Winding Down

A day with the family. B left early to get her hair did, and Edie and I joined her. While waiting for her hair to be cooked to well-done, we sat in a Chinese bakery and I ate an almond cookie. They had the very-Chinese stuff (sesame balls with super sweet black-bean paste in the middle) and the very-American (chocolate chip cookies), but I thought the almond cookie was a nice Chinese-American compromise. I forgot how crumbly they are, and about 1/3 of the cookie was caught between me and strapped-on Edie.

We spent the day at my brother-in-law's place, watching his whole-wall television, ordering in food, and watching Edie crawl across with a foot print as large as our whole apartment. A very chill way to wind down the holiday week.

BREAKFAST: 10:30am, almond cookie, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

AM SNACK: 11:15am, slice of streetza, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 12:30pm, vegetarian burrito, 1.25 bowl, hunger 3/5

PM SNACK: 4pm, diet root beer

DINNER: 8pm, half a margerita pizza, Cesar salad, glass of chardonnay, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING SNACK: 10:30pm, 2 chocolate chip cookies, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

New Year's Day Brunch

3 old friends from back in the day, 2 spouses and one 2 year old came over for brunch. Made butter and hummus yesterday, set fish for curing then, too. This morning made bagels, using 1oo% bread flour and despite the extra gluten almost blowing out my mixer, they were definitely chewier and crisper for it. I had poppy seeds, sesame seeds and dried onion on hand to top some of them. The fish came out extra mild, almost like salty sashimi, fortunately the fish was extra fatty so it really transmitted the curing flavors it did absorb.

Good friends, good food, a chillaxed atmosphere, and Edie was bopping around and thrilled to be there -- last year she was just a gestational bump riding along B's hip bones.

BREAKFAST: 8am, small piece of babka, apple cider, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

BRUNCH: 1pm, freshly baked bagel with freshly cured salmon, maitre d'hotel butter and cream cheese, several pieces of babka, seltzer, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 7pm, fresh pasta with school-made meatballs, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Dressed with garlic, oil and parm. Pretty good.

In with a roar, out with a babka

BREAKFAST: 7am, organic cheerios with organic dead milk, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: noon, veggie patty sub on whole wheat, small quantity of chips, diet coke, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Stopped in at Subway on the way to the supermarket -- didn't want to food shop hungry. I used to eat at Subway a lot when I tried to be vegan -- the veggie patty they have is vegan, but none of their breads are -- all contain a small amount of non-fat dry milk or egg product. Still, I ordered it without cheese. Funny to have a food sensory memory from my early/mid 20s, not my childhood.

PM SNACK: 2-5pm, chocolate babka filling, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Oy. Made a large quantity of this in the process of making 5 medium babka loaves. Take 2 1/4 pounds of good quality dark chocolate, chop it into chunks then plop it into a food processor to make mealy pebbles. Add 3/4 cup of sugar, 2 tablespoons of cinnamon and a stick and half of butter and pulse until you have a loose, dry sandy mixture. Intoxicating.

And the dough, oh boy. I never made a sweet yeast dough before. The yeast was activated in warm milk, and sugar and eggs were added to the liquid before meeting the flour. And once met, it was kneaded into 2 sticks of butter! Wowzers! Had to rise for 90 minutes, then get assembled, then another 30 minute rise, than about an hour and 15 of baking. All told, about 4.5 hours of labor. While waiting, I made hummus, maitre d'hotel butter from heavy cream, a big salad and got a slab of salmon curing (salt, brown sugar, dill, kirschwasser) for tomorrow's New Year's Day brunch...

PM SNACK: 6pm, green salad, large slice of hot-out-of-the-oven babka, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Had salad in advance of dinner, then when the babka came out of the oven, I just had to cut one in hald, and once I did that, I just had to cut a piece off to taste, and once I did that, I had to cut another piece because the first was so good.

DINNER: 7:15pm, pork dumplings, shrimp lomein, water, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5
And there goes 2009....

EVENING SNACK: 11pm, a few spoonfuls of ice cream, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Not my idea, but when B spoonfeeds me, I can not say no.

