Dear Pregnant Kate Middleton,
Hey, girl. We heard the great news from our mutual friend of a mutual friend, Reuters News Service. Right off the bat, we just want to say: Congrats! We're all so happy for you here!
And let's just get this out of the way: We're totally not upset with you about how our invite to your wedding got lost in the mail last year. Completely understand. You had a million things to do, the British postal service is such a mess these days, and you probably didn't have enough time to return the 13 messages we left for you, care of Buckingham Palace.
Water under the bridge. Just don't forget to tell Pippa to triple-check our invitation for the baby shower. (Haha! Just kidding.)
(Not kidding: We'll bring cookies.)
By the way, how is Pippa? Did she see that Facebook friend request we sent her?
Anyway, back to you and your new thing. As soon as we heard the wonderful news, we started coming up with advice for what foods will help get you through the next nine months. Now, we're aware that you've been suffering from a serious medical condition that makes it hard for you to keep any food down, and that you've been even been hospitalized for it. The most important advice anyone can give you is to follow your doctor's orders.
Consider our contribution to be a collection of loose suggestions--from close friends--for when you're able to eat as (relatively) normally as a pregnant woman can.
By the way, Ted's totally up for polo with Wills next time you guys are in town. Just give him a couple weeks' notice so he can take a couple lessons.
So here's what we think you should be eating as we await the future king or queen of the United Kingdom...
Homemade Ginger Ale: You'll be drinking a lot of liquids the next few months. A lot. You'll also be hearing a lot about the nausea-fighting properties of ginger. It works for some people, but not for others. If you turn out to be a ginger mom, try our homemade ginger-ale recipe, which soothes your stomach, rehydrates you, and tickles your insides with that pleasant fizz.
Mango and Passionfruit Smoothie: Fruit will be an important part of your diet, not only for the vitamins they'll supply to you and your baby, but also because they're often the easiest thing for a pregnant woman to keep down. And in liquid form? It's a no-brainer.
Petite Rolled Vanilla Cookies: Unassuming but not bland, these vanilla treats will rest easy in your tummy on those days you can't digest anything richer. They will become your best friends--after us, of course.
Common Crackers: If you can't even keep down the vanilla cookies, you will always have plain old crackers to fall back on. They're crisp, refreshing, and more substantial than your average oyster cracker--no small thing when you're trying to absorb every calorie you can.
Matzo Ball Soup: This homey, hearty soup has gotten more than one Bon Appetit staffer through a tough pregnancy. We get the feeling it's not something the queen whips up for her family at Buckingham Palace, but it's easy enough for you or William to make at home in Wales by yourselves. Or with friends from America visiting for the weekend.
French Lentil Soup: Somewhere in the reams of pregnancy-advice literature you're being bombarded with (what's with all that unsolicited advice anyway? Jeez!), you'll read something about lentils being the perfect food for when you're expecting. We don't know about that, but we do know that our French lentil soup is delicious. We call it a "rainy-day soup," and you'll soon learn that you're about to experience nine months' worth of 'em.
Pretzel Rolls: At least one of our editors isn't sure she would've made it to term if she hadn't had pretzel rods to lean on. We're going to do her one better and point you to our pretzel rolls, which cook up fast, taste great, and give your father-in-law an excuse to make that "bun in the oven" joke he's been saving for weeks now.
Frozen Meyer-Lemon Cream With Blackberry Sauce: Digging into a carton of ice cream straight from the freezer will soon be one of your chief joys in life. Mind-numbingly cold, tongue-curlingly tart, and irresistably luscious, this is the ice cream you'll reach for first, we just know it.
Mapo Tofu: We're telling you this just because we're best pals and are probably going to be named collective godparent to your child, but we saved this for last because it's our secret weapon. It's the devilishly spicy mapo tofu recipe Danny Bowien gave us in May, and it's world-altering. But save it in case you go past your due date, at which point you should have it at least once a day. It may actually induce labor--probably because your kid will want to make sure he doesn't miss out on an early reservation at Mission Chinese Food.
Naturally, we're completely willing to make any or all of these dishes for you personally. Just give us the word. Till then, you know where to find us: We'll just be sitting here by the mailbox, waiting for that invite.
Cheers!
--Your BFF at Bon Appetit