Cocktail Cravings

As with my last pregnancy, by the time I've reached this point I am absolutely gagging for a cocktail.  I daydream about cocktail hour g and t's, refreshing unusual concoctions served in fancy glasses and cold sweet baileys on ice for dessert. 
Recently we splurged on a night out at Clooney Restaurant.  Pete started out the evening with one of their specialty cocktails, the Little Ladybird.  Sounds a bit feminine I know but it was incredibly delicious (I swear I only had one sip).  Belevedere pomarancza, dubonnet, campari, sugar syrup and citrus.  It was the bomb.  In our post dinner reflection I had another look online at their cocktail menu.  Yes, I know I am obsessed but I am not an alcoholic I promise.  This cocktail definitely caught my eye and I will be making it just as soon as this little one stops feeding off my placenta.

Lady In The Dark
Belvedere, lillet rouge, pomegranate molasses, fresh beetroot, grape juice.

Anyone want to join me for cocktails?

And don't you think Lillet is cute enough to be a baby girl name?

Prediction update

Since I was going on about the birthdate I might as well fill you all in on what sex we think the baby is.   Well, we have no clue at all and are probably even more in the dark after yesterday.  The doc said before he even did the scan that he could give us a clue as to what it might be so we thought 'ok, go ahead, what can he possibly tell us without even looking at a scan'.  70% of breech babies are girls.  Well then, it's most likely a girl knowing our track record and that statistic.  No, but wait...after the initial scan...twice the doctor referred to the baby as a boy.  First he dropped a 'he' in and then he called him 'little man'.  Both times he corrected himself quickly.  So where does that leave us?  Completely stumped.  I tried to find his 70% statistic online but couldn't find out much.  It will surely be a surprise!!!

Prediction

So now that we've got the baby flipped (which I will get to in a minute), I have a prediction about the baby's birth.  There will be a full moon on the 18th of April. I am due on the 15th according to my dates but the first scan showed EDD as April 19th.  Rita was born 5 days late and Gigi was 4 days late.  I think this baby might be here on the 18th.  Just a guess of course but that would suit me just fine. 
Back to the big flip.  If anyone has to go in for this external cephalic version, I hope you might be as lucky as me.  I think even the doctor was shocked at how little he had to do to get this baby to budge.  With one hand shoving the bum out of my pelvis and another hand behind the little one's head forcing it down, it was one movement and not even 30 seconds later that the baby moved into place head down.  Honestly it was so easy and quick, we were all a bit stunned.  Pete was sitting next to me holding my hand getting ready for me to squeeze away while they tormented my belly and alas there was no discomfort whatsoever.  Huge relief to say the least.
Now if I could stop waking up at 5 in the morning I would be a happy chappy.  Until then, here's hoping I can sneak a nap in while looking after 2 kids at home today!

Small Changes

We've been making a few small changes around the place in preparation for baby's arrival.  Got rid of the old bulky antique rocking chair that didn't quite suit our new, smaller and more modern house and replaced it with an Eames replica rocking chair.  Down in the laundry I had stashed away some cushions and one of them just happens to be a perfect match for the new rocker.  Loving it and hopefully it will make a nice seat for baby and I to spend many an hour rocking, feeding and bonding. 



The cluttered kitchen bench has been bothering me for ages and Pete and I had talked about putting in a new shelf to move some stuff off the counter.  Well, voila, a few weekends later and Pete has built the perfect little shelf easily reached by us shorties.  It tidies the corner up perfectly. 





Nice Loaf

Crap camera and photo but awesome granary loaf.  This has been week 2 of baking our daily bread.  We had a back log of different flours in the freezer so I decided to stop buying bread at $4 or $5 a loaf and make our own for a fraction of the price.  So far, so good and not too much effort to get it done thanks to Mr. Kitchenaid.

4 weeks and counting...

Here I am at 36 weeks.



Finally hit that really uncomfortable stage.  Walked the kids to preschool then came home exhausted....at 9:30 am.  I'm not sleeping that well and I'd really just love for the baby to get into the right position for birth.  Then I could relax and think 'bring it on'.  Can't wait to meet the little sucker but the wait won't be for very much longer, I hope!

Figs continued.....

I forgot the best part of the whole fig story!
So, Peter was out in the yard one day and picked a bunch of ripe figs, about 8 of them or so.  He got sidetracked doing something else so he put them all down in a pile on the lawn in the meantime.  When he went back to get them to bring them inside, they were nowhere to be found.  Out of the corner of his eye, he spied our dog Rex looking very sheepish.  Apparently Rex has quite a thing for figs.  Since then I have noticed Rex sitting under the fig tree quite often eating those that have dropped to the ground.  Has anyone else heard of a fig eating dog? 

Fig Mania

Our fig tree has let loose and luckily the birds haven't beaten us to the fruit.  We are getting a bowlful each day of beautiful subtle flavored green figs.  This has spurred a 'what can I do with figs' kitchen workshop.  After eating countless figs fresh from the tree I tried making a fig and blue cheese tart with hazelnut crust.  Very good but perhaps it needed some marscapone to dull the sharp blue cheese flavor. 



Looked good before it got loaded with cheese and went into the oven



Served with corn on the cob and grilled crayfish



We had some friends over for a make your own pizza contest. Emma's pizza had fresh figs and feta; very yum but no photos. Pete's creation actually won the contest but I gave Emma thumbs up for creativity. Next up was fig ice cream, recipe courtesy of David Leibovitz blog. Super jammy and really easy. We are still enjoying what's left of that.

Rita modeling fig ice cream on a cone

And alas when I found a bag of figs in the garage downstairs left after a party the students had last week, we decided it was time to try drying the darn things.  They came out pretty well considering we did it in the oven.  Don't really want to think about what it will do to our power bill this month!

Dried figs after about 2 days on and off in low heat fan oven.