Home sweet home

Before recently, I never really felt I had a real home. I’d been a nomad for so many years, living here a few years, there a few months, hop-scotching my way coast to coast. I’ll always consider El Paso my ‘hometown,’ of course, because I was born and raised here, but I never really felt “at home” here and, frankly, never really knew what it was to feel “at home.” I was too antsy, too restless and not comfortable just BEING STILL.
The first time I really got a sense of being “at home” was in Germany, staying for months at a time with my husband’s family. There is a drastic difference between American home life and German home life. In short, the home IS life. All celebrations, meals, gatherings and milestones take place in the home. Germans are house-proud but private, maintain their homes immaculately but not extravagantly or in a way to try to one-up the neighbors or show who’s got the bigger, better, newer whatever…. The homes are lived-in yet clean and ALWAYS orderly, smells of hearty meals and crackling fires greet residents and guests alike, and it’s rare to want to leave home constantly to see what one might be missing. In fact, people look forward to going back home!
My nesting phase of pregnancy (I’m 33 weeks tomorrow!!!!) is making me really feel “at home” and trying to create an environment similar to the one I experienced in Germany. I’ll not have the crackling fireplace (are you kidding? It’s El Paso!) but I can simulate it with pine candles and incense. I won’t have a gorgeous view of the rolling hills of hops fields and fiery yellow rapeseed, the sounds of goats and cows or the greetings of “Grüss Gott!” on the cobblestone streets, but I can, and will, improvise! I’m making this apartment, er, home, a warm and inviting refuge from the dust, loud lowriders, smog and roaring trains that typify El Paso living, and I LOVE coming home.
Yesterday I spent a good 5 hours organizing, tidying, simplifying and beautifying our little home, getting it ready for Hannah’s arrival. Having a place that’s 480 square feet does give one a challenge and it really makes one sort out the needed from the unneeded. Prioritizing comes much easier when that is the only option one has.
So, with the space we have, here’s what I could do. Now if I can just figure out a place to put the Christmas tree!

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Last night, Christian made mini burgers for dinner, with baguette and salad. I haven’t heard differently from my doctor, but I am convinced my iron levels are low, because I’ve been craving meat like mad. Meat, gingerbread, baguette, cabbage in any way/shape/form, water!, non-fat lattes from Starbucks, oatmeal, milk, Sharon fruit and peppermint bark… yep, those are my current preggers cravings. Heck, I wouldn’t say no to sauerkraut and a latte for breakfast! God, how many more weeks??????

Culinary Travel Part IV: Finland

Alright, I have to admit last night’s Culinary Travel Adventure Part IV was a bit of an afterthought. After Saturday’s Baby Shower and all the hoopla and cleaning up and thank you card writing, etc., we barely remembered to even HAVE our adventure. But we did, and this week it was Finland. So I put all the baby bootie in the corner and got hunkering down with the cooking task.
Since I’d chosen the country (selfishly, I might add, because I’ve really been craving salmon, so I KNEW I had to pick a Scandinavian country), I was in charge of the main dish, while Christian made the appetizer and dessert. His appetizer, sauerkraut soup, was the ULTIMATE comfort food, made with chunks of pork, slices of ham, beef broth and sauerkraut. Now, THIS is what should be served to the convalescent! Pure comfort food, full of minerals and Vit C, and amazingly tasty!!!
My entree, salmon casserole, was made with chopped peeled potatoes, diced onions, milk/cream/butter and chunks of salmon, with a breadcrumb topping. Okay, I failed. My potatoes were undercooked and the breadcrumbs overcooked. But the salmon rocked our world. It looks like the onions and potatoes insulated the salmon in such a way to make it just melt in the mouth with creamy, salmon-y goodness. A pass/fail dish, lol.
But Christian’s parfait made with heavy cream, crushed cookies mixed with raspberry juice, raspberry jam and layered, WON big time. I will get the recipe and post it. It BLEW away my old favorite, Starbuck’s Lemon Berry Parfait, by a wide margin. God, I love a husband who knows all the right moves in the …. kitchen.

8 Weeks To Go! (More or Less????)

Today I reached 32 weeks…. 32 loooooonnnnnnnggggg but yet short weeks! That means 8 weeks to go, IF I have the by-the-book by-the-due-date birth. But how often does that happen? As long as Hannah is born AFTER Christian returns from Germany (he leaves Thanksgiving Day and returns Dec. 8), I’m happy.
My nesting obsession continues, along with my frenzied shopping for holiday gifts, decorations and goodies. I can’t walk through a Christmas decoration aisle without getting something. Anything. Thank god I do most of my shopping for daily household items at the Dollar Tree, or I’d be getting a serious talking-to from my husband and the bill collectors.
Since my shower is Saturday, I didn’t feel right not doing ANYTHING to help out, even though I’ve just been asked to “show up!” Soooo, I bought some cute favors and spent the better part of yesterday afternoon getting those little cuties together. NOT something I’d ever even consider doing in my past life (pretty much anything pre-2007 I call my Past Life… no, I’m not Shirley McLaine).
Cooking, sleeping, eating, shopping, power-walking, doc visits, eating, sleeping, cooking, eating, shopping… yep, I think that pretty much sums up my daily existence the last few weeks. I am pretty sure in the very near future that will read: sleeping, eating, doc visits, sleeping, eating…. a definite winding down is happening, and I guess I’ll go along with it! For instance, I used to scoff at those who say they got their daily exercise by walking 20 minutes a day. HA! I would barely consider 20 minutes a cool-down, much less a workout. Well, I bite my tongue, since that’s just about all I could accomplish today. If I hadn’t had to pee every block, I just might have made 30 minutes…barely.
Poor Christian had to work 12 hours yesterday, and didn’t get off until 8 p.m. last night, so I made something simple, fast, hearty and full of sleep-inducing carbs: pasta and a colorful cabbage salad. I guess it also had a little to do with the fact that the cubbard is becoming barer and barer, with grocery day being Sunday. We’re down to pasta, rice, canned black beans, lots of heads of cabbage, Monterrey Jack cheese, a few eggs and tons of apples (which Christian hates). If YOU can come up with a recipe (edible, please) that incorporates those items, I will be most grateful!
Tonight, however, it’s RUDY’S BBQ… we’ve not had our fix of messy, greasy, yummy barbeque in a few weeks, and it’s time to get this poor, waddling mamma to be out of the kitchen, barefoot and pregnant 😉