In with a roar, out with a babka

BREAKFAST: 7am, organic cheerios with organic dead milk, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: noon, veggie patty sub on whole wheat, small quantity of chips, diet coke, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Stopped in at Subway on the way to the supermarket -- didn't want to food shop hungry. I used to eat at Subway a lot when I tried to be vegan -- the veggie patty they have is vegan, but none of their breads are -- all contain a small amount of non-fat dry milk or egg product. Still, I ordered it without cheese. Funny to have a food sensory memory from my early/mid 20s, not my childhood.

PM SNACK: 2-5pm, chocolate babka filling, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Oy. Made a large quantity of this in the process of making 5 medium babka loaves. Take 2 1/4 pounds of good quality dark chocolate, chop it into chunks then plop it into a food processor to make mealy pebbles. Add 3/4 cup of sugar, 2 tablespoons of cinnamon and a stick and half of butter and pulse until you have a loose, dry sandy mixture. Intoxicating.

And the dough, oh boy. I never made a sweet yeast dough before. The yeast was activated in warm milk, and sugar and eggs were added to the liquid before meeting the flour. And once met, it was kneaded into 2 sticks of butter! Wowzers! Had to rise for 90 minutes, then get assembled, then another 30 minute rise, than about an hour and 15 of baking. All told, about 4.5 hours of labor. While waiting, I made hummus, maitre d'hotel butter from heavy cream, a big salad and got a slab of salmon curing (salt, brown sugar, dill, kirschwasser) for tomorrow's New Year's Day brunch...

PM SNACK: 6pm, green salad, large slice of hot-out-of-the-oven babka, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Had salad in advance of dinner, then when the babka came out of the oven, I just had to cut one in hald, and once I did that, I just had to cut a piece off to taste, and once I did that, I had to cut another piece because the first was so good.

DINNER: 7:15pm, pork dumplings, shrimp lomein, water, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5
And there goes 2009....

EVENING SNACK: 11pm, a few spoonfuls of ice cream, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Not my idea, but when B spoonfeeds me, I can not say no.

Party with Peas

Got to bed around 11 last night, in a weird state of tired/not tired, but through force of will stayed in bed and got to sleep. This morning B went to the doctor early, so me n' Edie partied on down with some peas and formula, then she passed out in her walker/activity thing and went back to bed. Seems B has a sinus infection and needs some anti-biotics, hence her low energy this week. I wonder if I have the same thing, I hope not. I've never had a sinus infection before, my sinuses feel fine.

BREAKFAST: 8:45am, good yogurt with honey, homemade vanilla extract and raw cashews, .5 bowl, hunger 3/5

LUNCH: 12:30pm, pork and broccoli rabe sandwich, small portion of pork braciolla with fresh pasta, water, bread, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Freeflowing meeting with L at Frankie's on lower Court Street. As weird as he is sometimes, it's always fun eating out with him.

PM SNACK: 4pm, popcorn, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Popped in a pan with olive oil and a little butter.

DINNER: 7pm, gyro with pilaf, potatoes, onion salad, roasted tomato, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5
B went to a Turkish restaurant we like while I hung back with the bebe, and she brought me home an entree. Now that's a good wife, friend and pardner!

Low

Couldn't fall asleep until 3 last night, and was woken up by B around 11 to make sure I was ok. We initially had plans for a day trip today, but that went out the window by the end of day yesterday.

Didn't eat dinner last night, and woke up without out appetite. Eventually ordered in, and stayed on the couch most of the day. Fell asleep for 2 hours in the afternoon, dreamt that B & I lived in the house I grew up in on Staten Island, very strange. I remembered little details of the house that I haven't thought of since I lived there, little things like the accordion cover of the shelves that held linens and bathroom supplies, it's specific scent of freshly washed towels and tens of soap bars. How the sun came streaming in on a winter's afternoon, making everything look golden and different. How the old-fashioned pencil sharpener attached to the side of the shelves gave it's own woody scent for days after just one use.

Low energy, enjoying Edie crawl backwards on the floor, trying to think of little as much as possible. Ordered in dinner, and watched TV with B.

I guess this is holiday eating.

LUNCH: 1pm, pizza, Cesar salad, 4 cookies, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 8pm, chirashi sushi, shrimp tempura hand roll, shumai, green salad, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

Hoot n' Holler

Feeling a little run down today. After eating an unusually large lunch, didn't eat anything else all day -- definitely not typical of my eating day.

BREAKFAST: 9:45am, organic cheerios with organic dead milk, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

AM SNACK: 11am, 3 cookies, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5
B actually hid these from me, and I had to hoot n' holler for 'em.

LUNCH: 3pm, Philly cheese steak with fries, tofu sticks with marinara, chocolate cake, water, 2 bowl, hunger 4/5
B, Edie & I took the ferry over to Ikea, but popped over to the Hope & Anchor for a greezy lunch with a friend. Then we popped next door to Baked, a world-class bakery in Red Hook. I definitely overate, and overate heavy, greasy food. Does deep fried tofu balance beef n' cheese?

Ah, yeah

Woke up around 4am after getting to bed around 10pm. Road my bike over to Greenpoint to look in after E's cat while she's away. Weather wasn't too cold, it was dry, the sun had this spectacular hue of breaking through many day's gloom and it was happy to be able to stretch it's arms. While huffing up the Williamsburg Bridge, I had one of those 'Ah, yeah' moments -- this is why I ride, this is why I must get Edie on a bike as soon as can be negotiated with B. Being able to read what the weather is saying, observing something as pedestrian as the bridge and every rivet looking like a story, the trains whizzing by and the sparse fellow pedestrians on the bridge, it was a feeling of connectedness that is hard to achieve without recreational medication. Its a feeling I had every day on my cross-country bike trek. It's something that is a goal to achieve as often as possible.

BREAKFAST: 6am, good yogurt with homemade vanilla extract, honey and cashews, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

AM SNACK: 8am, sour cream donut, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
While in Greenpoint, I stopped in on Peter Pan, an old-style bakery on the business strip there. Not as good as Donut Plant, but it is a top example of the old-school style. My donut was slightly crisp on the outside, tender and rich on the inside, and the flavor of the sour cream shown through. Nice.

LUNCH: 1:15pm, Stouffer's French bread pizzas, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 4:30pm, mac n' cheese, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 8pm, pint of bad ice cream, 5 cookies, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
In one of those moods.

Intermission

B took me to the Met for an Opera in the afternoon, and just like I used to do with my dad, I slept through most of it. It was nice getting dressed up, having Yomomma come down and look after Edie, and going and coming back. My only issue is that it was a one-act opera -- no intermission. Intermission is when you take a break from your nap, stretch your legs and admire the building some of the finest people watching. On top of that, you can get a flute of champagne AND a brownie! They should sell tickets just for intermission. I remember one opera had like 5 intermissions, that was a mind-blower.

