Baby bok choy, and a human baby.

Welcome to our clan, Elsie!

Our newest old lady arrived just over two weeks ago. On the spectrum of surviving to thriving I would say I’m erring on the surviving end, but the needle is creeping toward center and I’ll take it.

I’m not really in a place where I can say with any confidence whether we would have a third kid, but what I can tell you is that I would consider a home birth just to avoid the labor and delivery ward. A quick disclaimer- Johns Hopkins is fabulous and I’m grateful to them for keeping both of us healthy and safe.

HOWEVER.

Labor and delivery is my version of hell. Not the actual labor part, but the part afterwards where they keep you against your will, send people in and out of the room at all hours, and insist on calling themselves a “Baby Friendly Hospital” which just means that the baby has to stay in your room at all times. You know on TV where you see those adorable scenes of a bunch of babies side by side sleeping in bassinets in the nursery? No longer a thing. “Baby Friendly Hospital” sounds like it was coined by a white man in marketing who wants to make women feel guilty for wanting a bit of sleep after laboring.

When you do finally get your baby to sleep and yourself to sleep, count on someone coming in the room to gently jostle you awake and say “Hi! So sorry to wake you! Do you need anything?”

What I need is for you to get the eff out of my room and let me sleep. Or, better yet, let me go home because I’ve done this once before and would rather “recover” in my own house. At one point I had finally gotten Elsie to sleep and a nurse came in (at 2:45AM) and said she was taking her for labs. Five minutes later she was back with my (now screaming) infant saying “Never mind! She doesn’t need labs!”

It would be like being at a restaurant where you’ve finished your meal and you keep asking for the check, but instead they send different servers over at random intervals to fill your water glass and hand you ketchup packets you didn’t ask for, and maybe kick you in the shins under the table.

Now that that’s off my chest. We’re home now and figuring out how to juggle two under two, and part of that involved ordering groceries on Instacart. As sometimes happens, we were missing one of our bags and ended up with one that wasn’t ours, and part of the contents was baby bok choy. A great excuse for me to play Chopped with myself, and the help of NYT Cooking.

Sheet Pan Chicken w/ Baby Bok Choy

adapted from NYT Cooking

4 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs

1 tbs miso paste

3 tbs Dijon mustard

2 tsp brown sugar

3-4 cloves garlic, minced

1 tbs grated ginger

1/4 cup canola oil

1 1/2 lbs baby bok choy

Combine the mustard, miso paste, brown sugar, garlic, and ginger. Whisk in the canola oil. Season the chicken with salt and pepper, then spread the mixture all over. I used my hands to make sure it was fully covered.

Rinse the bok choy and cut them in half, lengthwise. Spread on a large baking sheet and season generously with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Place the chicken thighs on top of the bok choy, and bake at 450 for 30-40 minutes. I did 30 minutes and then the broiler for another 5 just to get the chicken a little crispier on top.

This seasoning is really good but the true star was the bok choy. The GS said it’s among the best vegetables he’s ever eaten. The outer leaves get really crispy and salty like good roasted broccoli florets, and then the stems have a good chew to them. I physically went to the grocery store yesterday, and I bought all the bok choy they had.

The chicken isn’t AS good as this change your life chicken (just didn’t get as crispy) but I still liked the flavoring so I may try to mix up the cooking technique a little. The original NYT Cooking recipe says to remove the skin from the chicken but that seemed like too much work in the moment. When I make it again (tonight?) I’ll try it that way. Serve with rice. Enjoy!