Womb Service Link Up

 

Welcome to the Womb Service Link-up, home to ladies dishing the dishes they cannot get enough of all for the happiness of the baby (right?).

Let me give you peek as to how I gained over fifty pounds with Ryan and what my current womb-mate is craving. I have already confessed the Chicken Salad Story so I haven't included that one. 

1. Ryan - Delux Bar & Grill Fries. The sports bar behind our old apartment building has the best fries in the world. We still don't know how they make them because some of the fries are insanely long and look like they come from a potato on steroids. Do they freeze mashed potatoes and then chop them into fries? Do they have access to only crazy giant potatos? Who knows. All I know is they they are always crunchily (made up that word because that is a privilege I am taking while discussing something as bizarre as pregnancy cravings) crispy on the outside, never soggy and just perfect. Looking back, I probably had these at least once a week? We will be heading to Chicago a couple times this month so that corner bar may be getting a deluxe order for those fries. 

(and I never got a wrap there, this was just the only photo I could find on Yelp! with their fries).

2. Baby Harrington - Asian food. I cannot get enough of Pad Thai, Chinese food and when my mom came to visit, you know I ate an insane amount of Filipino Food. I didn't even have a birthday cake this year; I requested turon, which are bananas fried in lumpia wrappers. Once when I was picking up Chinese carryout, I dropped the box as I was trying to open the car door. My four pieces of crab rangoon spilled onto the asphalt under the car next to mine. I didn't even think twice of getting on my belly to retrieve those precious fried pieces of goodness, and they were gone by the time I reached home. Thank goodness no one saw me ... except that I just told the world wide web. 

3. Baby Harrington - McDonald's Hamburgers. During the first trimester with this baby, you could tell that I was producing plenty of milk for Ryan and growing this baby because my desire for extra calories was insane. Doctors recommend that you eat 300 extra calories a day when you are pregnant, and nursing burns 500-600 calories a day. No wonder all I wanted was junk food. My friend gave us a loaf of bed, and it was gone in a day and a half, eaten with plenty of butter on each slice. My brother-in-law would order a pizza, and I had no shame in eating multiple slices. I fried apples in butter for goodness sake. My biggest junk food desire was a hamburger from McDonald's, which I normally never eat. When I told Chris this, he replied, "You mean you want a burger? Like Five Guys?"

No. 

I wanted a burger from the golden arches that you barely have to chew. One day Chris brought me a Big Mac, and "I've never seen anyone over the age of five be as excited about McDonald's as you are," was his observation. 

4. Ryan - The Southern Mac and Cheese Food Truck. I worked in downtown Chicago for a large part of my pregnancy in Ryan. The neat part about working in one of the tallest buildings in Chicago is that the food trucks park right outside the building. Convenient, convenient. Well, the Southern Mac and Cheese had to go one step further and open a brick and mortar store just one block from my building. The once a week mac and cheese from a food truck could now be devoured whenever I wanted. I can't even count how many times I had the spinach, artichoke and goat cheese mac and cheese. 

5. Ryan - Delux Bar & Grill Mac & Cheese. Not only does Delux have the best french fries, they have even better mac and cheese than the Southern. So creamy, cheesy and just a bit of a kick. We had a system normally on Sunday nights when I once again had not gone grocery shopping: I would call in the order and Chris would run over and pick it up. My food chariot, he was. Now even when it is brunch time when we visit Delux, I always order a side of mac & cheese. This recipe from Martha Stewart is the closest I can find to it. 

Overall with both pregnancies, I have craved savory over sweet. Too many sweets tend to make me jittery during pregnancy, which doesn't normally happen to me. Some days I could just want to drink broth straight! Another thing I have noted - with this pregnancy I have a mild aversion to chicken unless it is fried. I still cook it and eat it because when it goes on sale for $0.99 a pound, I try to be the responsible housewife. 

Now dish! 

Womb Service is open 24/7 for the next seventeen weeks for Baby Harrington and 24/7 for the next two weeks for anyone who would like to link-up! Hashtag #wombservice . Current pregnant mamas, pregnancy veterans and those who are not pregnant are welcome to join. I will try to come up with a more appropriate name for the non-with-child. Maybe this will turn into a monthly thing, maybe not we will see. Cravings do tend to change as the belly grows. 

If you are anything like me, you will start craving every single thing you read about save chicken of the non-fried variety so be prepared with keys in hand or a husband at the ready. 

Happy craving.