BREAKFAST: 9:30am, toasted pumpernickel bagel with cream cheese and sable, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

AM SNACK: 11am, tortilla chips, pancake, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 4pm, baby carrots, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 5pm, catfish burrito with rice, beans, guacamole, salsa, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Prize Winner's Ice Cream

Woke up at 10:30 feeling horrible, scratchy throat, headache, tight stomach. Laid around for a while, then started off on Grandma Birdie's "Perfect Noodle Pudding". I got the recipe from B's mom, who got it from her sister, who got it from Grandma. It called for a few specific brands, like "Pennsylvania Dutch" wide noodles (I found Maneshevitz) and "Fleichman's" margerine (I replaced with organic butter.) She called for coating the noodles with beaten eggs, before adding each ingredient one at a time, but I basically made a sauce in the mixer, then mixed in al dente noodles after.

Everyone seems to love the noodle pudding, but I thought it was kind of gross -- noodles n' paste. But this was Grandma Birdie's recipe, and it's hard to compete with sense memory and nostalgia. The recipe was thus:

8 oz wide egg noodles
4 eggs, beaten
3 oz cream cheese
8 oz sour cream
8 oz farmer's cheese
1 tp salt
Bread crumbs to top

Cook noodles al dente. Blend all other ingredients except crumbs. Combine noodles and sauce in baking pan, top with crumbs, bake at 350˚ for 30 minutes or until top is browned.

No sugar, nothing to really give variety to the texture, no flavors other than the rather mild cheeses.

There was an Emmy winner, a New York Times columnist, a New Yorker contributor, a best selling author and a recent Pulitzer Prize winner at the Xmas party we attended, and they all were very complimentary on my ice cream. He he.

BREAKFAST: 11am, 2 pancakes, 2 tylenol, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

AM SNACK: 11:45am, tortilla chips with salsa fresca, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5
I know tomatoes are out of season, but this is ridiculous. Never had such flavorless salsa as this batch of Wholefoods salsa. Gotta make some myself, there are ways of jazzing up bland tomatoes.

PM SNACKING: 2pm-6pm,several pigs in blankets, bite of noodle pudding, a couple of small latkes, a slice of ham, a slice of turkey, half a bagel with salmon, some ice cream, a few chocolates, a little slice of chocolate cake, glass of fizzy water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 9pm, vegetable dumplings, .5 bowl, hunger 3/5

Eating comfort.

We were supposed to go out to the movies, then get some Chinese or Asian food or whatever, but B felt ill and spent most of the day sleeping it off. I got to bed around 6am, and was woken up with some arm twisting, and spent the morning making a large mac n' cheese. I was intending this for tomorrow's get together of B's family, but it was changed at the last minute for B's Grandma's recipe for noodle pudding, so this needed to be cooked off or eventually the milk and cheeses would go bad.

Never ate hot mac n' cheese right of the oven, I usually let it set for an hour or two, but this was pretty damn good. I let the roux get to the brown stage, I tripled the Worcestershire sauce, and used whole wheat panko and grated Parmesan to form the crust. I also cut back the noodles by 1/4 to make a saucier product. Probably the best mac n' cheese yet. I think powdered mustard in a larger quantity than the small sprinkle of cayenne will give a bigger flavor, too.

As B slept, took a walk in the 'hood with Edie. Stopped by the local supermarket to pick up some butter for tomorrow's noodle pudding. Very busy, but enough staff were around to handle it. Overheard a conversation with a register person -- they're actually open on Xmas, but a lot of people assume (like I did) that they will be closed. Picked up a walker-thingy for Edie from the office which accepts packages. Set it up, it's basically a basket with leg holes, suspended so Edie's feet touch the ground, and she's surrounded by noise-making buttons (with an off-switch, thank goodness) It's also on wheels so she can move around but is protected by it's bulk. We put her in that thing, and the joyous confusion on her face was a sight to behold.

As B started feeling better, I started feeling worse and felt kinda out of it by 10...

BREAKFAST: 10:30am, toasted bagel with creamcheese and sable, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 2pm, mac n' cheese, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 8pm, General Tso's Chicken with pork fried rice, egg roll, wonton soup, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5
B wasn't hungry, and I wasn't particularly hungry either, but I'm Jewish, it's Xmas eve, and most of my life that meant hanging out with my parents and catching a movie, then getting Chinese food, and nothing will stop me from this food tradition. I actually don't like General Tso's chicken, but I haven't tried it in years. I remember smelling it from across the table, as my mom would get it often. And I thought, well, if I don't like it, I won't eat it and I certainly don't need to eat a brick. I also ordered a wonton soup -- my dad would always order a wonton soup, especially when it came "free" as part of a combination, and would always save it for the next day for lunch. The food itself was pretty whatever, but communing with my parents was comforting. I was eating comfort all day.

Squigglebeast

Upon reflection, perhaps the massive quantities of caffeine I consumed all through the day was perhaps not the cleverest idea. While delicious, and was fun staying up until 1am with my wife watching bad/good TV, I didn't really need to shave my head, do the laundry and make ice cream between 2 and 5am.

Edie is beautiful. She's getting more and more interactive with the world, becoming a bit of squigglebeast when it comes to things like staying on the changing table, laying on the couch by my side, or being put down on any surface. She can crawl backwards awkwardly, and when in the crib, she is on all fours, pumping her little booty up in the air, like an engine revving for a quick start.

I had to get rid of my hair -- I have been growing it since Edie was born, but like with Rufus's fur, it's become one of the things she loves to tug on with all her might when she gets close to it. It's easy to put on a shirt to get her away from my chest hair, but head hair is something less manageable. Until now.

BREAKFAST: 9am, toasted pumpernickel bagel with creamcheese and sable, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Hadn't had sable in a while, damn it's good. Should be on a pizza.

LUNCH: 12:30pm, 2 small slices of pizza, Manhattan Special, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 2:30pm, hot chocolate, .5 bowl, hunger 4.5
From Jaques Torres, incredibly rich and on target. Got the "small", which was probably 10oz, or a 1950s extra large.

DINNER: 5:45pm, large green salad, potato chips, chocolate cornflake cluster thingies, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING SNACK: 2am, 2 pancakes, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

Urge

Not a great eating day for me, pretty good for Edie. She finished up the pear & raspberry puree in the morning, finished up a jar of peas in the afternoon, lots of formula in between. Me, I spent the morning at Wholefoods, munched on potato chips, went to the playdate drop-in and munched on extra fatty chocolate chip cookies, and munched on a mess of cookies in the evening after feeling a strong urge to consume sugar. Perhaps the baked potatoes set it off?

BREAKFAST: 6:30am, toasted egg bagel with cream cheese, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
B bought the last batch of bagels, and now at the bottom all that are left are whole wheat, a cinnamon raisin (!) and this chewy monstrosity. Why can't I have a wife who can choose bagels properly? Waaaaa!

PM SNACK: 12:30pm, potato chips, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Snack of champions.

PM SNACK: 2pm, "chocolate chip brittle", .25 bowl, hunger 4/5
The leader baked these for the playdate drop in. Really just a chocolate chip cookie with extra fat, pushed into a big pan and cut into triangles. Addictive, though.

