good eats on my first day as a 30-something

I still get nausea and round ligament pain on a daily basis, but they don't seem to be of the around-the-clock, all-day-and-all-night variety anymore. This is a huge relief. I was remembering the farewell dinner Christy and Judy ate with us the night before we left Seattle. We were at this fabulous upscale pizza place, with freshly made pizzas topped with clams and prosciutto and a live band that Declan was simply amazed by. I had hardly eaten much of anything else all day long, because I was feeling so sick, and although I was recognizably hungry at the pizza descriptions, it was still hard for me to appreciate all the good food.

Now my appetite* is starting to return, and with a vengeance at times. The birthday lunch I just had was so perfect and immensely satisfying, and in retrospect, holy moley a lot of food compared to what I have been able to eat in the last three months. We went to one of the many small sidewalk eateries that are usually family-run. Thus far, I've only been able to eat a bowl of white rice or noodles drizzled with some meat sauce before I get full. Add a small plate of blanched water spinach or sweet potato leaves, and I might get a stomachache. But for today's lunch, I had a bowl of 肉燥飯(rice with marinated meat sauce), a plate of marinated cold pork liver slices, a plate of blanched and chilled bamboo shoot chunks with Japanese salad dressing, a plate of blanched and lightly salted sweet potato leaves with garlic, and a bowl of 貢丸湯 (soup with pork meatballs).

I didn't think I would be able to finish it all, but I did. It's a quintessential Taiwanese meal, and I couldn't have asked for more. My dad's planning to treat me to some yakiniku at a fairly upscale Japanese restaurant tonight. In truth, all I need is some Taiwanese small eats and an air conditioned room.  But it should be fun...I've never really had yakiniku before. The first new thing to experience as I begin my 30s.

*There are a lot of old wives' tales surrounding food preferences during pregnancies. When I was pregnant with Declan, I craved meat (in the form of corn dogs and Hawaiian pizza) and sweet things like chocolate (I usually don't care for candy whatsoever). This time, I've noticed that the few sweet things I used to like, such as flan, are just too sweet for my taste. Aside from liver (which I crave), I don't shun or love meat any more than normal. I mostly want to eat lots of dark green vegetables. My mom suggested these signs point to a girl. Hm.