to be home, and have strengthened our resolve to avoid non-essential travel as much as is humanly possible in the future--though we're very much looking forward to heading "home" for the holidays in less than a month!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!!

photo by Princessrica

Happy birthday to the woman who gave me life! I love you, Mom!

The Storm is Gathering...

Coast to coast! To have homebirth-positive (and midwife-positive) full-length stories in two major newspapers within days of each other is incredibly, unbelievably exciting. I particularly like the way the SF Gate took the opportunity to point out the safety of homebirth as evidenced by major studies (on the whole, it's a stronger, more positive article than the NY Times one--but at the very least, check out the NY Times slideshow, which has some stunningly beautiful photographs). Oftentimes, the best we'll get is "Midwives claim homebirth is safe." Yes, we do, but where do we get that position? Data!

And, it's great to hear an ACOG member do what they do best: unabashedly lie to women. Here's a quote from the article, with my responses in brackets and italics:

"ACOG doesn't formally oppose home birthing but our position definitely implies that," says Dr. Erin Tracy, an ob-gyn at Massachusetts General Hospital and vice chair of ACOG Massachusetts. [Their position? "The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) reiterates its long-standing opposition to home births." Uh, yeah, that's a pretty FORMAL OPPOSITION there...no "implication" about it."] "No one at ACOG is advocating for criminalizing home birthing." [Right, you're instead seeking it through the AMA: "RESOLVED, That our AMA develop model legislation in support of the concept that the safest setting for labor, delivery, and the immediate post-partum period is in the hospital, or a birthing center within a hospital complex"] "We just personally think it's much safer to give birth in a hospital or at a birthing center."

"We just personally think"?! This is the professional organization for the almighty American OB-GYN, and their basis for denying women what could be their safest and most satisfying birth experience (not to mention a cost-effective one for the nation) is based not on science, not on medicine, not on personal freedom or autonomy even, but on...."We just personally think?!"

Here's what else they think: "For women who choose a midwife to help deliver their baby, it is critical that they choose only ACNM-certified or AMCB-certified midwives that collaborate with a physician to deliver their baby in a hospital, hospital-based birthing center, or properly accredited freestanding birth center."

Hmmm...the only good midwife is midwife that delivers in the hospital, under the thumb of a doctor...even though the studies have shown that this isn't necessary for the safety of low-risk women. So... why do you think they "think" that?

I'll tell you why: because they the way they manage birth in the hospitals is all about convenience and money, and women are growing wise to that. And they're demanding better for themselves and their babies.

We're Here!

Deja vu. Anyway, travel was safe and uneventful, thankfully; we got here yesterday about noon local time (three o'clock our time) and Matt quickly settled down to work and I just...settled down. For a long nap. (I won't say that being pregnant has made me more tired than usual, it's just given me an excuse to indulge myself.) Today, I'm hoping to actually get some schoolwork done. The hotel we're staying at this time doesn't have free Wi-Fi, so I may not be updating very often, but on the other hand--there's just not a lot to tell.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MATT AND MARY!

Photo by Cvalentine

Twenty-seven years ago today, my mother-in-law gave birth to my husband--on her birthday!

Happy birthday to two of my favorite people in the whole world.

Pumpkin Pancakes

I guess at some point, I have to make a return to our regularly scheduled programming. So here goes.

This morning for breakfast we made pumpkin pancakes. You might remember that we recently came into a wealth of free pumpkin, and we thought this would be a cozy and delicious way to use some of it up. And we were right. Here's how we made them:

Pumpkin Pancakes

Ingredients:

• 2 cups whole-wheat flour
• 3 tablespoons brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 1 cup fresh pumpkin puree
• 1 egg
• 2 tablespoons melted butter
  
• 2 tablespoons vinegar

Directions:
1. Combine dry ingredients.
2. Combine wet ingredients.
3. Combine wet and dry ingredients.
4. Cook on a hot griddle until browned on both sides. 5. Serve with butter and syrup (we used leftover Vanilla-Brown Sugar Syrup, which worked beautifully).

Delicious!

Life Goes On

But we're still very, very sad. Matt and I both find ourselves haunted by the situation with Mark, and I alternate between a kind of numb disbelief and just bursting into tears. Whereas when it first happened, I was struck and particularly affected by the gruesome nature of the incident itself, I now seem to have moved toward a saddened remembering. I think about all the wonderful, happy memories I had with Mark (12 years worth...) and I just wish so badly that things had turned out differently.