DINNER: 7pm, large green salad, sauteed curry shrimp with 2 baked potatoes, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING SNACK: 9pm, newmano cookies, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

Trudge

Laundry in the morning, a trudge to the post office in the afternoon, asleep by 7pm. Maybe I'm fighting a bug?

BREAKFAST: 10am, good yogurt with homemade vanilla extract, agave, raw cashews, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 12:30pm, beef lomein, wonton soup, shrimp toast, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Ordered in Chinese. After doing laundry, a bunch of chores and living the life with Edie, just felt like treating myself to something comforting and easy.

DINNER: 6pm, slice of Earth Mother pizza, slice of Mel Cooley pizza, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
B brought in some 2boots.

Tundra

Woke up to a snowy world, and after being indoors for more than 36 hours straight, had to enter it. Rode the mountain bike through the tundra to Brooklyn, to look after E's cat, then across the wasteland to C's house, where she has a 8 month and 3 week old border residing in her tummy. Then fought the snow beasts a few blocks and had dinner with Y, at a rather lame Italian restaurant. Why does the lasagne taste like nutmeg? Does the octopus have to be this chewy? The temp dropped, the roads froze, and took a train home to the warm welcoming light of B & a sleeping Edles.

BREAKFAST: 9am, 2 frozen mini pizzas, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 1:30pm, 1 slice streetza, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 3pm, diet coke

PM SNACK: 6pm, apple turnover, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 7:15pm, grilled octopus, meat lasagne, tiramisu, bread, water, 1.75 bowl, hunger 4/5

Midnight Hotdog

Today was a snow day, so plans were cancelled, Edie & I got into our union suits (and B resisted and wore a house dress instead, hrumph), and we read the paper, watched a DVD, put Edie on the carpet and watched her skills at crawling backwards, and I spent some time annotating what I ate as soon as I ate it.

Edie is really taking to solid food mush stuff. Pureed carrots were eagerly gobbled, then a half jar of mushy peas. In the afternoon B tried some pears & raspberries on her, which she screwed up her face at and refused to take.

BREAKFAST: 8:30am, pancakes, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Glorious, fluffy beasts. I made some with bananas and walnuts for B to eat in bed, the rest plain. I happened to have all the ingredients on hand, but a little low on milk, so I replaced 1/3 of the milk with some heavy cream lying around. Wow, it definitely made the the pancakes more toothsome. Made me think about how these are SOOOOO superior to diner pancakes, even superior to someplace like Clinton Street Baking, who are known for their pancakes (their suspected secret: seltzer in the batter). But cost-wise, my pancakes would be very expensive -- heavy cream, organic medium eggs, a real vanilla bean, no oil only butter, etc.

Lying on the couch waiting for the storm to come, lost consciousness from 11-2pm...

PM SNACK: 2pm, 4 pieces chocolate dipped shortbread, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5
Snowing, feeling fuzzy, Edie and I are wearing matching red union suits. She gets cuter every day somehow. B also napped in the bedroom with Edie, good being part of a team/family.

PM SNACK: 5pm, large green salad with a pickle and black sesame crackers, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Had to eat something after a day of the heaviest carbs possible. The current salad is a mix of red leaf lettuce and iceberg. Iceberg is kinda nutritionally void and has no flavor, but has a distinct texture and crunch that I grew up with. I'll never forget in my mom's last few months, I was cooking for her, and I made a salad with romaine. When she asked why I didn't use iceberg, I gave her a nudgy lecture about it's nutrition and plainness, to which she said half-heartedly, "but I like it." I felt horrible, and she had ice berg after that. I know I shouldn't be eating iceberg, but I'm matching it with stronger greens, and, well, I like it.

DINNER: 7:15pm, cheese ravioli, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Some frozen ravioli in the freezer, made a sauce by reducing some old white wine, adding olive oil and cooking some crushed fresh garlic in it for a minute, added Worcestershire, tossing in the ravioli, then topping with grated parm. Needed something, a missing element, ground pepper? Heavy cream? Mushrooms? Nuts?

MIDNIGHT SNACK: hotdog on wholewheat bun, .75 bowl, hunger 3/5
Not so much hungry as looking for something to eat for entertainment. Edie & B went to sleep hours ago, TV and internet is starting to bore, not feeling focused enough to read anything, not quite tired enough for sleep, a horrible limbo.

Housewife

Did laundry and baking the night before, so all there was to do was to temper some chocolate and dip shortbread, watch a crummy DVD and feed the Edie. Went to a play date in the afternoon with a selection of the mommas, and walked home slowly and joined B for a nice night in. A symmetrical, peaceful, domestic day. I feel like a 1950's housewife, in a good way,

BREAKFAST: 9am, 2 small pizzas, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

AM SNACK: 11:30am, 2 chocolate dipped short bread cookies, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 2-6pm, slices of sausage, bread and olive oil, 1 glass wine, 2 glass lemon soda, a few bits of vegetable, 2 ginger cookies, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK:7pm, 1 slice streetza, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

L.E.S. S.U.V.

Spent the morning at the restaurant, popped around Brooklyn while Edie slept on me, and did a little grocery shopping and chores in the 'hood (see pic) before retiring in to do laundry, bake shortbread for tomorrow's playdate, and snuggle the wifey.

Edie's input and output was better today. She was a bit resistant to a rice cereal/carrot puree/formula mix in the morning, but dug the new apple/apricot mush this afternoon. And the poops, oy, this ain't that kind of blog or I'd tell you all about 'em!

AM SNACK: 8am, swig of gatorade

BREAKFAST: 9:45am, 3 latkes, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

AM SNACK: 10:15am, marzipan donut, chocolate donut, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

AM SNACK: 11am, Manhattan Special, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 12:30pm, 2 small slices pizza, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 5:30pm, large green salad, a few pickle spears, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 8pm, shrimp saag, pakora, samosa, naan, 1.75 bowl, hunger 4/5

Focus

Yomomma came over and I took off to school for the final class. B & Edie came out and gave the students a thrill (who wouldn't be thrilled by a giggly baby?). Class may or may not start again in late Feb/early March, but until then, I guess I'll focus on home cooking, and Edie cooking. She's still being a bit resistant to solid food.

BREAKFAST: 9:30am, pumpernickel bagel with cream cheese, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 12:45pm, 3 latke, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 2:30pm, a handful of chocolate cookies, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 6:30pm, pork shao mai, a few bits of fried calamari, chicken asparagus risotto, flourless chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream and raspberry sauce, seltzer, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING WATERING: 8:30pm, a quart o' watta

Cupcake Day

Spent a hunk of the day out talking about a food coop with a planner, then to the mother's group. Today was National Cupcake Day, so had one at the coffee shop I was meeting at.

Edie has started getting a little resistant to solid food, and a little backed up as well. I fed her a diluted prune juice solution in the evening, which did the trick, but I'm concerned about her nutrition.

