Fresh pasta is pregnant woman's best friend...

...particularly when it's someone else making it for you!

Anyhoo, I've been keeping up with Nicole's progress since she's just a few weeks ahead of me. Baby Warren decided to hang in there for the full term, but finally arrived last week. What a precious baby! Congratulations!

I'm now at 33 weeks and at 32 weeks, I got hit with the double whammy of edema and major acid reflux. I've been cruising along for so long with only hip pain and vanity issues. But now I have to dramatically change what I eat--cut back on salt and cut out citrus, tomatoes, chocolate, and more. But those are the most important. The tomato is the staple of my diet.

I discovered my new issues after visiting my favorite Indian restaurant, Woodlands last week for what will probably be the last time for several months. Onions and tomatoes--not the best friends of a third trimester pregnant woman. Dinner was delicious, though. And by Thursday evening? I'd taken off my shoes and noted my socks looked funny. But then I took off my socks to reveal ankles that looked as if they had tumors. They'd swollen around the opening of my shoe. Fantastic.

So on Thursday, I was trying to figure out what was going to get me through the next 6-8 weeks. And it occurred to me: pasta. But not just any ol' pasta. I was finally going to get some Lazzaroli's pasta. Others have raved about it, so I was finally going to make my way to Germantown and get some for myself.

Lazzaroli's is a little market that's actually not far from the Farmer's Market. And for so long, I thought it was hard to get to! Not so. But you don't let size fool you. Tom's got a lot of stuff in there. It was great to chat with him, but I kept getting distracted by all of the great items he sells aside from the pasta. June Taylor jams, the full line of Olive and Sinclair chocolate bars, Silke's breads, and a large collection of fine oils and other kitchen essentials.

Though I picked up some marmalade and chocolate, I was there for the pasta. I got a pound of fresh fettucine and a pound of frozen shiitake mushroom and fontina ravioli (there are two cases--one fresh, one frozen). I also picked up some of Lazzaroli's roasted pepper cream sauce as it sounded like something my poor little body could handle.

So I got home with my bag of goodies and cooked up a batch of fettucine. I wasn't ready yet to take any chances, so I just poured on some good olive oil and a touch of truffle oil and shaved parmigiano (and, okay, a pinch of fleur de sel) and sat down for dinner. Delicious. There is nothing like a really good, fresh egg pasta. Mother and baby both enjoyed dinner immensely (as we were both able to sleep).

So, Friday, I took some leftover noodles with the roasted pepper sauce on them for lunch. It's not the best way to enjoy fresh pasta, but they held up remarkably well to the abuse. And that sauce has a great flavor. And didn't hurt my stomach.

Anyway, I have a feeling that Tom's going to be seeing a lot more of me, particularly until I can get around to making my own pasta again. And I've spread the word to some of my Yankee Italian co-workers, too. They're very happy to know that they can have pasta here after all!