Food, Glorious Food

My friend in Vancouver was pregnant last year and so has sent back a bunch of the maternity clothes I sent her, as well as some other odds and ends from other women; included in the boxes have been some books, some of which I had read before, others I had only heard about. One of these was Jenny McCarthy's "Belly Laughs"---a quick read that is actually pretty droll; best for first time moms, of course, as are most of the tomes out there, but still an amusing 30 minutes. One thing that did make me literally laugh out loud though was when she talks about hitting the point where food in any shape or form starts looking as good as sex, probably better, given the circumstances. I have to just quote the passage, because it perfectly sums up the deeeeeeeelightful period I seem to be entering:

"...[O]n the TV was the most delicious product I'd ever seen. In fact, it seemed to me to be the best Shake 'N' Bake commercial ever made....And this kind of thing happened almost daily. I would tune into commercials just to see what rang my bell, and that's what I would go hunt down or make my husband go hunt down." BL, p. 45

YOU TELL IT SISTER. I have finally hit the point where I see things advertised, whether in print or on TV and think "Oh YES, that's EXACTLY what I feel like eating." Now, to my credit (I hope), I have not indulged in many, if any, of those cravings. Frankly, I know they're just going to get worse, and I had best be pacing myself. Don't get me wrong, I still ate two fingerswipes of chocolate frosting AND two hard boiled eggs with mustard yesterday, but I think that shows a good deal of restraint, yes?

Actually what really dawned on me yesterday was that I wanted a collection of various "ethnic" grandmas to come and cook whatever cuisine it was that I felt like eating at that exact moment. Yesterday I needed a Babushka. Badly. Why is there not a pierogi stand at the corner? Why does borscht not come frozen at the grocery store? I've gone through Korean cravings (bi bim bap and kim chee), Chinese cravings (hot and sour soup...easier to find than anything else), British ones (scones and toasted cheese taste better when other people make them for you), German cravings (ooh, must butter up the neighbors), Jamaican ones (reason numero uno to be pregnant in Toronto)...well, you get the idea. There are 28 more weeks of this, people, give or take a few days.

On a less hoggish note, even though I have "looked" pregnant for rather a while now (oh, those little second born scamps!), today was the first day I actually felt a proper bump...very small still, very, ah, low down, but there. Of course I had to prod and poke at it, probably causing Peabo to initiate the decades-long whine of "Moooooooooom! Stoooooooooooooop iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit!". You know.

My sister calls me this morning to tell me she is headed to the REAL Mystic Pizza. Mystic Pizza! Yeah, I admit it, I love that movie...and I love pizza now, very very much. Why does she torture me? Anyway, that's where we are now. Food, and poking at the fetus.