BREAKFAST: 9am, organic chex with organic dead milk, swig of cider, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: noon, cupcake, cup of tea, .25 bowl, hunger 3/5

PM SNACK: 2pm, 2 chocochip cookies, 1 small wrap, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

LINNER: 4:30pm, fresh pasta with olive oil, parm, cherry tomatoes, and 3 meatballs,cider, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

DUNCH: 8:30pm, large green salad, pickles, sesame crackers, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING SNACK: 10pm, chocolate chips, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Chores

A day of chores. Laundry and feeding Edie all sorts of things out of the fridge -- mushy peas, oatmeal and formula concoction, broccoli and pear puree. We made a 12:30 pediatrician appointment, where Edie got a series of scheduled immunizations and had all her stats taken (she's growing up fabulously, thank you!) then we hit up stores in and around Union Square. We walked back home, stopping by Wholefoods.

By that time, I needed to feed Edie again, and though I intended to make salad and cook dinner, when B came through the door both Edie & I were passed out on the couch in each other's arms. So much for a nice home cooked meal!

BREAKFAST: 10:15am, 3 cold latkes, a pickle spear, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 2pm, tomato moz focaccia, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 3:45pm, apple cider, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 6:30pm, pork pad thai, chicken shrimp dumplings, water, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING SNACK: 8pm, chocolate chips, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Ain't No Party Like a Latke Party

Today we had a number of mothers, mostly with their babies, and a smattering of spouses come over for a Hanukkah playdate. B put a lot of effort in getting the house as clean as possible, from dry cleaning the couch covers last week to having our cleaning guy come in the day before. B made little gelt & dreidel baggies, set up the menorah and generally was the kind of host money can't buy. We made cookie and apple sauce yesterday, and an hour before guests arrived I started frying off latkes, which I finished about an hour after they arrived.

Got a lot of compliments on the latkes and adult applesauce, the cookies not so much. But I did put out the choco/peanutbutter/rice crispie things in small squares, on an iced plate with toothpicks and they were a big hit with the mommas.

People rolled in between 1:30 and 2 and the last popped out by 5. We have a restocked wine rack and B feels more plugged in to the neighborhood mommas. If only all holiday things were so pleasant!

BREAKFAST: 9:30am, toasted everything bagel with cream cheese, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

ALL DAY SNACKING: noon-5pm, several latkes, bits of sugar cookies, peanutbutter chocolate crispie bites, 1 cup run punch, 1 cup wine, a bit of apple sauce, a snippet of cheese, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 8pm, curry shrimp with brown rice, wonton soup, 1/4 of a can of pepsi, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5
Ordered in Chinese not so much for hunger, but the relaxing familiar quantities. It was the food my parents and I enjoyed together to the end, in the comfort of their kitchen.

Cookie Exchange

Spent the morning mising & prepping for some mothers and their babies of the 'hood come over for some Hannukah action. In the afternoon I took off with half of the batch of sugar cookies I made (only instead of dreidles and Jewish stars we ground out all day, made some that were...less Jewish!) to a friend's place in Jackson Heights for a cookie exchange. Everyone baked 30 cookies, and everyone got to take home a selection of 24. Suffice to say, there was not a lot of alcohol being consumed, but plenty of sweets.

After, a few of us ventured into the neighborhood for Philippino food -- cheap, delicious and different. Can't wait for Edie to be a bit older, she needs to be exposed to pork adobo and taro greens!

BREAKFAST: 9:30am, organic cheerios with organic dead milk, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

AM SNACK: 11:30am, sugar cookies, .25 bowl hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 2pm, BLT with homefries, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 4:30pm, lots of cookies, 1 glass champagne, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 7:30pm, pork adobo, deep fried pork belly chunks with pepper dipping sauce, chopped pork liver, taro leaves in coconut curry, meaty stick appetizer things, white rice, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Brownie

Woke up after only 3 hours sleep. Laundry in the morning, food shopping midday, stopped by Katz's for a dog on the way back from the market. Once we got home, turned around and went to a playdate in the East Village, then dropped Edie home with B and went to the movies with D.

Ate an old special brownie that has been in the freezer since the summer and....I'm glad I didn't discover this in high school or I may of made a lot of silly decisions. Once a season is more than enough.

AM SNACK: 6:30am, gatorade, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

BREAKFAST: 9:15am, toasted pumpernickel bagel with creamcheese, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 1pm, hotdog, fries, pickles, water, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 3pm, a few sweet little things, two cups of mulled wine, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 6pm, magical brownie

DINNER: 8pm, shrimp burritto, pork taco, rice & beans, chips & salsa, a frozen margarita, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING SNACK: 9pm, kit kat, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Clean bill

Not a lot of sleep. Edie was much better in the morning, no fever, GI distress mostly passed. Still, it was a night of a new feeling: parental worry. I guess I really am an adult now. Edles & I hit up the pediatrician (I just wrote "pedo", but it just looked wrong) at 9am, and Edie got a clean bill of health.

However, upon review of her diet, the doc recommended adding some non-binding foods in there. We've been doing the rice cereal, mashed banana, carrot, sweet potato and that's about it other than formula -- she hasn't taken to apple, pear, and a few others. So we're going to add a wee bit of prune juice, stewed prunes and....I'm going to go to Wholefoods and pick up a selection of baby foods. I've come to the conclusion that making small quantities of fresh baby food is good in concept, but between the time it takes to make and the packing of the food and the washing of the dishes it creates, I need to find a non-creepy baby food at the market.

Looking at what I ate today, jeeze, I was tired. And unfortunately, the Manhattan Specials kept me up until 3am...

BREAKFAST: 8am, newman-os, gatorade, .25 bowl, hunger 2/5

AM SNACK: 10:30am, brown rice shrimp maki rolls, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: noon, left over fresh pasta, water, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 1:30pm, a little taste of different chocolates & peanut butter

PM SNACK: 3pm, manhattan special, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 5pm, slice of pepperoni pizza, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 6pm, manhattan special, .t bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 7pm, scraps of peanut butter & dark chocolate ganache rice crispie thingies, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 7:45pm, Stouffers Frenchbread pizza, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Pizza & Edie

Easy morning, busy afternoon, stressful evening. Just chilled with the Bird until A showed up to look after her. Prepared some fresh pasta and meatballs for her as a thank you, before hiding off to school weighed down with 2 pizza stones.

Class went well, 5 hours rarely zip by so fast. On the way home, B informed me Edie had some GI distress, and later in the evening she was running a low grade fever. But Edie still had her smiley disposition despite sleeping less than usual, and I was able to get some sleep by 3am. B woke me at 7:30 so she could take a shower and Edie's fever had gone. Doc gave the all-clear this morning.

BREAKFAST: 9am, a handful of chocolate chips, a few newman-o cookies, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 12:30pm, meatballs with fresh pasta and doctored pizza sauce, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

CLASS EATING: 3-7pm, various bites of pizza, 2 cans soda, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING SNACK: 8pm, 1 beer, funyons, newman-os, water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

Cutting Boards

My dad had a thick butcher block cutting board. It never looked great -- he used it a lot, it always looked a bit beat up, and my mom complained about it a lot. My dad never got rid of it, it was too expensive to replace.