Party with Peas

Got to bed around 11 last night, in a weird state of tired/not tired, but through force of will stayed in bed and got to sleep. This morning B went to the doctor early, so me n' Edie partied on down with some peas and formula, then she passed out in her walker/activity thing and went back to bed. Seems B has a sinus infection and needs some anti-biotics, hence her low energy this week. I wonder if I have the same thing, I hope not. I've never had a sinus infection before, my sinuses feel fine.

BREAKFAST: 8:45am, good yogurt with honey, homemade vanilla extract and raw cashews, .5 bowl, hunger 3/5

LUNCH: 12:30pm, pork and broccoli rabe sandwich, small portion of pork braciolla with fresh pasta, water, bread, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Freeflowing meeting with L at Frankie's on lower Court Street. As weird as he is sometimes, it's always fun eating out with him.

PM SNACK: 4pm, popcorn, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Popped in a pan with olive oil and a little butter.

DINNER: 7pm, gyro with pilaf, potatoes, onion salad, roasted tomato, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5
B went to a Turkish restaurant we like while I hung back with the bebe, and she brought me home an entree. Now that's a good wife, friend and pardner!

Low

Couldn't fall asleep until 3 last night, and was woken up by B around 11 to make sure I was ok. We initially had plans for a day trip today, but that went out the window by the end of day yesterday.

Didn't eat dinner last night, and woke up without out appetite. Eventually ordered in, and stayed on the couch most of the day. Fell asleep for 2 hours in the afternoon, dreamt that B & I lived in the house I grew up in on Staten Island, very strange. I remembered little details of the house that I haven't thought of since I lived there, little things like the accordion cover of the shelves that held linens and bathroom supplies, it's specific scent of freshly washed towels and tens of soap bars. How the sun came streaming in on a winter's afternoon, making everything look golden and different. How the old-fashioned pencil sharpener attached to the side of the shelves gave it's own woody scent for days after just one use.

Low energy, enjoying Edie crawl backwards on the floor, trying to think of little as much as possible. Ordered in dinner, and watched TV with B.

I guess this is holiday eating.

LUNCH: 1pm, pizza, Cesar salad, 4 cookies, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 8pm, chirashi sushi, shrimp tempura hand roll, shumai, green salad, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

Hoot n' Holler

Feeling a little run down today. After eating an unusually large lunch, didn't eat anything else all day -- definitely not typical of my eating day.

BREAKFAST: 9:45am, organic cheerios with organic dead milk, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

AM SNACK: 11am, 3 cookies, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5
B actually hid these from me, and I had to hoot n' holler for 'em.

LUNCH: 3pm, Philly cheese steak with fries, tofu sticks with marinara, chocolate cake, water, 2 bowl, hunger 4/5
B, Edie & I took the ferry over to Ikea, but popped over to the Hope & Anchor for a greezy lunch with a friend. Then we popped next door to Baked, a world-class bakery in Red Hook. I definitely overate, and overate heavy, greasy food. Does deep fried tofu balance beef n' cheese?

Ah, yeah

Woke up around 4am after getting to bed around 10pm. Road my bike over to Greenpoint to look in after E's cat while she's away. Weather wasn't too cold, it was dry, the sun had this spectacular hue of breaking through many day's gloom and it was happy to be able to stretch it's arms. While huffing up the Williamsburg Bridge, I had one of those 'Ah, yeah' moments -- this is why I ride, this is why I must get Edie on a bike as soon as can be negotiated with B. Being able to read what the weather is saying, observing something as pedestrian as the bridge and every rivet looking like a story, the trains whizzing by and the sparse fellow pedestrians on the bridge, it was a feeling of connectedness that is hard to achieve without recreational medication. Its a feeling I had every day on my cross-country bike trek. It's something that is a goal to achieve as often as possible.

BREAKFAST: 6am, good yogurt with homemade vanilla extract, honey and cashews, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

AM SNACK: 8am, sour cream donut, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
While in Greenpoint, I stopped in on Peter Pan, an old-style bakery on the business strip there. Not as good as Donut Plant, but it is a top example of the old-school style. My donut was slightly crisp on the outside, tender and rich on the inside, and the flavor of the sour cream shown through. Nice.

LUNCH: 1:15pm, Stouffer's French bread pizzas, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 4:30pm, mac n' cheese, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 8pm, pint of bad ice cream, 5 cookies, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
In one of those moods.