One of the things I get asked most, aside from whether this baby is a boy or girl, is what strange pregnancy cravings I have had. Honestly, until the past few weeks I hadn’t had any. I have a huge laundry list of foods that I don’t want to eat, things that don’t sound good, but I haven’t had many foods that are on my must-eat-them-now list.

But now, I finally am having a few and it is really strange to want, desperately to eat a particular food for no particular reason. I am craving three things these days; sweet potatoes, kabocha (Japanese pumpkin) and mint.

The first two cravings have been easy to satisfy. The sweet potatoes are a little odd, because I have never traditionally liked them. Sweet potato is always the dish that I shy away from on the Thanksgiving Day spread. But now, I just can’t get enough!

Since we live in Japan, kabocha has also been easy to come by. One day, on the way home from work, the craving was so strong that I stopped in the local grocery and picked up a few pieces of kabocha tempura. I couldn’t even wait until I got home to eat it, I nibbled on my tempura as I waited in line for the train.

Mint has been the real problem. It is a flavor that is almost non-existent in Japan. I am craving mint with chocolate and I try to find it in every store that we visit. I have had this craving for a few weeks now and I still haven’t been able to fulfill it. A good friend suggested yesterday that I pick up some peppermint extract from a local grocery and make up my own batch of mint chocolate. I think she may be on to something!

So yeah, those are my cravings right now. I am really looking forward to seeing what else I crave during this pregnancy!