SWEET INDULGENCE

The past few days have been cold, and I mean really cold.  Cold to the point where it hurts your face to go outside.  When the weatherman says 15 degrees, feels 1 with the wind chill, beware!  It is weather like this that inspires me to stay in and bake.  Yesterday I decided to attempt some homemade brownies.  The result was such yummy, fudge-y goodness that I felt the need to share the recipe found on one of my favorite recipe sites, epicurious.com.  The recipe was published in Gourmet Magazine in February 2000 and originated from the Farm of Beverly Hills.  The Farm's brownies were named "Best Brownies in Los Angeles" by Los Angeles Magazine 2005.  If you are craving something chocolate-y, perhaps in time for Valentine's Day, or perhaps because your pregnant, I highly suggest these brownies (TT).

Ingredients

• 3 sticks unsalted butter, cut into pieces
• 12 ounces fine-quality bittersweet chocolate (not unsweetened), chopped
• 6 large eggs
• 1 1/4 cups cake flour (not self-rising)
• 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder (not Dutch process)
• 3 cups sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Preparation
Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter and flour a 13- by 9- by 2-inch metal baking pan, knocking out excess flour. Melt butter with chocolate in a large metal bowl set over a saucepan of barely simmering water, stirring until smooth. Remove bowl from pan and whisk in eggs, 1 at a time. Sift together flour and cocoa powder in a separate bowl and stir into batter with sugar and salt. Pour batter into pan and bake in middle of oven until top is firm and a tester inserted into center comes out with crumbs adhering, 40 to 45 minutes. Cool completely in pan on a rack, about 2 hours, before cutting into 20 squares.

Good with a tall glass of milk.

BEEMER

This morning Nate forwarded me this ad, which instantly put a smile on my face.   For as long as I can remember the BMW 2002tii has been my favorite car (TT).  It is the car I would definitely purchase if safety, reliability, and 4-wheel drive were not of more importance to me.  From what my mom tells me, she actually used to own one, but traded it for a Volvo station wagon once it was time to start a family.  Someday I hope to have one of these classic cuties (possibly even in golden rod)...in the meantime I will just applaud Kate Spade's art director who apparantly also recongizes the carefree charm of this vintage ride.  Cheers!

COMING TO TERMS WITH PINK

Okay, I'll admit it.  When I found out I was having a girl I was terrified of being barraged with pink and sparkles.  I have always found myself to be quite impartial to the color pink.  If you were to ask my favorites, pink would rank somewhere around number 20.  It's not that I hate pink by any means, I just feel there are so many other incredible colors.  I tend to gravitate to greens, blues, yellow and reds.  I also feel that just because she is a girl why does she have to be forced into a very pink world?

As soon as the word baby becomes part of your everyday vocabulary, things are instantly categorized as pink or blue.  If you are having a girl - you get pink.  If you are having a boy - you get blue.   Why I ask, when there are so many other great colors?  Because that is what sells.   Nowhere was this more obvious then when we went to register at the baby megastore, Buy Buy Baby.  When pondering pacifiers, bottles, teething gear, crib bedding, blankets and onesies we were consistently confronted with pink or blue.  9 times out of 10 I leaned toward the blue option.  Nate ever so gently reminded me that the blue option was for a boy and if we buy our little girl blue, we will spend the first few months of her life explaining to people that our bundle of joy is, in fact, a girl and not a boy.  He had a valid point.  Since I highly doubt we will be corn-starching bows to her little head, a blue/brown onesie would most likely cause gender confusion.  So, from then on when confronted with pink and blue I hesitantly began to choose pink. Since opening my mind to the world of pink, I have discovered that not all pink has to be fuchsia with rhinestones reading "Daddy's Little Princess." Much of the pink out there is actually quite cute.  In fact, after bypassing all the blue/green monkeys and owls for boys, I came across some crib bedding I liked that involves pink.  Dwell Studio makes amazing prints for boys and girls that are modern, simple, and have a touch of Swedish design flair.  The print I like is called Gio Lemon and is adorned with hippos, squirrels, elephants, bunnies and snails in pink, maroon, grey and yellow.  Unfortunately the print is on the verge of being discontinued and only a few pieces remain from what I can tell from my online searches.  I have since snatched up the stroller blanket and registered for the burp cloths and bibs.  Though they no longer carry the Gio Lemon crib fitted sheets, I discovered they do have fitted sheets in dove grey squares from one of their other collections that will go perfectly.  You may say I am now satisfied with hints of pink.

