Bye-Bye, Fidesz + Tofu Chickpea Curry

Monday

Arthur woke up a little before 8, but I think it might have been because his parents were being a bit noisy. We were excited: Orbán had lost the Hungarian election and Fidesz was OUT! It was a huge deal, and the morning (and whole day, honestly) had a celebratory air to it. Not sure if Arthur picked up on it, but we were certainly happy.

Feeling patriotic!

He was very sweet in the morning, but didn’t nap much during his 10:00 nursing session.

Luckily, he did at 1:00. For his afternoon snack afterwards, I served him up some more of the carrot-chicken-rice purée, this time mixed with tahini, for the allergenic exposure. But oof, he did not like that. He made horrified faces at every spoonful, and didn’t even want to open his mouth for it, pushing the spoon away. So I gave up and gave him some of the purée on its own, and that went over much better. I followed it up with some homemade whole-milk kefir, which, after the initial uncertainty, he enjoyed as well.

Arthur also enjoyed dropping his spoon over the edge of his tray, again and again. This time, he giggled whenever I exclaimed about it, or when I said “oops!” or something when walking into his spillage. He also had fun drinking from a cup, and did quite well holding it up to his mouth this time, and was very proud of himself! He was in a very good mood, and giggled a lot when we were cleaning him up as well.

He’s back on the dada train, although here were a couple of mamas thrown in today as well. But at one point while nursing, he took a break, looked at me intently, and very deliberately said dada. Just the two syllables. I swear he was trying to use it to communicate with me, not just babbling as usual. But he seems to have gotten my name wrong.

Anyways, dinner for Arthur was more of the allergenic oatmeal delight I had made the previous day. It’s a good thing he likes it, because I stuffed his face full of it - he wasn’t getting his usual post-dinner nursing session. No, Mama was having a glass of wine with dinner to celebrate Hungary’s future! So Arthur had to celebrate with lots of porridge instead.

So, Arthur’s Monday meals amounted to:

• chicken

• rice

• carrot

• tahini (kinda)

• kefir

• oatmeal

• peanut butter

• walnut oil

• cinnamon

• soy milk

Tuesday

Arthur fully synced with his mama today. Or maybe he even woke up before me? Anyways, I heard him crying less than a minute after I got out of bed at 7:20. So it was a bit of a hectic start to the day for me, as Miklós had gone into the office and I was on my own with the little fellow.

I was pretty happy to start nursing him early, though. I hadn’t pumped the previous evening when I had my wine, so the last time I had nursed had been at 5pm, and my boobs were feeling the long time between sessions. My left boob especially felt hard and like some of the ducts were a little clogged. It took two nursing sessions with Arthur before it felt normal again. Next time I skip a bedtime nursing session, I think I’ll pump.

Anyways, the morning was pretty chill, with some playtime with CC on the mat and a nap during his 10:00 nursing session. Afterwards, Arthur helped me go shopping, and then had a snack while I unpacked and prepped some things in the kitchen. We had a lot of kefir to use up, as well as the remainder of a carton of soy milk, so I mixed those with some Weetabix and fed it to Arthur. He wasn’t as enthusiastic about it as the plain soy milk Weetabix, but ate it alright. For his afternoon snack (after a nap), Arthur got the remainder of the carrot-rice-chicken purée scrambled with egg and garlic powder in a mixture of olive and sesame oil. He was quite enthusiastic about this dish, and ate a

Crib life

good amount!

Honestly, the dude has been pretty sweet the entire day, which I greatly appreciated. He had a lot of fun when I played peek-a-boo with him using the shower curtain, which also enabled me to take a shower. He also was very content just sitting in the crib downstairs for quite some time, playing with a couple of toys in there. It probably helped that he got in three naps during nursing sessions, at the times he seems to be gravitating towards these days:

• 10:00am

• 1:00pm

• 5:00pm

Anyways, for dinner, I stuffed his face full of more of the Weetabix concoction, as I had made quite a bit that he needed to get through. He seemed more enthusiastic about it than he had the first time around.

Which means that Arthur’s Tuesday solid intake came to:

• Weetabix

• soy milk

• kefir

• carrot

• chicken

• rice

• egg

• garlic

• sesame oil

• olive oil

The adults were having my take on the Moosewood Cookbook’s tofu chickpea curry. It’s a favorite from my childhood; my mom made it a lot when I was a kid. It’s a pretty simple recipe, especially the way I make it (swapping a can of diced tomatoes for the fresh ones), healthy, and very tasty! Here’s how I make it:

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Tofu Chickpea Curry (serves 2 hungry parents)

Ingredients

• 1 medium onion, any color, minced

• olive oil, for cooking

• 1 can/pouch of chickpeas (mine was 240g drained weight)

• 1 can diced tomatoes (400g)

• 1 block of firm tofu (180-200g) - I’ve used plain and smoked, and both were good!

• spices, to taste (I’m really bad at measuring spices, and usually just throw them in):

  • salt

  • pepper

  • MSG (optional)

  • garlic powder (or fresh garlic) - I use a lot of this

  • cumin - I use a lot of this

  • turmeric

  • cayenne (optional - I don’t use much)

• rice/other grain of choice (for serving)

Instructions

1. Sauté the onion in olive oil with some salt.

2. While the onion is cooking, cut the tofu into medium-sized cubes and pop it in the air fryer at 200 degrees Celsius.

3. Add the chickpeas and canned diced tomatoes to the onions in the pan, followed by the spices.

4. Let the mixture simmer, and when the tofu is crispy (after 10-15 minutes), add it to the mixture as well.

5. Keep the mixture on low heat, stirring, until you’re ready to eat!

6. Enjoy warm over your choice of grain (we usually do rice)