Lolita

Lolita is the name of a restaurant in the Tremont District of Cleveland. It is the 2nd restaurant that Chef Michael Symon has opened in the Cleveland area.

Michael Symon is the newer Iron Chef on Food Networks, Iron Chef America. He is also the new host of Dinner Impossible on the Food Network.

I have been following him since he began his quest on the Iron Chef competition and knowing he was from Cleveland - and recently being a transplant to the area.

Last year, Aunt Sue & Uncle Tom gave us a gift certificate to his restaurant Lolita, but due to the crazy renovations, Celie's cast, and the pregnancy, we haven't really had the chance to do so. However, last night - Aunt Sue & Uncle Tom & Mrs O were all on hand to watch the girls while Bob and I were actually able to get into an early reservation at Lolita's.

Bob was actually excited about going to his restaurant considering he has watched a few shows recently with me featuring Michael Symon and can see why I like him. I also prepared one of his recipes for Thanksgiving and I think it was the best thing on the table (cornbread dressing). I was just excited not to have to snarf my food down before meltdowns occur and not having to worry about crayons, goldfish, or sippy cups.

It took us about 20 mintues to get to the restaurant. It is in the historic district of Tremont. It was a really cool area. It reminded me a lot of Virginia Highlands in Atlanta - at least the Virginia Highlands of old. We were sat immediately. It is a fairly small venue, with seating of about 80 or so. Our waitress, Tammy, was awesome. It definitely had a cozy, relaxed feel to it with an artistic edge. It definitely made me miss some of the old hang outs of Atlanta & Boston. But I was very glad to have found something so cool in the Cleveland area & with such reasonable prices. WOW!!

Bob had the roasted garlic bruchetta for an appetizer and I had the mixed greens salad with local goat cheese in a lemon viniagrette. My salad was absolutely delicious and light. The lemon viniagrette was the perfect consistentency and perfect balance of sweetness & tartness. Just wonderful. Bob ordered the Meatballs with a squash puree as a side. I ordered the Hanger steak over chickpeas, skordalia & cilantro with a side of local roasted potatoes. WOW!! Bob's was awesome - great flavor combinations - it was like eating a traditional bowl of spaghetti and meatballs without the spaghetti. Yummy. My steak was phenomonal. perfectly done and seasoned well. The chickpeas & skordalia was a light and crunchy contrast to the steak. The roasted potatoes had a wonderful seasoning and done to perfection. Of course, we couldn't have dinner and not get dessert as well. Bob ordered the Chocolate Pot du Creme and I ordered the Gelato of the day - a Porter Gelato - that would be Porter as in a beer. I snagged a bite of Bob's dessert before he dug in. WOW!! it was AMAZING. The thick chocolate custard was well balanced with the creme on top and the touch of caramel. But what really kicked the flavor in my opinion, was the hint of sea salt on top. WOW!! My Porter Gelato was fantastic. The flavor of the porter was front and center and the gelato was smooth and creamy. If I had known about this dessert at the beginning of my pregnancy, I would have ordered it by the Gallons. It definitely satisfied my beer craving.

It was a fabulous dinner & it was nice to spend some time with Bob just him and I. I had been looking forward to going to Lolita's for dinner for almost a year and I was not disappointed. I admire Chef Symon because he talks a lot about flavor and balance in his dishes, but since you cannot smell through the TV, you kind of have to take his word on it. He is the Truth though. His flavors are wonderful. It really is the first time that I have been able to really dissect things and it was a lot of fun for me. I hope that we are able to go back again some time after Jake gets here.

Watch out those in MI. He is supposed to be opening a restaurant in Detroit called Roast. You will be in for a REAL treat.

Happy Thanksgiving

I hope that everyone has a wonderful and safe Thanksgiving tomorrow.

I am thankful for many things, but most of all I am thankful for my wonderful husband and my precious 2 3/4 children. I am truly blessed and feeling over emotional about how lucky I really am. (it must be the pregnancy).

