Starting in the Basement

Since I started growing a human our weekends have been a little different.  Not that we were party animals before but now I am more of a nap animal.  I try to do at least one activity a day on the weekends but it is still difficult to stay up past 11.  Last weekend we had to go to a party. Ugg.  Two of Frenchie’s friends were visiting from France so there was a BBQ for them (luckily not at our house) Saturday night.  I tried to take a nap during the day but I was too excited about getting my new iPhone and did not sleep.  Frenchie wanted to get there early to spend more time with his friends so we arrived at the party at 5:00 p.m. which is incredibly early for a party with French people.

Needless to say the rest of the French party did not arrive for many more hours and by the time the party was getting started I was ready for bed.  I ended up hiding inside for a bit (half an hour) to pet the cats.  Frenchie kept suggesting I lie down and take a nap during the party which I thought was a bit ridiculous.  Sure, maybe if I was drunk and could no longer keep my head up it would be acceptable to pass out.  Or even if I was 9 months pregnant and huge it might make sense but right now I just look a little bloated and nobody at the party knew I was pregnant so it just would have been weird.  Instead I had another soda and a slice of pie which gave me the sugar rush needed to at least sit amongst the party.

I ended up discovering that I am a bit of a bitch when sober at a party.  I started judging all the other girls, especially the American ones, and making fun of them to myself.  Way to take the high road Emily.  As we finally drove home at 11:30 I recapped my version of the party to Frenchie and my opinion of every partygoer.  Luckily Frenchie is a bit of a judger himself so he was happy to play along but it made me feel a little icky.  Maybe it is the hormones?

This is a horrible picture but there it is.  I am 14 weeks pregnant!   My baby is the size of a lemon.

At first I was terrified, then I was sick, then I was tired and now that I am getting my energy back, the fear has returned.  Just this week the whole thing started to feel more real and strange.

Here is what I wrote when I first found out:

I am pregnant.  Not that I should be surprised.  Frenchie and I pulled the goalie months ago with this exact result expected, but still…crapola.  I had not thought about what I would feel like once I got that positive test but it turned out my first reaction was to freak.  I immediately worried about everything that was about to happen to me.  Because I am totally self-centered, I have not worried at all about this possible “baby” and its well being.  I am worried about me!!!  My main worry is throwing up.  Anybody who knows me knows that I have an intense fear of vomit so naturally, that was my first thought.  My second thought was how am I going to take the green line to work every morning which can make even the strongest stomach feel a little iffy.  So far my solutions are to have Frenchie drive me to work every morning (never going to happen) or walk to work everyday.  Uggg…I hate the green line.

It is now the third day since I peed on that stick and it still doesn’t feel real.  I need at least 5 more sticks before this will be a reality and I can make excited phone calls.

I somehow survived the green line.   My current problem is hunger.  I have to eat as soon as I wake up and by the time I get on the train to go to work I am starving again.  I am running out of snack ideas.  Other than that I am feeling great and I feel so lucky that I have not been sick!

Here we go…

Frenchie and I made last minute plans to get out of town for Labor Day. We do not often stay in bed and breakfast type places so I get nervous while searching for them. Luckily, since I started searching just a few days before Labor Day our options were limited. The Sugar Hill Inn in Sugar Hill, New Hampshire had two rooms available so that was that.  Thank goodness it worked out!  The drive from Boston was about 2.5 hours, even with Labor Day traffic and the inn was very close to Franconia Notch State Park.  On our way up we stopped at the Flume in Fraconia Notch.  Besides the fact that it cost $13 per person to go for a 1.5 mile walk (!!!!), it was a really cool place.

There were covered bridges.

Awkward poses in gorges.

And beautiful scenes.

Crazy trees.

And butterflies taking a free ride down the trail.

After the Flume we headed to the Inn to check in.  The innkeeper was really nice and the place was very cute.   There was a view of the mountains and a nice porch.  We sat on the porch for a bit and drank some lemonade.  Not so bad.

We were not sure what to do next so we got in the car and started driving.  We wanted to check out some of the local cute towns but since it was after 5pm everything was closed.  We finally rolled into Littleton hoping to find a restaurant for dinner.  What we found was a Lowes, a Home Depot and a Walmart.  Not such a cute little town.  We eventually found the old part of Littleton and a nice restaurant called Bailiwicks.  The waitress was in a seriously bad mood but the food was awesome.  I had a pork chop with andouille sausage sauce, roasted corn on the cob and a sort of random watermelon salsa.  I could not figure out what to do with the watermelon salsa but other than that it was excellent.  More importantly,  key lime pie was for dessert and was amazing!!!!

