Saturday, April 7, 2012

Getting It Together

If you haven't noticed, I've been a bit inconsistent in my writing schedule lately.  I'm so happy and excited to be pregnant, but I won't lie, carrying this baby has taken much of my energy and changed my appetite.  I'm about 21 weeks pregnant which puts me in the middle of my second trimester.  Apparently the second trimester is the "honeymoon trimester" when all symptoms are minimal and I'm supposed to be feeling great.  Well, I'm still quite sleepy and my appetite is low, so for the most part I save my energy for my career and I let everything else fall to the wayside, including cooking and blogging.

However, I recently had a burst of energy, so I have some random things to share.

1. I turned 32 last Monday!  I celebrated by having dinner with my mom and husband at my favorite local Italian restaurant, La Casa Pasta.  Of course, my appetite is very unpredictable, so I wasn't even able to finish a half portion of my favorite entree, the lobster ravioli.  Yes, that's right.  I was only able to eat one out of three ravioli.  At least the leftovers made a tasty lunch the following day.


2. We bought a new dishwasher on my birthday, too.  Our 6-year-old LG dishwasher bit the dust, so we replaced it with an affordable and well-rated Whirlpool.  While the LG was very pretty and super quiet, it ended up being a hot mess, so I don't recommend that brand.  We've had the Whirlpool for two days and while it's a bit louder (but not loud by any means) our dishes are much cleaner and drier than with the old LG.  Wondering why we needed a dishwasher after just 6 years?  We're heavy users.  Sometimes we run two cycles per day.

3.  Speaking of appliances, lemon furniture polish (like good old fashioned Pledge) is an excellent cleaner/protector for stainless steel.  I learned this from a salesperson at Lowe's and would you believe that an old school furniture polish works better than special stainless steel cleaners?  Plus, it's cheaper.

4.  Grilled asparagus is pretty great.  Asparagus is in season right now.  I normally roast it in the oven, but last night we fired up the grill and I just placed it right on the grates.  All you need to do is trim your asparagus, toss it in some olive oil, add salt and pepper to taste and grill it for 5-7 minutes.  Even my husband, who is pretty neutral about asparagus, liked it.



5.  Whole Foods is a great place to blow your paycheck.  I haven't cooked in weeks, but I had the day off for Good Friday, so mom and I went to the new Whole Check Foods in our area and picked up a few special items for the holiday weekend.  We bought several packages of their amazing hot cross buns and some fresh salmon.  I also picked up some Hawaiian black sea salt.  That salt is amazing and it deserves its own post.  I switched it out for the kosher salt in this recipe.  Beyond delicious.  You need black salt in your life.



So now that I have some energy I'm trying to ease back into cooking, baking and blogging... if I can stay awake.  Thanks for being patient with me.  If you miss me, you can check me out on Instagram (if you're an iPhone or Android user).  My user name is keeleypowell.  I'm also @keeleypowell on Twitter.  And there's always the Facebook page for My Life on a Plate:  facebook.com/mylifeonaplate

What have you been up to?  Have you discovered any new cleaning tricks or life-changing foods (hello black sea salt!)?

7 comments:

  1. This is my first time leaving you a comment -- Congrats on your baby!! So happy for you, my bday was last week to on 4/3 :) and I also turned 32 :) I just had my second baby last year, enjoy this time and get plenty rest :) I remember going to bed really early while i was pregnant!

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    1. Happy Birthday, Ms. Chic and thanks for reading! I'm feeling pretty good these days, but I just can't shake the sleepy feeling. It's become a joke in the family. After 7:00 pm you can find me curled up and snoozing!

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  2. You're only job right now is to take care of that baby, we'll be here when you're back in full swing :) I'm sure this year will go down is the best ever for you! So hang in there, the best is yet to come :)

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  3. Sorry your 2nd trimester isn't quite as smooth as you'd like. I hope you can get at least a few weeks of energy and bliss before the peanut arrives. Hawaiian black sea salt??? I'm intrigued. Can't wait to hear more about that.

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  4. Happy Birthday K!

    black salt? I'm intrigued.

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  5. You're growing a life inside of you, and still have managed to blog more consistently than me, so as far as I'm concerned, you're doing great! And on that note, I guess I'll swing by whole check today and pick up some black salt, since I'm all out of my smoked salt :)

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  6. At this point in time, beautiful, you can do anything you want.. even if that means blogging infrequently ;)

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