We will be fortunate to spend the day with Aunt Sue, Uncle Tom, Mr & Mrs. O and our family at our house. The preparations are already underway for the big meal tomorrow. We are scaling back a little bit this thanksgiving - our menu is as follows: Turkey, whipped mashed potatoes with Chives, traditional dressing (out of the bag and doctored up a little bit), cornbread dressing, and sourdough dressing (the other dressings are experiments - small batches), fried corn, homemade cranberry relish, and possibly pumpkin soup. Mrs. O is bringing homemade bread and a tossed salad. Aunt Sue is bringing bacon buns and some other treats for the day and the weekend. In years past, we have also had lithuanian sausage, kuglis (lithuanian potato casserole), and a molded jello - all traditions from Papa Tony & Grandma peggy. But I decided to scale back a little for tomorrow so hopefully, I won't over do it too much.

Since Aunt Sue & Uncle Tom are coming in for the weekend, we will be able to spend some time with them. We might even try to put up some x-mas decorations. They love being helpful when they come to town - so I always try to have a couple of low key "projects" available to do. We will also celebrate Celie's b-day with them while they are in town. So, Celie will have 3 celebrations for her b-day this year. They will head back to Chicago on Sunday. Bob will be heading to the farm on Sunday as well to go hunting for a couple of days. Mrs. O will be coming up on Sunday to stay with us girls while Bob is hunting. This will be a huge help so hopefully I can get some rest and/or some shopping done for x-mas and Celie's b-day. I have Drs. appt. on Monday afternoon - so I am hoping for good things. Next week will be 34 weeks, so any issues on the borderline of serious, they will probably induce.

That is our Thanksgiving plans in a nut shell. I hope to post pics and anything else of any exciting events as soon as possible. I will also update Drs. visit after Monday afternoon.

Have a safe and blessed Thanksgiving!

Cheetah Frog

If you ask Anna if a Frog hops, she will begin saying hop and hop around the house. I captured her doing some great hopping and combined ballet/dance moves, but the video ended up being too long to post (I was afraid of too long download times for people). So, I captured a shorter version today - complete with her Cheetah print PJs.

Side note - it is hard to believe that Celie was wearing these PJs when she was 18 months and they were too long on the bottom, but fit just right in the waist & top. These fit Anna perfectly and she is 27 months. Just one of the differences of our two cool girls.

Snow man

After the OSU/UofM game. Bob decided to take Celie outside to let her express some of her energy. I took Anna upstairs to see if she would take a nap - that didn't happen. But Celie and Bob were outside for over 1 hr and 45 minutes. In the midst of their time outside, Celie created a wonderful snowman. We just need to work on her ability to scale up.

Bo Gucks

Anyone that knows Bob and knows him well, knows that he is a Buckeyes fan. Always has been and always will be. Well, this past Saturday was the BIG GAME - UofM vs. OSU at OSU. It was actually the first game that Bob was able to watch the whole season.

We have been trying to get the girls to do the Na na na nana na na Chant - they have it down pretty well - except for instead of saying Go Bucks! Celie, in particular, says Bo Gucks!! Still, it is pretty funny.

Here is some video of Anna with her Buckeye football. You will have to listen carefully (over the TV) at was is said when the football lands - yes, it talks and the girls were throwing it all around. Too bad we moved, it would have been fun to see Anna & Mallory go at it - Big Ten, Little Two's head to head. (Mallory is a daughter of a friend of mine in MI. Anna & Mallory are about 1 1/2 months apart and my friend is expecting their 2nd - due in March - so their 2nd and jake will be a couple of months apart) Oh, and she, my friend, is a huge MI fan, works there as well as her husband (in the athletic department!) So, it would have been fun to see all of the fans together expressing their opinions.



If you didn't catch the game, OSU beat UofM. Bo Gucks!!

Belly

It is amazing that even though I haven't really gained very much weight, my body has definitely taken on its own identity. I do not think my belly was this HUGE with either girl. And it has gotten bigger since this picture was taken 1 week ago. YIKES!!!!

Baby Jake Update

I went to the Dr on Monday. My blood pressure was good 110/78. We talked a lot about some of the symptoms I have been having and what our next steps are. I have gained about 6 lbs. so far in this pregnancy, so that is a good thing.

My Dr and I are pretty confident that we will be able to make it to 34 weeks - which is our first milestone - this is the week after Thanksgiving. Every day that he stays in, is better, so we are hoping that the blip in my blood pressure was just a fluke type of thing and things will continue to go well and we can make it well past 34 weeks. However, we will just have to wait and see.

