A Weekend In

Weird, eating-wise I was repulsed by cooking this weekend, attracted only to carb-heavy non-vegetable matter. Hmmm.

On Saturday, B wasn't feeling well, coughy, so we stayed in all day. We made some progress in the nursery. Didn't feel like cooking, just felt like eating unhealthy food, a goal I succeeded at pretty easily. Feeling bleah because the big adventure out of town Sunday got cancelled for reasons beyond out control, thoughts of a romantical trip to New Haven to Pepes instead.

Unfortunately, they remained only thoughts. I was hoping to wake at 8 to make a 10am train, slept through until ten. When I rose, I thought I should have let the alarm get me up, but it seems B was awake since 5am, and was ready to go back to sleep. Tag-team sleeping! I vegetated in front of the boob tube and B didn't move again until near 4 in the afternoon. I watched the most horrible DVD, Guy Ritchie's "Revolver" -- I even watched all the featurettes and bonus material just to try to get a handle on why he thought this crap was actually good. Still not sure why.

SATURDAY:
AM SNACK: 10:30am, half pint of B&J's cookies and cream ice cream, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Woke me up like a cup of coffee or diet coke.

BREAKFAST: noon, banana, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Was going to pour a bowl of cereal, but the good milk turned into bad milk. The problem with the good milk is that due to it's lack of homogenization and minimal pasteurization, it tastes fantastic but it never stays fresh for more than a week or so.

LUNCH: 3:15pm, chirashi sushi, veg & shrimp tempura, oshinko, water, 2 bowl, hunger 4/5
Ordered in.

PM SNACK: 6pm, potato chips, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 8:45pm, oven baked steak fries with salsa, mint chip ice cream, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
I haven't had frozen fries in a while, they are pretty....gross. The instructions say to either bake or deep fry them, but to deep fry them is, well, a pain in the butt. But baking them results in something that is not a 'fry', but kind of like slices of baked potato with a weird slightly oily skin.

SUNDAY:
BREAKFAST: 10:45am, organic chex with industrial whole milk, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Weird how conventional whole milk has a slight bluish tinge...supposedly there is no blue food in nature, only purple.

PM SNACK: noon, mint chip ice cream, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 4pm, handful of raw cashews, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 5:15pm, half a small pizza, spaghetti and meatballs, a few pieces of bread, water, 2 bowl, hunger 4/5
B wanted pasta after waking, so we ordered in pastas. What the B (and B-ette within) wants, the B gets!

EVENING SNACK: 10:30pm, half a whole wheat bagel, hummus, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

Fried bread is where it's at. Would of.

I made the french toast batter and soaked the bread since 10 this morning. I doubled the sugar and salt, and tripled the cinnamon. Fried in the good butter till dark golden brown, flipped then the whole mess into a 400 degree oven for 5 minutes. The focaccia became surprisingly tender and pliable while still retaining its shape. I made 4 slices for each of us, but B was so happy with hers, she wolfed down one of mine -- I guess the biggest compliment you can give to a cook. I guess anything that's bathed in heavy cream and powdered sugar is going to be a crowd pleaser. Fried bread is where it's at.

At the snickle snack this afternoon, B and the HVS ganged up on me and shamed me for using 'would of', 'should of' and 'could of' of instead of the proper 'would have' or 'would've'. It's declasse, like a shmoe saying 'axe' instead of 'ask'. Or 'pencoo' instead of 'pencil'. Or naming your kid "Pyreschiuss" instead of "Precious". Or a vegetarian who eats McDonald's veggie burgers. I could go on all night. Should of. Anyway, I've been properly shamed, so I'll cut it out, but the HVS made mention of my aspirations for my writing....which is news to me! Unless, dear reader, you want to publish a blook of all this balderdash!

AM SNACK: 8:30am, slug of apple cider, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

BREAKFAST: 10:30am, toasted whole wheat bagel with cream cheese, bacon, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Baked the bacon on a rack in the oven, a la c-school. It really does make a superior product.

SNICKLESNACK: 2pm, herbal tea, a bite of choco-peanutbutter cake, hunger 2/5

PM SNACK: 4pm, bowl of potato chips, apple cider, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Was in the market with B and the HVS, not intending to get anything, but when I saw the market-brand 'classic potato chip with sea salt', something in me just said, "Yeeeeessss!" I tend not to crave this kind of stuff nearly as much as I used to, but after yoga, relaxing and the cold weather, these just hit the spot.

DINNER 1: 6:45pm, slice of pizza, mint chip ice cream, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
B wasn't ready for french toast, so I ate the last frozen slice from the restaurant.

DINNER 2: 8pm, french toast, water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

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

Just rollin'

Nice to get to yoga after a few days in the house, though my uneven sleep really cut down on my capacity. Just rollin' on to the new year.

BREAKFAST: 10am, toasted bagel with cream cheese, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 12:30pm, pint of pork fried rice, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

SNICKLESNACK: 5pm, vegan chocolate chip cookie, water, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 6:30pm, 4 falafel balls, pickle, tahini, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
From a food truck, surprisingly good and fresh

DINNER: 8:45pm, 2 slices of restaurant slices, mint chip ice cream, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Today was toast.

I received my Culinary School diploma this morning. I officially graduated with honors, due to missing very few classes and having a high GPA. Chef R gave me a B+ for my externship, explaining that I was very slow in the beginning, but caught up, and that I was a very good cook, but quiet at times. Hrumph! Eerie how her comments echo report cards I received from 1st to 5th grade!

I weighed 223.6 this morning, it's good my weight is constant and not jumping around, particularly because I feel like I eat too sinfully sometimes, that I perhaps deserve to explode into Fatty McLardassness. Perhaps a subject better discussed with Ilsa than with you guys!

Didn't leave the house today, it was gettin' all Alaskan outside today in NYC. Made some progress in the 2nd bedroom, clearing out the detritus, getting ready for the new fella/felletta who'll be moving in late May. I wonder how much rent I'll be able to charge....

BREAKFAST: 10:30am, organic cornflakes with good milk, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 1:30pm, homemade rice and beans with jack cheese, small cup of homemade mint chocolate chip ice cream, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACKS: 6:30pm, handful of tortilla chips, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 7:30pm, french toast, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5
Soaked slices of focaccia from the restaurant in heavy cream, whole egg, a little sugar, salt and cinnamon. Fried in butter at a low temp and finished in the oven to make the middle nice and firm. Finished with a little powdered sugar, B dug it.

EVENING SNACK: 8:30, slice of pizza, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
From the resto, straight out of the freezer. Hmmm. Freezes well, I would buy this out of a freezer case...

EVENING SINNING: 1am, handful of tortilla chips, ramekin of mint ice cream, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
I ate as much as B and tried to go to sleep around the same time as B. I really shouldn't, but I just love her so much!