girlfiend

Though expectations were low, my birthday was actually pretty good. First thing in the morning the Fiendling and I headed to my mom’s so I could go to the gym, but traffic was heavier than expected and two accidents on Kelly Drive caused the 10-15 minute trip to take closer to 35 minutes. By the time we got there and learned that my mother isn’t going to the shore this weekend so I didn’t have to rush over there first thing it was too late for me to go to the gym anyway, so we hung out for half an hour and I opened my present, an enormous Le Creuset dutch oven, and came home with jewelry to wear to the wedding we’re going to Saturday.

We left my mom’s and went to the Fiendling’s one year appointment. His weight is low, probably somewhere in the 8th percentile at 19 lbs 12 oz, but he’s still in the 50th percentile for height (30 inches) and head circumference. The doctor, who I still want to call the vet after a year, seemed impressed by his 8 word vocabulary and said he was doing great. She also didn’t seem to mind that his weight, while slowly gaining, is dropping percentile wise. She told me that it’s totally normal for healthy babies to thin out and she’d rather see that than him be fat and when I asked if he should be drinking regular, cow’s milk she replied, “If he’s still nursing 3-4 times a day why would you give him cow’s milk when he’s already getting so much of the good stuff?”

Then came the traumatic part of the appointment- the bloodletting. They needed to draw a vial of blood for anemia and lead testing. The Fiendling was a bit fussy from the poking and prodding to begin with, so when they tied on the tourniquet and started looking for veins he was inconsolable. The nurses found a decent vein in his right arm and filled a vial while he sobbed uncontrollably. When they removed the needle from his arm, he moved suddenly and his blood splattered all over the floor and all over my leg. Then, to really cheer him up, they gave him two shots in his pudgy baby thighs.

We skipped playgroup in the hopes that a nap would happen. It didn’t, but he cheered up in time for us to go to Doodlebug’s house for wine and cheese and another excellent gift- a square ceramic pan, perfect for brownies complete with bar of chocolate and brownie recipe.

At this point, seven hours after I began this post, I’ve lost interest completely in telling you about the rest of my birthday. The important thing was that it was a good day. Instead of boring myself recounting the details of more wine, cupcakes, and leftover eggplant lasagna, I’ll leave you with the lasagna recipe because it’s really, really good.

Eggplant and Country Bread Lasagna (from Lidia’s Italy, but the recipe isn’t on the site so I had to watch the show and figure it out)

• Loaf of Italian Bread, sliced
• Eggplant (I used one large, but you could use a few small, Italian eggplants)
• flour (enough for dredging- maybe a cup?)
• Marinara sauce (Recipe is here- I made one batch but it wasn’t enough so I made a second)
• Parmesan Cheese (I grated maybe two cups)
• Fresh Basil ( five or six leaves)
• Butter (enough to butter the pan)
• vegetable oil for frying (maybe half a cup?)

Directions: Trim the stems and ends from the eggplant(s). Remove strips of peel about 1-inch wide from the eggplant(s), leaving about half the peel intact. Cut the eggplant into 1/2-inch thick slices and place them in a colander. Sprinkle with the coarse salt and let drain for 1 hour. Rinse the eggplant under cool running water, drain throroughly and pat dry.

Dredge the eggplant rounds in flour shaking off the excess. Heat vegetable oil (the oil should be deep enough to cover about half of the eggplant) in a large pan. Fill the pan with as many slices fit without touching and fry until golden brown, turning once. Remove the eggplant to a baking pan lined with paper towels.

Preheat the oven to 375. Butter the bottom and sides of a ceramic baking pan or lasagna dish. Cover the bottom with a single layer of the sliced Italian bread, overlapping if necessary. Pour about half of the marinara sauce over the bread, spreading it evenly. Top with a layer of fried eggplant, pressing down gently. Tear a few leaves of basil over the eggplant. Sprinkle a layer of grated cheese on top. Continue layering bread, sauce, eggplant and cheese, ending with shredded parmesan. (My lasagna layered as follows: bread, sauce, eggplant, cheese, bread, sauce cheese) Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Remove foil and continue baking until cheese is golden and bubbly, about 15 minutes more. Let rest for 15 minutes then cut into squares and serve.

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