alexist

That was the theme of the day. (These were personal rules, not any official ones.)

I was looking for a new 10"/26cm springform pan. I bent my old one out of shape, and subsequently discovered that John Lewis no longer sell standard Kaiser tinplate pans. All I could find (in 5 stores, including JL and 2 kitchenware shops) were 23cm ones. Too small--I've done this cheesecake in 24cm, and it nearly overflows the pan.

So, near-rule break 1: My back was killing me, and I was in Marylebone High Street. There are no buses there. You have to walk to Marylebone Road or Baker Street. For a minute, I couldn't face it and said "oh, to hell with it, I'm nearly 8 months pregnant, I'll get a taxi". I NEVER get black cabs. They cost a fortune, and in central London you're rarely in a situation where you're far from a bus or tube. The last time I got a cab, I was with my grandmother, which suspends all transport rules.

The only thing preventing follow-through was that because it was raining, there were no free cabs. I gave up and walked. My back wasn't happy, but I survived and I saved a fiver, which is probably what it would have cost to get to Oxford Street. This was rule breaks 2 & 3: One, I went to Oxford Street in December, and two, I went to Selfridges, where I never shop, because I knew they have a good cookshop and stock Kaiser La Forme. So I got one of the good pans, instead of the cheap ones, and I shall endeavour not to bend it this time. (I better not; it's expensive. But it has the leakproof base.)

Neil's out with workmates this evening, so I can go have a nap :-)

Or I think it is--what do you think?

From the Indy food & drink quiz:
"Who was one of the co-authors of Julia Child's classic Mastering the Art of French Cooking--Louisette Bertholle or Simone Beck?"

Problem: Both co-authored Volume I, but only Simone Beck co-authored Volume II. Furthermore, the way the question is phrased, it makes you think it's one or the other. Anyone else think people will be tripped up by the phrasing?

(The question, by the way, was set by the owner for Books for Cooks.)

You should not have told me about this. And Amazon, you should not tempt me by having it at 50% off, with the US$ at nearly 2 to the pound. (Although I'd get smacked for duty.)

I won't do it; baby comes before DVDs. But I can be tempted, darn it!

I think I'm firmly in the "uncomfortable" stage now. The baby seems to be pushing in 4 directions at once. I'm not sure which is worse: pressing up on my stomach so I never feel completely right, or pushing down so my bladder always feels full. I have my 36 week scan a week from Monday, so I'll get to find out how big it is. Hopefully it will have turned around. The likelihood of them managing ECV (external cephalic version--basically, prodding the baby to make it turn around) is slim to none since they can't even manage a physical.

No antenatal class tonight--it was switched to Tuesday. This was the breastfeeding class. I told Neil that if the other husbands decided to go to the pub he could join them (he still had to drive me :) ) He stayed, though, along with 4 or 5 other guys (out of 14 couples). It was reasonably useful as it covered some practicalities (basics of actually doing it, etc) as well as information about why. Since I'm already sold on it, that part was redundant.

What interested me is that I and the other women in the class seemed to be surprised by different things. The other women all seemed shocked when they heard that only 20% of women manage to continue breastfeeding past a couple of weeks. That wasn't so shocking to me--nor the fact that they said "I thought it would be higher, so many people I know breastfed". This was a room full of middle class north London women. We're probably one of the groups most likely to breastfeed. What intrigued me was the tentativeness about breastfeeding expressed by the majority of women there. Precisely because of the kind of women who go to these classes, I expected more gung-ho attitudes. To me, it seems obvious that (assuming a normal, healthy baby and mother) breastfeeding should be the default choice. (Kol hakavod if you can manage it in more difficult cases, but I don't think we can expect women to do it. Expressing, for example, is more difficult than feeding naturally--your body doesn't respond the same way to a pump as it does to a baby.) I don't judge women for not breast-feeding (except for a small number who don't do it for completely selfish reasons, like it interferes with their post-baby crash diet or their social life) but I do feel it should be promoted more (and better supported!) and formula seen as what you use when you can't breastfeed.

In completely unrelated news, I made a giant pot of cabbage and noodles tonight. It was delicious. I'll be eating it for days and I'll probably be ill. :) I also managed to touch a hot burner (damn solid plates, no heat indicator) and burnt my finger tips :( I can see them starting to blister :( A cold wet cloth is temporarily soothing, but doesn't actually help much.