Someone asked if I could post some of the fairer media articles about the incident, and I'm happy to oblige. Probably the most balanced one I've seen is the article "Accusations and Suicides" from the publication Inside Higher Education. Here's the piece I feel is missing from the reporting that's going on in Iowa"

Asked what the university should do following this latest incident, [Iowa Faculty Senate President Michael] O’Hara said that “we have to separate the issue of sexual harassment from the issue of why a professor or anybody for that matter would commit suicide in the face of kind of public disclosure of something that is personally extremely embarrassing if not humiliating. Those are two different issues — people face criminal charges all the time and don’t commit suicide. It’s not an inevitable consequence.” [My note: Also, these were actually only civil charges, meaning there was no possibility of jail time, just financial penalties and possible professional sanctions]

O’Hara added: “We have to continue on campus to educate ourselves and to be vigilant about sexual harassment and help everyone understand that as an academic community, these things aren’t to be tolerated.” At the same time, he said that the two deaths made him wonder about the treatment of “alleged perpetrators.” It is important to remember, he said, that “being accused doesn’t mean that something happened.”

I thought Michael O'Hara did a wonderful job of emphasizing that a case like this--even prior to Mark's suicide--requires sensitivity to all parties involved, rather than being a time to choose sides, whitewashing one while villifying the other. From what I've seen in the media and from comments by UI faculty, it seems everyone else is bent on saying that the charges are false, and the newspapers are more than willing to propagate that message, which is really too bad. Here's hoping O'Hara's recommendations are taken up by the rest of the faculty and students at Iowa.

Goodbye, Dear Friend

We found out late last night that Mark Weiger, my former oboe professor at the University of Iowa, and teacher, mentor, and friend for 12 years, took his own life yesterday in Iowa City.

Mark started teaching me when I was 13 and saw me through some of the most difficult periods of my life. He was an inspiration to me musically, as probably the finest musician I've ever heard, and also personally--he was funny, cheerful, brilliant, and amazingly well-traveled. He was also unfailingly kind to me and my family. He was one of my oldest and closest friends. And he was the one who introduced me to Matt.

Even when my interests changed from music to nursing to law, and then back to midwifery, I knew that I could count on him for unflagging support and glowing recommendations. I have so many happy memories with him--the hours and hours we spent laughing and playing duets in lessons, the summer we traveled to music camp in Wyoming, the reams of emails we sent back and forth while I was at Interlochen and he served as my long-distance teacher, even though he was on sabbatical. His list of accomplishments was long and impressive, but that didn't stop him from taking in interest in whatever I was doing. When I started with him, I didn't realize what a superstar he truly was, but it became evident to me as the years passed, and I was honored to think of him as a mentor.

Mark's death has shocked and devastated me and Matt and my family. We all counted him as a dear friend, and somebody who had everything in the world going for him. It's tragic to think of how lonely his last hours must have been, and likely some portion of the past year or so of his life.

But Mark wasn't perfect. He overstepped the boundaries somewhat regularly and you'll notice in the article that he had just been charged with sexual harassment by a former student. You'll also notice that he admitted to the charges (though few articles that have come out actually note this). We also consider ourselves close friends of the student who brought the suit, and can say with certainty that there was no cruelty or malice or fabrication behind what she said. There are already a number of unkind comments about her cropping up in articles about the incident, and it's unfortunately a sad fact that we've seen played out many times that in any kind of "he said/she said" case, whether rape or sexual harassment, the public is wont to believe "what he said." When really, what she said--that students have the right to an environment where they don't feel belittled or threatened or judged--is right and true, and it takes incredible courage to say it so publicly. Unfortunately, she has been re-victimized by this situation more than anybody else. She's in our prayers as she begins what will undoubtedly be an impossibly difficult time for her.

Former UI colleagues of Mark's have already come out as saying the allegations are "vicious" and patently false, which I think is incredibly irresponsible of them. Melissa doesn't have a vicious bone in her body, and to imply that somebody would put themselves and someone they previously held in such high esteem through the pain of a lawsuit, just out of pure meanness, is a gross oversimplification. I appreciate their desire to protect him, and recognize it is their grief talking, but the real picture of who Mark was is more complex than a martyr who couldn't bear the lies brought against him. Admitting that he made mistakes in his life doesn't mean we loved him any less. Mark was very, very real; therefore, like all of us, he was imperfect. We knew that. He knew that. And we loved him very much.

We just wish he were still here and we could tell him so. Mark, we can't understand what you did, but we'll miss you so very, very much.

Step Into My World

I'm sitting on the couch in our (chilly) apartment, snuggling with a warm cat under a down comforter, feet on a heating pad, space heater running nearby, trying my best to frantically take notes and study for a test I'm hoping to take--today. After I submit the paper that's due.

