Five Favorites - In Vino Veritas! Edition

Check out Hallie's here!

{one}

The top slot of the day goes to Maple Bourbon Bacon Jam.

Yes, you heard me. MAPLE BOURBON BACON JAM. I have not had this particular kind, but I have had bacon jam, and I am beyond ecstatic at the thought of going home for the holidays and creating my own jars of deliciousness with my bestie and fellow foodie Sarah.

H/T to the always wonderful April, who has made her own jars and is making me seriously contemplate driving west to obtain a jar or two...

{two}

Next, Essie nail polish - because it is a happy, classy brand. It also makes my hands look like they have a party to attend.

{three}

Every Saturday, we have Supper Club with a classmate of Will's and her sister, who have become very dear friends down here. Unfortunately for them, their neighborhood is infested by roosters. Fortunately for me, I got to spy this sweet mama hen and her three chicks this past weekend!

I know I'm not the one being woken up every morning by them, but GOSH they're cute!

{four}

We had another one of Will's classmates over for dinner and he brought the wine. If I was not preggo, I may have consumed half the bottle. It is that delicious; and the label is funny too!

Barrel Monkeys, 2011 Shiraz - from McLauren Vale in Australia.

{five}

My Dad ordered me my very own subscription of The Magnificat and it is so comforting to me to have morning prayer, the mass readings, and evening prayer at my disposal, as well as a daily reflection and saint of the day. I was especially touched by this passage: "Behold, I have left an open door before you, which no one can close." (Rev 3:8)

I love that I can read it all through my iPhone app as well - much better than bringing the book along, and then misplacing it for days.

Have a wonderful day, y'all!

Blueberry Bundt (There Is A Hole In This Cake)

Yesterday was my 39 week appointment, which confirmed this baby ain't leaving soon. The nurse asked if I was in any pain, and I gave her the "Well..." answer and went to go pee in a cup.

Note to everyone: do not leave a nurse hanging like that. She will find you and she will demand to know how you are feeling.

I was feeling fine, at that point. I was awake most of the night with a tightness across my abdomen, which was more persistent and annoying that particularly painful. Not contractions, and I'm not close to going into labor. The pain I had to think about (and then forget to mention to the nurse as my brain went into La-La Land on the scale) was my throat. I hesitated to mention it because I wasn't sure if it was pregnancy-related, but as I've never had tightening/slight burning before, I figured it had to be.

Acid reflux, anyone? At least, a very mild-mild case of it. But enough to make me not want to eat ANYTHING. Which most people can tell you is not a good thing. But my MIL told me she would eat bites of angel food cake and sip milk when she was preggo and had acid reflux. Which brings me to this week's greatest idea ever:

BLUEBERRY BUNDT CAKE, with special thanks to Martha Stewart - the bearer of delicious recipe ideas

{Now, if you've clicked on the link you'll see that it is actually blueberry-lemon bundt cake. For the sake of my throat/stomach, I omitted the lemon... for now.}

ingredients

2.5 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature {I put them on top of the toaster oven 2-3 times, rotating sides}
1 cup packed light-brown sugar {I used part light, part dark}
1 cup granulated sugar
4 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup plain greek yogurt [Chobain brand!] {Martha calls for sour cream} ... I also used more than a cup

2 cups blueberries {I used frozen and did not thaw beforehand}

instructions

{Natalie Merchant radio on Pandora is not required, but certainly enhanced this baking experience.}

I used my mixing stand (thanks, Aunt Joanne!) to cream the butter and sugars together first, then added one egg at a time. I added one cup of flour, mixed; scooped in some greek yogurt; mixed; one cup of flour, mix-mix-mix; the rest of the greek yogurt, mix; half cup of flour, mixy-mix; 2 teaspoons of baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract and kept the mixer going.

Then, I removed the mixing top and plopped it in the sink. (Fine, I ate some of the batter first, then plopped it in ze sink.)

Now, this is where it gets tricky. The instructions say to fold the blueberries into the batter. I took this as, generously guesstimate 2 cups of blueberries into the mixing bowl and stir, stir, stir.

However, after spraying the bundt pan with nonstick butter spray, and the timer for the oven went off, and... I got impatient about putting it into the oven, so I stirred less than I should have. The only thing that happened was that there were more blueberries on the bottom of the bundt cake, but I think that is easily remedied if you, dear reader, took more time - or put the blueberries in half at a time, so ensure them to be better spaced out.

Here you go, in its raw glory {see, I could have folded the blueberries better}:

Then, 70 minutes later at 350:

(The recommended cooking time is 60-70 minutes on the lowest rack.)

After letting it cool in the pan, I covered it up and went to bed. In the morning, I had this for breakfast:

Consensus: delicious!

