microwaved eggs

I love my microwave.  Yes, I know it's totally uncool to declare my love for a machine that makes atrocities like Easy Mac possible, but I'm going to hazard a guess that most people who declare war against microwaves don't have kids.  At least, they don't have infants and can usually eat breakfast before 5:30 PM.

I've read about microwaving eggs for awhile now, but I haven't tried it until tonight.  I really should have done it earlier.  Ever since Ramona's been born, I've basically let myself eat whatever it was that I wanted.  This has actually been a good thing because my milk supply is amazing and the ratio of fats and carbs and protein in my milk has been sufficient to grow a very happy baby who is in the 95th percentile in both height and weight.

Mushroom omelet from the hospital about 20 hours before Ramona was born. I GUARANTEE this egg was microwaved.

This has not, however, been so great for my waistline.  Well, I guess it hasn't been that bad either, I'm down 5 lbs, which sounds wonderful, but isn't when you consider that I'm about the same size as I was before so there's some not-so-great redistribution going on.  Suffice it to say, I should probably start monitoring what I'm eating again and my current plan is to get back to what I was doing for the gestational diabetes and monitor my carb-to-protein intake.  I used to eat a ton of eggs while I was pregnant, but now it's a big process to figure out how to get out a pan, cook an egg, and then eat it all while holding a baby.

Enter the microwave.

2 eggs
salt, pepper, whatever else you put in your eggs
oil

Grease a microwave-safe bowl with a little bit of oil.  Whisk together the two eggs plus whatever seasoning you're going to put in.  Microwave on high for ~45 seconds.  Remove the bowl and stir.  See if there are still wet bits.  If so, microwave for 30 second increments until everything is cooked.

So how do these microwaved eggs taste?  Like eggs.  Their texture leaves a bit to be desired, but they're protein and it's nothing that a little bit of sriracha can't fix.

American Astronomical Society Meeting Food Adventures

Though I pledged to post weekly, I'd like to post more frequently than that.  My silence in the previous week or so was due to a convergence of many factors, mostly owing to the American Astronomical Society conference which occurred in Austin.  Initially, I wasn't even going to attend even though this meeting was held here in Austin, but one of my committee members (and the person who's paying me for most of the spring) encouraged me to attend.  I'm glad I did and I heard about a lot of kick ass projects going on in the astronomy community, but my summary of the astronomy content of the meeting will (probably) come later.  If you want to see some discussion of what went down, check out the #aas219 hashtag on twitter.

The advantage of going to a meeting in your hometown is that there are no annoying hotels to check into and you can mostly go on with your normal after-hours life.  The biggest disadvantage is that you don't get your meals covered.  Eating downtown every day can get pretty expensive, even if it just ends up being for lunch.  I managed to purchase only one meal the entire conference, due to an unfortunate hair in my fries and skipping a day when I felt sick.

On Monday, a group of us went to Moonshine Patio Bar and Grill, which is right next to the Austin Convention Center.  We were seated pretty quickly, though I attribute that to the fact that most of the astronomers were still in a plenary session about the structure of the galaxy.  At each table, they put out little buckets of seasoned popcorn.  It was pretty good, though I only had a few pieces so I could better control my blood sugar.  Oh, gestational diabetes.  I ordered the Backyard Chicken Sandwich, which consisted of chicken, pepper jack cheese, roasted poblano peppers, and avocado.  The sandwich was pretty messy, so I ended up eating most of it with a knife and fork and omitting the bun.  This was served with steak fries, which were hugenormous.  Unfortunately one had a hair in it, but after pointing this out, the waitstaff was awesome and brought me out a new plate of fries and comped my meal.   As they brought out the entrees, they gave us a basket of corn muffins.  These were pretty okay, though nothing incredible.  I'd definitely check this place out again if I'm downtown, though it is on the pricey side.

Backyard Chicken Sandwich

The next day we were looking for a lunch spot that didn't include burgers or Mexican.  It turns out that it's super hard for me to eat Mexican food because the combination of chips+salsa, tortillas+some small amount of meat/cheese+beans/rice is too carb heavy.  I've been trying to keep a ratio of 3:1 carbs:protein at most and really try to keep it within 2:1 if I can.  As we were walking out of the convention center, someone was hawking the banana pudding at Blue Ribbon Barbecue just two blocks away.  I suppose this should have been our first warning sign.  The banana pudding was probably the best thing there (and I hate banana pudding).  I ordered the chicken breast plate with cole slaw and potato salad.  The cole slaw and potato salad were both strangely sweet and the potatoes were waterlogged.  The (smoked) chicken was dry, which I suppose is my fault for ordering chicken, but they did have barbecue sauce at the tables so I tried my luck with that.  No dice.  The sauce was crazy sweet, oily, and had separated by the time I tried it.  I tried someone's brisket and it was pretty dry as well, though it wasn't as bad as the chicken.  Lesson learned: never go to a barbecue place that's trying to sell you on the strength of their desserts.  In terms of downtown barbecue, the best I've had has been Iron Works.  I've heard good things about Lamberts too, but I haven't been there.

