Slave to my pregnancy cravings

I am officially 39 weeks pregnant and ready, oh so ready, to pop this baby out.
Considering people keep asking me if I am carrying twins, you can imagine how big I've gotten. This means sleeping, walking, standing have gotten increasingly harder.
Baking and cooking are taking a back seat (right next to my Graco baby car seat), and probably will for a while.
Not to fret, I will try to keep blogging, at least until I go into labour and settle in with the new baby.
In the meantime though, I will answer one of the burning questions that people keep asking me. What did I crave during my pregnancy?

The shameful list:

Yes, ice cream and pickles: But not together. Any dairy product that was cool and slid down my throat, be it milk, yogurt, smoothies, ice cream, frozen yogurt, pudding (does that count as dairy?) was A+ in my books. My husband couldn't stop remarking on the amount of milk I drank with meals with my pizza and Chinese food, but I can't think of anything better. As for the pickles, the urge to eat dill and garlic pickles usually came strong and suddenly, and I'd find myself leaning over the sink eating them two at a time.

Butterscotch vanilla sundaes with pecans: Ice cream played such a big role in my pregnancy it deserves another mention. Fortunately my husband was kind enough to drive to the local Dairy Queen when this craving hit, which was often. The night that DQ ran out of pecans and my hubby came back with peanuts instead was not a happy night.

Blueberry pancakes: But not just any blueberry pancakes. I always want to eat my pancakes with a side of feta. That's just what we did in my household growing up, and it's a combination that I return to as an adult, time and time again. The truth it, the feta introduces a salty bite that seems to take the edge of the syrupy sweetness.

Mom's okra and green beans: The more lemon in the tomato sauce for either dish, the better.

Chinese dumplings: preferably with pork and shrimp, preferably with a side of hot sauce. Drool, drool, drool. It's a good thing I made a huge batch of Chinese dumplings after attending the class because they tided me over when I could barely get up from the couch for sustenance.

Olives: Moroccan olives, Greek Kalamata olives. Any old olives. Not one, or two, or three. Handfuls of olives that left a small mountain of pits at the side of my plate.

Macaroni and cheese: With sriracha hot sauce, of course. Another food that reverts me back to my childhood. And that's the full box of mac and cheese. Anyone who actually divvies up that box into 2-4 portions deserves to be scoffed at, in my opinion.

Roasted red peppers, tomatoes, and feta: This is a Bulgarian classic that we ate in the summers as I was growing up. If you were ever to visit Bulgaria, you would notice the smell of roasting peppers fills the city streets, it's really a culinary staple. Drizzle with vinegar and olive oil, and voila. I ate platters of this stuff in one sitting.

Lemon, coconut, caramel - but not chocolate: My palate changed while I was expecting, as I have blogged about before. Not only was I less likely to order dessert, but I stayed away from chocolate. I'm not sure why, but it was a significant shift considering I ate chocolate every day before I was pregnant.

Rather than chocolate molten cakes, or chocolate flourless tortes, I found myself seeking butterscotch puddings, or creme caramel when I did have a dessert menu in front of me. And when birthdays or other celebrations came around, I ignored requests for chocolate and made lemon meringue cupcakes (see photo above), glittering lemon sandwich cookies, lemon scented pull-apart coffee cake, and lemon yogurt cake with blueberry sauce instead.

Spicy Jamaican patties with coco bread. But only the fresh ones at Fahmee Bakery in Scarborough.

Sushi: I am counting down the days I can devour spicy tuna rolls again. For a while there, I was eating California, Dynamite, and futomaki on a near-weekly basis (no raw fish in any of these sushi rolls) just to sate my cravings for sushi. But none can compare to spicy tuna rolls with bits of tempura wrapped in them. Sigh.