Kiwi + Poké

Thursday

The little booger woke up around 6 on Thursday. His papa was not pleased. Arthur got some spinach purée to tide him over until his proper breakfast, at which point he nursed with extreme vigor before falling asleep. It figures.

We tried out our new baby carrier in the morning; he seemed to treat it more or less the same as he does his sling. In other words, he’s content if I’m moving around while wearing him, but less so if I’m sitting or standing still.

Arthur had a mid-morning snack to keep him going until his second nursing session: yoghurt with more of that sesame-oil fried shrimp. He was ok with it, but ugh, that shrimp is so disgusting. It doesn’t help that Arthur keeps spitting the pieces out (not that I blame him). I’ll be very relieved when it’s all used up. I also gave him some water to wash down the shrimp, and he drank a couple of sips and swallowed, so, more success!

Testing out what green facial hair would look like

Afternoon snack time involved more spinach, mixed with a bit of rice porridge to bulk it up and add some iron, and a couple more pieces of shrimp. Arthur was very enthusiastic about it (minus the chunks of shrimp which are a bit too hard for him) and ate the lot, and was even a bit less messy doing so than before - this was one of our few snacktimes that didn’t require an outfit change. His spinachy poop, on the other hand…oh my, it is a very dark green, and even smells a bit like spinach!

We kept Arthur’s dinner simple with some more Weetabix a la breast milk. It was, as usual, very well received.

So, on Thursday, Arthur ate:

• spinach

• olive oil

• yoghurt

• sesame oil

• shrimp

• rice porridge

• milk powder

• Weetabix

Friday

Arthur slept in until 7:15, and it felt so luxurious! These past few days of extra early wakeups have conditioned us; 7:15 would have felt extra early a month ago, but now it’s a treat. He was sweet and smiley when he woke up (it helps to be well-rested, I guess), but a bit energetic while nursing. These days, he really wants to grab at things while he’s nursing, which can be challenging. He reaches for my laptop, my mug, my phone, the charging cable. Sometimes I just stick a random object in his hand to keep him occupied, because he really does want to be doing something with his hand while he drinks. He’s a multitasker like his mama.

The little dude charmed the pants off the sales attendant when we went to Lidl. The store is doing some promotions involving stickers you can get every time you check out; once you collect 18, you can get a plush fruit or vegetable. She gave us like 25, so I guess Arthur's going to get a stuffed avocado or something next time we go!

Speaking of, we introduced fruit for the first time at Arthur's afternoon session! I figured

Our thoughts on kiwi

kiwi might be a good start, because it's not too sweet. It's a bit hard to tell what Arthur thought about it. He made faces but grunted for more, though that's typical when introducing a new food. But it was like the tartness of the fruit was a surprise every time it got on his tongue. He ended up getting a bit worked up, so I tried a bit of spinach purée to see if would calm him down (with some shrimp and tofu pieces mixed in). He ate a bit, but got worked up again pretty quickly, so we ended snack time there. Afterwards, he was drooling green for a while, which was pretty charming. And spitting up bits of shrimp, which is even cuter. He doesn't seem to want to swallow the harder pieces, even though they're tiny. But again, I can't blame him for that - shrimp are nasty. So for dinner, I gave the poor guy something a bit more palatable: more breast milky Weetabix. He was very relieved to have some of that.

So, on Friday, Arthur's solid intake came to:

• kiwi (new food!)

• spinach

• olive oil

• shrimp

• sesame oil

• tofu

• Weetabix

We had ready-made meals on Friday night (it was National Frozen Food Day, so we just had to celebrate), but I decided to go with poké bowls on Thursday! Or poké plates, really. I burned the cabbage mix, but other than that, they were really good! It’s not much of a recipe, but here’s how I made them. For the sushi rice, I pretty much just halved this recipe. It turned out really great - felt like something we’d get from a restaurant! The tofu worked perfect here.

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Vegan Poké Bowls (serves 2 hungry people)

Ingredients

• 1 cup sushi rice

• 1 cup + 2 tbsp water

• 2 tbsp unseasoned rice vinegar

• ½ tsp salt

• 2 tsp sugar or alternative

• marinated tofu (recipe posted two entries back - I did the version where it’s simmered in its marinade until it’s all evaporated)

• 1 small jar (~100g) pickled ginger

• 200g pre-made wakame salad

• 155g can edamame

• 150g coleslaw mix/shredded cabbage &/or carrots

• soy sauce, to taste

• optional spices to taste: MSG, garlic opwder, onion powder

• sauces of choice, for serving (sriracha, mayo, sweet chili sauce, soy sauce, sambal, etc.)

Instructions

1. Make the rice:

   1. Rinse the rice in cold water, draining with a fine-mesh sieve, a few times, until the water runs clear.

   2. Stir the rice and water together in a large pot, turn heat to medium-high, and cook until the water just reaches a simmer.

   3. Reduce heat to medium-low to maintain the simmer, and cook for 16-18 minutes or until all of the liquid is absorbed and the rice is tender.

   4. Remove pot from the heat (with the lid still on) and let the rice steam for an additional 10 minutes.

   5. While the rice is cooking, mix the rice vinegar, sweetener/sugar, and salt in a small mug or ramekin, and microwave for 30 seconds. Mix until everything is dissolved, microwaving for an additional 30 seconds if needed.

   6. Once the rice is cooked, transfer the rice immediately to a large mixing bowl and drizzle it evenly with the sushi vinegar. Use a spatula to very gently fold the rice — more of a slicing and lifting motion, rather than stirring and smooshing — until the vinegar is evenly mixed into the rice.

   7. Cover the mixing bowl with a damp towel so that it is touching the surface of the rice, which will help prevent the rice from drying out. Let it cool on the counter (or in the refrigerator) until it reaches room temperature.

2. Roast the cabbage:

   1. Preheat the oven to 250 degrees Celsius.

   2. Drizzle a bit of soy sauce and, if using, MSG, garlic, and onion powders on the coleslaw mix, and spread over a parchment-lined baking tray.

   3. Roast for 15-20 minutes, until crispy. Be careful to check on it frequently - I left mine in for half an hour and it got burnt - hence the less-than-aesthetically pleasing plate.

3. Plate the rice on two plates (or large bowls), and divide the rest of the ingredients onto the two plates.

4. Drizzle with sauces of choice and serve.