Picture Day!

Good news! I finally remembered to take my camera out of my beach bag and get a picture of our new car for you guys. YAY ME! That only took about 2 weeks......

Here it is! It's not sporty and it's not sexy but it's a pretty cool first family car I think! 

I actually haven't driven it yet because my giant belly makes it really hard to move normally (like, I can't turn and check my blind spots for example) but I'm happy with it anyway. 

We had our first car disagreement the other day though....

My side: Will Smith should NEVER be blasted from any car EVER!

Antonis' side: It's perfectly fine to blast Will Smith, in fact it might even be a little bit cool

It turned out it wasn't Will Smith. It was a free mixed CD that came with the newspaper with random artists on it...but it sounded like Will Smith and he said something about 'getting jiggy'. Even if it's a Will Smith impostor, I still vote we skip that song next time it comes on. Antonis will most likely turn it up just to annoy me. 

I think the war has begun.

To be continued..... 

In my last post I told you I was making this:

Well....I kinda did...but it looked like this:

Nowhere near as pretty! 

But it tasted ok

Here's a link to the original recipe:

http://shescookin.com/2012/07/25/olympic-gold-mediterranean-eggplant-rolls/

I changed it completely though because I pretty much only had eggplant in the fridge...I had some similar ingredients but nothing else was the same

Basically my downfall was the cheese mixture that was meant to be stuffed inside the rolled up eggplant slices, was too runny. It didn't stuff inside anything, it just oozed out the sides and ran all over the baking dish. But that was fine, so then I just added so more of the cheese mixture over the top, poured my tomato sauce over that (which was just sauteed onion and garlic, a can of tomatoes, oregano, basil, salt and pepper all pureed up in the blender...oh, and the cheese mixture was some feta and cream cheese that needed to used up, more basil, oregano, onion, garlic...I think that was it...), and I had some lentils in the fridge so I put that in there too. Oh, and some bread crumbs over the top just because I have a plethora of bread crumbs at the moment. And all of that went into the oven for...I don't know, probably a half hour.

So yeah, final thoughts: it tasted pretty good but if I ever make it again it will be in the winter when I'm craving something like macaroni and cheese, or some kind of comfort food like that. It will NEVER be made for guests because it looks like a dog's breakfast. Overall I give it a 'meh' rating.

I'll definitely try to make stuffed eggplant again though...but maybe next time I'll make sure I have all the correct ingredients instead of experimenting.

Saturday was dinner at the restaurant again with my lovely Johanna, Torsten and Vangelis. No icky experimental food here! And of course Saturday night is Live Greek Music night so that's always fun...we've discovered baby Eleni is especially a fan of Saturday Live Music nights. At first I thought it was just a coincidence that she seemed to move around more when Greek music was on, but she consistently wiggles around whenever there's Greek music. Doesn't matter if it's live or from a CD but live music gets even more of a reaction. 

In fact, I had some MASSIVE contractions Saturday night and Antonis and I almost grabbed my bags and headed for the hospital. They calmed down after an hour though...but you can see my belly has dropped significantly now. I had a doctor's appointment on Monday so we told him about it...he said she was looking for a way out which I thought was hilarious. I just pictured her with a little flashlight in her hand, following the sound of the music and looking for the exit. 

Anyway, it feels like it shouldn't be long now that she's really made herself at home waaay down in my pelvis (which is not so comfortable for walking but breathing and eating have become a pleasure again), but the doctor still thinks she'll be here right on time, around the 24th, 25th, 26th-ish.....my parents, my brother and his girlfriend get here on the 25th so that might end up being a really exhausting day for them - flying across 2 continents and then delivering a baby. Intense!

Anyway, here's more food shots...not great shots because I can't really lean over the table to get a good view without dipping my belly in the tzatziki but you get the idea...

So we have my favourite pregnancy food: grilled sardines! (actually ice cream is probably my fav right now but sardines are pretty awesome too). The orange stuff at the bottom right is Chicken Tignaia which is basically chicken and peppers in a wine/mustard sauce. SO good! There was Greek salad (of course), some salty sardines, eggplant salad which is AMAZING but super garlicky so you can only eat it as long as everyone else is, fava (which is actually peas, not fava beans but the Greek name for the dish just happens to be fava with no relation to the bean at all) and green beans. 

And of course ouzo...but of course I didn't have any of that.

Not long now though!

While we're on the subject of food: here's today's breakfast! Bowl of yogurt with a handful of cereal and a banana, 2 fresh figs and a decaf frappe. 

My father in law picked me some figs yesterday because he's the best! My mother in law on the other hand...we're having a bit of an issue right now which I'll tell you all about after the figs. But for now, here's a closer look at fresh figs that we are so unfairly deprived of in Canada! 

It's really rare to find fresh figs in Canada and when you do they're so expensive (I have to say that because my Greek friends right now are saying "what the hell is special about the figs? God, that Canadian girl is so weird!). We can get dried figs just about anywhere but even those tend to be really expensive, so long story short Greek friends: you are extremely lucky in the fig department! 

To my Canadian friends: if you haven't been to Greece before but you're thinking about it, I recommend paying the extra money to come in August simply so you can pick a fresh fig off a tree and eat it immediately! Yes there are other reasons to come to Greece, but the figs are another reason to add to that list and one which you probably never thought of before.

So worth it!

First you have to peel them though...don't eat the green skin on the outside. It won't hurt you but it tastes weird.

That's what they look like after they're peeled...

And that's what they look like on the inside. Now eat it!

So yummy!

They're really soft and super sticky so make sure you have some wet naps with you. They're not as sweet as when they're dried. Anyway, I love them but you can't go crazy on them because they tend to...hmmm, how do I put this delicately.....well they tend to react in the body the same way as prunes so be careful!