To further the pink cause, this morning I was browsing Old Navy Baby and saw some super cute pink-y things...hmmm.  I have come to the conclusion that in this pink and blue baby world, I will not force our little lady into tomboy-hood, but will give her tastes of a versatile palette, so that she can decide what colors she likes herself.

P.S. I am still not sold on sparkles.

THE BELL HOUSE

On Wednesday night Nate and I ventured deep into Gowanus, Brooklyn with friends Alex and Mia to see Charlotte Gainsbourg play at the Bell House - a venue we had never been to before. Though Charlotte's performance left something to be desired, the actual venue was pretty cool. The setting had an old saloon vibe adorned with with wooden arched ceilings, huge chandeliers and images of buffalo in the main concert hall, while the antique leather furniture and vintage wall paper in the fronteir room felt like the set of an old Clint Eastwood movie...and of course, there was a photo booth, and who doesn't love a photo booth?

It was while sitting with the crew in the frontier room that I felt our girl kick for the first time.  I felt a gurgle-y poke, and thought it was just my dinner, but then I put my hand on my tummy and felt it again in the same place!  Definitely a kick.  Since then I felt all sorts of movement!  Amazing.

SO NICE TO SEE YOU...

...can't wait to meet you! Nate and I went in for our 20 week ultra sound this afternoon and were amazed to see how much our little sprout has developed. She weighs just over 1 lb (hopefully about 6+ to go), and is approximately 10 inches long - the length of a banana. The doctor says she looks healthy and all of her measurements are normal, for which we are very thankful. We saw her touching her ears and kicking away in there. Nate is amazed I still haven't felt the kicks, though I am sure I will soon. The quarters of my womb looked cramped, but cozy - sort of like our New York apartment. This will be good practice for the next phase of her life.

I still am diagnosed with previa, however the doctor seemed hopeful that the placenta will still move. We will go back at 28 weeks to check out the progress. I can't believe it has already been 5 months. Time is flying by. More to come later!

WICKED

I am not sure what happened to poor Dorothy on this very cold morning on the corner of W 12th and 4th, but the evidence remains.

AROUND TOWN

OH BOY, IT’S A GIRL

Just prior to flying to California for the Holidays, we went for our second ultra sound screening where we saw little sprout doing her thing – kicking and waving. The 16 week ultra sound is where we got to find out the sex of the baby. Rather than find out then and there, we had the ultra sound technician write down the sex in a card that we could open on Christmas morning for a wonderful present. Well, we couldn’t wait until Christmas morning, so we had my grandma open the card during Christmas Eve dinner to reveal we are having a BABY GIRL! We are thrilled and totally surprised. Nate is one of 9 males in a row on the Ellis side. His cousin, Caroline, broke the male chain some 19 years ago, however, we couldn’t help but think the Ellis male gene was all too prevalent. Our baby girl will make the 2nd girl in a row on the Ellis side – so perhaps we are seeing a new trend! At Christmas we were also delighted to hear that my brother, Jamie, and his girlfriend, Katherine, will be having a BOY three weeks before us. Grandma Bonnie was thrilled to get one of each!

On a not-so-positive note, the ultra sound revealed that I have what they call placenta previa, where my placenta is covering the cervix. Placenta previa can be marginal, partial or complete. I unfortunately have the “complete” version, which is the worst of the three and means the placenta is completely covering the cervix. From what I understand placenta previa is a fairly common occurrence and in most cases as the placenta grows it will move away from the cervix on its own, giving the baby room to be delivered the old-fashioned way. We are crossing our fingers this will happen. If it does not move on its own I will have to have a C-Section delivery, which I sincerely hope is not the case. The doctor will monitor its position as my pregnancy progresses. In the meantime, absolutely no strenuous exercise and no heavy lifting. So…the next 4 ½ months I will be taking it easy… taking care of me and our girl.

Today we had our 18 week check up, and our girl looks like she is doing just fine. She is about 5 ½ inches long – about the length of a bell pepper – and weighs about 7 ounces. I have not felt her moving yet, but Dr. Henry says I probably will by next week. Can’t wait!