Chicken breast platter with cole slaw and potato salad

In all, it was a good meeting even if the food was less than stellar. (HAHA get it? Stellar.  I'm a stellar spectroscopist so I get to make these jokes.  It's one of the few bones they throw us.)

Resolutions

So it's almost a week late, but I've been thinking about resolutions.  Everyone makes them and they mostly include being a better person in some way, shape, or form.  I usually resolve to lose weight, but this year it's a bit more difficult for me to get a gym membership and start pounding the pavement right. this. moment.  Instead, I want to set realistic goals with built in metrics, instead of some nebulous promise of "improvement".

Take better pictures
I've come a long way from not posting photos to posting grainy blackberry photos to my camera phone and now the DSLR, but I think it's time to actually figure out how to take pictures that don't suck.  I'd love to take a class, especially since baby portraits are CRAZY expensive, but we'll have to see about time and money constraints on that.

This? This is a crappy picture.

Comment on at least three posts for every time I sit down and go through blogs I read
I read a lot of blogs and I usually have a lot to say, but I hardly ever take the time to comment.  I'm not sure if it's because I'm shy or what, but it seems like it'd also help me bring in readers and show my appreciation for the time and effort the bloggers I read put into their posts.

Respond to comments
I'm notoriously bad at actually responding to blog comments and I want to make sure that I start responding to the few that I do get.

Post at least weekly
Last year, I posted more than I've ever posted, but most of these came in November and December.  I'd like to make sure that I'm posting at least weekly.  If I get into the habit, it'll make it easier not to just drop my blog once the baby comes.  Speaking of which...

Make sure that I'm putting real food into my body
Now, more than ever, it's important that I eat real food.  We generally do eat unprocessed foods, but sometimes it's hard and I'm tired and we give up and eat something that has more preservatives in it than is necessary.  I know how to cook... and well, if I do say so myself, so this shouldn't be such a problem for me.

real and tasty. also, real tasty.

Maintain healthy blood sugar levels
At my most recent prenatal appointment, my midwife indicated that she thinks that I'm really starting to develop gestational diabetes.  If it progresses to the point where I can't control my blood sugar through diet and exercise, I'll end up on synthetic insulin to regulate it.  Most people know that gestational diabetes creates big babies, but what it also does is degrade the blood vessels in the placenta, meaning that the fetus doesn't get adequate support.  It's because of this that my super natural birth-friendly OB induces labor at 39 weeks for women with uncontrolled GD.  After monitoring my blood sugar off and on for the past few weeks, I've sort of found a pattern that works for me.  I need to stick with it and not just get frustrated and quit so that I can make sure that i have a safe delivery and a healthy baby.

Drink more water
I shared this on twitter, but here's a graphic about what happens to a person's body when she's pregnant.  (TMI warning...) So it makes sense that I have to pee every 5 minutes... which is why I don't drink nearly as much water as I probably should.


There are a zillion more things that I should resolve to do better, but this is sort of what's been at the forefront of my mind for the past week.  Obviously it would be good to maintain healthy blood sugar levels my entire life, but some of these goals are shorter term than others.  I hope that by following these resolutions, I'm able to have both a healthy baby and become a better blogger.  What are your (late, like mine!) resolutions for the upcoming year?

Them's the rules.

So the results are back and dun dun dun... I don't have gestational diabetes!  But I'm apparently developing pregnancy-induced insulin resistance, so I still need to follow a gestational diabetes diet (basically low carb).  There's a class that I'm supposed to take next week (pending my insurance) that talks about how to properly diet and exercise to make sure that the baby doesn't grow hugenormous, but until I attend the class, I was given a list of rules to follow:
Avoid Sugar and All Sweets

Avoid fruit in the morning
NO FRUIT JUICE
Eat small, frequent meals
ALWAYS include a bedtime snack
Each meal and snack must have carbohydrate, protein, and fat
If you are hungry between meals & snacks, eat low carbohydrate foods

So basically, no more fun.  I ended up getting the Eggs Francisco at Kerbey Lane (and only had half of the english muffin).  This kid better be the coolest thing ever, because this is a pretty huge sacrifice.

scrambled eggs, tomato, avocado, and bacon on an English muffin, covered in queso