NYE fneh

E&T came over to hang out and see Edles, served some fresh whole wheat bread out of the bread machine (1 step closer to super hippy), zapped the last of the burritos (while I ate some mac n cheese from the back of the freezer), and served some freshly made ice cream sandwiches -- dulce de leche ice cream on short bread cookies.

We took a walk in the hood in the afternoon, but took it easy and ordered in in the evening, in bed before midnight.

BREAKFAST: 9am, iced green tea

AM SNACK: 11am, shortbread cookies, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 2:30pm, fresh wholewheat bread, mac n' cheese, ice cream sandwich, 1 glass wine, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 6pm, sushi, gyoza, water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


EVENING SNACK: 9pm, cheesy poofs, hot dog, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

Plotz

After barely 4 hours sleep, I was thankful B had the day off to look after Edie. I spent the morning food shopping, then road my bike over to the pediatrician to join B & E for E's regular check up. Edie is in perfect health! When I left there, I realized I had forgotten to eat and between being tired and unusually hungry, thought I might actually plotz. Went around the corner to a slightly upscaleish Chinese joint and really enjoyed a meal, though even with my hunger the servings seemed way too large.

Watched some TV then passed out by 9. Cooking planned for the last day of 2010 tomorrow!


BREAKFAST: 10:30am, pint of iced green tea, pumpernickel bagel & butter, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5


LINNER: 5pm, shrimp dumplings, fried rice with Chinese sausage, water, 1.75 bowl, hunger 4/5
Chinese sausage is dry and firm, and slightly sweet with a nice soy flavor. I don't know why more Chinese restaurants offer it.

Unplowed

So the trudge to work was quite intense. Riding through narrow slushy streets was slow but fine, but the bike path over the Manhattan Bridge was unplowed, making me walk my junky commuter bike over a bumpy tundra. Despite wind and frigid temps, I started sweating like crazy and pulled off my hats and opened my jacket, sweating like nuts.

This holiday season is a real disaster for restaurants. First, Xmas eve and Xmas day falls on a Friday and Saturday, so instead of giving a boost to a slow mid-week day, it slows a busy weekend. Same for New Years, the eve on a Friday, day on a Saturday. Usually the week between the holidays is pretty busy, with people off work, tourists in town, but BLAM the blizzard of 2010 hits Sunday evening, leaving much of the city on lock down for half the week!

We got slammed at work, but the owner decided to understaff, so I was alone on the floor for the lunch crowd -- it was a lot of fun and made a few duckets, but by the end I was dizzy on my feet, legs aching and ready for the proper wait staff and busboys to take over (who I had to call in, but due to schedules and weather could not get there before the rush was over.) It was a bit like playing a video game, and kept me tightly wound until I finally fell asleep around 6 in the morning.









AM SNACK: 9am, iced green tea
LUNCH: 12:30pm, 4 slices super thin pizza, 8oz sprite, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
RESTAURANT DAZE: 1-8pm, 2 sprites, a black cherry soda, a cranberry lime, an almond ice cream, 2 little slices of white pizza, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 10pm, burgers and fries, water, ice cream sandwich, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Post Blizzard

Due to NYC still digging out of the Blizzard of 2010, the restaurant stayed closed. We had child care today, so B & I had a date-day, going for breakfast at a local cafe, then a movie, then lunch out, a little shopping, a little walking, sitting in a salon while she had her hair did.


AM SNACK: 9am, iced green tea

BREAKFAST: 10:30am, two small sausage links, 2 slices hearty multigrain bread, water, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5


LUNCH: 2pm, Pad Thai, water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


PM SNACK: 3:30pm, chocolate dipped coconut macaroons, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 7pm, chana saag and rice, potato samosa, garlic naan, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
In honor of the HVS in India!

Pizza dreams

Got to bed 1amish, and when I woke up around 9, I recalled a very strange, vivid dream, one of those dreams that are new and unprecedented. The beginning starts with a boy child, maybe 6 or 7, me but not me, as the dream is from 3rd person perspective. The child has slipped away from home, and has made his way to a forest bordering a large lake. He brought a fishing pole, broken down and in his back pocket, and a pizza in a box. When he gets to the shore, he realizes his destination is across the lake, but can not swim and all the boats are occupied and far out on the lake.

The next segment of the dream is later, at the child's home. A friend's family is supposed to make pizza for the school, but it is revealed before the pizza is served, that the pepperoni is poisoned. Only a small scandal ensues, and the family's father goes on the run. This puzzles the boy, as why would anyone want to poison the school? He sets out to make pizza with his own father for school, but one of his dad's friend's who are helping make the pizza ends up putting sheets of lead foil into the pizza, making it poisonous. The boy goes to Grand Central to search for pizza that is not poisoned, but does not find any. Back home, he attempts to make pizza, but everyone who knows how is either too scared or on the run for poisoning it. The boy is sad, an a world-weary way, the end.

Spent the day zoned out. Bundled Edie up and took her outside. She was in a great mood  getting dressed, great mood in the hallway walking out, but once out, she started wimpering and clinging to my legs, then took a few steps, wimpered louder and clung to my legs harder -- the wind was whipping frosty air, sending little sheets of powdered ice in our faces. After 30 seconds of that, I put her back in the warm vestibule and -poof- she was happy and giddy again. So much for play in the snow.

BREAKFAST: 9:30am, iced green tea

BREAKFAST pt2: 10:30am, 3 small buttermilk pancakes, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5 


LUNCH: 12:30pm, Stouffer's French Bread pizzas, ice cream sandwich, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5


PM SNACK: 5:30pm, cheesy poofs, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 9pm, hot dog, ice cream sandwich, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

My new toy

Woke up half asleep, went to the local diner by my lonesome for some sense memory of an early morning with my parents. Spent the morning with Edie and playing with a new attachment for the mixer, a pasta extruder -- made fresh buccatini. We three barreled out into the snow to a friend's 2 year old's birthday playdate at a local playroom. Scarfed cold pizza and Edie had a blast, nice to get together with neighborhood folks in the middle of a blizzard.

Made my pasta after hours, needs some adjustment but look forward to making elbow mac, rigatoni, round spaghetti and fussili!

BREAKFAST: 10am, BLT on rye, homefries, diet coke, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


LUNCH: 3:45pm, 3 slices of lame pizza, handful of Hershey, a little diet coke, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 8:30pm, homemade buccatini with sauce, ice cream sandwich, quart of water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Jewish Xmas

The fam took the train to Park Slope to participate in B's family's "Jewish Xmas", I brought bagels, pickles and a side of fish I cured over the last few days. We ended up taking the train home with out any drama, giving us 2 days of really good subway luck!


AM SNACK: 9am, iced green tea


BREAKFAST: 9:45am, smoothie, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Banana, acai juice, good yogurt, fresh ground flax, vanilla extract, salt, frozen cherries, blueberries and mango. Betsy said it tasted a bit medicinal, probably due to the acai juice, but I thought it had a nice sweet/tart balance.

LUNCH: 1-4pm, wholewheat bagel with cream cheese and cured salmon, pickles, babka, 1 cider-champagne drink, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 8pm, popcorn

Be a Pizzaiola!

 

On this day of Xmas eve, I hit up the farmer's market and bought bagels for tomorrow's Jewish Xmas with B's family. In the afternoon after lunch time, we met up with friends from the neighborhood and had a wild adventure, taking the subway to the Brooklyn Children's Museum in deep dark Brooklyn. Due to the confluence of the holiday AND the Jewish Sabbath, the usually packed wall-to-wall play-museum was our relatively private playground. We met up with some Brooklyn friends there and the experience was spectacular. On top of that, the our subway ride with a connection included went very smoothly, Edie and the other baby were happy the whole way and we we got home, I was a little stunned by how smooth and non-dramatic the whole effort was. AND the museum had a mock-pizza place in it....with a mock oven....

Perhaps I had more fun than Edie for a good five minutes...

We ordered in Chinese for traditional Jewish Xmas eve, I ordered a dish I don't like but my mom would always order. Good thing, I didn't eat most of it, an offering in honor of the dead, I suppose.


AM SNACK: 9am, iced green tea


BREAKFAST: 10:30am, pumperickel bagel with homemade hummus and peanutbutter, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 1:30pm, chocolate ice cream sandwich, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 6:30pm, General Tso's Chicken with pork fried rice, egg roll, grape soda, a little apple cider, chocolate ice cream, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5


EVENING SNACK: 10pm, 1 small burrito & guac, quart of water

Amy's can suck it!

