Dinnerfest I: Pizza Nite

ADDENDA:
Woke up late, bathed and whipped up lunch, then went to a yoga basics class, hit the farmers market, cleaned the house and prepped for Dinnerfest. Four friends came over, none know each other, but I knew all were quality peeps and was a great vibe, emails were exchanged and all the fod presented was eated, with 2nd all around. With the left over ingredients, made calzones for peeps to take home.

LUNCH: Noon, shrimp in a stock and sherry reduction with mushroom brown rice, 1 bowl,, seltzer, hunger 4/5
After making it and eating some, realized that I had made about 3 bowls worth of rice, but was content at less than 1.

PM SNACK: 4:45pm, 1 mutzu apple, chunk of raw milk onion edammer cheese, seltzer, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Went to the farmers market after yoga, didn't buy much other than this snack. Damn, that apple was crisp and fresh!

PM SNACK: 6pm, veggie booty, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Spent the last hour cleanings the house, something Betsy somehow doubted I would do before having guests, like I was some uber-slob before she moved in. Hrumph!

DINNER: 8:30pm, spinach salad with olive oil & balsamic & roasted cashews, various pizza slices, small cup of homemade vanilla ice cream, 2 glasses red wine, 1 beer, seltzer, 2.5 bowls
The first night of Dinnerfest went swimmingly, but I must admit, it did feel a little bit like a punt - I've done the pizza thing for 5-6 people before. Still, I did this nice appetizer salad - baby spinach, cherry tomatoes, cucumber minus the seeds, balsamic and olive oil, and some crushed freshly roasted cashews in butter and fresh thyme, really yummy.

I discovered with the pizzas that if I role it out to a 6" disc then let it rest until I need it, the dough becomes VERY loose and barely needs to be rolled, it can by stretched by hand! And tossed, I imagine.

I am....the CARBONATOR!!

ADDENDA:
Fell asleep before 10 last night, woke up at 4:30. I wonder if only having about 4.5 bowls of food had anything to do with that.

Making a list to go shopping for the first few days of Dinnerfest 2008, which starts tomorrow. Haven't really given it too much thought, but now that I am, looking forward to some things I've never done before. Tomorrow, a restaurant-worthy appetizer salad to compliment the pizza, on Sunday brunch lemon muffins to compliment the vanilla icecream...

Betsy got me a home-carbonation kit for my birthday, I guess because I was grumbling how that GuS soda is so lovely, but probably easy to make if I just had the right equipment, he he he. I guess it's put-up or shut up time, I guess I may try for some homemade sodapop for dinnerfest... regardless, I used to go through a good $100-$150 worth of carbinated waters every few months - between the packaging and the importing, ridiculous. I'm not a huge green-fiend (hi, HVS!), but I am a huge fan of NYC tap water, it's my #1 drink of choice because it TASTES GOOD. And now I can have carbonated NYC tap water!

BREAKFAST #1: 5am, good yogurt with honey, nuts, vanilla, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

BREAKFAST #2: 9am, boca burger on sprouted wholewheat, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

AM SNACK: 11am, baby carrots, cucumber and red pepper with ranch dressing, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Just hungry this morning, avoiding hammering down something heavier.

LUNCH #1: 1pm, homemade cheese ravioli with olive oil and grated parm, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH #2: 3:30pm, 1.5 grilled cheese sandwiches on superhippy bread with raw milk emmanthaller and grilled onions, water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 5-7pm, about 3 cupcakes, from batter to frosting, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Baked 3 dozen vanilla cupcakes with buttercream frosting, came out ok, better than the last batch.

DINNER: 8:30pm, half an Isabella's Oven Margerita DOC, 1.5 bowls, hunger 4/5

EVENING SNACK: 10pm, 1 bite of homemade pizza, 1 cup sangria, water, hunger 2/5

I See Dad People

ADDENDA:
After an interview, popped in to see an afternoon movie. As I was going up an escalator, an elderly man was on the opposite side coming down. Elderly, slightly stooped, the gray-white pallor I recognized from my father in his last few years. The man was wearing a goofy fully-brimmed fisherman-style hat my dad wore too and my mom would make fun of. The man was wearing a non-descript jacket a size or two too large, which probably fit him fine a few years ago, just like my father would wear it.

I remembered when I'd go out with my dad, I conciously knew that I had to cherish the time in the present, because I knew there would be a day when he'd be gone and I see some other little old man on the street which I would be able to mistake for him from a distance. Though I knew it, I didn't quite believe it.

BREAKFAST: 8:15am, organic chex with good milk, 1 bowl, hunger 3/5

AM WATERING: 11am, 24 oz still

NOON SNACK: Noon, 1 slice pizza, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
After some interviews, stopped by the '99 Cent Pizza' place behind Port Authority. The slice was hot and fresh, but small, doughy & undercooked, undersauced and tasted more like hot dough than pizza...

