..

Whoa.

It’s been a while.

I should probably start by explaining my absence. Yes, I had been feeling sick. I still feel sick.

There is a baby growing inside me!

What started out as feeling a little “off” quickly spiraled into all-day-sickness, dehydration and a few trips to the ER for excessive vomiting and dehydration.  Several liters of fluids later and some miracle anti-nausea/anti-vomiting drug later, I feel as close to normal as I suspect I will during this nine months!

Enter a cross country move and moving into a house that was left so dirty I almost wondered if the previous occupants were actually human or maybe dirt & booger monsters instead. Gag.

Then came my site. Oh! my site filled with lovely food photos and recipes that will make you drool…

Or want to vomit, as was the case with me.

I couldn’t even stomach seeing food on my own site! Even now I am still a tad queasy, though definitely in a better place than I was a couple months ago! Being a little gutsy I decided to make lunch for the hubs one day while he was home (benefit of our new location – hubs comes home for lunch almost everyday); he was craving hamburgers.

FYI: the following story may conjure up gross mental pictures, thus the reason I left out an actual picture on this post. If you’re queasy-esque like myself, you might not want to read this!

I was slightly nervous because of all the things I can’t stomach right now, red meat is for sure at the top of the list. But I persisted, partly because I’m stubborn, partly to convince myself I had not abandoned cooking forever and partly out of guilt that I had not made my hubs a proper meal in over 2 months.

I know the trick – low heat, long cook time. I tried it, served up the cheeseburger and then watched as hubs took the first bite and blood oozed out all over the bread and his plate. He glanced over at me, got up slowly and spit out the bite that was still in his mouth.

I was crushed. 

Not willing to give up, I took the plate from his hands, peeled the burger from the bread and put it back in the frying pan. I cut it in half and squished it against the hot pan until it sizzled furiously. I left it on until the outside was practically black. I served it up again, on new bread, and then put the second one in the pan, determined it would be done when I served it to him.

No such luck.

How do you make a decent hamburger????

The second one was a flop too. Not as bad as the first, but still a flop. In a moment of hormonal takeover I ran to the freezer, grabbed out the Ziploc bag I had put the other two patties from the 4-pack in and tossed it out on the back porch.

Then I tearfully turned toward hubs and said, “I’m never making hamburgers again! Never. Not ever! Ok?!?”

He grabbed me and gave me a long tight hug and told me it was OK and that it was fine, I’d never have to make hamburgers again.

And you know, I’m totally ok with that.

But some Cherry Cheesecake Cookies? Oh yeah, I’m up for that challenge! To be continued…