So, to update you on everything that's gone on in the past few days since I last wrote....

First of all the painters came...but there was clearly a miscommunication between Antonis and I because there really wasn't much that was painted correctly. I couldn't be in the house of course because of the paint fumes so I told Antonis everything that needed to be done so he could tell the painters...but I should have written it down I guess.  The worst part of all of it: the babies room was painted the wrong colour!!! 

Our bedroom and the bathrooms were done correctly but everything else was not. I really don't understand how that happened because Antonis and I have talked this over a million times. But there were a lot of details that I wanted done so I probably should have written it down for him. It's not such a big deal though, Antonis is going to fix it but it just sucks because I really wanted all of this done before August so I could just relax and wait for the baby. Oh well, ti na kanoume? (basically that means: what can ya do?)

On a positive note: I ordered some stuff for the baby which should be arriving today or on Monday. YAY!! Unfortunately they didn't have the stroller I wanted because it was 50% off and sold out almost immediately. So I'm still stroller-less and we're shopping around but I'm pretty excited for the rest of the stuff to arrive.

Ok, the crappy part...the problem with my mom in law. There's a few things that happened that I'm not happy about and I'm not really sure how to resolve. First of all, last night she informed me that the minute I go into labour that Antonis and I WILL call her immediately and we WILL be driving all together to the hospital. I said "why?"...because I was a little shocked that she was telling me how all this was going to happen without even asking me what I wanted or was comfortable with....and she says "BECAUSE I WANT TO BE THERE TARA!" and she started crying.

Now, I didn't mean to upset her or offend her in anyway at all but clearly I did, which I feel really bad about. But I really really REALLY don't want this. I understand that this is important for her too and she's really excited BUT this is my body and my experience. My issue is that when I'm sick or in pain, I really don't like anyone being near me. It's difficult for me to deal with pain when someone is staring at me...it makes the pain worse actually. I tried to explain this to her...she didn't get my point though because she just kept saying "I will come, I will be there, we go together" again and again. Also, when you're in labour the doctor and nurses 'check you' on a regular basis. I don't care who you are, you don't want your parents in law staring at your hoo-haw while the doctor figures out how many centimeters dilated you are. That's just SO not ok with me. And finally, I really would like to have some time with just Antonis and I and the baby once she's here. I have absolutely no problem with people coming to visit in the hospital after the baby's arrived, but if Antonis and I could just have an hour or two after she's born to have it be just the 3 of us and no one else...I would love that. That's so not going to happen though and I'm really sad about it. 

I talked to Antonis about this last night. He was pretty understanding but the reality of it is, even if we don't call them to tell them we're on our way to the hospital...they will find out. Unless it's in the middle of the night, they will find out. Antonis works all the time. We have a family restaurant. If he's not at work, and it's not one of his normal break times; where else is he going to be? At the hospital of course. And he's already said, it doesn't really matter if we ask them to wait until after the baby is born because they will freak out at us for wanting that and they'll drive themselves to the hospital anyway. So fingers crossed I go into labour at like 3am in the morning and deliver almost immediately...then I'll get everything my way. But if that doesn't happen, which is probably pretty likely, Antonis has agreed to respect my wishes and send his mom out of the room if I'm feeling uncomfortable having her there. He looked stressed about it, which of course he would be because this is NOT going to make Olympia happy but the most important thing is to try to have a safe, calm, easy birth and if I'm getting stressed out by anything...the source of that stress has to be dealt with and he knows that's his job during labour. WHEW....I might get in trouble for talking about all of this but I really need to let it out because I've been so stressed thinking about this. It helps a little getting into writing.

We have another problem though. Here's what happens: I'm on the phone with my mom, Olympia comes over because she wants to visit me (this is not a prearranged visit by the way otherwise I wouldn't get on the phone with my mom if I know my mom-in-law is coming over) and even though I tell her I'm on the phone with my mom, long distance, she still stays to have a visit and I have to hang up on my mom. Last night was the fifth time this has happened. Yesterday, after I get off the phone Olympia tells me she was calling me but the phone was busy...but she decided to come over anyway. She also told me that Yorgos told her not to come because I was on the phone. This really upsets me and I find it very disrespectful so I told Antonis about this also....well.....he said that she has told him before that she calls everyday and I don't answer the phone when she calls...

I'm shocked and confused about this. I'm at home everyday. The phone is definitely not ringing. I don't understand why she told her son that I ignore her calls everyday. So he's a little bit upset with me because I brought up the 'she interrupts my time with my mom, can you please mention to her this isn't very nice' topic, but he's been thinking I've been ignoring all of her calls because that's what she's told him is happening. She told me on Saturday night that she had called because she wanted to come over...but I was at the restaurant with Johanna and Torsten and Vangelis. She and Yorgos came later on and sat with us. But obviously you can't classify that as ignoring a call when I'm not at home to get the call (I'm rarely not at home these days though now that I'm massively pregnant)...but is this what she means? I really don't know, like I said I'm totally confused by all of this and honestly I'm pretty upset about it. I don't want to put Antonis in the middle of it either because it's just stupid and he has enough on his mind right now so it's probably best just to leave it. I'm hoping it's just some sort of silly misunderstanding...maybe they need to get a new phone? Maybe I need to get a new phone, who knows! Anyway, I normally have a VERY good relationship with my mother in law and I count myself extremely lucky that I don't have to deal with the typical 'Greek mother in law issues' that I hear about from some of my friends. I'm sure this will all get sorted out and everything will be fine soon.

Now I think I'll call down to the restaurant and find out if our baby stuff has arrived yet YAY FOR NEW BABY STUFF!!!!