Last day of summer

Spent the day with B&E -- tomorrow, B goes to work, and the test runs of days with Edie become my work day.

BREAKFAST: 10am, large piece of watermelon, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 1pm, falafel platter, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 4pm, 2 prepackaged ice cream cone things, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 8pm, shake n' bake chicken breast, fresh pasta with mushrooms in a butter-wine reduction, water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
A high/low dinner. We three capped off our walk with a shop at the local Pathmark, slow and leisurely, walking down each aisle even if we didn't need anything there. I found a box of "Shake n' Bake Original Chicken", something I had not eaten or even seen since I was a child, it was a new product, and my mom made it for us. I could not remember what it tasted like, but wanted to see...

It's kinda gross, but good. Essentially flour, salt, spices, preservatives, decaking agents and some fats absorbed into it, it's kinda retarded how it gives you a plastic bag to shake the meat in, before you bake it. The flavor is definitely unique, definitely salty, and definitely took me right back to Staten Island as a 10 year old, having dinner served to me from my mom, and thinking that because the leg or thigh I was eating was so stringy and creepy, that I may one day be a vegetarian. I think I need to make my own shake-n-bake mix, it'll be much tastier.

On the high side, I boiled up some of the fresh pasta I made a week or so ago, and in a pan experimented with the concept of buerre blanc. Shallot minced, softened in safflower, then through in a bunch of thin sliced mushrooms and salt. About halfway cooked, I poured in some cooking sake and some distilled white vinegar, and cooked it to almost dry, Added a cold half stick of butter, seasoned. The vinegar makes it, totally makes it, why haven't I been cooking butter sauces with vinegar my whole life? My lord, more than salt, it just made the pasta come alive. I'm gonna start vinegaring all my basic no-recipe sauces, to see what happens.

EVENING SNACK: 11pm, 2 prepackaged ice cream cone things, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5
B has been nervous, emotional and stressed about going back to work for weeks now. Me, it just hit me the night before, and lead me to scarf some junk. I'm gonna focus on better eating now that the days stretching out before me are me n' Edles vs. the world....