Twenty Weeks In – Halftime Recap

I have officially hit the halfway mark of the pregnancy and can’t believe how quickly it has flown by!  It feels like just yesterday that we found out the exciting news and thought the upcoming 9 months would take forever! 

Here is a quick recap of the last 20 weeks, in no particular order:

• Baby Breuer is officially a Boy!  We found out just recently after Christmas
• Country count for the baby is officially at four – US, Mexico, Germany and Israel 
•  He has been to Hawaii and Orange County for weddings, to Denver for a girls weekend and up to Seattle a few times for work 
•  He has been to an ACDC concert and crashed a bachelorette party in Cabo 
•  His first lullaby sung to him by me was I Love Rock and Roll by Joan Jett at a crowded Karaoke bar, sober I might add. 
•  Thanks to dietary restrictions and lack of heartburn, my go to dishes are now primarily Indian or Asian inspired. 
•  And thanks to the local shop in North Beach, Carmel Blue, I am caught up on all things Baby, including registration for the baby classes, prenatal yoga and prenatal mommy meet-ups (where I am actively searching for my new best mom friend ala speed dating) 

It has been amazing so far and I am excited to see where the next 20 weeks lead us!  

Annegret’s Goulash

To me, and especially in my family, the kitchen is the heart of the house.  The kitchen is where the action occurs, where secrets are shared and stories are told.  On any given holiday or gathering at the Gimbels, you will find more people in the kitchen and surrounding area than anywhere else in the house.  In the Breuer house, it couldn’t be more different.  The kitchen is clearly divided from the rest of the house and is typically hidden behind a closed door….  It has always been Annegret’s domain and an area of the house I have always been intrigued and intimidated by.   

This past Christmas, I was officially welcomed into the lair and introduced to Annegret’s kitchen. 

When asked what I wanted for Christmas by Martin from his parents, my only request was for Annegret to teach me how to make her Goulash. And this past Christmas, I got my wish.  On December 27^th, Annegret opened up the kitchen door and taught me and Meike how to make Goulash.  We began that afternoon, with notebooks in hand and pens at the ready to take in everything we needed to know.  Meike chopped the onions (using German efficiency) and I cut up the meat.  And then we watched in awe as Annegret turned a few simple ingredients into her world famous dish.  Afraid of missing anything, I supplemented my notes with photos and recorded everything, including the required coffee break while the stew simmered. 

During the process, we relaxed in the kitchen and shared stories and antidotes from our lives making me feel closer to Martin’s mom than ever before.  Martin and Ernst popped in every once in a while to hang out and the casualness of the kitchen reminded me of home.

In the end, it took two pages of detailed notes, 5 photos to ensure correct amount, sizes and brands, a few requests to repeat the steps and a few reprimands after Annegret forgot to tell us what she was doing to create our first batch of goulash.  And it was incredible.  Just the right amount of seasoning, the meat was tender and flavorful and while maybe not at the master’s level, it wasn’t a bad first batch. 

Now here’s hoping I can recreate it again in the US!

The Holiday (Shopping) Spirit

After our rookie mistake last year (of attempting to Christmas shop in Union Square hungover), Martin and I went for a slightly different approach this year.  Instead of Union Square we opted for Union Street for an evening of shopping and taking in the festive season.  After only a few short hours, I had presents for everyone on my list and even thrown in a few more items for myself.  It was a success!  We were done with shopping and the crowds for this year without incident, complaint or snarky comment …or at least that is what we thought.  United Airlines had other plans in store for us…..

We spent Christmas in Germany this year with Martin’s family and I left a few days early for a side trip to Tel Aviv for work (spending 3 great days with the team but missing all of the historical sights and attractions including Jerusalem and Bethlehem).  Martin and I were to rejoin in Berlin that following Friday to kick off the German Christmas Tour. 

I made it to Berlin safe and sound however due to flight delays and some re-routing, Martin arrived in Berlin 4 hours late; his luggage arrived in Houston around the same time.  With only the clothes on his back and the pair of underwear I bought him at the airport, it appeared we were going shopping in Berlin that next day; the Saturday before Christmas.

