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

I never met a piece of tofu that isn't better deep fried.

The started high-stress, taking Edie to the drop in at the pediatrician to have her little cough checked out -- just a little cold, her disposition is fine. Subway wasn't running, and instead of being 15 minutes early, arrived a solid 20 minutes into the 45 minute drop in time zone.

Edie's feeding has increased, and the cough sounds like it needs liquid to soothe, so we've started Edie on straight water. She's taking to it straight away, reminding me of the 3-4 big bottles of water I down every day!

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

LUNCH 1: 10:15am, large turkey & cheese sandwich, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
At Almondine, before hitting up the restaurant. Just hungry, a remnant of my unbalanced day yesterday. This was not just a sandwich to throw back and fill you up, a la Subway. A nice brown hearty crusty bread, a mild but interesting cheese (maybe gouda), moist smokey sliced turkey, a house-made mayo, it all just worked.

LUNCH 2: 12:30, 3 small slices pizza, 2 Manhattan Specials, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 6:30pm, rice-batter fried sprouted tofu cubes, spinach sauteed with chard and shitakes, sofrito rice & beans, butternut squash soup, apple crisp, vanilla ice cream, flourless chocolate cake, 2 glasses wine, water, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Cooked dinner for Ilsa, the mother of this blog, and C & B. Ilsa doesn't eat wheat, C doesn't eat meat, so had to get a little inventive. Just bought the rice flour at the market today and as a goof, did a basic fry batter with it instead of wheat flour -- actually came out surprisingly well, had a certain snap that wheat flour does not. I think I'd go halvsies with wheat next time. Ilsa supplied the apple crisp, which was very different than mine, and paired well with my ice cream.

Intense

An intense food day. Woke up with Ediebird before 7, fed her some rice mush and fed myself some smoothie mush, then got cooking sofrito for the rice n' beans I'm making tomorrow. I caramelized onions for a solid 2 hours before adding the peppers and garlic, came out more flavorful and full-bodied than before.

Momma-in-law came over to take the Edie, and I took off for school. We were cooking the sweets and the cornbread for next week's Thanksgiving blowout. We cooked, in large quantities, brownies, apple crisp, corn bread, pumpkin cheesecakes and sweet cinnamon compound butter. We jammed for a solid 4 hours, and I stayed behind while the cheesecakes set in the cooling oven's water baths.

Got home late n' spent, happy to be among my wifey and baby!

BREAKFAST: 8:15am, smoothie, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Little did I know that this would be pretty much the only nutritious thing I'd eat until the end of the day....

PM SNACK: 12:30p, ramekin of good chocolate chips, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

AFTERNOON SNACKING: 3-7pm, apple slices dressed with sugar, cinnamon and lemon, a few small squares of buttermilk cornbread, a juice box, some apple juice, tastes of brownie batter, pumpkin cheesecake batter, taste of raw apple crisp topping, .75 bowl hunger 4/5

DINNER: 9pm, Israeli cous-cous salad, lots of water, .5 bowl, hunger 3/5

EVENING SNACK: 11pm, boiled leek dumplings, 5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Did not eat enough today.

Just eatin'

BREAKFAST: 8am, pumpernickel bagel with cream cheese, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 12 noon, left over spinach pasta with tomato sauce, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 2:30pm, a few tortilla chips, a few oven-dried tomato slices, 2 choco chip cookies, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Snacks at the baby drop-in.

DINNER I: 6:15pm, spinach knish, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER II: 7:15pm, WF-brand frozen pizza, 2 pieces of goyish chocolate rugellah, water, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

Cider

Laundry early, then up to the Museum of Natural History with Edles to hang out with D and her 2 year old tot A. Lots of babies everywhere, lots of nannies, and lots of shops, eateries and tochke spots with stuff at knee level to tempt kids. I know the museum is dependent on donations to stay in business, but isn't this busking of the younger set a little out of step with it's mission to educate?

Stopped through the Union Square farmer's market on the way home, picked up some beautiful apples and some spectacular cider, as well as some day boat scallops from the shores of L.I.

BREAKFAST: 9:30am, Israeli Couscous, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5
Didn't feel like breakfast food.

LUNCH: 1:15pm, falafel salad box, lemonade, half a pita, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
On the Upper West Side with D and her 2 year old girl. I filled that salad box to the brim, and felt like it weighed something fierce. Really filling.

PM SNACK: 4pm, apple cider, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Got a half gallon of spectacular fresh unpasteurized cider from the farmer's market. Hot diggity! The purity of the cider uncooked, there is a whole other flavor profile that is masked by pasteurization. Same thing with milk, except uncooked milk is illegal, boooo!

DINNER: 5:15pm, fresh spinach linguine with tomato sauce and pan-seared scallops, with ricotta and parm, apple cider, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Some beautiful scallops from the farmer's market. Made some off-the-cuff pasta sauce with stuff lying around. Unlike the Batalli recipe I've used in the past, here I throw wine in the onions and cook it off, and use dried herbs on hand.

EVENING SNACK: 10pm, 2 buttermilk pancakes, .75 bowl, hunger 3/5
Hungryish, not for sugar, not because my stomach was rumbling, something else. Need for chewing and the feeling of eating?

A Catered Affair

Woke up to an alarm clock for the first time in a long time. Had to get together everything for the baby shower into a cart, get B and Edie together, and get out the door by 9am. Nothing like taking your family on the subways on a Sunday morning with about 65 lbs of food and stuff in a granny cart. I gotta hand it to B, she tolerates my shtick like no other, with good humor and makes this potentially awful morning smooth and fun.

And no, I dealt with the cart while she carried the Edie. I would of done both, but it was too dangerous going up and down stairs with that kind of weight.

The baby shower I cooked the food for went smoothly. The food was a hit, got a lot of compliments, though I was surprised that my favorite dish, the cous-cous salad, was probably the least popular. Another friend of C's did the sweets, of which I couldn't help but think how I'd do it all differently, a little less sweet there, a little more sweet here. Oh well.

I made a rum punch which went down really well: 4 parts apple cider, 1 part OJ, 1 part cranberry juice, 1 cinnamon stick, garnished with 4 orange slices with whole cloves studded in them. Heated, then 1 part spiced rum added. Very seasonally appropriate, gonna do it again for the mothers at some point.

BREAKFAST: 8:30am, organic cheerios with organic dead milk, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

ALL DAY SNACKING: 10:30am-5:30pm, some Israeli cous-cous salad, a bite of mac n' cheese, 1 beer, 1 cup of rum punch, a handful of cream puffs, a slice of lemon cake, a thin slice of flourless chocolate cake, a handful of vegetable sticks, a handful of chocolate chip cookies, a few small cups of soda, a few bites of random cheeses on crackers, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5