I’ve been AWOL from my blog for six full weeks. Why the hiatus? Well, on 27 December, Panu and I got married. On 2 February, we celebrated with friends. About three days after that, we made a baby.

Ok, so we didn’t make a baby yet per se, it’s still gestating (urgh, I hate that word) but that was pretty much the beginning of the undoing of Catty the Food Blogger, and the introduction of Catty who basically doesn’t want to eat food, cannot stand smelling food and oh, even photos of food? Yes, even they make her want to throw up.

Pregnancy. I bow to thee, I never thought there’d be a force strong enough to make me dislike food.

So, 16 weeks in and how am I doing? Better, I think. On a scale between people biatches who have ‘easy pregnancies’ and those who end up in hospital (like poor Kate Middleton), I land somewhere in the middle. I always expected pregnancy to be fantastic, I expected to be glowing and ecstatic. But what am I instead?

  • Nauseous 24 hours a day
  • Averse to ALL kinds of food, especially my favourite foods like matcha and quinoa (!!)
  • A vomit machine, any time of day, anywhere – without warning
  • Repulsed by the smell of cooking meat and fish, especially bacon 
  • Even repulsed by photos of food (oh Instagram, you kill me)
  • Disgusted by the constant horrible, bitter taste in my mouth
  • Pimply like a prepubescent teen
  • Rashy like… I don’t even know what
  • Bloated, as though I attacked a Vegas buffet
  • Fanatical about my thyroid which has yoyo’d since I fell pregnant
  • Tired, cranky, anxious, nervous
  • I would also say I pee a lot, but that’s not a biggie because I peed a lot anyway (TMI, sorry)

Pregnancy is hands down the most fucking unglamorous thing I’ve ever had to endure.

But. We’re making a baby, and the sheer concept of that blows my mind to smithereens. I knew nothing about the development of life before I fell pregnant and now it’s all I read about… and I really can’t put into words how amazed I am at the marvel of life. Scientific little me has even started to believe that there’s gotta be something more to it than science. I could go on about this forever, but if there’s one thing I’d share… it’s this amazing TED Talks video.

And… I wouldn’t swap all my pregnancy misery for anything else in the world.

Anyway, I haven’t cooked in 10 weeks. Even the idea of cooking makes me sick to my stomach, and poor Panu, when he cooks for himself, he gets banished to the balcony. But somewhere along the way, I have baked twice.

Once, I made my quinoa chocolate cake (the smell from cooking quinoa made me puke – I mean, who knew it even smelled like anything?) and a couple of weeks ago, I made these amazing chewy chocolate chip cookies, which I must say, smelled – and tasted – damn fine.

Original recipe can be found here.

Chewy choc chip cookies
2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup (170g) unsalted butter, melted
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg
1 egg yolk
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
  1. Preheat oven to 165°C/325°F. Line two baking trays with baking paper.
  2. Sift together dry ingredients – flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
  3. In another bowl, beat together the butter and both sugars until blended. Beat in vanilla, egg and egg yolk until creamy. Mix in the dry ingredients until just blended. Stir in the chocolate chips with a wooden spoon.
  4. Scoop 1/4 cup dough balls onto the baking tray, leaving about 2-3 inches between the cookies.
  5. Bake for 15-17 minutes or until the edges are just brown. When done, let cool on tray for a few minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
Makes 13-14 big cookies

31 Thoughts on “recipe | chewy chocolate chip cookies (and why I’ve been AWOL)

  1. Congrats!!!! I know how awful pregnancy can be. I had it pretty ‘easy’ except being the nausea but rest assured it does get better. Until you are in your third trimester! i was so big walking was hurting my feet!
    congrats and enjoy the experience. i miss Dragon being in my tummy kicking, squirming and what not 🙂

  2. Aaaaaahhhhh!! Excited!! 😀 Hope the taste buds regulate themselves soon, babe! I have a feeling that when they do, they’ll be back with a vengeance! Food tastes amazing whine ur pregnant…when u reach that stage anyway 🙂

  3. Congrats on the pregnancy! It’s definitely an exciting journey that’s just begun, despite all the things you’ve experienced so far.. you’ve got a little bubba growing inside of you that is of your own DNA – now that’s pretty cool 🙂

  4. WOO! Congrats! I saw the initial post on instagram and that’s what I thought.
    So sorry that you are not interested in food, tho. That is crazy.

