The First Ultrasound

These ultrasound images are all pretty much the same, which is why it's so surprising that this one looks a wee bit special. I can't quite put my finger on it.

Although we don't yet know the sex of our baby, we've taken to calling him "he". It's better than "it" or "the baby", and it is all part of our manifest destiny master plan. For names, we are thinking of Odhran Dahy (O-ran Daw-hee), Ferghus, or Cahal. In case it's a girl, we've become fond of Brecken and Searsha.

Vegan Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies

These are the ultimate in the chocolate cookie department. Now that you've found this recipe, you can rest assured that you will never, ever, need another chocolate chip cookie recipe again. Unless you want to make them to act as a decoy. In fact, you might never need any other recipe, at all, period. As a wise man once said: you don't win friends with salad.

It distressed me to hear that there is a link between depression and chocolate - meaning, the more chocolate you eat, the more likely you are to be depressed. Athough I'm willing to admit that there may be a connection between the two, I sincerely doubt that there is a causal link - maybe the depression precedes the indulgence, did they ever think of that? That chocolate is the cure, not the culprit?

In my own experience, this is surely the case. For instance, I ate almost no chocolate for the long, trying 3 months of my first trimester, and I have to say, I felt a little strange. My body felt... different. My hormones were definitely acting up. Now that I'm in my second trimester and enjoying the company of my dear old friend again, I feel... actually, I still feel a bit different.

Maybe it's the fetus.

Regardless, I figure, a happy mommy is a happy baby, and I'm back on track to satisfying each individual chocolate craving as it arises.

Choco Chocolate Chip Cookies (An exercise in decadence)

3/4 cup of oil

2 cups of brown sugar

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 tbsp plus 1 tsp ground flax

1/2 cup of soymilk

2 cups whole wheat flour

3/4 cup cocoa powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup chocolate chips

1. In a small dish, mix the milk with the flax.

2. In a large bowl, cream together oil and sugar. Add the flax/milk mix and vanilla extract.

3. Mix the dry ingredients together in a medium bowl.

4. Fold the dry into the wet in batches.

5. Mix the chips in with your hands.

6. Rolls them into cookie-sized balls, press them gently with a fork, and place them on an oiled cookie sheet, keeping in mind that these cookies grow outwards, not upwards.

7. Cook them for 9 or 10 minutes at 350.

Breaded Roses Abound

That's it, I'm throwing my hat over the fence. I've gotten the urge to blog over the past several weeks, but I haven't had an outlet until this very moment. This is a blog about how the simple things in life can be both the bread and the roses of our existence. It was inspired by a combination of Utah Phillips' song lyrics of the same name, a pregnancy craving for beer-battered deep-fried tofu, and the thought that a dear friend of mine should really start a blog. Then I realized, I'm a dear friend of mine, and anything smart and inspired that I've ever done has been inspired by the thought that someone else should do it. I'm someone else, to somebody.


Here are the song lyrics - about how we need not just bread to feed our physical body, but also roses to nourish our soul. It is, among many other things, a workers' movement song that I think captures an almost universal theme. The slogan appeals for both fair wages and dignified working conditions. Who doesn't want justice and dignity? So why not wrap our bread around our roses, and get fulfillment out of the everyday tasks that we all, at some point, willingly (ie family) or coerced (ie employment), signed up for? And if we're really into it, maybe we can deep-fry it.



As we go marching, marching, in the beauty of the day,
A million darkened kitchens, a thousand mill lofts gray,
Are touched with all the radiance that a sudden sun discloses,
For the people hear us singing: Bread and Roses! Bread and Roses!
As we go marching, marching, we battle too for men,
For they are women's children, and we mother them again.
Our lives shall not be sweated from birth until life closes;
Hearts starve as well as bodies; give us bread, but give us roses.
As we go marching, marching, unnumbered women dead
Go crying through our singing their ancient call for bread.
Small art and love and beauty their drudging spirits knew.
Yes, it is bread we fight for, but we fight for roses too.
As we go marching, marching, we bring the greater days,
The rising of the women means the rising of the race.
No more the drudge and idler, ten that toil where one reposes,
But a sharing of life's glories: Bread and roses, bread and roses.
Our lives shall not be sweated from birth until life closes;
Hearts starve as well as bodies; bread and roses, bread and roses.