In their senior years, my parents loved going up to the crafts fair at Lincoln Center once a year. I went with them a few times, but the stuff there never really did anything for me. In the early part of this decade, one evening a few days after this crafts fair, my parents told me they got something expensive....something expensive for ME....something expensive that will be my wedding present....and this is years before I even met my wife.

When B moved in, she put my father's dank cutting board under the sink and replaced it with her own, a rather thin board, but wider and fresher. Recently, due to sitting in a small pool of water, the board finally split in half. B has been on my case for a while now to get a new board. When hers bit the dust, out came my dad's old warhorse.

Yesterday, after trudging to the Church St post office to get Edie's application in for a passport, we worked our way up to Sur La Table and found a good hardwood butcher block -- $68, but I got 10% discount with my culinary-school ID, which would have made my father very, very happy. It's pretty much a new version of my dad's old board.

B wanted to bury dad's board in the small plot we have in the community garden, but I want it to go back under the sink to pop up in times of need. My dad's wife couldn't rid us of this board, my wife will not rid us of this board, and hopefully Edie's college apartment will be graced by this board.

After mom and dad passed away, it was up to me to clean out their apartment, a rather frighteningly charged task. In the back of one of the hallway closets, on a high shelf, wrapped in four or five plastic grocery bags, was something stashed away that I did not recognize. Everything else in the house, from the furniture to the books to the clothes to the nick-knacks to the kitchen supplies to the picture frames, everything had some point of reference to some point in the life I shared with my parents. Just looking at a box in the closet, I could tell you what was in it and when it was from. Old plastic utility box with green top, that's all string, cords and power lines from the basement on Staten Island. Cardboard box with torn top, that was dad's school papers.

This bag, however, didn't fit. My parents were not big on secrets, so I instantly knew that this had to be the wedding gift. I opened it up, and in it was a cutting board. It was made up of multi-colored bands of wood, and had rounded corners on one side, and rubber bumpers on the other. A variety of emotions ran through -- my god, what a horrible wedding gift! Relief, my parents would never know how I didn't like their gift. Sadness, my parents never got to see me get married and present it. Amusement, is this their way of trying to prevent me and my spouse from having the same aggro they had in their marriage? And damn, how expensive could a cutting board be?!

I think when it comes time for Edie to furnish her first apartment, I'm going to try to pawn off my dad's board on her, and B will put her foot down and give her the new, multi-colored board that I could never bring myself to use, it's just too precious to use myself.

BREAKFAST: 8:30am, good yogurt with agave and cashews, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 12:30pm, mac n' cheese, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 5:45pm, large green salad, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Hungry right before going out -- it was this or cookies, and I didn't want to report cookies on this blog!

DINNER: 7pm, roasted mushrooms, sausage n' polenta, water, 1.5 cupcakes, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5
B, E & I went out to visit the jewelery designer who did our wedding bands who just opened up a shop in our hood, then out to dinner at Frankies, where we held our rehearsal dinner for our wedding. Then around the corner to Sugar Sweet Sunshine for cupcakes! A few rough nights lately with not enough sleep, a nice date-like night out with a sleepy baby was just what the doctor ordered.

Ache

A dorky, dorky day. Woke up late, wiped out from my mountain adventure yesterday. Got the laundry done by noon, made it to the passport agency but have to go back tomorrow to complete Edie's paperwork as the bureaucrats are very sloppy. Ate lunch at a businessman's spot on Fulton, then took the ferry to Ikea. Didn't get most of what was on my list, and on the way home went to Pathmark for produce. With Edie on my front and all the groceries on my back, my feet were aching by the time I got home.

BREAKFAST: 9am, organic cheerios with organic dead milk, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 1:15pm, roast pork in a sweet and sour sauce over white rice, shrimp empanada, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 7pm, large green salad, 2 slices of streetza, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING SNACK: 8pm, 6 newman-o cookies, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Up a mountain

Spent the day with K, we took a train up to Beacon and just walked around in the sunny crisp air all day. It crescendoed with an attempt to walk up Mt. Beacon, but the slushy snow, long shadows and steep paths only got us 2/3 of the way up.

It did make me hungry, though. We ate lunch at a deli right at the base of the park of the mountain -- it was kinda crappy, but it was all that was available and was fuel in the truest sense. When I got home, I had the kind of hunger that emerges after an all-day bike ride. And I slept like a log.

BREAKFAST: 8:15am, organic cheerios with organic dead milk, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

AM SNACK: 9:45am, chocolate chip cookie, water, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 1:30pm, turkey and swiss on a roll, corn chips, gatorade, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 6pm, large green salad, mac n' cheese, mint ice cream, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING SNACK: 9pm, funyons, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Rainy

Spent the rainy afternoon at a party nearby of other parents. Children and babies thick like locusts. Lots of food.

BREAKFAST: 8:45am, BLT on toasted rye with mustard, water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: noon, mac n' cheese, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM GORGING: 1pm, a few brownies, assorted cheeses, a piece of pork rib, flat bread with potato, pumpkin seeds, a few carrots and string beans, a few cups of rum punch, a snort of prosecco, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 6:30pm, large green salad, popcorn, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 8pm, 3 meatballs, 2 vegan chocolate chip cookies, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

Tribute

Again, no appealing breakfast food so went for a pizza. Promptly went shopping at the local supermarket and bought....funyuns, a highly processed mock-onion ring that took me straight back to 4th grade. Kinda gross, kinda delicious.

Had lunch with Y before hitting up Wholefoods, finally stocked up on breakfast elements and the like. HVS came over in the evening and I made c-school vegetable soup, though I finished with the juice of a lemon, but it was a large lemon, and the soup ended up tasting a bit like lemon soup, blech. How ever, I took some WF whole wheat pizza dough and topped it with hummus, thinly sliced tomato, home-roasted red peppers, olive oil and salt and it came out pretty not-nasty.

On one of the first dates between me and my wife, she invited me back to her place to cook me a meal. Boy, was that ugly! She took pitas, topped it with some vegetable matter and shredded cheese, undercooked it in the oven, then presented it as "pitza". BLECH! Good thing I don't subscribe to the whole "a woman's role is in the kitchen" or we would have had problems. This pizza was my tribute to my beautiful, intelligent, sexy, capable, motherly but culinarily-challenged wife.

BREAKFAST: 10am, frozen pizza, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 1pm, funyuns, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 2pm, chirashi sushi, age tofu, hot chocolate, molten chocolate cake, 1 bowl, hunger 3/5

SNICKLEDINNER: 6:15pm, green salad, vegetable soup, "pitza", vegan chocolate chip cookies, a glass of red wine, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Hold the meat

After a sleep shortened by Manhattan Special, woke up with a small knot in my stomach, most likely the meat still digesting. Ate a little meat today, not intentionally, but looking forward to a homemade snickle tomorrow.

This evening, B, E & I attended the first tentative meeting of a LES food coop, very interesting. I volunteered for the steering committee, let's see what comes out of it....