On Saturday I picked out a hike to Bridal Veil falls.  It was 2.5 miles each way and a gradual incline.

I love the big slabs of rock in New Hampshire and how the water falls down in sheets.  It is so cool and makes me want to just sit down right in the waterfall.

The picture below was taken right after Frenchie dropped me and my elbow hit the rocks hard.  He was trying to help me get down some slippery rocks but somehow made it worse.  I still have not forgiven him.  Although he did buy me ice cream later so that kind of helped.

I had a second hike planned for the afternoon but it turned out after a light lunch and a walk around the town of Bethlehem in some really weird shops we were both pooped.  We decided to go back to the inn to read until our dinner reservations.  Not surprisingly we ended up sleeping until dinner.  Oops!  I guess we were on vacation.

Dinner was a four course meal served at the inn.  It was Amazing!!  First course was a trio of soups, white chocolate and parsnip, corn chowder with a shrimp ravioli, and a broccoli with gouda.  The white chocolate soup was odd, but good!

Second course was an arugula salad with a goat cheese fritter.  I am slightly obsessed with goat cheese fritters since my first trip to Paris when I had the most amazing chevre chaud salad at Le Grand Colbert.  This was a very close second.

Third course was a trout with roasted vegetables.  The trout was so delicate and beautiful and the sauce was a very light cream sauce.  Everything was cooked perfectly, presented beautifully and seasoned nicely.

Finally, dessert.  I had Ginger, Ginger, Ginger.  Ginger creme brulee, ginger ice cream and ginger pot de creme.  I am not a huge ginger fan but I just had a feeling that this was going to be good.  And it was.  The ginger was very very light and they were all delicious.

Our other favorite part was a French couple who was also staying at the inn.  The woman was speaking French to her husband and Frenchie was sitting in the same room.  Apparently she was telling her husband that she was astonished that people were wearing sneakers to dinner.  Then she said that she even thought jeans were borderline (they were both wearing jeans).  Frenchie dragged me out to the porch to tell me how obnoxious this woman was so of course we spent the rest of the weekend making fun of them.  So mean.  But really, we were in the middle of the woods in New Hampshire.  People are going to wear their sneakers and hiking shoes to dinner.  Of course I was wearing flip flops so I can only imagine what she was thinking of me!

On Monday before we left I forced Frenchie on another hike on the Falling Waters Trail.  This trail is the beginning of a much longer trail up to Franonia Ridge.  We only hiked to see the first three waterfalls and then turned around.

It was a great way to end the trip.

We took the scenic route home and saw some nice views.

Overall it was a great weekend.  I am hoping to do more exploring of New England this fall.  I have never actually gone leaf peeping so maybe we will finally make it out this year!

I first made these while visiting my father at his farm in Illinois, Prairie Fruits Farms.  When I made those muffins I had goat cheese made at the farm, swiss chard grown on the farm and homemade sundried tomatoes from the farm.  It took me a while to bring myself to make them with store bought ingredients but I needed these muffins today!

We are going to New Hampshire for the weekend for some Bed and Breakfasting, hiking, and of course eating.  I thought these would be a great muffin to bring along as a snack.  I also have chocolate chip cookie dough waiting in the fridge to bake tomorrow before we leave.  Don’t worry, we will not stay too healthy.
Spinach, Goat Cheese and Sun-Dried Tomato Muffins

- I think this recipe came from the cookbook that came with my dad’s new oven.  I just have a photocopy.

• 2 C all-purpose flour
• 4 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. black pepper, freshly ground
• 3 1/2 ounce (100g) goats cheese, diced*
• 1/4 C grated parmesan
• 2 eggs
• 3/4 – 1 C buttermilk**
• 2 oz fresh spinach leaves chopped, or 3 oz frozen chopped spinach, thawed, pressed and drained
• 3/4 C finely sliced sun-dried tomato, lightly packed***

Preheat the oven to 420F.

In a large bowl mix the dry ingredients and fold the cheeses through the dry mix until coated.  In another bowl beat the eggs and combine with the buttermilk, spinach and sun-dried tomato.  Tip the mixture into the dry mix and combine without overmixing, adding more buttermilk if necessary.  Spoon into greased muffin pans, fill the cups 3/4 full and cook until well risen and golden on the outside.  About 15 minutes.

* I used Vermont Butter and Cheese fresh goat cheese

** You can substitute milk curdled with lemon juice or vinegar (I like to use apple cider vinegar)

*** I used Trader Joe’s julienned sun-dried tomato.