In the morning with Edie, we rode the bike to Wholefoods to complete the food shopping for the week. Got a side of salmon curing in the fridge to bring to B's family on Saturday. Made tea for chilling early, guacamole in the morning, cookies in the afternoon for more ice cream sandwiches.

Finally busted out some of my burritos in the freezer for dinner, they heated up perfectly in the microwave. SO much better than Amy's. The wholewheat tortilla came out soft and and pliable, unlike Amy's which tend to be hard and crunchy in a non-fresh way. I used a lot less fillings than Amy's which made it a lot neater, but still had a nice balance of tortilla-to-filling in the mouth. The beans I spent a day simmering were much more complex tasting, and the morel-infused long-grain brown rice give a nice tone. Next time, gonna use short grain brown and experiment with it's flavor.

The guacamole I made to go with it tasted a little bit flat when I made it, but definitely improved a little by sitting in the fridge for a a few hours. Just mashed guac, diced sweet onion, diced cilantro, fresh lime juice and a pinch of salt -- maybe a jalapeno could improve matters.

Fell asleep on the couch for a few hours after dinner and giving Edles a bath, and when I woke up, the gals were asleep. Wah!

BREAKFAST: 8:30am, pint of apple cider

BREAKFAST 2: 11am, salmon nori rolls with multgrain rice, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACKING: 1-2pm, chocolate chocolate chip cookie dough and cookies, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 5pm, homemade burritos, homemade guac, salsa and multigrain corn chips, apple cider, water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING SNACK: 9pm, cheesy poofs, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

Get my hustle-on

Fell asleep at 11:30, woke with an achy back around 5:30, gave up trying to sleep and set about showering and doing chores around the house. The only problem with being awake to play with Edie for a while after her breakfast is that it puts the day in danger of peaking way too early!

Resto was relatively busy with pre-Xmas traffic. I was the server on the floor for the afternoon and had to get my hustle-on, no time to overeat or be bored, was nice. 

BREAKFAST: 7:30am, good yogurt with agave, vanilla extract and peanuts, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 1pm, 3 superthin slices, 8oz sprite, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 4:30pm, hot chocolate, chocolate covered raisins, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 7pm, 2 meatballs, potatoes, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


EVENING SNACK: 10pm, glass of apple juice


EVENING SNACK: 12:30am, pigs-in-blankets, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

The BEST

Woke at 3am, took a shower, watched TV, fell asleep on the couch around 5. Resisted urge to eat something, glad I did. Woke up to Edie running up to me and shouting "PAH PAH!!!" then running away. The BEST. Her teething continues, and she too was up at 3am, forcing B up too. Thank goodness for caffeine and a forgiving wife!

Pleasantly sore from weights yesterday. Looking forward to kicking it up a notch in a few days.

BREAKFAST: 8:30am, cornflakes with organic dead milk, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
LUNCH: 12:15pm, 3 superthin slices with bacon, water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
PM SNACK: 3:30, almond ice cream cups, sprite, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Feeling a bit tired, needing a sugar pick me up. Avoiding the Manhattan Special, the caffeine made me jittery last time.

PM SNACK: 5pm, green salad, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
PM SNACK: 6pm, cranberry lime soda
PM SNACK: 7:15pm, 1 small slice of pizza

DINNER: 10pm, shrimp fried rice, quart of water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

Last class

Got Edie to a the dad's drop-in this morning, then lifted weights before getting her down for her nap. Had school in the afternoon, for the final class & meal for the semester. It went pretty smooth, but I'm glad this semester is over -- the 10 students got along fabulously, better than the 2 previous times, but that also prevented them from focusing as much as the last 2 groups, too. The food was good, and the mint lemonade was so nice, I took home a bottle...


BREAKFAST: 9:15am, small glass of iced tea, 5 pancakes, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5


LUNCH: 12:30pm, bowl of burrito filling, water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


SCHOOL DINNER: 6:15pm, lasagna, shrimp scampi, bread pudding, mint lemonade, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

Can't Fight the Teether

We three made it out to a local cafe for breakfast where Edie was restless and even knocked a cup of B's coffee to the floor, but regardless it was nice to be out. In the afternoon, an old friend and her family ame over for a round of homemade pizzas. We kinda collapsed after that. It does not help that Edie is teething and has been skipping her afternoon naps, which gets her to sleep early but wakes B up at all hours.

AM SNACK: 8am, iced green tea


BREAKFAST: 9:30am, BLT on whole wheat, home fries, water, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5


PM SNACK: 1:30pm, wonton soup, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5


LINNER: 3:15pm, assorted homemade pizza, chocolate-chocolate-chip ice cream sandwich, a beer, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING SNACKS: 11pm, cheesy poofs, pigs in blankets, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

Party like it's 2003

Experimented with the pancakes this morning. Recipe calls for 24oz milk, I did 32 oz buttermilk and 8oz milk, and I probably could of done 8 more oz of milk. So tender and moist! I added 1 tbsp cinnamon and 1 tbsp dutch cocoa, too milk, should of done 3 each.

I assembled another batch of burritos, assembled decadent chocolate-chocolate-chip cookies and all-around didn't eat well today, but was happy to be a little sore from the weight lifting yesterday.


AM SNACK: 8:30am, iced green tea

BREAKFAST: 9:30am, handful of chocolate-cinnamon-banana buttermilk pancakes, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5


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

PM SNACK: 4:15pm, pint of apple cider
There are 4 or 5 different orchards offering cider in the farmer's market, and over the last couple of years tried most of them, but one new one I tried last week made my head explode, it's so good -- it's nice and cloudy, sweet balanced with tart, an almost savory mouthfeel, and is just like drinking a whole apple without edits. I picked up a gallon today.

DINNER: 8pm, Chinese brick, chocolate ice cream cookie, 2 bowl, hunger 4/5
Edie was asleep, Betsy was out with friends, and I was partying like it was 2003. TV blaring, lazing on the couch, no one to tell me to cut it out, a brick of comfort food that I shouldn't be eating, but ate anyway. Yep, this is a crazy Saturday night for me.

CCCC

Spent the morning with Edles either at my feet or in her high chair while I baked chocolate chocolate chip cookies, churned chocolate ice cream, roasted garlic and set black beans for a full day's simmer for tomorrow's burritos.

I didn't use a recipe, just winged the cookies. Standard cc cookie recipe, lowered the flour to accommodate the cocoa powder. Took 1/8 the chips, melted them and mixed it with the wet part of the batter. Came out delicious and very flat, like I wanted them for ice cream sandwiches, BUT the reduced flour and over-all lowering of the gluten content made for a very delicate, gooey cookie that were hard to handle, and a good deal fell apart in the process from pan, to cooling rack, to freezer. Not to worry, I boxed the shards and I think Betsy will find good use for them.

Went out with an old friend to MOMA to see the kitchen design exhibit. I arrived a little early and found myself starving, so I had a street lamb-pita, with a "white" sauce that is usually yogurt based but this one tasted mayo-based. $4, didn't look big, but it was a calories bomb. By the time we sat down to fancy dinner, I had no appetite and eating half my food made me feel almost too full to ride my bike home...but I did.

AM SNACK: 8:45am, iced green tea


AM SNACKING: 10:30-11:30am, a few chocolate chocolate chip cookies, a few spoonfuls of chocolate ice cream, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5


PM WATERING: 1pm, a quart


LUNCH: 2:15pm, sardines on whole wheat, water, 1 cccc (chocolate chocolate chip cookie), 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER 1: 5:45pm, lamb on pita, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER 2: 7:30pm, onion soup, mussels in pastis sauce, fries, water, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5 

Cookin for my people

A good day making healthy muffins for the fam in the morning, cooking with the students in the afternoon. Were building up to dinner for friends and family on Monday, about 50 people then off until late February.

BREAKFAST: 9:15am, small amount of steel cut oatmeal, iced green tea
My god, the oatmeal is such a fantastic thing when heated with a little milk and sugar.

AM SNACK: 11am, a few whole wheat zucchini muffins
Made these out of a baby cook book on Betsy's command. Eh. Needs more butter, replace whole wheat flour with whole wheat pastry flour, more vanilla, less nutmeg, less sugar and one half light brown.

PM SNACK: 1:30pm, multigrain tortilla chips with salsa, water, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

SCHOOL SNACK: 3:30-5:30pm, snippets of chocolate sauce, cheeses, 2 juice boxes

SCHOOL DINNER: 6:45pm, 1 square of sausage lasagna, sprite, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING SNACK: 10pm, cheesy poofs, pigs in blankets, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5 

An Edie to Warm My Heart

Another cold day, not as brutal, though. Woke up with Edie hysterical, but a slightly frazzled B tamed the beast with a bottle of milk and soon enough Edles was lolling around our bed, greeting me with “ha pa pa!” and generally being the most amazing baby ever. Not to mention that all she wanted for breakfast was the white pizza I brought home last night. An Edie to warm my heart!

