I'm Going To Have An Affair
As any pregnant woman or formerly pregnant woman can attest, your palate can be altered when you are pregnant. This pregnancy, I have not enjoyed much food - everything is sort of whatever. The few things I have really enjoyed eating are:
1. Breakfast wraps: scrambled eggs, cheese, crispy bacon, avocado and a smidge of tomatoes. I make versions of this at home.
2. Thin, low-grade cheeseburgers. Not the fat, juicy, hotel types, but the thin-patty, crispy-bun types. My favorite is Apple Pan, but Johnny Rockets can work in a pinch.
And now, the meal that had me thinking of cheating on my husband…
3. A ham sandwich. Not just any ham sandwich, but a sandwich of apricot-glazed smoked ham, tucked inside a soft baguette with bits of Brie cheese. I found myself thinking about it the way you think about a crush. It can also be compared to how you think after a rowdy night of sex with a new lover - your mind keeps drifting back, remembering the sweet moments.
So I drove back to Joan's on Third to get another one of these delicious sandwiches. I also bought a half-pound of the ham for home (see the ham above, with some goat cheese tart left over from Viv's party, some garbanzo bean salad - which had too much cumin - and grapes. My dinner last night.) The sandwich was still great. Honestly, the ham on its own was good, but I needed all the trappings - I needed the brie and bread as well. It's like sex: sure, sex can be good, but you also need the massage, the wine, and the room service.
Be Careful Eating soft cheeses -
The BabyCenter Editorial Team
Until recently, pregnant women were told to avoid soft cheese altogether during pregnancy. These days, the recommendation from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) is to make sure any soft cheese you eat has a label clearly stating that it's made from pasteurized milk.
Raw milk and any cheeses or other dairy products made from it can carry disease-causing organisms, including a potentially deadly bacterium called listeria monocytogenes. Although listeria infection is relatively rare (the CDC estimates that it affects 2,500 people in the U.S. every year and this number appears to be decreasing), pregnant women are about 20 times more likely than other healthy adults to get it, and the infection can be devastating or even lethal for their babies. Soft cheeses are thought to be particularly good hosts for listeria. But the pasteurization process kills the bacteria and a whole host of other organisms.
Cottage cheese, ricotta, cream cheese, processed cheeses (such as American) and hard cheeses (such as cheddar and parmesan), as well as cultured dairy products like yogurt and buttermilk, are generally considered to be safe. And most dairy products made in the US are pasteurized anyway. But since there's no guarantee, it's best to check the label and make sure that any dairy product you consume during pregnancy is made with pasteurized milk.
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