I have really been limiting what I do. It does make me feel bad since I cannot take the girls outside to play in the beautiful dusting of snow that we have. I also have difficulty bending down a lot - so trying to get the girls to pick up after themselves is also a challenge. However, the low key attitude that I have been taking, I think have really helped. I am hoping that it will help me make it well past 34 weeks, but maybe before x-mas - but we will have to wait and see what Jake has in store for us all.

Why can't I sit down?

I do try to take a break and sit with the girls in the living room. However, how can I sit down when I come in and see this:

I have been trying to explain to Celie that her stickers need to go INTO her sticker books, but she would rather have them all out for display. She plays with the stickers like puppets. It is actually pretty creative, if you ask me, but it is frustrating to A) not be able to sit down on the couch and B) stepping on the stickers that have lost their "stick" and have ended up on the floor, but seem to have enough "stick" to cling to the bottom of your feet. ARGHhhhhh!! (Those are the ones that mysteriously disappear).

Anna the Fashionista

I have tried to keep pants on this girl, but some days can be a challenge.

She definitely has her own sense of style. For instance, for the last 3 days, she has decided that a teething ring that she found in a tub of toys makes a very fashionable bangle. She hasn't taken it off since she put it on. Also, she decided yesterday afternoon and this morning that it was o.k. with her if she could only find ONE Cinderella glass dress up slipper. I couldn't stand to hear the clunk, silence, clunk of her walking. It was sad. So, I was able to find the matching slipper for her this morning. I gave it to her and she was immediately thrilled and put it on. Of course, she was a lot funnier in her walking around and making noise then the video below, but I couldn't grab the camera fast enough.

Enjoy!

Hospital Tour & Update

Yesterday, Bob and I went on a tour of Hillcrest, the hospital that we are going to be delivering Jake. It is very similar to St. Joe's in that there are separate areas/rooms for Labor & Delivery and then Post Delivery. The rooms are fairly small in both areas. However, the nice part is that the rooms in the Post Delivery area have a bathroom complete with shower. When I delivered both Celie & Anna, the Post Delivery area had not been updated yet and they only had a toilet and sink in the room - no shower. So, you had to go down the hall to shower and get ready. That was a bummer.

Also, Hillcrest has a Level 2 NICU, which, at least in the state of OH, means that the NICU can take care of any baby born after 28 weeks. So, that made me feel reassured since we are at 29 1/2 weeks right now. The only time that they transport newborns to another hospital is if there is a surgery that needs to be performed. They have affliations with Rainbows, Cleveland Clinic main campus and Metro. So that is also reassuring, though I am hoping that we won't need to worry about any of that. Because of the NICU being situated in the middle of the Family Maternity floor - you are not allowed to have cell phones on at all on the floor, nor can you have anything that plugs into the wall. They are very concerned about things that disrupt the cardiac monitoring machines in the NICU. So, everything is somewhat limited. But the staff seems really nice and it is very clean. Also, there are a ton of restaurants in the area so if room service isn't that appealing, Bob can run out and get something else. YEAH!!!!

When we deliver, we can expect to be in the hospital for about 48 hours after birth - given there are no complications, etc. So, that is what we are hoping for.

On another note, I had my check up today with my OB. My blood pressure was 110/76 YEAH!!!! So, that is good. I had lost 1 1/2 #'s - so my OB said that I should just try to keep something in my stomach, even if I do not feel like eating much, I should try to eat small meals, etc. Jake sounded good - like a galloping horse. I asked her about what she thought about having to give me/Jake a shot to help him develop his lungs if he is coming at 34 weeks. She said that the shot is only given before 34 weeks and that after 34 weeks, the likelihood that his lungs are good are far better than the risks of taking the shots. Also, she said that babies that have been developing under more difficult than normal circumstances, i.e. hypertension, pre-eclampsia conditions, tend to accelerate the development of their important organs incase of an early delivery. That is why some 30 week old babies can be born and have hardly any issues and a 38 week old can be born and have issues. It just depends on the history of the pregnancy, etc.

So, we are still in the wait and see mode. We are hoping for the 34+ weeks. And we are very hopeful that we will see it. I just have to remember to be slow & rest. Oh yeah, and breathe.