I’m still surprisingly sore from my minor weightlifting on Monday, but I guess that’s always how it is in the beginning.

BREAKFAST: 8am, small amount of steel cut oatmeal, iced green tea
B was all up in arms about the amount of milk we had left for Edie before I could shop tonight (we had enough), so I skipped adding a bit of milk to my oatmeal before zapping it. It’s good to experiment with common foods like this, makes you realize why you do what you do. The oatmeal was near inedible with out the loosening power of the hot milk. Lesson learned.

BREAKFAST 2: 10:15am, vegetarian sandwich, pint of water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Almondine’s sandwich came on a delicious crusty baguette, very impressive. Nice balance of veg to goat cheese to bread. Satisfying.

LUNCH: 1pm, 4 slices of Sicilian with mushroom & onion, pint of water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
PM SNACK: 2:30pm, a few pork and chive dumplings
Our Chinese delivery person made a few from scratch, actually not very good due to lack of salt, egg and ginger, but what kind of round eyed devil am I to correct her!

PM SNACK: 3:30pm, chocolate ice cream, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Waitress’s last day, I got everyone ice cream. Got chocolate because I plan to whip some up this weekend.

PM SNACK: 5pm, bit of baked salmon
Experiments from my kitchen crew. Overcooked.

PM SNACK: 8pm, beef in mojo de oja
A taste of my crew's wife's cooking. Damn good

DINNER: 10pm, burgers and fries, water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
No Comment.

Unreasonably Cold

Holy crap, it was unreasonably cold today. I road my bike to work in the morning, long johns, double layer gloves, balaclava under hat, thick cashmere under flight jacket, scarf, thick socks and STILL my toes got nippy and my exposed face just hurt.

For the first time ever, there was not a single customer all day – we had some delivery, but daaaamn. It took a little discipline from just spending the day stuffing my face.

AM SNACK: 8:45am, iced green tea
 
LUNCH: 1:15pm, 4 superthin slices, 8oz sprite, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 3:45pm, a few bites of cucumber, carrot, red onion & olives, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 5pm, green salad, 8oz coke, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 7:30pm, meatballs in sauce with bread, pint of water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING SNACK: 11pm, a little good peanutbutter with nuttella,  

Sneak Attack Chocolate

I was supposed to take Edles to a dad's playdate at the local community center, but felt too fneh to motivate. Spent the morning setting up the bread machine for a "country white bread" (which was a lot like yesterday's plain white bread, but added a small amount of oat flour, replaced AP flour with bread flour, added a couple of teaspoons of sugar, and I set the machine to dark crust instead of medium), cleaning up the kitchen and watching Edie just be an incredibly happy 18 month old.

T was threatening a 10 minute yoga session in my home right before snickledinner, which motivated me to lift some weights before getting Edles down for her nap. Last time I lifted weights regularly was April-June, right before the resto started sucking up all my energy. With little biking and yoga being put on hold until T is back from Israel, this feels right. Especially with how bleah I felt this morning.

Some mischievous chocolate appeared in the mail, but a nice healthy dinner was whipped up for T, who is going away until the new year.

AM SNACK: 8:45am, iced green tea


BREAKFAST: 10am, steel cut oat meal, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Reheated out of the big batch I soaked overnight a few days ago. Just added a splash of milk and a teaspoon of sugar and zapped it in the the micro. Pretty damn delicious.

LUNCH: 12:15pm, homemade mac n' cheese, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 2:30pm, Cadbury dairy milk chocolates, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

SNICKLEDINNER: 7pm, Hummus & fresh white bread, 2 burritos with salsa, chopped vegetable salad, cider, water, 2 vegan cupcakes, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5
The bread came out a little too pale, but as T said, it made a good hearty white sandwich bread.

Pale Loaf

A mellow Sunday. Started off the day right with a fruit-filled smoothie, then me n' the gals went to a baby birthday party in the hood which met me with half a bagel. My plans for the afternoon visiting a museum with a friend was cancelled due to poor weather, so I struck out on my own and ate Wholefoods sushi in a movie theater, at a movie which made me fall asleep. Yep, falling asleep at the movies on a rainy Sunday afternoon, I am officially old.

On the slow walk home, had a falafel at my favorite falafel place on St. Marks, the same one I've been eating at since high school. Picked up donuts for everyone on the way home.

Dinner was eaten out of the bread machine. I have not used the thing since before I even met Betsy, not to mention culinary school. It quite a powerful machine, though limited by it's uni-tasker status and ability to only make one shape of loaf from beginning to end. I did a very plain white bread as a dry-run, and it came out good, but very pale. It was the kind of bread that's good when it's still hot and steaming right out of the oven, but once it cools it's just fneh. Some serious loaf experimentation is in my future.

BREAKFAST: 9am, smoothie, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


AM SNACK: 11:30am, half a pumpernickel bagel with hummus, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5


LUNCH: 1pm, shrimp avocado sushi, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


LUNCH 2: 3pm, falafel sandwich with babaganoush, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


PM SNACK: 4pm, chocolate donut, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 6:30pm, 2 slices of freshly baked white bread with homemade hummus, 2 homemade ice cream sandwiches, half a donut, quart of water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Mellow Saturday

Woke up around 5 and could not get back to sleep, achy back. I need to do more physical things. Watched TV to wake up, got the laundry in, made waffles and fed Edles while I folded laundry. Productive.

B slept in late-ish, and by 10:30 or so I fell asleep in Edie's room and was aroused hours later when it was time for Edie to take her nap. Took a ride around downtown to pick up various bits, and ordered in Ethiopian with the Ol' Lady in the evening.

In the morning while juggling laundry and Edie, I simply took my waffle recipe and swapped out milk for buttermilk, and they turned out much more tender and rich, though there was not a lot of crispness. Gonna go 50/50 next time and see what happens.

BREAKFAST: 8am, several buttermilk waffles, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5


AM SNACK: 11:30am, iced green tea

LUNCH: 1pm, 6" soy burger sub, chips, Dr. Pepper, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
On a bike jaunt around downtown to  do a lil' shopping (yuck), stopped by a Subway for lunch. Weird how it's a corporate chain that gives a relatively healthy meal, but the soda tasted oddly medicinal. Makes sense, as there is a "dr." in it's name.

DINNER: 5:15pm, vegetarian Ethiopian platter, water, ice cream sandwich, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

I Am Burrito Boy

Started the day off with some good eating, then went off the rails pretty quick as I made a bunch of super-flat chocolate chip cookies to make ice cream sandwiches -- the vanilla ice cream needed to be used up!

Took a nice walk in the afternoon with the gals, stopped by the wonderful pretzel shop on Ave B which held me until dinner. I started simmering blacks beans in the morning, and added cilantro cooking base, roasted garlic and caramelized onion & red pepper to it. I set some brown basmanti up in the rice cooker, and when I got home, assembled mini burritos in whole wheat tortillas and through in a bit of cheddar. The beans came out pretty nicely, and the final product turned out even better (and cheaper) than the frozen Amy's brand. Dinner consisted of a plate of left over fillings...

BREAKFAST: 8:15am, steelcut Irish oatmeal with a little milk, sugar and salt, pint of iced green tea, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5


AM SNACK: 11am, 2 chocolate chip cookies


PM SNACK: 3pm, 2 pretzels, ginger ale, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


PM SNACK: 4:30pm, ice cream, 1 cookie, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER pt1: 5pm, 1 burrito, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER pt 2: 9pm, extra burrito fillings with multigrain tortilla chips & salsa, ice cream sandwich, water, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

Constant Motion

A nice day -- spent the morning with the Edes, did some chores in the 'hood, oddly ended with E not napping, just hanging out in her crib for a few hours cooing. Taught pizza to my students, fun but the end results were crappier than the last 2 times I taught this lesson. Swung by Wholefoods on the way home and had a nice evening vegging in front of the TV.

From waking to taking a shower when I got home, I was pretty much in constant motion. It was good.

AM SNACK: 9am, iced green tea

BRUNCH: 11:45am, 8 freshly fried latkes, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Had a little left over mix from Sunday, fried them off before they had a chance to go bad.

