potato salad.

last night was one of those where you rush into the house, rustle up dinner and are back on the road not too long after. we have a lot of those nights - something about church life requires it. at times i find it exhausting, but usually, i love that we have a community to love us, a place to go that feels like home, and adding a good meal to that is just icing on the cake.

years ago i created a roasted potato salad with pesto. it might be the first real 'recipe' i ever thought of on my own, i was proud and my family LOVED it. one night at a dinner party a friend of my mom's asked for the recipe, the highest praise. but the beauty is that it's just humble ingredients.

heading home last night, knowing i was short on time and there were few ingredients in the fridge i wondered what i could do with eggs, bacon and potatoes that wasn't breakfast for dinner...an hour later this was on the table...and it was good enough for lunch today.

roasted potatoes and red pepper, greens slightly wilted by the heat, crispy fried bacon, and just perfect hard/soft boiled eggs (i'm talking about the sweet spot in between a soft boiled egg and a hard boiled egg where the yolk is just slightly gooey and the whites are hard).

pesto potato salad meets breakfast.
serves 3-4

time required: 45 minutes, 25 hands on.

ingredients:

• 6 eggs 
• 1/2 kg (1 lb) of baby new potatoes
• 1 red pepper 
• 2 tbsp olive oil 
• 8-12 rashers (strips) of bacon 
• two large handfuls of greens (i used baby spinach, watercress and rocket) 
• 2 tbsp pesto (prepared or homemade) 

directions: 

• heat oven to 200 C, 425 F, place a medium pot of water onto boil, cut bacon into 1/2" pieces, roughly dice (1") potatoes and red pepper 
• spread potatoes and red pepper on baking sheet, toss in olive oil and season with salt and pepper, roast for 30-45 until golden and crisp
• over medium-high heat fry bacon until crisp, once done, set aside, but do not drain (you want the flavourful fat)
• once water is boiling cook eggs on a low simmer for 7 minutes (essential for the perfect middle). when finished run under cold water for a minute to allow handling, peel and chop roughly.
• once potatoes are roasted transfer to bowl, along with roasting oil, add bacon and rendered fat and toss with pesto. add salad greens. 
• plate salad, add eggs, enjoy. 

fifteen.

15 week baby bump. yes that is laundry in the background. just keeping it real. i'll probably not do this every week because i'm bad at keeping things like this up, but every so often i'll jump on in with a bit of a pregnancy update! 

How Far Along: 15 weeks
Size of Baby:  orange
Total Weight Gain/Loss: +4 ish 
Gender: keeping it a surprise!
Movement: nada. but soon hopefully!
Sleep: sleep has improved massively with the second trimester. so that's a blessing. 
Maternity Clothes: yes. mainly. occasionally i can wear non maternity trousers with a bellaband - but that's getting less and less comfortable. and while i still fit into non-maternity tops they aren't long enough to cover the stretchy panel of maternity trousers. :) 
Symptoms: nausea has completely gone away, although my sense of smell is super strong and my stomach can quickly be turned! otherwise, round ligament pain, sacral-illio pain and a nosebleed. 
Aversions: emptying the rubbish bin! 
Cravings: cheese. chocolate milk. salt & vinegar crisps (chips for those of you across the pond). water - i get very suddenly thirsty, even if i've been careful to keep my liquids up. 
What I miss: honestly? a beer. yesterday it was lovely and warm and relaxing and sunny and the only thing that would have made it more perfect was a cold beer. le boy said he was willing to take one for the team in this case ;)
Worst Moment of the week: nothing really. le boy might go with my mood swings, which have definitely increased...whoops. i'm quick to apologise for my crazy, and blame the baby of course!
Best Moment this week: super enjoyable, relaxing and productive saturday that included a coffee date with a girlfriend, walking to and from pregnancy yoga class (in my neighbourhood!) a bit of pampering, fresh flowers on the way home and chatting on the phone with marvellous, an impromptu visit from friends and their cub, and hosting a small dinner party later that evening.   oh and starting to plan the 'babymoon' by purchasing our flights to italy for this summer! 

baby.

the reason for the blogging break.

it turns out that the beginning of growing a small human is incredibly exhausting. and so my days were spent like this: wake up (late). work. go home. lay on sofa. go to bed. with a little nausea thrown in for good measure. hence there wasn't anything very exciting to write about. except the most exciting thing to write about (which we weren't telling anyone) - a baby!

well, there you go. i'm due in november and now that i'm enjoying the relatively less exhausting, less ill-feeling period of this pregnancy, i'm hoping to be a bit better about recording our lives.

we are overjoyed. blessed beyond measure. marvelling at god's goodness. overwhelmed by the tiny miracle happening inside. it's good. very good.