Xmas Eve & Day

B and I went to her cousin's on the Upper West Side for Christmas eve with her family. I made a sheet of mac and cheese and a bunch of ginger bread cookies. The cookies came out fine, perhaps better than before due to just getting a feel for the dark tacky batter (more leavening agent and doubling the salt is a nice tweak), but the mac was a disaster.

I did two things differently, but one destroyed the dish. I shredded the cheeses instead of cubing them, since B was sleeping and I was trying to keep to a schedule. When the cheeses hit the beschamel, it melted faster because of the increased surface area. The other thing I did differently was an accident -- I made 10 tablespoons worth of roux (cooked butter and flour) for a half gallon of whole milk instead of 20 -- not enough thickening agent to turn the milk from just milk to something that looks more like cream.

Because the sauce was thin and the heat hit the cheeses really fast, the cheese curdled. Instead of having a vat of thick and creamy cheese sauce, I had a big bowl of tiny white cheese curds at the bottom of a lot of thin funky milk. Too late to start over, I moved ahead with adding the macaroni and baking. Still a lot of fat, it baked up relatively nicely. It tasted....uncreamy, withe the baked pasta surrounded by curdled bits of cheese, similar to ricotta. Surprisingly, almost the entire tray got eaten -- I suppose people thought it was supposed to be like that. Oy.

Slept over at momma-in-law's place on the Upper East Side, she went all out and cooked frozen chicken sausages for breakfast. When me and B got home, I followed the ancient Jewish tradition of Chinese food on Xmas. I did it in the style of my parents -- I called the local Chinese and placed the order, then I went over and picked it up myself. You save on delivery, and you get to see the neighborhood on this big deal holiday. I'd always take the walk with my dad, and my mom would set the table, and when we got back she would always ask if the restaurant was busy. And it always was, with other Jews doing the same thing as me and dad and mom. I didn't think much of it then, but boy do I appreciate it now.

I went on my bike, and on the short trip back stopped in at my corner kosher bakery and picked up some ruggelah to share with pregnant B, whose tummy was demanded salad, not Chinese. Maybe in a year or two, I'll have a Norbert/Norbertta Jr. to ride for Chinese and ruggelah on Xmas, that would be an amazing new tradition.

WEDNESDAY:
BREAKFAST: 10am, good yogurt with honey, vanilla, raw cashews, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 12:30pm, rice and beans with lemon, water, 1.75 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACKS: 4:30-6:30pm, gingerbread cookies, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 7pm, sliced ham, a small portion of mac n' cheese, salad, bagel chips, gingerbread cookies, 1 very strong whiskey & cider, water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

THURSDAY:
BREAKFAST: 11am, half a bagel with salmon, chicken sausage links, water, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 2:30pm, popcorn, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 6:15pm, wonton soup, shrimp toast, beef lomein, chocolate ruglelah, lemon diet soda, water, 2 bowl, hunger 4/5