A Special Sky

Monday was a beautiful, warm, sunny day. At the end of a busy day at work, I was looking forward to my walk home from the T stop in the sunshine. I was very disappointed to find a torrential downpour when I emerged from the subway at the end of my commute. I took the bus the rest of the way home instead, and was in a bit of a bad mood about the weather. I don't know how I could forget what sometimes happens after a thunderstorm:

I spent the rest of the evening smiling and thinking of Julian as I felt tiny kicks from his baby brother or sister. 

Kitchen Adventures: Pizza Dough

Despite all of the cooking and baking I've done since I was a child, I don't have much experience working with yeast. My first yeast challenge was this bread. I've been wanting to try making pizza dough from scratch for a while. I finally did it today, and it was a success!

I loosely followed this recipe, but made a much smaller portion. Here's my cute little ball of dough. I actually enjoyed kneading it-kind of therapeutic.

Two hours later: look, it grew!

Flattened out and placed on a hot pizza stone. This would have been easier to do if I had chilled the dough a little first, but sometimes pregnant ladies get impatient when it comes to food.

Finished with toppings. The pizza as a whole left a little to be desired (needed more cheese, and I didn't have any fresh tomatoes so had to use canned), but the crust was delicious. Light and airy, a little chewy, and crispy on the bottom. I will definitely be trying this again.

Next yeast challenge: using this dough to make cinnamon rolls : )

Quality Time in VA

I spent last weekend in VA. It's so nice and green there this time of year, and the cicadas weren't nearly as bad as I remember from past years. The last time I visited was in March before I found out I was pregnant. It's amazing how much can happen in three months. It was a nice visit, although bittersweet (isn't everything?) because Taison's grandmother passed away on Friday evening. This most recent death in the family was expected, planned for, and peaceful, so we're doing fine. We'll go back down this weekend for the funeral.

Here are some pictures from the weekend:

TAAAAYLOOOR! (in his new apartment)

Mom, dad and I went to DC for a quick visit on Saturday morning. I love Taylor and Ana's new neighborhood. Big farmer's market two blocks away, good restaurants, quick walk to the Metro. Their street is adorable (well-preserved hundred-year-old townhomes) with a nice mix of ages, races and ethnicities.

The main reason I was in VA this weekend was for our good friend Adetoun's wedding. Taison and I met Adetoun the same day we met each other: freshman move-in day, twelve years ago this September. 

 

The beautiful bride coming down the aisle with her father.

"Is this your first African wedding?" we were asked by a guest after the ceremony. As non-Africans, we were in the minority. We stuck out a little with our non-Nigerian formal wear.

 The new Dr. and Dr. Musa

Momma Scott was my date. Taison couldn't make the wedding because he needed to stay one more day in Lynchburg to start planning for Grandma Taylor's funeral.

Taison did get back to NoVA in time for some quality time with Coco before our flight back north.

We finally started monthly pregnancy pictures when we got back home on Sunday. (We had been talking about it for a couple of weeks, but Taison was never there to take my picture!) 

Baby's the size of a lemon this week (week 14). 

And yes, I'm showing a little.