And on the Seventh Day, He Ate More Pizza

Took B & a couple of her friends to the resto in Prospect Heights for a nice meal, though honestly pizza was not on my top things to eat....but the special was really nice, and I never had that one before, and was probably some of the most enjoyable pizza of the week. Tomorrow, I will NOT have pizza. Probably.

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

AM SNACK: 9:45am, 2 donuts, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5
The meyer lemon donut at the Donut Plant is amazingly good, best lemon donut I've ever had.

LUNCH: Noon, shrimp curry yakisoba, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 3pm, ramekin of dulce de leche ice cream, handful of chocolate chips, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 5pm, pizza with moz, provolone, asparagus, mushroom, & balsamic reduction, focacia, 1 glass wine, small portion of tiramisu and chocolate cake, water, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

Pizza all day long, from wake to sleep

In the morning, I spent a few hours prepping all the mise for dinner, including raw sauce, cauliflower puree and roasted cauliflower, dulce de leche ice cream mix, chopped salad, etc. After working up a new version of the Brooklyn Bridge restaurant menu, got there around 11:30 and spend the day with L and various figures involved in getting the business off the ground. It's a real education, unfolding in real time with a real business at stake. Got home a little after 6 and got my mise out, and the pizzas rolled out pretty smoothly.

NOON SNACK: 12pm, half a Manhattan Special, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 2:30pm, 1.5 margerita slices, small bottle sprite, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 6:30pm, spoonful of nutella, spoonful of caramel ice cream

DINNER: 7:45pm, 4 slices of savory pizza, 2 mini slices of sweet pizza, ramekin of dulce de leche ice cream, 2 glasses wine, water, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Pictures speak louder than words, sooo....

First up, salad pizza. Crust sprinkled with parm, olive oil and salt. Salad is simply romaine, cucumber, grated carrot, dressed in olive oil, balsamic, salt and sprinkled with a little parm.

Classic marg. Raw tomato sauce, pulsed in a blender, though L insists it damages the tomato, and a food mill is the way to go (he may be right.) Seasoned lightly with salt, oregano, black pepper, olive oil, and let a stem of basil sit in it for the day. Fresh moz, basil leafs.

Cauliflower pizza, once was a special at the Prospect Heights resto. Layer of moz, topped by cauliflower puree (steamed cauliflower, heavy cream, butter, garlic, salt) and sliced of roasted cauliflower. Finished with sliced scallion.

Guests requested pepperoni, so here is a simple marg with pepperoni and caramelized onions. Too much oil rendered, making the middle a bit flibbidy flobbidy.

Divided a dough into 2 smaller pies, one with nutella and banana finished with powdered sugar, the other a layer of marshmallows over semisweet chocolate chips and a little olive oil and salt.

And on a final note, if anyone needs to buy me a pre-baby present, do not get me ANYTHING....except this:

Only pizza once today

After school, spent the rest of the day at the Brooklyn Bridge restaurant. Worked on the menu with the owner/chef, kinda odd but cool making a real menu so soon after learning about menu writing in school. So of course, there was more pizza to be eaten, and it was a relief to eat some self-cooked vegetable-based food this evening. Long day, all day food.

BREAKFAST: 7am, good granola with dead milk, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 12:15pm, 10 pork n' chive steamed dumplings, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH 2: 2pm, 1.5 slices margarita pizza, cup of latte de mandorla, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 8:30pm, stirfried shrimp and broccoli, handful of baby carrots, pint of apple cider, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Picked up groceries for tomorrow's pizzas and ice cream, picked up some raw shrimp and broccoli for dinner. Cooked in a wok, with my chicken stock, mirin, worchestire sauce, minced garlic, a little soy and hot sauce. Overcooked the broc a little, but was happy with the deep flavor I created.

Guess what? I ate more pizza!

After school, I was planning to get some dumpling for lunch but wasn't very hungry, and realized I might just be eating pizza all day....which was correct.

Stretching training continued along with 4 others, and breaking for assorted pizzas eaten with random people, friends of the owner, characters from the neighborhood, etc. I'm finding eating the same pizza every day fascinating, because it isn't quite the same pizza everyday -- L is experimenting with the length of proofing (rising) the dough, time in the oven, herb and aromatic choices, moving the pie in the oven as it cooks, putting olive wood sawdust in the oven to create a smokey flavor profile, etc.

Last night I designed a menu for the restaurant, based on L's rough notes on what he'd like to see. I've been a graphic designer for a decade or so, but I've only been learning about menu design and menu writing in the past month, so it's an interesting challenge -- and unlike a school exercise, I can't just make sh#t up, the menu has to summerize the whole friggin' restaurant, determine the tone, the scope, not to mention food costs and labor costs. We were too busy today to sit and talk, but hopefully tomorrow I can bounce all the questions I have off of L's noggin'.

The four others left and I remained behind to help L host a birthday dinner for his nephew and a large extended clan from Staten Island. Serious Italian Staten Islander, accents and Sopranos-vibes and everything. Seeing the large raucous family get along and really appreciate L made me think of just how much Jewish and Italian families have in common.

So this was basically the very first service in the restaurant -- 15 member os L's family. I stretched dough beside him, ran around the kitchen fetching him tools and platters, trying to anticipate before he asked -- y'know, the restaurant dance. I met a bunch of L's family, and I also met his daughter, a young woman with long dreadlocks who will be managing the front of house -- the service, waiters, hosts, captains, bussers, bartenders and barbacks. Though I haven't been hired yet, perhaps a similar position for me in back of house? Who knows?

And when I got home after 10pm, I made a batch of pizza dough for the dinner I'm cooking Friday night for B and her friends....