SCHOOL SNACKING: 5-7pm, lots of differently prepared, mostly poorly made slices of pizza, a handful of juice drinks .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING SNACK: 11pm, cheesy poofs, nuttela & peanut butter, quart of water, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

Snicklepizza!

Got home tired last night, but took a few hours to unwind with some bad TV. Got a full 8 hours sleep, but only got to see B & the Edles briefly.

BREAKFAST: 9:15am, ice cream sandwich
I gave one to Carla, but with the last one in reach, snarfed it down and now they’re gone. Still have ice cream left, which means I may have to make another batch of cookies, an experimental batch that will be even better in the formation of chipwiches….eeeevil!

LUNCH:12:45pm, 3 slices Sicilian with veg, a sprite, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

SNICKLEPIZZA: 2pm, 1 slice superthin vegan pizza, pint of water, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5
T came over to the shop with a very animated friend and I hooked them up with some vegan fare. I missed last week’s yoga and missing this week’s due to scheduling, so it was good to get a snickle in.

DINNER: 4:30pm, beef in broth with rice and noodles, curry sauce with baguette, white rice with shrimp and ham with refried beans, diet coke, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
The Asian delivery driver came in with a bunch of yummy food to share, and the Mexican cooks freestyled a staff meal at the same time, it was pretty multiculti in the best sense of the word.

EVENING SNACK: 11pm, burgers & fries, crumb buns, 1.75 bowl, hunger 4/5
Don't ask.

Criminally Delicious

Got in around 3am after spending the evening in the shop with James Franco & Michael Shannon (and a crew of about 30 studenty types.) Even though it was a night in the shop, it was a total different thing, as I was the only employee and we weren’t serving food. I remember when I lived with Danny downtown and we hosted a student film, same kind of energy. I’m glad I never got into the movie business.

The mock-chipwiches I made are criminally delicious. Will give the rest away ASAP.


AM SNACK: 9am, iced green tea

BREAKFAST: 9:30am, ice cream sandwich

LUNCH: 12:30pm, 3 slices of Sicilian with mushroom and onion, 2 superthin slices with artichoke and olive, pint of water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 5pm, large green salad, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 6pm, breaded fried shrimp, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
One of the Mexican fellows in the kitchen made a few of these, and I commanded him to make a buttload more. He took out frozen shrimp, butterflied them, made a simple mix of fine bread crumbs, parm and salt, dipped in flour, then water, then pressed into the mix. Fried in olive oil in caste iron in the pizza oven, for a hot minute. Perfection. Gotta try his style at home.

EVENING SNACK: 11pm, ice cream sandwich, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

A theme, detected

Woke up at 5 and couldn’t get back to sleep. Edles didn’t rise and greet the world until 7:30 (with a huge smile and a bounce in her stance, no less), so got some good snuggle time in with the missus. Spent the morning at the dad’s drop in play group at the local community center, a run to the supermarket, then back for nap time. I fell asleep in front of the TV and got a 2 hour snooze before Edie’s maw demanded food.

B came home early so I could make it to the shop – we were closed, but I was there to babysit a film shoot until the early morning. James Franco is directing and starring in some film with Michael Shannon, and I got to eat dinner with 'em

Funny, I sat in restaurant writing about what I ate, then a list of ingredients to buy for my pizza class on Thursday, then the minutes for the LES Food Coop meeting from Sunday, then memories of food for a writing project. I detect a theme…

AM SNACK: 5:30am, iced green tea

BREAKFAST: 8:30am, bad chocolate ruggela, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 12:30pm, Stouffers French Bread Pizza, ice cream sandwich, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 5:30pm, Manhattan Special, .25 bowl, hunger 3/5

DINNER: 7:30pm, eggy wraps, a croissant, a few tortilla chips, water, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5 


DINNER 2: 10:30pm,  bit of pasta, chicken, beef, rice, eggplant, diet coke, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

Ediefying

Spent the morning making dough for jelly donuts I'm going to fry tomorrow, 20 lbs of mix for latkes, laundry and Edie-fying. Went to a 2 yr old's party in the afternoon, took it easy in the eve.

AM SNACK: 8:30am, iced green tea

AM SNACK: 11pm, small ice cream sandwich, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5
In memory of the horrible ice cream sandwiches I'd get at work when I worked at MTV, in the freezer case and tasting like chemicals. I made them as a back up for tomorrow's Hanukkah party, just in case the jelly donuts don't work out, I can bust these out with minimal fuss.

LUNCH pt 1: 2pm, 2 slices whole wheat bread with hummus, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH pt 2: 4pm, a few slices of bad pizza, half a cupcake, a half cup of soda, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 7:30pm, mac n cheese, a bit of ice cream & cookie, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Ain't no party like a latke & donut party!

A really good day. Woke up late, took Edie out to the local diner, she sat in a high chair with me and snacked on little bits of potato and bacon and took big gulps out of my water cup.

At 11am started cooking: first, busted out about 80 jelly donuts (deep fry), then took out the skillets and cooked up about 20 pounds of latkes (pan fry). In the end, we hosted about 30 adults, 15 kids, and it was a good vibe. Busy and friendly, well attended but not too crowded. I finished frying about 10 minutes after the first guest came, and ran out of latkes at about the time the party ended. In the eve, went to a Food Coop meeting, ordered in some Chinese.

AM SNACK: 9am, iced green tea


BREAKFAST: 10am, BLT on rye, homefries, diet coke, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


PARTY EATING: 2pm-6pm, a few latkes, a few jelly donuts, a few cups of cider rum punch, water, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 9pm, shrimp mai fun, egg roll, wonton soup, ice cream sandwich, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5 

Cookie drama

Spent the morning cooking various things, spent the afternoon hanging with the Edie. Edie decided to grab the lap top, open it, jump up and down on it, so had to skip yoga to go get it repaired. Had a nice bike ride to Jackson Heights to join friends for Filipino food. A good mellowish Friday.


BREAKFAST: 9am, smoothie, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Banana, grapes, frozen mango, blueberry and cherries, good yogurt, organic dead milk, fresh ground flax, a dash of vanilla extract, a pinch of salt. Damn good.

AM SNACKS: 11-1pm, cookies, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Had some cookie drama, and had to make a 2nd batch of chocolate chip cookies -- the first were too rounded and tall to make ice cream sandwiches. So in my disappointment, ate too many

LUNCH: 2pm, 2 slices whole wheat toast with homemade hummus, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Made hummus, happy with how it came out.

DINNER: 8:30pm, assorted Filipino dishes, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING SNACK:11pm, 4 cookies, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5 

I feel ya, poppa.

I remember my father used to get so disgusted. He was a chemistry professor at CUNY Staten Island, and his preference was for grad students, but he was forced to take at least one class of undergrads for basic chem every semester. I remember once talking to him when he was in a foul mood (which meant he was simply quieter than usual), and he shook his head and said, "They're so stupid." And he meant it -- it was a combination of factors as he understood it -- these kids were only there because they didn't know what to do with themselves, they were avoiding the real world of the job market, they didn't even try to comprehend what he was teaching, he knew and they knew it would have little meaning to their lives, and a good number of them were so poorly prepared by the education they had previously, that even if they weren't born stupid, they have now been rendered that way.

I taught my culinary class yesterday, six recipes of various complexities, from making breakfast sausage from scratch, which involved disassembling and grinding meat and fat back at temp with a self-made cure mix, to a simple granola recipe, where you combine everything except 2 ingredients by hand, toast it then mix the final ingredients. The kids were a bit amped on sugar for the beginning where I talk a little about the subject matter and go over the recipes, and I broke them into three teams of three. They self-determined the groups, and there was definitely an A team, a B team and a fuck-anything-up team. So I assigned the recipes accordingly, and let them all go with minimal guidance, to see what would happen.

The A & B team were fine, they asked some appropriate questions, no big deal. The C team made the granola first. I had gone over the recipe before hand -- do not add the dried fruit until the granola comes out of the oven. I even asked the class why do it this way, why not just toss it in (because all the ingredients are raw and baking will bring out the flavor, while the fruit have already have been cooked by dehydration, and would only burn them and make them bitter.) The C-team, of course, throws the fruit in and when I taste it after, I ask them what all the black bits are. They look at my dumbly. I taste a bit, and there is apple-tones matching an intense carbony bitterness. I ask if they put the fruit in before baking. More dumb stares. I pictured my dad looking depressed and shaking his head. I feel ya, poppa, I feel ya.