BREAKFAST: 9am, 2 small soy-sausage patties, a few spoonfuls of mint ice cream, hunger 2/5

LUNCH: 1pm, civilatta with potatoes, a little green salad, cream soda, 1 bowl, hunger 3/5
Not much in the mood for sausage, but L prepared it for me and it would of been rude not to eat it.

PM SNACK: 2:30pm, apple, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
From the Brooklyn Borough Hall farmers market, a big juicy Honey Crisp. Hit the spot.

DINNER: 5:45pm, black pepper soy protein slice thingies over broccoli greens, summer rolls, miso soup, mint ice cream, 1.25 bowl, hunger 3/5
Ordered in from Wild Ginger, definitely feeling non-meaty.

EVENING SNACK: 9pm, boiled leek dumplings, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

Meaty meat

Weird eating day. Woke up feeling OK after a solid 11 hours of sleep. Out of milk, couldn't do cereal or smoothie, and found myself hungry. Frozen pizza.....bread, tomato sauce, cheese, three good things for breakfast.

School was mighty meaty, as today was meat day. It was fun making the same meatballs I made in the restaurant with the students, but I ended up eating way too many. After that, I couldn't do more than a bite of everything else just for taste. I think soon I need to hit up some vegetable matter in a big way. I think the HVS will be upon us Friday, I got some good vegetable stock to work with and I think I need to bust out some vegan cookies....

BREAKFAST: 9:30am, frozen pizza, pint of apple cider, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

CLASS EATING: 3-7:30pm, about 6 meatballs, a few cups of sweet tea and mint lemonade, a snippet of pasta and sauce, a snippet of polenta, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING DRANK: 8pm, Manhattan Special, .5 bowl, hunger 2/5
Stopped by the restaurant to have L sample the student's meatballs, based on his recipe. He dug it. I wasn't hungry, but couldn't resist the pull of a complimentary Manhattan Special.

EVENING SNACK: 11pm, flax tortilla chips, fresh salsa, .25 bowl, hunger 3/5
Stomach felt weird, needed something new in it that was not meat. Caffiene kept me up until 3am.

Over engineered

BREAKFAST: 8am, glass of apple cider, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 11:30am, fillet o' fish sandwich, fried, diet coke, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Walking around downtown, doing chores, stopped in at McDonald's for lunch. Burgers there are just frightfully over engineered, went with a fish sandwich -- something I last ate when I was a little kid going there with my mom and grandmom and brother and cousin and aunt, when the fish sandwich was a new addition to the menu. I was surprised how tiny it was, probably hasn't changed since the 70s. Small rectangle of fried fish stuff, a yellow slice of cheese, a slather of tartar sauce. According to the nutritional info hidden underneath the place mat, this meal had 760 calories -- half from the sammich and half from the drink. My drink was a medium - 20 friggin' ounces!! That's 2 and a half cups! More than a full pint!

I think I went because it reminded me of going with my mom. We'd probably go, at most, once every couple of months, it was special. I hope when Edie is an adult and indulges in food nostalgia, it'll be something less evil than McDonalds....though it'll probably be pizza!

PM SNACK: 1:30pm, 2 small wedges of "pizza", 2 small brownies, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
At the drop in at the center, the leader made some weird thing called pizza that involved hummus, tomatoes and spinach. B would've probably liked it.

PM SNACK: 5pm, flax tortilla chips with salsa, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 6pm, lemon ricotta pancakes, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
B wanted pancakes for dinner, so I tried to adult it up. Took the c-school recipe, added a cup of ricotta and the juice of a lemon, came out a bit heavy but tasty. Could have used a 2nd lemon.

All day dinner

Caramelized onions are a beautiful thing. They can't be rushed. I woke at 6am, and got to work on the evening meal at 6:30. First thing up was caramelized onions. Wide slice, 9 onions, enough to crowd a 12" pan. A heaping dollop of the chicken fat I rendered the night before, and the flame the notch above low -- and then I went about my business, coming back to it every 10-15 minutes to move the onions around the pan.

Before leaving for the market at 12:30, I made a flourless chocolate cake, churned mint ice cream, made a large quantity of vegetable stock, rehydrated dried morrels and porcinis for risotto (and made a deep mushroom stock that went into the same dish), and made a batch of pasta. The meal didn't have pasta, but I wanted the chicken soup to be alphabet soup, with all the names of the guests:


I guess it was a lot of work for little payoff, but it was fun, and I have 4 servings of fresh linguine in the freezer to eat on for the next few weeks. After we got home from market, I prepped the mise for the soup (slivered nappa cabbage and carrot coins, diced parsley), cooked off the the red chard in a water bath and combined with the 4-hour onions and diced olives and got the whole thing into the warm oven to hold until dinner time. Then I did the full risotto method, which demanded me standing in front of the oven for a full hour, washing dishes between strokes of stirring.

By the time my guests arrived, risotto and chard were in the oven, the soup was ready to go with each person's name in a separate strainer, and the meat trimmed, prepped and pan heated. The meal went off without a hitch, though I slightly overcooked the chicken, slightly under seasoned the soup and the flourless chocolate cake came out unexpectedly dense. However, the risotto was on point and the chard surprised me -- between the sweetness and depth of flavor of the fatty soft pillowy onions and the brininess of the olive shards, the chard just glowed like a hero.

I had two friends who were coworkers at the restaurant, really good to see them and Edie really got on swell. I miss the comraderie and community that working in that pressurized no-BS situation brought.

I think Edie likes dreads. Maybe she'll be the Jewish white dread girl in high school!!

Today was all about the cooking, tomorrow back to Edieworld....

BREAKFAST: 10am, rice & beans, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 12:30pm, 1 slice of streetza, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 1:30pm, 2 wholefoods cookies, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 3:30pm, glass of apple cider, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 6pm, chicken soup, sauteed chicken breast with pan sauce, triple mushroom risotto, chard with caramelized onion and kalamata olives, flourless chocolate cake and mint ice cream, some mint lemonade/sweet tea concoction, 2 glasses wine, glass of homemade ginger ale, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING SNACK: 10pm, risotto, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

Bikes & Friends

Probably the best non-Edie day since she was born. B took over baby duty today completely, and I set out around 9am on the bike and road out to Coney Island by myself in the crisp fall air. Started out very slow and tight, but really enjoyed just being there and moving. Ended up in Bed Stuy at C&T's house, where C is very very pregnant. I know what they're going through, very much the nesting instinct kicking in and they haven't gotten out much. I felt very appreciated coming that far out just for a casual and brief hello.

From there road up to the 59th Street bridge and met with the HVS for lunch and a walk through Central Park, good catching up and just having some time to focus. After parting, hit up the super market for some groceries to start on some parts of the multi-course meal I'm cooking for friends tomorrow. After confabbing with B & the Edles, shot off on bike again to E's place in Greenpoint, where we toured around the abandoned industrial areas on bikes before ending up at Roberta's in Bushwick for a beer. I wasn't hungry, but they're pretty well-known for the wood-fired pizza, so I had to try some.