BREAKFAST: 7am, 2 freezer waffles, banana, quart of water, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

AM SNACK: 10am, street donut stick thing, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 1:30pm, slice of white pie with fresh tomato, slice of Sicilian, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 7:30pm, 1 slice Sicilian, small sprite, cup of latte de mandorla, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
L got a bottle of almond milk syrup, which was diluted into 6 parts water into a milky white sweet drink, kind of like a liquid almond cookie. Maybe a gratis apertif after a heavy pizza meal?

EVENING SNACK: 10:15pm, large bowl of baby carrots with side of potato chips, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

Another Day in Pizzaland

Stepped on the scale this morning for the first time in a while and was pleased to see 224.6. I seem to be maintaining my lower winter weight, despite the lack of serious bike riding and the indulgent restaurant diet. Regardless, for health reasons, I need to curb some of my sugar consumption, replace it was the same amount of calories in veg and complex carbs n' protein.

Spent the day at the restaurant under the Brooklyn Bridge, just hanging with the owner/chef and picking his brains about his plans. He had a meeting of local business owners and served them wonderful mint-infused Sicilian pie, then later a marg to various friends and potential employees. So the whole time was basically eating pizza, talking pizza and thinking pizza theory. Ahhhhhh!

BREAKFAST: 8:15am, organic cheerios with industrial milk, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
The one good thing about the dead milk is that it sticks around, and doesn't go bad within 3 or 4 days. Still, it just doesn't taste very....milky.

LUNCH: Noon, mixed gluten, mashed taro treasure boxes, steamed glutinous rice wrapped in lotus leaf, mock-shark fin dumplings, water, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Swung by Vegetarian Dim Sum before hitting up the Brooklyn Bridge restaurant. I ordered 4 small plates, and it was just too much, left behind a good 1 plate worth of food. Got to remember, never more than 3.

PM SNACK: 1pm, 1 slice of mint Sicilian, .75 bowl, hunger 3/5
L made a large square tray of Sicilian style pizza, but in the sauce he infused it with fresh mint, and laid on a layer of torn up fresh mint leaves between the bottom layer of cheese and top layer of sauce. It tasted surprisingly sweet on the tongue, but not in a cloying way. I associate strong mint flavors with sweet, so maybe it was my brain playing tricks on me? It was surprisingly pleasing.

PM SNACK: 3pm, 1 slice margerita, Manhattan Special soda, .5 bowl, hunger 3/5
While chewing on L's ear in the back kitchen, we forgot the pie was in the oven and caught it just as it was on the edge of beginning of burnt -- you could taste a mild bitterness starting to develop on the bottom crust, but the crisp crunchiness matched against the firm chew of the bread easily made up for it. This is some serious pizza.

The Manhattan Special is a carbonated, sweetened espresso drink, and the caffeine jolt got me buzzing for a solid 4 hours. I usually don't drink stuff like this, but it's going to be served at the restaurant, and if I don't end up working there, who knows when I'd get a freebie.

DINNER: 8:45pm, half a sesame noodle appetizer, spinach salad, hijiki tofu patty, water, 1 bowl, hunger 3/5
Tired after another intense day, nice simple dinner with a friend I haven't seen in way too long.

Pizza Intensity

Spent a few hours this morning at the new pizza restaurant under the Brooklyn Bridge, it's a good vibe but I get the impression that the chef-owner-proprietor is a bit sensitive about his trade secrets, so I'm not going to repeat here what I'm experiencing and learning there -- suffice to say, it's pretty humbling to be in the presence of someone whose so passionate and committed to elevating the humble pizza into something fantastic.

Had lunch with B with the restaurateur and the embryonic staff, really amazing Italian-American style slices, high quality with a deft touch on the dough and a nice olive-wood aroma from a technique he's experimenting with (my lips are sealed!) We took off and visited the park we married, got a snack at Jacques Torres, walked over to where B used to live and all the landmarks we courted each other.

Spent the evening working the phones and the counter at the Prospect Heights restaurant, very busy for a Monday night. It was pretty intense, and the 5 hours flew by in a second. AND the restaurateur from the Brooklyn Bridge spot came by for dinner, to check out the operation I've been talking up a little to him. A long day of pizza intensity

BREAKFAST: 8:30am, good granola with industrial milk, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 1:45pm, 1 slice marg, 1.5 slice white, small amount of chicory salad, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 3pm, 3 chocolate covered graham crackers, half a hot chocolate, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 8pm, cheese cake, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 9:45pm, small pizza with moz, spicy sausage, fresh bell pepper, black olive, cherry tomato, ginger ale, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING WATERING: 11:30pm, quart

I still hate tequila

When a burly back kitchen cook offers you a shot of tequila at the end of the night, and you don't have a good grasp of Spanish and he doesn't have a good grasp of English, and you both are dependent on each other through the night to keep your work moving smoothly without errors, well, you accept it and thank him, muchacho. I HATE tequila.

I was at the restaurant from 11 to 11, first as a combo phone/bus/pizza helper, then after 4, strictly pizza. Around 8:30, during an extended 2 hour rush, I started to feel a bit unfocused on my feet and ran to the back and sucked down a tiramisu, which made me feel a lot better. I would have chosen something healthier, but I needed something on hand that took no time to prep.

BREAKFAST: 7:30am, good granola with industrial milk, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 11am, slice with onion and prosciutto, chocolate hazelnut cake, 2 sodas, 2 bowl, hunger 4/5

MEAL 3: 4pm, french toast, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 8:30pm, tiramisu, water, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING SNORT: 9:30pm, shot of tequila

DINNER: 10pm, kid's size rigatoni with mushroom, pine nut tart, water, half glass of wine, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5