BREAKFAST: 8:30am, 4 buttermilk pancakes, water, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5


LUNCH: 12:15pm, hotdog, potato nik, kimchi, cheesy poofs, water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

SCHOOL DINNER: 6:30pm, challah french toast, hash browns, blueberry muffins, sausage patties, sweet iced tea,  1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5


EVENING SNACK: 11pm, cheesy poofs, french cous cous, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Work Work

229.6 --> 229.0-->228.4

So this month's weigh in shows a statistically insignificant loss, but combined with the month before, it's....still not significant. This is the weight my body likes to be when it eats too much and does too little.

The trip by bike to work this morning was a bit epic, due to high rain and winds, and an errand that made me take the Brooklyn Bridge over.


BREAKFAST: 8:30am, iced green tea, good yogurt with agave, vanilla and peanuts, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5
Gotta make some of the good oatmeal soon.

LUNCH: 12:45pm,  4 slices of superthin pizza, 8oz sprite, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
PM SNACK: 2:30pm, beef summer roll with curry sauce, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Our Chinese delivery driver brought in some homemade soulfood, nice.

PM SNACK: 5:30pm, green salad, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
PM SNACK: 8:15pm, shrimp in wine sauce, a little bread, a sprite, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Quiet in the shop, cooked a plate of this simple dish for the skeleton crew.


DINNER: 10:30pm, burgers, fries, chocolate tart, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
No comment.

Work

It occurred to me this morning that tomorrow is the 1st, so I'll be weighing in. This month has almost been bike-ride free (aside from commuting to work and taking Edie out on small adventures), and while the weekly yoga is nice, I really must start lifting weights and eating a bit less.

BREAKFAST: 9am, iced green tea, small bowl of organic cornflakes with organic dead milk, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
LUNCH: 12:30pm, 3 slices super thin pizza, 8oz sprite, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
PM SNACK: 3:30pm, large green salad, water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
DINNER: 6pm, 3 slices of white pizza, a small ice cream cup, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

So Thanksgiving happened.

I can't say I "ate too much" over the Thanksgiving weekend, but I did eat poorly -- not enough veg, fruit, too much sweet. On the positive side, I did commit myself to a little bit more cooking -- on top of the cinnamon ice cream, pumpkin chiffon and chocolate pecan pies I contributed to A's family potluck T-day, I spent part of the weekend cooking up a massive batch of mac n' cheese for the freezer, busted out a load of chocolate pastry cream for a tart and a pie, and a few other little things.

I think this coming week I'm going to focus on two projects: reverse engineer super hippy bread into a formula I can make in my long-neglected bread machine, and also do something I used to do with my dad on a semi-annual basis: make a large batch of hummus for the freezer, and this time I'll use the food processor instead of blowing out my blender!!

AM SNACK: 9am, iced green tea


LUNCH 1: 12:45pm, carrots, cuce & red pepper with ranch, small wedge of mac & cheese, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH 2: 2:45pm, well-done burger, tater tots, water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5 
Met P for lunch in Williamsburg with Edles. Went to a pub for lunch, the only thing on the menu that was appealing was the burger, but having it well-done was kinda a bummer. Still, Edie went nuts and ate half my tater tots, that was kinda awesome.



DINNER: 6pm, small snip of mac n cheese, a little salad, a small piece of chocolate pie, a small piece of pumpkin chiffon pie, a glass of cava, water, .75 bowl, hunger 3/5

Tasty spork!

I was up at 5 so I could be at school at 7 to prepare lunch for 200 mouths with my students. It was a lot of fun, went even smoother than last year, and people seemed to enjoy the food. And the students seemed to get a kick out of it.

Kids don't start showing up to school until 8, and first period is at 9 (though two of my fiercest and most loyal students met me at 7am to get the turkeys in the oven!) From 8 to 9 there is a cooler in the caf with bags in it -- free school breakfast. It was hard to not to notice that maybe only 1 or 2 students availed themselves of this really nice service. So I investigated, and ate one.

The picture above is the contents of the breakfast bag. A half pint of 1% milk, a quarter cup of fruit punch, a little container of dry cereal, a "bagel burst" and a little packet with spork and napkin. I think the cereal and the spork were tied for most-appetizing.

• 1% milk: Diet milk is nasty no matter how "used to it" you are. Whole milk, yes, has more fat. Big deal. Drink less of it. Fact is kids ain't drinking the diet milk.
• Fruit punch: Too sweet, despite being "100% juice" -- it's from concentrate, so the sugars are concentrated. Might as well be soda, but soda that has the distinct flavor of the inside of an aluminum can.
• Cereal: Kinda like cheesy poofs, minus the cheese. Actually pleasantly mildly sweet, slight corny flavor. I wouldn't buy this, but I'd eat it.
• "Bagel Burst": I took a bite of this small round baked good, chewed twice, ran to the garbage can and spit it out. In theory, this is supposed to be a small cinnamon bagel round with cream cheese injected in the middle. In realty, it is a dry crumbly stale little brick that feels like rough sand in the mouth, with too-tart white mush in the middle. Absolutely inedible. And notably, the packaging had no ingredient list -- must have 20 chemicals to keep it "fresh" for months in storage.
• Spork & napkin: brought back memories of school food pre-high school. I remember quite enjoying the hot lunches in the 70s, a nice alternative to the boring pb&j sandwiches my mom would pack. Even back then, they had cheaped-out on the food, going from production kitchens to reheating stations.

Anyway, no wonder no one eats that crap -- it's an insult to the students, a loud message that says that money and bottom line are more important than a healthy breakfast for the kids.

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, pot luck dinner with B's family. I'm making Grandma Birdie's Chiffon Pumpkin Pie, cinnamon ice cream and a chocolate pecan pie. I am going to take a break over this holiday, and will continue reporting my eating next Monday. Happy Thanksgiving, all 3 of my readers!

BREAKFAST: 5:30am, iced green tea, chocolate covered coffee beans


AM SNACKING: 7am-noon, a school lunch, a glass of ginger ale, little bites of turkey, stuffing, string beans, a glass of iced tea, a glass of fruit punch, a few squares of brownies, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5


LUNCH: 12:45pm, a small plate of turkey, mac n cheese, Cesar salad, string beans, candied yams, a few brownies, a few too many cups of iced sweet tea, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 6pm, basil fried rice, curry puffs, Thai salad, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Workin' & teachin' & cookin'

Slow to wake up this morning, my hips and feet actually felt a bit sore from carrying the Edles in the back pack contraption all over the city yesterday. I guess it's good to be sore, as it'll make me stronger for next time? Right?

I am now officially in the the thick of Thanksgiving. I went to the shop to open, and got relieved around 2 so I could go to school and cook with the kids. Cooking went well, got home at a reasonable time. Gotta get up at 5:30 to get to school by 7 to start the final push.

AM SNACK: 8:30am, iced green tea
LUNCH: 11:30am, 4 slices of superthin pizza, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Very lightly topped, quite light and delicious.


SCHOOL SNACKING: 3:30-6:30pm, a few tastes of brownie batter, a few snippets of cornbread, some freshly baked croutons, water, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 7:30pm, shrimp lomein, quart of water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Out

Didn't eat much until a large dinner, but perhaps my body needed that. Took Edie out for a playdate in the morning, then strapped her into a back pack and took her to the Museum of Natural History in the afternoon. It was good to be out today.

BREAKFAST: 8:30am, iced green tea, toasted pumpernickel bagel with butter, ,75 bowl, hunger 4/5
Edie went nuts for a few little bits of my bagel, it was quite heart-warming.

PM SNACK: noon, cheesy poofs, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 6:30pm, shrimp saag with basmanti rice, a few pakora, garlic naan, a lot of water, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

Not sick-sick

Intended to wake up at 7am to have a morning out with the fam, but when I tried, something felt very off and I slept until after 10 -- thank goodness B was around to cover the Edles, or I wouldn't have had a choice. Woke up groggy, lacked energy or appetite, spent most of the day on the couch, with a 4 hour nap that started when Edie went down around 11.

I'm not sick-sick, but I suspect my immune system is fighting something that could go there.


BREAKFAST: 10:30am, iced green tea, cornflakes with organic dead milk, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


LUNCH: 4pm, ramen noodles, a little mint ice cream, water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 7:30pm, pasta with homemade sauce, water, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

Out of practice

Dreamt I was trying to take the Staten Island Ferry back to Manhattan with my bike, but there was construction. There was only a small crowd of us, but the ferry workers directed us to this very narrow ledge overlooking a canyon, which we had to walk across to get on the ferry. It was way to risky, and we all refused to take this walk, so the ferry left without us. As we all talked and got angrier and angrier at the gub'mint for cutting back service so drastically, someone stole my bike. I definitely think this was about work, and the cutting back of the restaurant.