    Congrats to you and Panu!

  5. Congratulations Cat & Panu, exciting news! All the best!

  6. Congratulations! I have never been pregnant, and am now even more freaked out by it than I ever was, but I TOTALLY feel for you. Child bearing is a weird and mysterious thing, and you have my full cyber-support.

  7. Congratulations!!! So excited for you and Panu! Even if you can’t cook/eat/smell quinoa (oh the horror!). 😉 It will all be worth it in the end!

  8. SQUEEEEE CONGRATS!!!!!!!!!!

  9. Kinda feel weird offering your both my congratulations (for the pending baby) and condolences (for your food issues) at the same time but your pregnancy is awesome news I wish you and Panu all the best with that.

    Hopefully the food issue will pass in time too 🙂

    • It’s funny – loads of people have given me more condolences than congrats because they know how sad I am about not being able to eat!

  10. Congratulations!! hehe you’re going to be a wonderful mumma 😀

  11. Nicola on May 13, 2013 at 5:04 pm said:

    Dear Cat (& Panu),
    Congratulations!! Hurray for a little mini-Cat or mini-Panu 😀

    All the hugs you’ll get over the coming years will make you forget about being sick (and all (well most) of the other annoying stuff babies/kids do, hehe).
    And apologies for being mushy, but your kids will love you with all their heart, more than they love anyone else in the world, and that is a good reward for all your efforts 🙂

    • Until they become teenagers and hate you more than anything? haha I’m so jaded already.. not honestly I KNOW it’ll be worth it and I wouldn’t trade this for anything.

  12. Gail on May 13, 2013 at 5:28 pm said:

    Aiiiiiiiiieeeeeee!!! Congratulations lovely lady!! I totally sympathise on the food front, I was exactly the same and it SUCKS. But, you know, A BABY! So very happy for you xx

  13. Omg omg omg congrats!!!! So, a sep bubba? So exciting!!

    I didn’t get the nausea/vomiting/put off food with my preggies but when I did feel slightly off it was ginger to the rescue. Ginger tea, teh halia, candied ginger, ginger beer…ginger anything! Hope your appetite comes back soon.

  14. Mark on May 13, 2013 at 6:01 pm said:

    Fantastic news Cat :)! Congrats and I’m sure you’ll have your cravings back in no time (and hopefully nothing weird like gherkin ice cream)

  15. Congratulations to you and Panu! Hope your taste for food comes back soon 🙂

  16. Weeee… Congrats! You guys were quick ;p I’m so happy for you! If I wasn’t studying cancer, my next topic would’ve been embryology… It’s really fascinating! Especially having halfies! I hope you get your appetite back.

    • I’m so fascinated it makes me want to go back and study. LOL. Nah, not really, I’m too lazy. I got Alexander Tsiara’s book – From Conception to Birth. It is AMAZING.

  17. Congratulations!! You’re going to have a family to call your own – that’s exciting! But damn, the side effects of pregnancy don’t sound like fun. I wish you all the best and hopefully the bad side of pregnancy tones done soon! 🙂

  18. Tammyjean on May 14, 2013 at 12:34 am said:

    Congratulations Cat!!! I’m so happy & excited for you and Panu. Your little baby is going to be super adorable. I enjoyed reading your pregnancy symptoms (LoL).

    I love your website. You are one hilarious, honest woman.

    Keep up the good work!!

    Tammy (Teoh)

  19. Suety on May 14, 2013 at 4:10 am said:

    Waaaaaaaooooooo CONGRATULATIONS! I’ve never been pregnant so no advice here 😀 But wishing you all the best!

  20. Congratulations! I completely feel your pain- currently at the 28 week mark- but between 7 and 12 we were in New York and South America. It was the all-you-can-eat feijoada and churrascaria restaurants that completely did me in- with the smell of meat, constantly. Now feeling much better- hoping the same happens for you.

    • Firstly, congrats!! Secondly OMG how did you do that? I would have died. We went to MELBOURNE (which is no biggie) for a weekend and it was a challenge. Even now, we can’t eat in restaurants that have a strong smell of food lol. It’s insane, isn’t it??

  21. I love that Ted talks video, and yes there is def something more to it than science 😉

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