Saw a lot of good friends, got a good 40-45 miles in on the bike, and feel totally fired up to spend quality time with the Edles starting tomorrow!

BREAKFAST: 8am, good granola with dead organic milk, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

AM SNACK: 9am, chocolate donut, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: noon, 2 diet cokes

SNICKLESNACK: 2:15pm, gruyere with whole wheat bread and condiments, a bit of dirty healthy stuff, a huuuuge chocolate chip cookie, 1.5 bowl (half being just cookie), hunger 4/5

DINNER: 6:30pm, Stouffers Frenchbread pizzas, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING SNACK: 8:30pm, pint of beer, half a small margerita pizza, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING WATERING: 10pm, quart o' the wet

Mochi all around

x

BREAKFAST: 7:30am, the good yogurt with agave and cashews, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

AM SNACK: 10:30am, 2 ice cream mochi, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 12:30pm, mixed gluten, mashed taro treasure boxes, glutenous rice in lotus leaf, pan fried mock-pork dumplings, mock shrimp wrapped in rice paper, water, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 3:30pm, 2 ice cream mochi, flax seed tortilla chips with salsa, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 7pm, marinated grilled chicken breast strips, potato nick, 2 ice cream mochis, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Extravaganza!

Saw some pictures of myself from Thanksgiving, oy. I think I've gained the equivalent weight of Edie since Edie has been born. I don't have the heart to step on a scale. When I think about it, I don't think my weight is going to be significantly changed until I either go back to work, Edie goes into day care of some sort, my bike riding steps up in the Spring, I carve out some time for yoga and/or I revise my diet.

I was in the restaurant in the morning, then B&E joined me for lunch. We walked around Brooklyn, hitting up various bookstores and Trader Joes for groceries (food and books, that's our idea of a shopping extravaganza). I saw this book, pictured above, a lot of pictures and big words, that postulates that the real reason Americans are fat-asses are because dinner plates went from 9" to 12" some time in the 70s or 80s. It runs along the same idea why I measure my food intake in "bowls". Ilsa wanted me to get to 3 bowls a day -- today was 3.5.

BREAKFAST: 9:30am, organic cheerios, organic dead milk, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

AM SNACK: 11am, 2 chocolate covered graham crackers, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

AM SNACK: noon, 1 small slice of pizza, Manhattan Special, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 1:45pm, meatball appetizer, half a pizza, half a Manhattan Special, 3 chocolate covered graham crackers, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 7pm, most of a cheap sushi platter, 4 ice cream bon bons, water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

Thanksgiving

Another Thanksgiving lost in the wilderness. All my life Thanksgiving was my family unit's holiday -- one aunt had Hannukah, one grandmother had Passover, one uncle had the other day of Passover, another aunt had 4th of July, and we always had Thanksgiving, from when I was a kid growing up on Staten Island to my parent's apartment on the LES. My father died a week before Thanksgiving, and my mom and a few friends had Thanksgiving at my house, a first but it felt right. The next year, my mom was sick but home from the hospital, and we had Thanksgiving at her house, with a cousin and her kids visiting from California.

I started dating my wife then, and mom passed away in early January. By next Thanksgiving, I started attending her family's Thanksgiving, something they've been doing since my wife's childhood. It was warm, welcoming, appropriately Jewwy, but full of long associations and memories that were not my own.

But now with the fourth Thanksgiving with my wife and her family, and the first with my daughter, that's starting to melt a little, kinda like making compound butter in a mixer. The hard cold butter cubes go in, and beating it with the paddle eventually makes it smooth and fluffy, ready to accept whatever mix-ins you provide it before rehardening it in the fridge.

Where ever B's mom is, is Thanksgiving, and this year for the first time it was in her 1 bedroom apartment on the UES. There were about 10 of us, plus Edles. About 2/3 of the food was ordered in from a local diner, and the rest either brought in or made there (me & B & E arrived early so I could make the creamed potatoes from scratch, and I brought homemade ice cream and brownies, tea and lemonade from school.) The food was good. Could be a lot better.

Thanksgiving growing up was a....THE cooking holiday, which I imagine it is for most of America. Many family members brought something, but except for one particular fur-wearing non-cooking aunt, everyone either brought homemade stuff or wine. The menu was pretty much exactly the same year after year. My dad would make a crudite plate with hummus or French onion sour cream dip and roasted chestnuts to start. Dinner would be a roast turkey with gravy (from a jar), cranberry sauce (from a can), stuffing (Stove Top, what I'd be assigned to "make"), buttered lightly steamed string beans with mushroom, baked yams, soda, booze for the older folks, a random brought side dish, and desserts. Desserts were always brought, except for Dad's pumpkin pie (premade crust and filling out of a can.) Ice cream from the supermarket and usually a pie or two extra from guests. For many years through the 70s and early 80s, an uncle made chocolate mousse from scratch and it was fanTASTic. When he passed away in the late 80s, I missed his mousse more than I missed him.

Anyway, B's mom is great, but even with the catering, it's a lot of work on her shoulders. I really hope next year, now that Edie is here, this cooking holiday migrates from the UES to the LES, and B's mom chooses to have her Thanksgiving (and it will always be HERS, and everyone else just guests) in Edie's home, preparing us for the time when the torch has to be passed. I've been in training for this -- I just knocked off a Thanksgiving meal for 150! I can do 10!!

On a side note, when we got to Yomomma's house, the table was already set. Yomomma mentioned she had set it the day before. She got NOTHIN' on my momma -- she'd set the table on Monday for the Thursday meal!! And day of she'd have to go over every piece and dust it -- about the same amount of time it would have taken to just set it. But I understand it now -- it's the pleasure of allowing yourself to relax by being early.

AM SNACK: 9am, a few spoonfuls of freshly churned vanilla ice cream, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

BREAKFAST: 11am, pumpernickel bagel with homemade butter, 5 slices o' organic uncured bacon, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

THANKSGIVING DINNER: 3:30-8pm, handful of pigs in blankets, potato chips, sliced turkey boob, stuffing, gravy, salad, creamed potatoes, sweet potato souffle, parker house rolls, sweet tea, mint lemon aid, 1 glass prosecco, water, vanilla ice cream, brownies, 2.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Sillier Dinner

Woke up at 5, was pedaling to Red Hook by 6, was knee-deep in prep and cooking by 6:30. Students started rolling in by 7, the dining room started getting set up around 11, the 150 mouths at 12:30 service at 1, and like a swarm of locusts, was all over by 1:30. It was fun to operate this machine, with many moving parts, warming it up early (literally and figuratively) and bringing it to one crescendo, followed by a smaller crescendo (dessert!)