Had an old friend and her family over for brunch, made pizzas, lotsa fun. Haven't made pizza in forever, my stretching is very out of practice.


AM SNACK: 8:30am, iced green tea
 
BREAKFAST: 9:30AM, BLT on rye, homfries, diet coke, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Thing about diet coke, it is excellent as a mouthwash. My mouth still felt slightly pasty from a weird night of dreams, and the diet coke really cleared it out, like paint thinner.

LUNCH: noon, 4 slices of various homemade pizza, 2 slices chocolate pecan pie, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5


PM SNACK: 7pm, cheesy poofs, water, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Abattoir of Aches

Baked chocolate pecan pies in the morning, rode bike with Edie to market for good bread in the afternoon then some play time in the local playground. Off to T's Abattoir of Aches in the eve, followed by a very nice snickleevening despite a quite horrible movie.


AM SNACK: 7:30am, iced green tea


BREAKFAST: 8:30, toasted bagel & hummus, a pickle. .75 bowl, hunger 4/5


LUNCH: noon, hot dog, potato nick, pickled daikon, water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


PM SNACK: 4pm, cheesy poofs, a slice of super hippy bread, a slice of streetza, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


SNICKLESNACK: 8:15pm, slice of big vegan pizza, 4 cups seltzer, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


SNICKLESNACK: 9pm, half a bag of popcorn, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

i cooked a whole lot

Woke up groggy. Caffeine kick helped me start the day off right with just me n' Edie in the house.

Had a "healthy" organic vegetarian burrito thing out of the freezer case for lunch. I used to eat a lot of these in college and in my early days in the city. Why? They are NASTY. And expensive, $3 for the little thing. Had me thinking that as we head into winter, I need to start cooking things that are filling, in large quantities to have in the freezer. Get some whole wheat wraps, cook up some refried beans, sprinkle so high-quality sharp cheddar, and I'll have microwave burritos in the freezer that are a) fresher, b) tastier, and pennies on the dollar. 


School lightened my mood, felt productive and successful. Me and 9 kids, in 3.75 hours, knocked out 3 plain cheese cakes, 3 pumpkin cheesecakes, 5 sheets of brownies, about 12 dozen biscuits, 5 big trays of corn bread, enough Cesar dressing for 100 salads, a gallon of jerk marinade, 20 meatloafs and a bucket cranberry sauce, all from scratch. We'll be cooking another ton on Tuesday, and the home stretch will be early Wednesday morning, when at noon we'll be feeding the school, about 170 mouths.


Didn't eat much today, just didn't feel like it.


AM SNACK: 8:30am, iced green tea, small handful of chocolate covered espresso beans

PM SNACK: 1pm, frozen burrito, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5 


SCHOOL NIBBLES: 3-7pm, 1 biscuit, a couple of chipsahoy cookies, about a cup of sprite


DINNER: 9pm, frozen vegan breakfast burrito, 2 mini burgers, cheesy poofs, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

Dad disappoints Mom

Had some absolutely weird dreams last night. Then again, most of my dreams are similar, so when one emerges that is radically different, it needs to be puzzled over.

I dreamt that my brother and I were on a road trip with just our dad, we were adults and my dad was elderly, but pre-strokes and in full health. We went to some mildly Canadian city, like Denver or something, a little too clean. We were staying at a hotel with a very narrow, very rickety elevator, on a high floor. I was responsible for driving this large boat-of-car, and my dad did not want to pay for parking, so the night we got in, we spent an hour looking for free on-street parking. The next morning, after waking up late, I go down to get some stuff in the car. The elevator is slow, so I walk down the narrow, rickety stairs and pass a large number of celebrities going up the stairs. First it was people I like, like Woody Harrelson and Neil Young, but as I got further to ground level it was all Kim Kardashian and Kesha. I got to the car, and there were piles and piles of parking tickets on it, and a parking cop was writing another. I tried to argue, but the sign said no-parking after 5am or something. I decided to pocket the tickets and hide it from my dad, and figure out a way to pay them later. I went back up to the room and my brother was in the bathroom, standing over the toilet but unable to pee. My dad was lying in bed watching TV, and I got into bed with him and gave him a long, big hug, it was great. At this point, I started to realize it was a dream and wanted to take full advantage of being in his presence. You don't get to hug your 6-year dead dad too often!

Woke up to a smiley wife and a smiley baby on the bed, both crawling all over me and giving me kisses. It was pretty awesome way to start a day that has great potential to be depressing again.

AM SNACK: 8:30am, iced green tea
LUNCH: noon, vegetarian sandwich, small sprite, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Surprisingly disappointing. The sandwich came this week on a nice rosemary focaccia, but it was cut too small, the contents were overstuffed, and the oil and moisture of the vegetables made the bread a little soggy. Still ate it all, it was delicious, but not up to Almondine's standards.

PM WATERING: 1:30pm, 1 pint
LUNCH 2: 3:30pm, 2 slices super thin pizza, small almond ice cream, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5, 1 pint water
PM SNACK: 5:45pm, 2 small slices of pepperoni roll
The pizza cook was fooling around and rolled up a thin-stretched dough with pepperoni to make what is essentially a small under-raised stromboli. This brought back a strong food memory from my childhood.

I remember my dad came home from work one day, and my mom had to stay at work, so it was his responsibility to feed me and my brother. He brought a package of stromboli, which involved moz and wide thin slices of pepperoni wrapped in dough like a babka. It was ok, nothing great, but it was filling and there was some left over. When mom got home and saw what was in the fridge, she was very upset that dad has served her two children "such garbage".

I felt bad for my dad, and I was surprised that he would feed us "garbage". For trash, it wasn't that bad. I also knew that the stromboli was just pizza, rolled up without sauce and left to sit around too long. It's not THAT evil?!

This little piece of stromboli brought me right back to the kitchen in Staten Island, wondering why my mom was upset, and why my dad could of disappointed her.

DINNER: 6:15pm, 2 slices Sicilian, pint of water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


EVENING SNACK: 10:30pm, burger & fries, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

Bleah

Very quiet day at work, which did little to raise my spirits.

AM SNACK: 8:30am, iced green tea
LUNCH: 12:30pm, 4 superthin slices, water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
PM SNACK: 2:30pm, 2 small slices with artichoke & olive, water. .5 bowl, hunger 3/5
PM SNACK: 3:30pm, small almond ice cream, water, .25 bowl, hunger 3/5
PM SNACK: 6:30pm, large green salad, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 10pm, wonton soup, shrimp fried rice, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

Monday at home

Spent the day in doors, finishing painting the walls, made the menu/recipes/lesson plan for Thanksgiving with my class, and basically chilled. Had a large bowl of pasta, but an hour later, was still definitely hungry.

AM SNACK: 9am, iced green tea


LUNCH: noon, Stouffers French Bread Pizzas, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 5:30pm, spaghetti with home made tomato sauce, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5


EVENING SNACK: 7pm, small handful of chocolate chip cookies, large amount of chocolate ice cream, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

The weekend report

I've eaten quite poorly these past couple of days. Feeling a little bit blue about the cold season coming on us. I did pull out a nice brunch for a few of B's friends on Sunday morning, and toiled all day Sunday painting some walls in the apartment.


SATURDAY


BREAKFAST: 9:15am, iced green tea, a spoonful of freshmade mint chocolate ganache ice cream

PM SNACK: 12:15pm, cheesy poofs, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5


LUNCH: 1:45pm, rice noodles with fishballs, lotus leaf wrap, weird rice wrap, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 6pm, miniburgers & cheesypoofs, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5 


SUNDAY


AM SNACK: 7:30am, iced green tea


BRUNCH: 11am, 2 homemade bagels with homecured salmon, pickle, pumpkin cheese cake, one mimosa, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 5pm, beef lomein, shrimp toast, spare ribs, orange soda, cheesecake, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Friday Chillin'

Did chores around the neighborhood with Edles in the morning, took care of more on bike with Edie in the afternoon, capped by a nice social play in the playground down the street. Spent the evening kicking off with a snickle with T, then off to T's Domicile of Dread. Picked up some nice Indian food from a taxi stand I used to eat from weekly years ago.

BREAKFAST: 9:30am, pumpernickel bagel with goat cheese, 2 cups iced green tea, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 1pm, 4 mini burgers, cheesy poofs, 4 cups water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5


SNICKLESNACK: 5pm, vegan espresso ice cream, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 8:30pm, vegetarian samosas and chickpeas, roti, 4 cups water, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

Mellow

School was closed due to Veteran's Day. Spent the morning in with the Edie, then met Y for lunch at Katz's. Surprisingly packed for a Wednesday lunch. Caught a movie, then went food shopping, then home. Mellow.