#7QT: Life, Listlessness, and The Ladies Who Lunch

Hey-o, gang! Check in with Jen and the crew here!

ONE

Officially 11 days till my due date... the bets are rolling in steadily. My brother John lost first; he said September 11. My MIL bet I will go into labor tonight and deliver tomorrow... fingers crossed that doesn't happen either.

Any bets, readers? We're asking for date, time and gender! And thank you all so very much for the sweet prayers, notes and comments y'all have sent my way during these past nine months. I couldn't have made it through the nausea without my vast support system!

TWO

I love Pintrest, but do you know what would make it even better? REVIEWS.

Here's one Amazon reviewer who had me laughing out loud over his reviews of hummingbird nector, milk, toilet seats, et cetera. (H/T to this lady for pointing me there.)

But seriously. We need a Pintrest reviews board! This Epic Pintrest Fail website will suffice for now.

(Pinning? Follow me! I loves it.)

THREE

“Brother, I’m not depressed and haven’t lost spirit. Life everywhere is life, life is in ourselves and not in the external. There will be people near me, and to be a human being among human beings, and remain one forever, no matter what misfortunes befall, not to become depressed, and not to falter – this is what life is, herein lies its task.” 

― Fyodor Dostoyevsky, 'The Brothers Karamazov'

FOUR

I plan to tackle tasks this week with muffins, specifically blueberry, which I will be making without a box of mix and a can of blueberries for the first time EVER. I hope they'll be delicious. I've stalked Pintrest for delicious blueberry muffin recipes, but I think I am going to stick with my cookbooks for now... too many healthy recipes and substitutions abound. People! Some people just want their muffins to resemble a dessert!

This recipe understands me. Then again, these zucchini blueberry muffins do look enticing.

FIVE

I'm also exhausted. I have not posted on the blog since last Saturday, but I've started four pieces... I just can't finish them. Listless is the word I've been searching for when people ask how I am doing - "characterized by lack of interest, energy, or spirit" and "lacking energy or disinclined to exert effort; lethargic"... dot dot dot.

Next week I'll be 39 weeks. I'm having contractions but ... yeah, no. Yesterday at the gym/ Tulane rec center, Friends was on t.v. in the elliptical area and Rachel was rushed to the hospital by Joey because she was experiencing contractions. The doctor told her not to worry, they were only Braxton-Hicks, a.k.a. practice contractions.

Which made me preggo-rant/ think while sweating/ labor training, Had her doctor SERIOUSLY never talked to her about Braxton-Hicks?! What kind of doctor does she have? And why did she go to the E.R.? And why did the doctor tell Joey he did the right thing by bringing her in?!

Sure, they hurt. Fine. But the E.R.? C'mon Friends writers. No-no-no-no drama!

SIX

Prayer request: one of my in-laws' chickens might be biting the dust soon. My MIL is very sad about it, even though she will soon have a grandchild. (Will thinks this is a good trade-off!)

I call them "The Ladies Who Lunch"

Also, my husband and our friend Katie start the Match process on Sunday. It's a stressful time, but I pray it will be a fruitful time as well. Three months of interviewing, followed by two and a half months of waiting, and a grand reveal in mid-March after the giant algorithm computes where the aspiring doctors are to spend the next couple (or many, many more!) years of their life. All the prayers you can spare, please!

Prayers for Colorado, peace abroad, and an increase of charity too.

SEVEN

Have I shared this picture yet? Me at 38 weeks:

Happy times as Casa Baldwin. Happy Friday, all!

#7QT: Forget Multi-Tasking!

Friday? It's Friday? Again?! (Just kidding, it's Saturday now.) Hi-ya to Jen and Co.!

ONE

I was complaining at my more recent inability to multi-task well, and Laura sent me this:

Thanks for this wisdom, Laura!

Which ties in a bit to the next few...

TWO

Okay, Syria. This has been on my heart and mind so much. Today is the a day of prayer and fasting for peace in Syria. I can't fast, but Will and I are going to confession and mass today.

There have been interesting articles posted around, explaining the conflict in Syria, and it's just tragic. But Syria is not the only place in the world when horrible crimes are being committed against its citizens, and the hubris of our government to think that they have a moral obligation to "right the wrongs" abroad when our own country is crippled by our abortion rates, the sex trafficking happening right under our noses, the ridiculous war on drugs which sounds good but is causing more violence and crime, the callousness towards anyone attempting to live in a counter-cultural way and the want to conform our country to one standard (be it in education or mores) is truly disturbing.