The only thing I was really unhappy with was the turkey -- I've never actually roasted a turkey before (because, well, I don't like turkey and we roasted plenty of other meats in c-school) and I now know why it has such a bad rep. I don't mean bad rep, like evil factory farms, animals bred into unwalking, unhappy mutants or unhealthy hormones, antibiotics and chemicals stuffed into these poor birds. I mean it's REALLY difficult to roast a bird this size AND have it all come out good. If you get the center of the meat to 165˚, the outside is gonna overcook, period. Brining only got us so far. Looking at the pic above, yes, it's a nice color and yes, the butter basting let the skin come out nice n' crackly, but about 1/4 of the dark meat and 1/3 of the white was dry and tough, despite me following every method and maxim drawn from my experience.

If I were to do the bird again, I would either a) forgo roasting the bird all together and fry the mother or b) choose 3 smaller birds instead of 2 large, brine for 8 hours instead of 4 and baste twice as much. Oh well.

I missed Edles today. She is such a snuggly person to hang with.

BREAKFAST: 5:30am, good granola with organic dead milk, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

KITCHEN TASTING, TESTING & SNACKING: 6:30am-2:30pm, bits of turkey, bits of ham, bits of creamed potatoes, a couple of brownies, a half piece of pumpkin cheese cake, several cups of mint lemonade and sweet tea, a few spoonfuls of cornbread stuffing, a taste of mac n' cheese, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Nice to overhear some students saying how much they liked the food. Overheard others that didn't. Hrumph.

PM SNACK: 4pm, slice of pumpkin cheesecake, 3 quarts of water, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 7pm, Cesar salad, half a Lombardi's pizza, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

Silly dinner

Busy day finishing up recipes and thinking of organizing the kitchen, then going to the school and directing my students to prep a meal for 150. Not as all-consuming as spending a day in a restaurant through service, but a close second.

BREAKFAST: 9:30am, good granola with organic dead milk, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 12:30pm, 2/3 of a Wholefoods frozen pizza, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 8pm, 2 pieces of pumpkin cheesecake, 1 small piece of cornbread, strong brewed sweet tea, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Yes, a stoopid dinner, but this was what we had, after doing prep for tomorrow's school Thanksgiving. A lot more will be on offer tomorrow.

EVENING WATERING: 9pm, quart o' water

Everyone is a critic!

While the laundry was in, I peeled, chopped, and boiled a pear for about 5 minutes, then turned it into sauce in the spice grinder. It was still way too hot, so I placed it in a ramekin, placed a plastic sandwich bag with 2 ice cubes in its center, then placed it in the freezer for a minute. It came out pretty close to room temp.

While cooking this up, I strapped Edie into the high chair and tied a napkin around her neck to act as bib. She could tell what was happening, and started flapping her arms and giving the cry of expectancy. It didn't occur to me that making the pear would take this long (adults like hot n' steamy stuff, babies not so much), but when it arrived to her chair-shelf, her eyes were trained on the ramekin, and she started doing her panting. Unbelievably cute.

The first spoonful I put into my mouth to test temp and texture. Only a few weeks ago I had my first pear -- I did not like its texture, but I was hopeful. The temp today was tepid, the texture like, well, apple sauce. The first baby spoon goes into Edie's mouth and....she screws up her face, her eyes squint, her mouth opens in a distinct frown. She swallows, her face unscrews. She pants; I place another spoonful to her lips and she pulls forward to take it in. Repeat of face, a little cry now. We do this about 2 or 3 more times before she refuses to take the pear. It was like she didn't remember from spoonful to spoonful that she didn't like it until the last.

We go down to get the laundry in the dryer, and when we come back, I see her eyeing the leftover food. So I tie the bib around her neck and we go for it again. The first 2 spoonfuls got no frown!! But the third did, and the fourth was refused. She was rubbing her eyes. I picked her up and gave her a solid burping, just in case, then lay her down in the crib. Within a minute she was out cold. Enough food experiments for my beautiful daughter for one day, the rest of the day will be mommy milk and a little rice cereal.

BREAKFAST: 9:30am, good granola with dead organic milk, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH PT 1: 12:30pm, rice & beans, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH PT 2: 2pm, slice of streetza, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 4pm, baby carrots, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 5:30pm, pasta with homemade sauce, shrimp and ricotta, small amount of chocolate chips, 1.75 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING SNACK: 2am, spoonful of peanut butter, small bowl of yogurt with agave, vanilla and cashews, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
I fell asleep around 8, woke up around 1:30 and watched TV until I fell asleep again at 3.

Mitt-full

B left the house in the morning to meet a gal friend for brunch while me and Edles hung back and kept the home fires burning. E came over around noon to join me for a bike ride and when she went to pick Edles up out of the bouncy seat, she got a mitt full of baby poo -- it was quite hilarious, at least from my 5 year-old sense of humor.

B brought back some donuts, a good pre-ride munch. We were planning to ride up to City Island, but E wasn't feeling well so we ended up stopping in Harlem for beer and a rib, then riding back over the mighty Triboro. I got home by 3ish, wanting to take B & Edles out in the crisp fall air, but B wasn't feeling up to it. Instead, we danced around to psychedelic Temptations songs in our lair. A lazy Sunday evening with Thai delivery and too much TV ensued.

BREAKFAST: 9:30am, the good granola with organic dead milk, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 12:30pm, potato nick, 1 donut, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 2pm, 2 ribs, a taste of mac n' cheese, a pint of beer, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 7pm, shrimp panang curry with sticky rice, curry puffs, salad, water, vanilla ice cream, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

Gargantuans

Woke up at 5 after a short night of fitful sleep, getting over a cold in it's final stages. Got myself to the farmer's market in Union Square and picked up supplies for brunch for 2 couples and their babies. Made a selection of bagels, nice small ones that aren't "mini" but aren't the gargantuans we get today -- a nice ratio of crust to innards. A set a side of salmon to cure a couple of days ago, busted that out and practiced my slicing skills. Whipped some heavy cream until the fat came together and formed butter.

I roasted some chestnuts for the first time. This was my dad's thing -- every Thanksgiving, he'd slice Xs into the tops of the nuts, brush them with oil, then roast them in this horrible electric counter top toaster oven -- what is up with those things? They were good, but once they came to room temp were a little rubbery. Going to experiment with this.

Edie was wonderful as always, enjoying the company.

BREAKFAST: 5am, small slice of flourless chocolate cake, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

BREAKFAST 2: half a piece of praline french toast, a breakfast sausage, a slice of bacon, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
From the breakfast bar at Wholefoods.

BRUNCH: noon-3pm, 2 homemade bagels with homamde gravlax, homemade butter and veg, several pieces of homemade flourless chocolate cake and vanilla ice cream, a glass of cider rum punch, a glass of prosecco, a handful of roasted chestnuts, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 8pm, 2 slices streetza, a green salad, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Cooey

Not much going on today. Didn't feel like leaving the house, with a warm cat on my lap and a warm cooey Edie nestled in my arm.

BREAKFAST: 9am, organic milk with cheerios, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH pt 1: 12:30pm, large green salad, small amount of cous cous salad, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH pt 2: 2pm, shrimp with broccoli, pork fried rice, shrimp toast, diet coke, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 8pm, pasta with homemade tomato sauce and ricotta, a handful of chocolate chips, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5