BREAKFAST: 9:30am, 2 buttermilk pancakes, iced green tea, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

AM SNACK: 12:45pm, handful of roasted pumpkin seeds, 4 cups water


PM SNACK: 1pm, cheesy poofs, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5


LUNCH: 2pm, 2 hotdogs, fries, pickles, 1 cup water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 8:45pm, pasta with home made sauce, bar of dark chocolate, 4 cups of water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Watery

Up to 20% of your water needs can come from the food you eat, assuming you're eating "healthy". While my morning sandwich was full of vegetables, I know the roasting process removes moisture to intensify flavor, but it still has more healthy moisture than, say, a brick of Chinese food.

I am thinking there might be a relationship between hydration and sugar cravings, as the last three days without sugar have been a snap....

AM SNACK: 8:30am, iced green tea
BRUNCH: 11am, vegetarian sandwich, 2 cups water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Had a busboy get me a sandwich from Almondine, as they weren't ready when I stopped by on the way to work. This time, it came on a fresh, crisp and chewy baguette, mercifully free of cauliflower but seemed to have nicely marinated mushrooms instead. Tangy goat cheese as always, this sandwich was a different ballgame from those on flatter bread, but still aced it.

PM WATERING: 12:15pm, 2 cups
LUNCH: 5 superthin pizza slices w/o crust, small quantity of freshly roasted potatoes, 2 cups water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Super thin, crust blistering up and pushing the toppings aside, the basil cooked on and slightly paper-crunchy, pretty much perfect if you like thin. If this was my place, I'd run this as a special to see if others agreed how amazing it is. Infact, I may have to get my wife and child in at some point to try this pizza style.

PM SNACK: 5:30pm, a few snippets of bacon, a few cubes of cold roast pork with skin, 2 cups water

PM SNACK: 7:30pm, green salad, 2 cups water, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
DINNER: 10:30pm, burger, fries, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

Water, water everywhere, and many drops to drink

I think I realized this morning that 10 cups/5 pints/2 quarts and a pint/a little over half a gallon of water a day is about average for me. I don't transcribe it here because there is already enough monotony on this very day-in-day-out blog. But I shall record it this week never the less.

I took an internet quiz about how much water I should drink today, I had to plug in my weight (230), how many minutes of exercise I plan to do today (0), am I pregnant (no), am I breastfeeding (certainly not), am I at a high altitude (no), am I in a dry climate (no, how man alcoholic drinks will I consume (0), is the weather extremely hot or cold (yes, it's kinda a hot-tea wrap yourself in cashmere kinda day), do I have fever or diarrhea (no). My answer was as follows:

131 ounces of water today (that's 16 and a half cups)
If you eat a healthy diet, about 20 percent of your water may come from the foods you eat. If you eat a healthy diet you an drink 104.8 ounces (13 cups). Water is the obvious source of your daily fluid needs. Other good beverages include milk, herbal teas, low sodium broth, 100% fruit and vegetable juices. Soft drinks will also count toward your daily total of fluid, just remember that sugar sweetened soft drinks and fruit juices add extra calories to your daily diet that you don't need.

So strictly speaking, they say I may not be drinking enough water, but that may also be total bullshit.  I didn't include my daily green tea (1 pint/2 cups) or the various crappy sodas I've been drinking....

BREAKFAST: 8am, the good steelcut oatmeal with a pat of butter, 1 pint iced green tea, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

AM SNACK: 11:30am, fresh baked bread, handful of olives,  2 cups water, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
LUNCH: 1pm, 2 slices of pizza, half a glass of wine, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
PM WATERING: 2:30pm, 2 cups water
PM SNACK: 4:45pm, green salad, 2 cups water, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5
DINNER: 5:45pm, 2 slices white Sicilian with shrimp, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5
PM WATERING: 6:30pm, 2 cups water
DINNER pt 2: 8pm, 3 slices super thin pizza, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5


EVENING SNACK: 10pm, small pork fried rice, 2 cups water, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

Watery

The best thing about consciously drinking 10 cups of water per day in this week's challenge is that it matches well with the restriction to only go for 2 sweets this week. There is no urge for sweet soda because I'm just not thirsty.

Thursday I'm going for a decadent lunch with Y, which will probably involve sweets, and Friday is a pre-yoga snickle for  vegan ice cream, so I'm pretty sewed up for the week.

BREAKFAST: 9am, iced green tea, good yogurt with agave, vanilla and peanuts, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 12:45pm, 4 slices of thin but overtopped pizza, 2 cups of water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM WATERING: 3pm, 2 cups, with a slice of lemon

LUNCH 2: 4:45pm, shrimp in garlic & wine, 2 cups of water with lemon, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 7pm, large green salad, 1 slice of pizza, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING SNACK 8:15pm, 8oz diet coke
Needed caffeine, didn't want sugar.

EVENING SNACK: 11pm, 2 mini burgers, cheesy poofs, 3 cups of water

Sinful eating in celebration of people running

Left out early on bike, which is easy to do when the clocks fall back an hour. After a power-breakfast, pedaled over to Bed Stuy to drop a cheese cake off on C and her family, then down to South Park Slope for a brunch in an apartment overlooking the marathon. Ate a bunch of sinful of sinful food, but it was all home made from scratch.

B is feeling better, but still took Edles out for an epic wander around the outside of the building in the afternoon, such fun. Chilled in front of the TV in the eve, getting ready for the week ahead.

BREAKFAST: 8:30am, steel cut oatmeal, iced green tea, a few chocolate covered espresso beans, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

BRUNCH: 11:30am, cheddar biscuit with sausage gravy, apple scrapple, a spicey pickle, a narrow slice of pumpkin cheesecake, a slice of spice cake, a decadent cinnamon bun, a very potent screwdriver, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 7pm, singapore chow mei fun, shrimp toast, 2 pork dumplings, a little ice cream, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Laid Back Saturday

A very mellow Saturday. Woke up around 4am to an unhappy Edie. B got her back to bed, but not me. So after staring at the ceiling for a few minutes, I got up and made an epic batch of pancakes. Watched a little TV, and fell asleep as the ladies rose.

While I was powering up with some green tea, B was powering down with a slight fever, so she went back to bed and I did the Edie thing. Watched a movie while she napped, fed her, ate a small portion of school-made kasha, then went for a nice 2 hour walk with Edie around the neighborhood. On the sidewalk, she now doesn't resist holding my hand, which is suuuuper cute and wonderful.

When we got in, B arose and I tuned out on the TV with a big hearty bowl of school made farro & sausage. I forgot how satisfying this is -- whole grain, pork, potatoes, beans, all redolent of fennel and chicken stock. I wasn't really hungry for the rest of the day, only getting some veg down before hitting the sack around 10:30.

BREAKFAST: 5:30am, 4 buttermilk pancakes, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


AM SNACK: 10:30am, Ito En unsweetened green tea

PM SNACK: 1:30pm, kasha varnishkes, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5


LINNER: 4:30pm, farro & sausage, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5


EVENING SNACK: 6:30pm, baby carrots & cucumber slices with ranch dressing, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

T's House of Hurt

Stayed indoors with the Edie, she's better but not 100%, except in the adorable department. Evening Tenement of Torture with T.

BREAKFAST: 9:30am, iced green tea, homemade granola with organic dead milk, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5
Brought home a couple of bottles of Ito En green tea from the shop, we recently hosted a party for their Brooklyn staff and they brought their own tea, including a case of their high-end Japanese-import only stuff. Unsweetened, nutty flavor, no bitterness at all, it runs rings around my clownish home-brewed variety. This was free, but to buy retail is 10x more expensive than my own.

LUNCH: 2pm, farro & sausage, water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Made in school yesterday, a stew featuring whole-grain farro & crumbled Italian sausage, cooked in chicken stock, with fennel, potatoes, tomato & kidney beans. Heavy, but good.

PM SNACK: 5pm, cheesy poofs, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

SNICKLEDINNER: 7:45pm, vegan Cesar salad, cup of dahl, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Moody Thursday

Mellow day with a slightly sick day in the morning, good class in the afternoon, a round of food shopping in the evening.

BREAKFAST: 8am, brown rice crispies with organic dead milk, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5


LUNCH: 11:30am, sardine and kimchi on superhippy bread, 4 miniburgers, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 3:30pm, squares of several kinds of chocolate


DINNER: 6pm, rice pilaf, kasha varnishkes, diet soda, water, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5


EVENING SNACK: 9:30pm, large amount of cheesy poofs, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

Super-thin!

