So once I met up with my family at the hotel, we walked up the street to a local Brazilian corner restaurant nearby, in Queens. Needless to say, we stood out a bit. But after the sideways glances calmed down, everyone was very friendly and the food was great! I had these shrimp in coconut milk & curry. To die for! And fried bananas, rice & beans, dulce de leche...I think I have figured out where my weight gain this month came from...
My mom, aunts & uncle went into Manhattan, I went to bed. Sunday we drove over to City Island, to the American Turners Club for my Great-aunt Martha's 90th birthday party. (Side note: minivan back seats were not meant for pregnant women. The horizontal slide just doesn't work well.) It was great to catch up with sides of my family that I don't normally see. A few got a bit of a shock when my belly entered the room ahead of me, since they hadn't heard the news yet. My cousin Cliff brought the cake from his favorite bakery. Quote:"I'm probably the only man in America who is not sure if he'll get married, but who already knows where his wedding cake will come from!" http://www.latulipedesserts.com. They took white cake & strawberry mousse layers and covered them with Marzipan instead of ganache or fondant. So tasty! But the best part is that the top of the cake was decorated like a Scrabble board. For those of you readers who are not family, you may not understand the significance that Scrabble holds for my family. We had suggested a game back at Aunt Martha's. The teams would be Martha, Babka, and everyone else working together to take one or both of them down! To the best of my knowledge, it has never happened... We gave Aunt Martha some fun presents: 90 kisses (of the Hershey persuasion), a book on the history of the Bronx in its heyday, and black pajamas & undies (who doesn't deserve these!?!?) After lunch we all went back to Martha's apartment (all 18 of us) and I took a little nap to help make it through the evening. One of Aunt Martha's friends from the neighborhood (also Slovak) showed up with pans of pierogie & pastries. Yum! (Perhaps I should have my doctor read this so he understands how I could gain 6 pounds in 2 weeks...)
On Monday, my family headed to the airport, while I took a cab ($35!) to Penn Station, so I could get on a train to Princeton to meet up with my friend Jen. A word to the wise, negotiating Penn Station for the first time when you're tired, stressed, & pregnant is NOT a good plan. I figured out that I had to be in the New Jersey train section, as opposed to the subway, LIRR, or New York train sections (even though they all have the same track numbers!),
and I had managed to purchase my ticket from the automated machine without a problem. I settled on a bench with all my baggage to wait for them to post the track for my 11:01 to Trenton. 10:51: I start looking at the board waiting for the little blank at the end to fill in. 10:55: I start to wonder why they haven't posted it yet. 10:59: I join the group of anxious looking people at the end of the vestibule trying to find someone who is wearing a uniform. 11:05 Finally get an answer. The train is on track 10. 11:07 Get down to the bottom of the staircase only to discover that the train is gone. It left without picking anyone up. And still no one could tell me what to do next. They just said, "It's gone. Wait for the next one." The problem is that none of those trains are intuitive! I knew that there was another one in an HOUR, but I had no desire to sit there for another hour and risk them not announcing that one either! I should probably mention, in the interest of full disclosure, that this is where I had my pregnant moment of bursting into sobbing tears in the middle of a crowd of people. One of them actually said, "I'm sorry," before they all scattered away from the crazy lady. I pulled myself together and they actually changed a local train so that it would go far enough to get where I needed to go. (Although I only found this out because the nice lady next to me was a local in the same predicament.) By 11:30 I was sitting on a train on my way out of New York, somewhat under control, enjoying the air conditioning.
Jen picked me up and we spent a lovely afternoon wandering, shopping, and eating our way through the Princeton Campus. They have a great fountain where a pregnant lady can cool off her feet! Whoever thought of that should get a medal. There is also a fantastic organic ice cream place, although I avoided the tartes & bombes and just had some sorbet. (See, I am capable of some self control!) Then we went home and her mom made me spaghetti & salad and we vegged in her living room and watched Penelope & Fool's Gold. After my stressful morning, it was the perfect end to the day. (I have to say I was a bit cranky...) Jen, her mom, & I went to a cute boutique with baby stuff, where we picked out baby presents (cute dresses will be my downfall!) and then Jen put me on a plane home. That part went smoothly and I was home by 5:30. That is the end of my tale. I hope Baby enjoyed meeting her Aunties & extended family for the first time. They all certainly enjoyed rubbing her belly!
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