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