The nose knows

I spent today readying for the baby in a slightly different way -- by cooking. Or maybe, everything but cooking is the more accurate description. I know (or believe) that I will still be able to function like some semblance of myself in the weeks following delivery, and that my husband has some culinary capabilities, and that Chicago is full of restaurants that have take-out and delivery, but the suggestion to prepare a few meals ahead and freeze seemed like a good one to me, and so I did so. I spent about 5 hours today (with some rests) making two lasagnas and a pot of posole soup, any one of which would normally be a considerable undertaking for me. After endless chopping, dicing, and dashing, we now have one spinach-mushroom lasagna, one Italian sausage lasanga, and a big pot of heavily simmered posole soup (think shredded pork tenderloin, green chiles, hominy, and lots of diced tomatoes and spices). With just two people in the house (only two of us with teeth anyway), this equates to probably 2 full weeks of lunches and dinner -- three if you mix in some other food for variety. Wes and I have discovered with previous lasangas that we can eat it reheated for 4-5 meals without tiring of it.

Lucy was primarily absent from the kitchen for most of this process. With the exception of cheddar cheese, there's not a lot that tempts her to beg while food is being prepared. It is one of her rare positive qualities in the behavior category. Midway through the afternoon, though, she couldn't help herself. I took the pork tenderloin, which had simmered in broth and tomato juices for two hours, out to shred. It wasn't long before she was wandering around the apartment, nose in the air, trying to figure out just what was giving off such a lovely smell and how she could get some. In the end, I did part with a few fatty scraps in her bowl. Lucy is a notoriously picky human-food eater (random dry dog bone -- fantastic; a little piece of chicken or even steak -- well, maybe, depending), but she seemed pleased with the pork. Hopefully it will hold up in the freezer.