Home Owners???? + Ful Mudammas (Egyptian "Fava" Beans)

Thursday

After a very difficult time going down for bed on Wednesday, I kind of figured Arthur would sleep in on Thursday, but that didn’t seem to be the case. He woke up once around 5:30 or so, fell back asleep, and then woke up again around 7. Miklós fed him a breakfast of mashed white beans along with mixed nut butter and soy milk to keep him content while I slumbered, but by the time I got to him, Arthur was pretty fussy. He doesn’t like being cleaned up after solid meals, so that was probably part of it, but it seemed excessive even for that. Miklós thinks it might be teething pain, which I guess would make sense, though I would have expected that earlier, before the teeth had started rupturing his gums. Maybe now it’s his top teeth?

Anyways, I gave Arthur a second breakfast on the boob, and, since he seemed a bit tired and out of sorts, Miklós took him on a walk in the hopes that he would get a nap in. And nap he did - a good 45 minutes or so! Which meant that after another liquid breakfast, Arthur was in high spirits for a trip to South Beach.

I think Arthur liked the beach; he only slept for half of his time there, anyways! I gave him various items to hold - a poppy, a rock, a pine cone - and he seemed to have fun with that! Back at home, he had some susu, followed by a number of popcorn shrimp that G-Dawg had thawed for him. The shrimp were pre-cooked (boiled, I think), and G-Dawg just chopped some up and spooned them in Arthur’s mouth. I have to say, the little guy didn’t seem too enthusiastic about them. He takes after his mama in that regard!

Enjoying the beach the Arthur way

After lunch, we got some exciting news: our offer on a house had been accepted! And this was a house we were very excited about - in fact, it was Miklós’s favorite of all the houses he’d viewed. We are stoked, although we will need a couple of days to finalize the contract and then the next couple of weeks will be quite chaotic as we frantically try to get all the documents together.

To celebrate, Arthur got another walk and nap with his dad. The redness on his chin seems to be spreading up the side, but I think it’s because of the way he rests his head in the hiking backpack - it really rubs against his chin in just the spots that are red.

When he got back, Arthur had more susu, and then had some quality time with Oma. She’s worried he’s got a bit of a cold though, as he felt a bit warm to her and his poop seemed a bit like a sick poop. That might explain why he was so upset last night. Sick or not sick, however, Arthur had a very good appetite for his solid dinner, which makes sense - he hadn’t eaten many solids that day so far, and his last meal had been nearly three hours earlier. He devoured, in quick succession, a substantial amount of white beans, tofu, and then mixed Anasazi beans and orca beans that I had used for our dinner that evening. I also fed him a little bit of parsley, but he had a really hard time with that - raw leafy greens like that are hard for him to get down and he gagged quite a bit on that. But I’m still counting it as a new food down!

So, Arthur’s Thursday solids came to:

• white beans

• mixed nut butter (almonds, cashews, pumpkin seeds, chia seeds, flax seeds)

• soy milk

• shrimp

• orca beans

• anasazi beans

• parsley (new food!)

• tofu

Friday

Arthur woke up at 7:00 on Monday, and breakfasted with the older Duma/Paulay men - he got more avocado, more white beans, and a new food: some of G-Dawg’s waffle! It was a simple Eggo waffle, so nice and processed and probably full of added sugars and salt. Surprisingly, Arthur was not a huge fan, but merely tolerated it. Ah well, at least it got some gluten in his system!

Arthur still had quite a good appetite for a liquid breakfast following his first one. And a big appetite for another solid breakfast half an hour later: he ate nearly a full avocado! And he still drank a reasonable amount on the boob right after that. The boy really is a bottomless pit.

We took him to Roche Harbor after all those breakfasts, where he charmed a number of people and babbled contentedly from his perch in the backpack. Miklós adjusted his position in the backpack, and Arthur’s chin looks quite a bit better today. However, the little tyke began to get fussy after an hour or so; he had napped a bit on me during the morning, but only for 20 minutes or so. Luckily he quickly crashed when we got home around 1 and I stuck him on the boob, and he crashed hard - he clearly needed that nap!

Sorry, Oma, I cantalope with you

Of course, that means Arthur didn’t nap during the walk his pops took him on afterwards, and returned home a bit tired and quite hungry. He devoured two teething popsicles in quick succession, though both ended up being melted and eaten with a spoon. The little fussbudget still had a reasonable appetite for susu afterwards, too! And then Oma came home and gave him some cantalope melon that was sitting around, which Arthur ate quite readily - in fact, he probably ate nearly half a cup of the stuff!

I figured I’d get in a bunch of allergens at dinnertime, so Arthur ate some Malt-o-meal cooked in half and half and mixed with peanut butter and tahini; 4 in 1! I also mixed in some cinnamon for flavor, and a full, chopped, rehydrated prune, because Arthur seemed a bit constipated. He ate the entire serving and still seemed a bit hungry, so I fed him a couple of bites of my own dinner, a yummy lima bean stew. Since he’d only napped a bit over an hour, and it had been a while since his last nap, Arthur was getting pretty fussy by this point, so after a susu dessert, he was whisked off to bed to quickly crash.

Aaaaaand that means Arthur ate the following solids on Friday:

• avocado

• white beans

• Eggo waffle (new food!)

• cashew milk

• chia seeds

• pumpkin purée

• cantalope (new food!)

• Malt-o-meal (wheat, barley)

• half and half

• tahini

• peanut butter

• cinnamon

• rehydrated prune

I cooked dinner for everyone on both Thursday and Friday night. Both dishes were, surprise surprise, bean-based! It'll be nice to switch to more varied dinners once my sisters and Zack arrive, although I guess now is a good time to get my beans in! Thursday's dinner was based on this recipe, from the same site that my favorite bean salad comes from. I couldn't find fava beans at the store on island, though they're quite popular in the Netherlands. Instead I subbed a mix of beans my mom had: orca beans and Anasazi beans. Both were similar to pinto beans or black beans, though, which makes sense - they're the same species. Other than the bean swap, I didn't change much, although I served it with English muffins instead of pita bread, and omitted the side salad. In retrospect, I would have added the salad - the dish was pretty light and I think even my parents would have happily eaten more. But it was pretty tasty. Here's how I made it:

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Ful Mudammas (Egyptian Beans) (serves 2)

Ingredients

• 2 cans (or 3 cups) cooked fava beans, or other beans of choice

• ½ cup water

• 1 tsp cumin

• salt, to taste

• MSG, optional, to taste

• 1-2 hot peppers (I used 1 jalapeño pepper for the base and 1 for topping)

• 2-3 garlic cloves

• 2 tbsp lemon juice

• 1-2 tbsp olive oil

• 1 cup chopped parsley

• 1 large tomato or 2-3 smaller ones, diced

• a handful of sliced black olives, to serve

• pita bread/English muffins, to serve

• optionally a salad of cucumber, olives, and tomatoes, to serve

Instructions

1. Add the beans and water to a large saucepan or skillet. Warm over medium heat and season with cumin, salt, and MSG if using.

2. Mash the beans with a potato masher or fork.

3. Finely mince one hot pepper and the garlic cloves. Mix with the lemon juice in a small bowl or cup.

4. Pour the garlic and hot pepper sauce over the beans, and mix in.

5. Top with parsley, tomato(es), sliced olives, another hot pepper (minced), and a generous drizzle of olive oil.

6. Serve with warm bread and optionally a cucumber-tomato-olive salad.