LUNCH: 3:30pm, homemade pasta with meat ragu, 1 cupcake, 2 bowls, hunger 4.5/5
Hungry, road bike hard home, which made me hungrier.

DINNER: 7pm, vegetarian Ethiopian food, water, 1 bowl, hunger 2/5
Dinner out with B, not hungry at all, but still enjoyed it.

Betsy & Noah Poop! CC

ADDENDA:
Good day yesterday, despite only 4 hours of sleep the night before. Made another batch of experimental cupcakes today, as I don't want the first time peeps eating my cupcakes to be the first time I made them. This time I used a recipe that claimed to be Magnolia's, sifted the flour, changed out the kind of flour and....much cupcakier. As good as Magnolia's, and definitely just as unhealthy.

Right after I whipped these out, I made homemade powerbars from a recipe from Ilsa, more for Betsy to replace the industrial bars she's been wolfing down at an alarming rate. Think I may make it again, but minus the dried fruit, and plus nuts, organic rice crispies and, he he, chocolate chips.

BREAKFAST: 9:15am, good yogurt with raw nuts, honey, vanilla, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Woke up well rested and hungry. Stepped on the scale, 233, but I assume that's just a normal variation.

BP 11:45am: 131/89

LUNCH: 2pm, roasted broccoli with tofu, mushroom, onion, panko, a GuS soda, 24 oz still water, 2.5 bowls, hunger 4/5
Whipped up this dish again with ingredients laying around, this time adding sesame seeds for a good kick, held the cheese. Two bowls of food, plus the soda as I was vaguely craving sweets.

PM SNACK: 4pm, 2 cupcakes (one batter, one baked), .5 bowls, hunger 3/5
Mmmmmm good. Got a headache. Good thing it ain't bedtime!

DINNER: 8:30pm, Russian meat dumplings with yogurt & vinegar, salad, 1 cupcake, 2 bowls, hunger 4/5

EVENING SNACK: 11:30pm, unsalted roasted pistachios, 1/3 bowl, hunger 4/5

Good Morning, Cupcake!

ADDENDA:
At 7:30am, I feel something crumbly against my lips and my wife squealing, "Guess what this is!! Yummy!" I smell chocolate and feel a little bit like a dog having his nose rubbed in his poop - after 4 fitful hours of sugar-addled sleep, the last thing I wanted to wake up to was the source of my bad sleep rubbed in my face! But at the same time, it was wonderful to wake up to a giddy, wired Betsy. The remaining dozen or so cupcakes were taken by B this morning to her work for distribution, I wonder how many actually made it...

Last night's session with Ilsa was interesting. She in no uncertain terms said based on this blog, I'm eating too much - not too surprising, as what I'm eating has been maintaining my weight for a while now. Of course, though fuel in, energy out and the metabolism that governs it is not a totally simple equation (if it was, all determined people would be skinny!), Ilsa made some interesting recommendations about hitting lunch harder, low-lighting dinner and adding more snacks. Funny, she didn't push me to eat less, it almost seems like she's asking me to eat more, though she hinted the pain is comin'...

Past few meetings, she also has been highlighting my parents - ocassionally, I go off on tangents on this blog when food memories trigger parental memories. Thinking about it, theres a lot there, don't know how comfortable I am disgorging it all here, but I guess it can't hurt...

BREAKFAST: 9:45am, waffle, water, 1.5 bowls, hunger 3/5
At a diner with a friend I'm helping with a PowerPoint VC pitch. Looking at the menu, found nothing that would really be Ilsa-approved other than eggs, which is not going to happen this life time. Usually I would of done bacon, but I suspected they'd have ridiculously salty industrial stuff.

The friend I was with, whose been in my social circle since high school, used to be a bit of a tubbo, but for the past 4-5 years has been very trim and healthy looking. For breakfast, she ordered a plate of eggs over medium, cornbeef hash and potatos, and took most of it to go (she said she ate 2 eghgs earlier that morning). I wanted to get into a detailed conversation about her weight, but felt it wasn't the right time - a) we were talkin' business and b) you just can't spring a conversation on a lady like that unless it comes up smoothly...

LUNCH: 1:15pm, center-cut pork loin chop with gravy over homemade pasta, seltzer, cupcake ring, 3 bowls, hunger 4/5
First bite into the pork evoked two immediate reactions. One was, "Holy CRAP!", the second was, "there is no way is there going to be any left over chop!" I've made pork medallions a few times before, and they were dry, tough, not very tastey and over all similar to my mom's horrible lamb chops (hmmm, that's a story for later, and the "puke chicken", too...) The first bite of this was moist, bursting with that yummy cooked flavor, and all together appetizing. Taste-wise, yes, this was restaurant fare. Presentation-wise, it looked like a mess, but hey, whadaya gonna do. As I was finishing the gravy, a head-hunter called to set up an portfolio review, so I let it thicken more than I would of otherwise, but it just intensified the flavor.