The kitchen is full, not just of breakfast dishes but also of the remains of the hacked and cooked pumpkin (it took overnight baking on 200 degrees to to sufficiently soften up that sucker!), some of which has been pureed to a yellow sauce, but some of which is still in the Cuisinart, or the funnel, or all over the counter. I don't have time to think about that right now.

In our living room are boxes and boxes of CDs waiting to be sold or given away, a jogging stroller, an exercise ball, a basket or two of laundry, and stacks and stacks of library books. All testaments to our plans and good intentions that right now are being placed on the back burner.

Things have been heating up for Matt at work, and I've been working pretty close to full-time in addition to juggling my classes and feeling a little bit sub-par to boot. So things are slipping a little bit, but on the whole, we're still doing well. Everybody is happy and clothed and fed (pictured below: today's lunch, a mug of leftover homemade tomato soup swirled with some of the last of the summer pesto), and in times like these, those are our priorities.

It will certainly be interesting to add a baby into this mix.

Jack (O'Lantern) Pot!

Matt and I have been talking for awhile about getting a pumpkin and cooking it up for pie and pumpkin bread and such. As the budget's been a little tight, we held off, and boy, are we glad we did: tonight, courtesy of FreeCycle, we became the proud parents of 38 pounds of pumpkin, thanks to someone who had the same thought we did but bit off a little more than she could chew. We're going to start roasting and pureeing it tonight, but it will probably take us a couple of evenings to finish.

Sunday Drive

Today was the first day I've felt pretty queasy for most of the day, so instead of revisiting the Little Devil's Stairs like we were hoping to, we ended up just taking a little drive out to enjoy the countryside, with me sucking down ginger ale and ginger candies like they were going out of style. I'm now feeling much better (pizza with pesto, pine nuts, mushrooms, and onions for dinner did the trick!), and after an evening job through Reston, we're in for the night. Matt is kindly editing a paper of mine, while I'm doing the same for my sister. (Having learned back while I was writing essays for law school that I "can't take constructive criticism," as my mom would say, Matt refers to what he's doing as "making gentle suggestions as to how to improve on perfection." Love this guy.) Here are some scenes from the day:

Crockpot Applesauce, Again

We've done this before, but this time we tried it with a bag of yellow apples (Ginger Golds) that we bought last week but which had become a tad too soft for my liking. The yellow skins didn't seem to caramelize as deeply, and the result was a more traditionally-hued applesauce. It also only took about two hours in the crockpot on low before they were ready to blend (which takes literally 30 seconds with an immersion blender). And it makes the apartment smell absolutely like HEAVEN--an extremely lazy route to domestic bliss.

Not Every Wife...

...gets to look across the couch and see a sight like this:

Matt told me a couple of weeks ago that he wanted to learn how to knit. I was supportive, but given my own impatience and ineptitude with handicrafts, not overly optimistic. But he became more vocal about it as time went on, and so finally, today we took a couple of 40% off coupons to Michael's and for about 8 bucks picked up a pair of bamboo knitting needles and some yarn. I had figured it would take days, if not weeks, to get the hang of it, and I'll be honest, I anticipated being asked to admire some scraggly first attempts.

Uh...no. After reviewing an illustration on the Internet for less then five minutes, you can see that actually, a lovely scarf (for me, no less!) is well underway.

This man never ceases to amaze me. Is there anything he doesn't do well??

Pregnancy...Naturally

Over at our other blog, I've posted some of my thoughts about health and natural living during pregnancy. Check it out!

No Real News

I'm spending today finally making some headway on a paper I've been writing for weeks. I tend to do better during crunch time, which I guess is a relief because I was starting to worry I was never going to get it done.

Besides that, we don't have a lot to report. Fall in Virginia is beautiful as usual, I'm chugging away at school, Matt is working, and I'm in a fairly unexciting stage of pregnancy where, even if I am generating limbs and ears and organs at an impressive rate, I don't look pregnant and I don't feel pregnant and so business carries on much as usual. Although our baby does have two possessions so far: a shirt,

which we've admired for a long time and which Matt brought home for me the day after we found out I was pregnant; and a jogging stroller,

(don't mind what looks like poop on the wheel...or the fact that
our apartment is in such a shambles that it looks like moving day)

something we'd remarked the other day would be nice, but something we were unlikely to actually pay for. Enter Freecycle: one was listed the very next day, and now it's ours. Living in an area as wealthy as this one has its advantages; people give or throw away nicer things than we'd ever consider buying! We're hoping that by starting early, we'll be able to get the majority of what we need for the first several months at least for free or really cheap. I understand this might seem a little premature, and even unwise to some, but when you really think about it, why should being hopeful about the healthy outcome of this or any pregnancy be seen as inviting bad luck? If anything, I think hope and optimism contribute to better outcomes, not the other way around.