Friday, October 9

Chest hair and a weiner

Got out of the house early to get to the UES to help my momma-in-law out with her computer. Spent the afternoon at a mother's group, 5 women and their babies, again me being the lone dude. Something tells me there is short story growing out of the my experience being the lone dude at these things....unless they kick me out for having chest hair and a weiner!

BREAKFAST: 8:15am, smoothie, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
The standard with the frozen fruit. Good. I think I have this down.

LUNCH: noon, slice of superhippy bread with camembert from school spread on it, large green salad, butternut squash soup, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Now THIS is eatin'! Not to pat myself on the back, but this squash soup is blowing my mind. I wish I measured everything, so I could recreate it. It's the spices I chose to spice it with, it really brings it to another level.

PM SNACK: 2:30pm, rice crispie bar, pumpkin muffin, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

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

DINNER: 7:30pm, mixed BBQ, a little max n' cheese, a little corn pudding, 1 beer, water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Some friends and I went to Hill Country on 26th Street, and I must say the food was mediocre, the service was horrible and the only thing that made the meal fun was the company of my friends. They have this stupid system similar to Katz's, where you get an ornate ticket before you enter, you get food from different stations, eat in a cafeteria setting, and pay before you leave. BUT those fucktards wouldn't let us sit without our whole party....even though the place was half empty. There were other issues I won't get into, but looking back, it seemed like there was a committee designing the concept, and rather than go with a true 'market' concept or a waiter concept, they came up with a hybrid that just does not work or make any sense. I just could not eat this food, and left a 5% tip, it wasn't 0 because I suspect it wasn't really the waiter's fault.

EVENING SNORT: 9pm, 2 pints of Old Speckled Hen, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

Thursday, October 8

Vibrant and happy squash

A good day, though tired from the lack of sleep brought on by a late night pint of ice cream. Spent the morning making soup, then took a walk in the 'hood with Edles, which included laying down on a picnic table by the river with her strapped to my belly in sleep mode. Saw D&E in the evening for a movie.

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

LUNCH: 12:30pm, large green salad, fresh butternut squash soup, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Oh my, sometimes something comes out better than expected. Took a small early-season butternut squash, fabricated it, put some drops of molasses and salt on it and roasted for 30 minutes. While cooking, sauteed onion, celery and carrot in olive oil, added garlic at end then covered in chicken stock and brought to simmer. Everything in the blender, then started playing with cinnamon, chili powder, curry powder and salt. Added a cup of heavy cream, retasted for seasoning. Wow! A very flavorful heat, though not too spicy. Squash tastes vibrant and happy.

PM SNACK: 3:30pm, slice of streetza, piece of chocolate ruggelah, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 6:30pm, pasta with homemade sauce and spinach mixture, a large piece of chocolate ruggelah, water, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Had to finish the spinach before it went bad, ech. Tasted great. Betsy was devouring a good half loaf of rugellah when she came into the living room where I was eating and commanded me to hide the last of it. So I hid it....IN MAH MOUF!!

Wednesday, October 7

Teachin'

Today went by in a flash. Woke up to a good fishy breakfast (though I think a 1/4 pound of fish would be better for two bagel breakfasts in the future, not one piled high.) I spent the morning writing my first lesson plan and revising two recipes to fit the content of what I was teaching. By the time Yomomma-in-law came around 12:30, I was getting nervous.

I shoved down a piece of rugellah then rode the bike through 50mph winds to Red Hook -- reminded me of the day in my cross-country trip riding through Kansas which also had winds like this, except they were steady across a plain, and I had to ride 50 miles through it, not 3.

The class went by in a quick fashion -- I had piled a little too much into our agenda, which meant constant activity....which, based on the feedback from the kids at the end of the class, was probably their favorite part of the whole thing. We started with a lecture about food and kitchen safety, then I demoed a smoothie -- just like the ones I make at home, minus the flax seed and sugar, plus a scraped vanilla bean. I had them all taste the smoothie before salt and after salt, and right there I saw I blew most of their minds. I think I won their trust at that point. All the kids used different combos of fruit, so they all came out different.

After a bit of fiddle faddle tasting each other's smoothies, I went over knife safety -- how to hold, how to pass, how to carry, how to cut, then demo'd a simple salsa cruda. By then we only had an hour left, so I put the hammer down. Two kids to dice tomatoes, 2 kids to dice onions, 2 kids to mince jalapenos, 2 kids to mince garlic, one kid to mine cilantro. I went around and corrected each as they went, and approved each batch before being put into the communal bowl. I added tomato juice, red wine vinegar, salt and poof! Two gallons of fresh salsa.

After cleaning, I got the kids out into the dining room for chips n' salsa, as well as a cheese plate of 10 different cheeses, everything from Parmesan and moz and cheddar to morbier, camembert and tallegio. Had them eat it both with french bread and a crisp, sweet apple. A few of the kid's minds were blown once again. Got a lot of compliments from both the kids and the supervisor, who popped in from time to time to see what was happening. Good times.

Rode home at 7pm feeling good about how things went, and hungry. Needed calories! Unfortunately, I mindlessly swallowed 3/4 of a pint of very rich ice cream -- I fell asleep at 10:30, woke at 12:30 and couldn't get back to bed until 5am. Fneh!