The pasta was good, my first time eating homemade from frozen. Unfortunately a lot of it stuck together into one big lump, how do I avoid that?

To avoid being wasteful, I used up the excess cupcake batter and frosting in a bundt pan, making the shallowest bundt cake ever, and burnt on underside to boot. Still, I ate about a 1/3 of the ring, and it was weirdly good/bad. Cupcakes need work.

DINNER: 8:30pm, hijiki tofu burger on ww pita, large spinach salad, small(?) portion of sesame noodles, 3 bowls, hunger 4/5
Picked up some work at the old job in the eve (nice to get a day rate for an hour's work), then did a basics yoga class with the HVS, was nice to do something physical. Walked down to Dojo after for a vegan meal, a meal I used to enjoy when I was vegan myself and is still pretty satisfying. Funny, the 'large' spinach salad didn't seem so large (except for the honking cup of carrot dressing, which I used 1/4 of) and the noodle appetizer was easily 1.5 bowls by itself. I guess in the future, I can drop the noodles....I know conciously that with out them I'd still roll out of there satisfied, but somewhere less rational I just don't believe it...

Wired

ADDENDA:
Met with Ilsa this evening. When I mentioned I had a huge pork chop marinating in the fridge for dinner AND the cheese & bacon sandwich was still sitting in my stomach, she calmly & rationally suggested maybe a pork chop wasn't what I should be eating that evening.

She was right, of course, and throwing in some veg with the broccoli came out really good (my first experience with leek!) But it left room for more desert....I didn't pound a lot on purpose, it just kinda slipped down my throat... light dinner and heavy desert is a bad combination for me - I was up till 4pm, wired on sugar.

BREAKFAST: 9:30am, organic raisin bran with good milk, 1 bowl, hunger 3/5

LUNCH: 1:15pm, 2 grilled cheese & bacon sandwiches on super hippy bread, half bottle of seltzer, 1.5 bowls, hunger 4/5
Used 4 strips of bacon, and used it's grease instead of butter. Came out goooood, though next time I will use butter, too.

DINNER: 8:30pm, roasted brocolli with tofu, onion, leek and mushroom, water, 2 bowls, hunger 4/5

EVENING SNACK: 10pm, about a total of 5 small chocolate cupcakes, 1 bowl, hunger 3/5
Eaten in the form of both batter, hot out of the oven, and cooled with butter cream frosting. Made from scratch, the cupcakes were unpleasantly dense and a bit too much like cakey brownies, but the butter cream frosting was over the top good - used a boutique butter recommended in Saveur magazine, was dead simple to make and confirmed my suspicion that those jars of Betty Crocker 'fudgy' frosting my mom would buy were nutso.

Cheeseburger Cheeseburger

ADDENDA:
Kevin Smith's blog-book is a tome of culinary horrors. After filming a movie, he cops to having over eaten without thought for three months, so goes to a hospital to participate in an 'opti-fast' liquid diet, where he eats nothing but 6 shakes a day. In about 2 months, he has lost 50 pounds. He doesn't go into details, but it sounds like a huge pain in the ass, as a lot of his business and social life revolves around food. He doesn't say when he goes off it, but at some point he's back to hitting up the usual McD's, Baja Fresh, Quiznos etc etc for 3 meals a day. What a retard.

BREAKFAST: 10am, small handful of chocolate chips, seltzer, hunger 3/5

LUNCH #1: Noon, 2 McDonalds cheeseburgers, bottle o' water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Highway service pavillion, B insisted on stopping but she got some healthy veg wrap at some no-name place. I was craving familiarity and sense memories of my parents. I skipped the fries and diet coke and just ordered 2 little cheeseburgers, now considered children's portions but back in the day were the standard size. Not good, not bad, exactly as I remember it when we went to McD's with my grandmom.

LUNCH #2: 3pm, 1 small clam pie, water, 2.5 bowls, hunger 4/5
White clam pizza at Frank Pepe's in New Haven, Betsy & I's 4th trip there. Half an hour wait in the cold with other pizza fans, was fun. This may be a birthday destination?

DINNER: 8pm, boca burger on toasted whole wheat sprouted bread with chili sauce, large handful of baby carrots and red pepper with a splooch of ranch, 24 oz still water, 1 bowl, hunger 3/5
Wow, NYC tap water tastes so good. Water up in Bahstan was assed-out.

EVENING SNACK: 10:30pm, mushroom potato knish, water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5