Syria has not attacked us. Syria's peace crisis is not going to be solved by another country attacking them and then forcing them into a peace treaty. The devastation of war in the 20th century are multiple examples of that. In the peace treaties following WWI, the humiliation of Germany (an ally, not even an aggressor) was a direct contributor and catalyst to the renewal of pride in being German, the so many closed eyes to wrongs done by the National Socialist Party and its leaders, and the death of millions of innocent people across the European and Pacific theaters.

Hubris can be a greater evil if we allow pride to dictate our power over others.

THREE

The USCCB has written to the President and Congress, following Pope Francis' call for peace. I haven't yet, but I'll be writing too. Pro-life means valuing ALL LIVES. War is not the answer. The end does not beget the means.

Contact your Congressmen. Let's really start keeping people accountable.

FOUR

Okay, fluffy part now. I am in love with Shutterfly. Huggies gave me a "free book" for being a "new mommy" so I made a wedding book, because the offer expires on September 28, and the baby is due on September 24. No way I could make a baby book before then, and I reeeeally wanted to make a wedding book before the deluge of baby pictures come rolling in.

It came last night.

I texted this to my sister last night. 

I love it so much.

My favorite page with my sister's MOH speech.

She's fuuuuuunny.

They're having another general deal for the end of summer - one free 8x8 book with the code "SUMMERBOOK" - hop on it, y'all!

FIVE

I am a list girl. Before Baby arrives, I want to have my chore list established and my pantry list in working order, as well as our finances and passwords in one location so Will can contribute to the process. On a larger scale, I think this is going to be a big step for me in not micro-managing.

My current list!

Also, on a personal question level, does one ever get used to taking care of the majority of the housework, cleaning, errands?! Will helps out when I ask, but I have to be specific because I don't think he notices a majority of the messes I am obsessing over... Maybe that's why I fit this job description better.

{He can also memorize a ridiculous amount of information and comprehends it all - which I really only benefit from when I have a pregnancy woe or when we're watching a t.v. show and someone has the flu, and the doctor says they're running low on antibiotics, or something like that. Laugh laugh laugh - the flu is a virus! You can't cure it with an antibiotic!}

Another question: I know chores is a constant adaptation to one's surroundings, but how does you stick to your goals? I tend to get side-tracked by other jobs (which perhaps ties into the first part - struggling with multi-tasking!)...

SIX

One perk of an OB's office are all the adorable baby announcements one gets to look at while waiting for the doctor to come in the room. Since my baby is due in 17 days, I've been thinking more seriously on this. I also don't want to wait to see if it's going to be a boy or girl when deciding... I've been thinking of a New Orleans onesie!

I found this one at a local store, Fleurty Girl:

Thoughts? I'll probably keep looking around, and buy one by next weekend.

SEVEN

Fun links:

• Performing Shakespeare’s plays with their original English accent - um, very cool.
• 10 Things I Love About Flannery O’Connor - hearts, glitter and puffy paint galore! Me too, Haley.
• Cormac McCarthy's words matched with music at Literary JukeBox - a side project of BrainPickings; love.

Happy weekend!

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars for Lazy People (like me)

By lazy, I mean they're not even cookies. They're bars. Why separate them first when I can cut them later? Hello gooey deliciousness.

I really can't decide if I've always liked desserts or my pregnancy is making me extra craaaaavy for them. Either way, we're going to a Mississippi beach with friends this weekend, so I decided to make some sort of dessert to-go. We have all the ingredients on hand, so that was my decision making process.

That tea cup is now empty of gooey goodness

(I was also a half-hour early to an editors meeting for The Mirror Magazine  because I'm all off on this different time zone thang, so the extra time obviously went to making baked goods. I called my sister too. Now I have a sweet bite for the 15 thank you cards to go and one more Miss Marple episode... tonight's going to be a good night!)

My next decision came down to two recipes. Here's Megan's recipe - for the bigger is better crowd; I went with this one.

{I also loved this recipe - thanks, Rachael Ray! For those who want a smaller batch of yum.}

ingredients

first bowl:
1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature (ja, that's 16 tablespoons of butta... I lowered that slightly)
1 1/4 cups brown sugar
3/4 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla

second bowl:
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

After those two are combined, add in:
2 cups quick-cooking or old fashioned oats
1 1/2 cups chocolate chips

375 degrees for 20 minutes or so! 10x15 baking pan is recommended; adjust baking time accordingly! (Or just stick a knife in it to check. Mine took an extra 10-ish minutes.)

I started cutting into it, and then remembered I had to take a picture.

Thoughts on making lemon bars next? Will likes those (I think... but so do I, so it's a win-win). I'm also drawn to Megan's recipe for chewy peanut butter brownies... because if there is one thing I know, it is that peanut butter is the bomb dot com and I am always into peanut butter.