Peppermint ice cream

Funny what women crave when they're pregnant.

Before we even knew your mom was pregnant with you, she couldn't get enough orange juice.

I should have figured something was up. Your mom doesn't drink a lot of orange juice. I think it's because I'm from Florida and well, she's been there and seen where the oranges come from.

And she became obsessed with the tuna hand rolls at a sushi place near here. We went there one day and she put away four of them. She talked about them almost every day, and if they weren't so expensive, we'd probably have eaten them for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

She also wasn't enjoying wine, and you know how much your mom enjoys her wine. She actually dumped out half a glass of wine after dinner one night. That's so unlike her that I thought she was sick.

Turns out it was you.

She's not into the orange juice as desperately as she was before, and she's not allowed to have tuna because her mercury was a little high. But then she discovered beef.

Your mom is a vegetarian, but you wouldn't know it the way she dives into a steak. It started innocently enough. Janet came over for dinner and I made your mom a vegetarian burger. It wasn't really satisfying her--nothing she ate really satisfied her--so she took a taste of the steak I'd made myself.

Next thing you know, she's telling me she wants steak with the same bloodlust I see in the eyes of our esteeemed president when he tells us he wants to spread democracy. Like him, she refuses to have any blood on her hands. She makes me buy the steak and cook the steak, claiming that the smell of the meat might make her vomit.

Unlike him, she's willing to admit what it is she's craving.

As satisfying as meat is--and she's had beef at least once a day since she became a carnivore again--she still suffers from the occasional bout of nausea. It seems to have a lot to do with standing up and comes on at night, not so much in the morning. Crackers help. And she's got a stash of York Peppermint Patties that she nibbles on, too.

But what she really wants is peppermint ice cream.

Tonight Angie invited us for dinner and since she has connections at Dandy Don's Ice Cream, I mentioned your mom's craving. I told her that the best birthday present she could get your mom would be some peppermint ice cream.

She got a gallon and a half.

We had some for dessert and took the rest home. In the car, your mom got squamish. She had the ice cream, but no spoon.

Thank goodness for the stash of Peppermint Patties.