We had breakfast that morning with Anna and Tim, our hosts for the weekend in their beautiful East Berlin apartment and then set off to Alexanderplatz in hopes of buying a few clothes to outfit Martin until his luggage arrived.  Come to find out Alexanderplatz is the Union Square of Berlin and the Saturday before Christmas is their busiest day.  To make matters worse, even under pressure Martin was unwilling to forego his fashion sense and just buy something at the first store we went to.  After 3 stores and only socks purchased, my patience started running a little low and my comments were turning from supportive to slightly hostile.    We thankfully struck gold at the fourth store with Martin buying two great outfits including a pair of jeans, two shirts and a sweater.  And the fifth shop, the kebab shop, put me back in the holiday spirit.

We met back up with Tim and friends later that day and ended our quick trip to Berlin with a stroll through the Hacker Market Christmas Market for some more holiday cheer and Gluh Wein (kinder punch for me)…. Little did I know, our shopping mall / Christmas Market match up would be repeated two more times before the holidays were over.

Hacker Market Christmas Market

We left the next morning with promises to see Anna and Tim again next December (it was becoming a tradition) and hopped the train to Chemnitz to spend two nights with Meike before heading to the Breuer house. 

We arrived in Chemnitz and were informed that a few presents still needed purchasing for the parents.  So with Monday lined up as a day of shopping downtown, we spent Sunday night checking out a few Christmas markets in the surrounding areas – specifically Erzburg (in the old castle) and Freiburg (in the town square).  I found the Erzburg Market to be in a cool historic location but filled with cheap mass produced knickknacks and the Freiburg Market too overcrowded with too many food and alcohol stands (did I really just say that)?  The best market we went to was the Chemnitz Market, which we checked out on Monday after a day of Christmas shopping and a Christmas Carol sing along with Meike’s co-workers.  The Chemnitz Market had it all: the right amount of people, a good mixture of classic stands with the traditional wood carved decorations from the region, rides for the kids and a fun (definitely not the standard creepy) magician who kept us entertained as we huddled around the fire pit keeping warm with our Gluh Wein and kinder punch.

Chemnitz Christmas Market

Not to be outdone, we checked out one final Christmas Market the following day in Iserlohn after the drive from Chemnitz to Martin’s parent’s house.  I can officially say I have done the Germany Christmas Markets and soaked in the Christmas Spirit.

Fake Drinking and Dietary Restrictions

In terms of pregnancies, I would say that I have had it pretty easy so far.   No morning sickness, no food aversions, no complications to date, no heartburn, bloating or serious lack of energy.  If it weren’t for the growing belly it would be hard to distinguish between being pregnant and not.  The biggest change for me has been the dietary restrictions I had been warned about but not fully prepared for (no sushi, no soft cheese, no deli meats) and the need to fake drink my way through the first trimester. 

Thankfully for me, Martin was around for most social events to help cover my lack of alcohol intake.  At the wedding in Hawaii, Martin would order me “vodka” and soda waters or offer me “beers”.  The vodka drinks being just water and the beers being a beer bottle filled with water.  And when Martin wasn’t around, I enlisted the help of a few select girlfriends to assist with the charade…you know who you are and I owe you big time for drinking for two!

With the end of my first trimester, so came the end of my fake drinking as there was no longer a need to hide.  Begrudgingly I am still stuck with the dietary restrictions for a few more months… And with the dietary limitations, all of a sudden going out to dinner (my social lifeline and favorite pastime) is no longer the treat it used to be.   Each new restaurant menu is a minefield of issues:  raw fish removes half of the menu, no runny egg yolks kills half of brunch, if it has cheese in it no thanks as hipsters have made unpasteurized homemade cheeses cool, and a fancy salad sounds healthy, but with a house-made dressing I will have to pass. 

In the past few weeks, I have been internally tormented and torn between being the picky/snobby eater who asks about the source and preparation of each ingredient and dish and the alternative of simply ordering the most uninventive item on the menu (most likely the steak and potatoes cooked well done and please hold the spit and judgment, it is not my choice either). 

On the upside, in lieu of going out, we have started cooking more at home which is cheaper on the wallet and calories.   And Martin even bought a cookbook to help ensure the baby is getting what it needs each and every week. 

As the belly grows I feel less and less guilty of asking the list of questions or for modifications and I have gotten used to the restrictions.  However I do miss my old friends prosciutto and salami and secretly crave a sandwich stacker made of sushi, prosciutto, topped with a runny egg and slice of good cheese and washed down with a glass of red wine.  But I suppose those can wait.  I am working on something bigger and more important at the moment.