Another Viewing + Pastina

Wednesday

Arthur synced with his mama again, and woke up at pretty much the exact same time I did on Wednesday. Lucky for me, Miklós was not only home, but had plenty of free time in the morning to help out, as he was taking the day off. The reason was because of another house viewing, although this time, he was going alone. We didn't want to put Arthur through all the misery if we could avoid it, and figured Miklós could get a good impression of the neighborhood and place itself without me, and I'd be happy enough with a digital viewing.

Sucking on our sunglasses like an introspective and hip dude

It did, however, mean Miklós was out for most of the day. It was beautiful weather, and after seeing his papa off at the train station, Arthur took me for a walk, and got a good stroller nap in. Since he woke up when we got home, I decided to feed him an extra snack, and he finished off the bolognese purée. Thank goodness, because that stuff is terribly messy, and it seems to stain. Arthur managed to get it in his eyes and up his nose while he was eating, which set him off crying and required a mid-snack cleanup in addition to the full-scale one afterwards. And while Arthur was happy to eat it, I wouldn't even call it a particular hit with him, so I don't think I'll buy it again.

For his usual afternoon snack, Arthur tried a new food: lentils! I cooked up some red lentils with a bay leaf until they were really mushy, then fed some to Arthur with some olive oil mixed in. He wasn't completely sure about them, but at them alright. He also finished off the rest of the avocado purée, though he wasn't as into it as he had been the previous times.

I opted to give Arthur something a bit less messy and a bit easier on his digestion for dinner, so he had some rice porridge mixed with breast milk and a bit of peanut butter (I've been slacking off on keeping that allergen in the rotation). It was, unsurprisingly, his favorite meal of the day.

Arthur's Wednesday solid consumption, therefore, consisted of:

• whole-grain pasta

• tomato

• carrot

• basil

• oregano

• beef

• avocado

• lime

• red lentils (new food!)

• olive oil

• avocado

• lime

• rice porridge

• milk powder

• peanut butter

Thursday

Oh lord, Arthur woke up at 6:20 on Thursday. I was very happy his dad took him so I could get a bit more sleep in. Unsurprisingly, he was pretty hungry and tired by the time he got to my boob, so had a hard time deciding whether to focus his efforts on sleeping or eating. He settled for a combination, and was in pretty good spirits afterwards.

Excited for snack time!

Arthur napped two more times before lunch, once again on me, and once in the stroller with his papa, so had a good appetite for his afternoon snack. I went with some more lentils and olive oil, and he liked it quite a bit more this time! It did take him a couple of spoonfuls, but once he got going, he asked for more and more, and ended up eating a good amount. I ended up not giving him anything else at that snack time, because I wanted him to still have a bit of appetite for his next nursing session. And then for his dinner, Arthur got a whopping portion of rice porridge, reconstituted with breast milk. He was a bit fussy by that point, but gobbled it up no problem.

So, on Thursday, Arthur ate:

• lentils

• olive oil

• rice porridge

• milk powder

As for the grown-ups' solid intake? Wednesday’s dinner was another bean purée similar to the last one I posted, combined with some store-bought loempia, so nothing new there. But I wanted to try something different on Thursday, and had been intrigued by photos of pastina, or “Italian penicillin” online. I was pretty much over my cold by that point, but still wanted to try. I kind of combined a bunch of recipes to suit what we had on hand, and topped it with some mushrooms & hard-boiled eggs for the nutrient + protein factor. It was super delicious; I think I'm going to have to make it again! Here’s how I made it:

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Pastina (serves 2)

Ingredients

• 120g orzo (I used whole-wheat)

• 3 cups boiling water

• 1 tbsp brown miso paste

• 1 beef bouillon cube

• 60g powdered Parrano Robusto cheese

• 1 egg

• 1 tbsp margarine

• Topping:

  • 4 eggs, cooked to preference (I made “jammy” eggs by putting the raw eggs in the air fryer preheated to 140 degrees Celsius, for 12 minutes).

  • 250g button mushrooms

  • olive oil, for cooking

  • 2 garlic cloves, minced (we were out, so I cooked them in garlic-infused olive oil instead)

  • 1 tbsp soy sauce

  • to taste: thyme, black pepper, optionally chili flakes and/or MSG

Instructions

1. Cook the mushrooms:

   1. Slice the mushrooms and add them to a pan with olive oil on medium-high heat.

   2. Stir and continue cooking until they release their liquid and it evaporates, about 5-10 minutes.

   3. Reduce heat slightly, add garlic cloves, thyme, and soy sauce, and cook for 1 more minute.

2. Set mushrooms aside.

3. Add water, a sprinkle of MSG (if using), miso paste, and bouillon cube to a pot, stirring until the bouillon is dissolved.

4. Bring the liquid to a boil, then add the orzo.

5. Simmer for 5-6 minutes, until most (but not all!) of the broth is absorbed. Basically you want a very thin layer of broth over the pasta.

6. While the pasta cooks, whisk the egg in a bowl or mug.

7. When there’s just a bit of broth left in the pot, turn off the heat.

8. Stir in the margarine until it’s melted, then add the cheese.

9. Then add the whisked egg while stirring the pastina vigorously.

10. Add salt if needed (I didn't), then put the pastina in two bowls.

11. Top with mushrooms, cooked eggs, and pepper as desired.