BREAKFAST: 8:30am, toasted bagel with cream cheese, sable and tomato, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 1pm, slice of chocolate rugellah, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACKING: 3-6:30pm, cup of smoothie, a few bites of salsa & chips, a few bites of random cheeses, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 7:45pm, Stouffers Frenchbread pizzas, 3/4 pint of chocolate ice cream, quart of water, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

Tuesday, October 6

Rich Chocolatey Jewiness

Spent the morning out at Wholefoods, then went to the local infant drop in at the local community center. I don't know how much longer I'm going to continue with this -- I don't mind that I'm the only dude (if you don't include dude infants), but the hormones and the crying of women who are upset for very general baby reasons are a bit much to take -- I get enough from B, I don't need it from a rotating cast!

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

AM SNACK:
11:45am, vegetable samosa, pakora, cube of polenta, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
From the hotbar of Wholefoods, snacked on as me n' Edles walked home. How can a fried pakora taste so incredibly dry? Bleah!

NOON SNACK:
12 noon, a few small cubes of chocolate babka
In Russ & Daughters to buy some sable for breakfast tomorrow, the call of free samples of rich chocolatey Jewiness could not be resisted.

PM SNACK:
12:15pm, slice of streetza, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5
From the slice shop on Rivington off Clinton. Surprisingly, the slice was on the edge of being overdone, a rarity in individually sold slices. Cooked on a screen, the underskirt was all brown with stripes of black -- some of which tasted well done, a little of which was on the burnt side. Still, very crisp and thoroughly enjoyable.

PM SNACK: 4pm, large green salad, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 5:15pm, chocolate babka, chocolate ice cream, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Once B reads this entry, the sweets will be gone before the dawn...

DINNER: 7pm, bread, hummus & babaganoush, 1 beer, pasta in meat sauce, 1.25 bowl, hunger 3/5
Out at a local restaurant with B&E and friends A&M.

Monday, October 5

Vegetarian day

Me n' Edles did the laundry first thing, then tripped out to Court Street, Brooklyn to the Dept. of Ed to have finger prints taken. We sat in a warren of windowless cubicles with other fingerprintees and rather unpleasant low level bureaucrats for a solid hour, but Edie was happy as a clam in the babybjorn, cooing, smiling, kicking and just chillin'. Still, her immense cuteness wasn't enough to make those bureaucrats even slightly pleasant.

BREAKFAST: 8am, smoothie, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
I measured my ingredients as I went, as my class will do this recipe in class on Wednesday. 1 banana, 6 oz of mixed frozen fruit, 1/4 cup of Greek yogurt, 1/2 cup of milk, 1/4 teaspoon of salt. Blend until smooth. Ohhhhh yeah!

AM SNACK: 11:15am, large green apple, small piece of cheese, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Because of all the rain we had in the spring and summer, the fall's apples are huge.

PM SNACK: 1pm, sesame noodles, seaweed salad, 2 dumpling, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Outside of Brooklyn Burough hall waiting for an office to open. Hungry, but already had plans for lunch in a few hours. This kosher vegan snack box hit the spot.

LUNCH: 3:15pm, super vegetarian burrito, brownie, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Lunch in Soho with Y.

DINNER: 7pm, mac n'cheese, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

Sunday, October 4

Pizzeria Flavored


Two interesting articles in today's NYT -- one about the evils of ground beef and the other about the importance of eating dinner with your kids. As for beef, I imagine for some readers there will be no separation between the value of beef in general and the value extracted from beef when run through the deregulated for-profit industrial food supply chain. Makes me want to buy a piece of grass-fed chuck from a small farm selling at the farmers market and grinding it myself at home, and feeding that proudly to my family. McNorberts!

The other article made me remember some miserable times at home with my parents -- my mom insisted on the four of us sitting at a kitchen table and eating dinner together pretty much 5 to 6 nights a week -- the seventh would be out at a restaurant, or eating leftovers in front of the TV, or my brother out with friends. She wouldn't let my brother read at the table, even if we weren't talkin'. Looking back, it was a symptom of how fiercely and strongly my mom loved us, but at the time it was such a drag -- her cooking was such crap and it never occurred to her to encourage me or my brother to cook with her. Edie is gonna cook with me. And we're going to eat together. I imagine if she's dating some horrible boy, or comes out as a lesbian, or announces that she's decided to become vegan (noooo! he he), it'll happen around the diner table.

BREAKFAST: 8:15am, peanut m&m's,.5 bowl, hunger 4/5
When I wander blearily into the kitchen when I wake up and there are sweets on the table in front if me, whether it's cider donuts or cupcakes or m&m's, THEY WILL BE EATEN POST HASTE. Without discrimination. Nary a thought. Not a good way to start a day, but it was fun to eat.

AM BIKE SNACK: 11:30am, slice of streetza, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5
A random place in a beautiful street in Woodhaven, Queens.

PM BIKE SNACK: 1:30pm, Manhattan Special, pack of combos, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5
In a park in Middle Village, couldn't resist the call of the caffeine of a Special, and looking for something to snack on, couldn't resist a product whose flavor is "Pizzeria" -- not "Pizza" mind you, but "Pizzeria"....it tasted of oregano and fake cheddar cheese, with overtones of tomato paste. All wrapped up in a pretzel. Nasty.

LUNCH: 3pm, small portion of mac n' cheese, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5
Good, but not great. I spiked the sauce with Worcestershire sauce, I think next time gonna go heavier to get a fuller taste.

DINNER: 6:15pm, rotelle with homemade tomato sauce and spinach, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Equal parts tomato sauce and cooked spinach/mushroom mixture makes for a good pasta coating, neither saucy or dry.

PM SNACK: 7:30pm, a few little cookies

EVENING SNACK: 8:45pm, ice cream sandwich, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5