Uh oh. It just occurred to me I'm going to have to take my one sweet-exception tomorrow for the week instead of during snickling with T. I have a chocolate-tasting scheduled with my students tomorrow. It'll be one milk chocolate, and 4 different levels of dark chocolate. It's not about scarfing a ton of chocolate, but putting a little bit on the tongue, feeling it melt, swishing it around the entire tongue, and paying attention to the different flavor notes. This (and cheese) is the only tasting we do on this level, as they are all too young to sample wine.

BREAKFAST: 7:45am, iced green tea, the good oatmeal, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5
Second time around, the oatmeal is still good, but I may have went a shade too far with the salt. Next batch, I'm going to measure rather than just do it by feel, so I can adjust more accurately to make the good oatmeal perfect.

LUNCH: 12:30pm, 3 slices of experimental pizza, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
I had my cook make a super-thin pizza, with basil cooked on to it. What I didn't know is that due to an oopsy, the oven was not getting hot. I checked the pizza after 10 minutes, and it looked like it was just put in. The oven was hovering at 259 (the proper temp is 550), so I found the issue and it started to slowly rise. So the thin pizza stayed in the oven for about 45 minutes, until the crust looked a little tan. It was extraordinarily cracker-like, the cheese never spread, just formed a crunchy blistered skin with a bit of cheesy flavor underneath, and most wonderful of all, the basil leaves on top dried out like Japanese nori sheets, thin crackly & see-through, and bursting with basil flavor. The pizza had become a pizza-cracker: thin and crunchy, not the least-bit burnt. It reminded more than a little of lavash crackers. If it wasn't for the 45-minute cook time at a different temp, I would push to have this cracker-pizza on the menu. It would make an AMAZING bar-snack. Maybe when I have my own joint....

PM SNACK: 5:15pm, green salad, handful of industrial pretzel bites, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5
A colleague brought in some store-bought mustard-onion pretzel that were surprisingly gross. Why do people eat this maltodextrin-palm oil laced garbage?

DINNER: 6:15pm,  2 meatballs, sliced roasted potatoes, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


EVENING SNACK: 11pm, burger, fries, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

The challenge continues.

No sugary junk food or soda wasn't too bad today, but I wonder if I'm eating a little bit heavier to avoid cravings. Maybe not heavier, but certainly more often, keeping my blood sugar even all day. Notably, yesterday and today, I had no urge for snacking late at night, which is a good thing.

BREAKFAST: 7:45am, smoothie, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5
Woke up hungry, and knew I would not be scarfing donuts and chocolate this morning, so went to the smoothie. In a slight daze, I underground the flax seed and the whole affair was a bit gritty, but still good. Good enough to pour the extra into a freezer pop mold for emergency sugar jones later in the week!

AM SNACK: 10:15am, vegetarian sandwich, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Not as good as the last one -- too much goat cheese, too much roasted veg. I forgot to pick out the cauliflower in the first few bites, but it's rank flavor of shoes and sweatsocks reminded me to take care of them.

LUNCH: 1:15pm, half a very thin pizza, seltzer, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Sugar cravings becoming more notable. Bottle of carbonated water instead of sugary soda brought in to fight the good fight.

PM SNACK: 4:45pm, green salad, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5
DINNER PT 1: 6pm, sliced roasted potatoes, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER PT 2: 7pm, 3 slices of Sicilian, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

Stabilized

229.6 --> 229.0

So for the most part, my weight stayed steady this past month. 230 is pretty much the weight my body strives to be, no more, no less at the age of 39. I have been fitfully eating much better the past week or so, forgive a gyro here or there. As I go into the winter months looking forward to the heavier meals I love to make (chili!! mac n' cheese! cheesecake!), I must think in terms of quality more than quantity.

T & B have remarked how "thin" I look this past week or so, but the numbers and the amount of exercise I've been getting don't bare it out -- maybe I'm more comfortable wearing non-baggy clothes? But there is a delivery driver at work, a nice but strange Asian woman in her 20s with limited English, who bluntly told me the other week that I'm very handsome, but too "wide". (Don't worry, B, she's not interested in men, wide or narrow!)

Today is the first day of a desert-fast with T -- no refined sugar, no sinful treats like brownies or soda. Sugar itself is fine, if in a nutritional package, like fruit or a smoothie. The trick will be to manage the cravings until Friday, where T & I will indulge!

BREAKFAST: 8:30am, steelcut oatmeal, iced green tea, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5
I seasoned the oatmeal while cooking, with a good shake of brown sugar, vanilla, salt and cinnamon. While reheating my portion in the micro, put a pat of butter on top which I mixed in when done. Wonderfully delicious, basically what those fake packets of instant oatmeal try to strive for, but with cartoony flavors, sickening sweetness and chemical enhancements. This, on the other hand, is the Good Oatmeal.

AM SNACK: 11:45am, 3 pieces of freshly baked bread, handful of olives, a few slices of cucumber, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
LUNCH: 2:15pm, 6 very thin slices of pizza, water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
PM SNACK: 5:30pm, half slice of white pizza
PM SNACK: 6:15pm, large green salad, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5
A half-filled tub of nutella fell on the counter in front of me as I went for something on a high shelf in the kitchen. A twinge of sweet-lust coursed through my noggin for a second....


DINNER: 8pm, shrimp & clam pizza, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Full-woo

I woke after 11 hours of sleep feeling pretty even, but B was a little run down, so I plopped Edles on the bike and we went to Brooklyn Heights to the bagel shop me n' B used to hit up when we were in full-woo. Edie played in the playground that I did when my Aunt lived in the neighborhood in the 70s.

In the afternoon, we went to a neighborhood Halloween party with a whole bunch of other babies, but it did not go smoothly -- Edie fell asleep when going over, and when she woke up to a relatively loud, crowded new place, she just was not having it. Didn't help that her piggie costume was probably too warm. We left before I could stuff down too many sweets!

In the evening, I was searching the cupboards for sweets, as tomorrow starts a sweets-fast for about a week. I didn't even feel like eating sweets, just wanted to get some in before it was too late. But Betsy already hoovered up everything except the baking chocolate, so that was that.

BREAKFAST: 9:15am, 9 grain bagel with butter, lettuce tomato and onion, seltzer, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

AFTERNOON SNACKS: 3pm, mini pigs in blankets, a cupcake, a few bites of cheese, carrots and spinach dip, a rum drink, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 7:30pm, shrimp fajita with rice, beans, guac and salsa, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

Halloween Central

Felt bleah, felt the urg for heavy carb-loaded food all day. Me and the gals went up to Sleepy Hollow to visit a friend and her family, good time visiting Washington Irving's grave on Halloween weekend, perfect weather, good company, wonderful train ride. I stayed in while B went out to party with some other moms, and after getting Edie to bed quite smoothly by 8, I found myself passing out in front of the TV by 8:30! I'm an oldie!

AM SNACK: 7:30am, iced green tea

BREAKFAST: 9:45am, bacon and cheddar on a bagel, chocolate cupcake, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 1pm, gyro platter, diet coke, water, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 7:30pm, cheesy poofs, Stouffer's French Bread pizzas, a little chocolate, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

T's Terroir of Terror

Woke up early, made pumpkin-gingersnap mini cheesecake cupcakes and fed Edles her breakfast.From there, we hopped on the bike, did a chore in Soho, pedalled up to Chelsea Market to visit our friend MAP, then home for nap. After lunch, we took a walk in the neighborhood, ending at the park. Edie chose to bring her monkey doll, which was horrendously cute, and for the first time she discovered squirrels, where she would point, squeal with delight then run after them.

In the evening, Yomomma came over and I took off to T's Penitentiary of Punishment. Not quite as bad as last week, but definitely underlines how badly I need strength training right now. We had a wonderful snickle at Dojo, and unfortunately she carpetbagged me into a no-sweets challenge next week. Oy. Well, I know sugar has been kicking my ass recently, so it makes sense.

AM SNACK: 7:30am, iced green tea


AM SNACK: 8:15am, dark chocolate
Didn't intend to, but I got it as a gift for B, and of course the first thing she does when she rolls into the kitchen is bust it open.

AM SNACK: 9:15am, pumpkin-gingersnap mini cheesecake cupcake


LUNCH: 1pm, large green salad, cheese ravioli with homemade marinara, a small piece of pumpkin cheesecake, water, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 5:15pm, 3 tiny slices of pizza, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5


SNICKLESNACK: 8:15pm, large spinach salad, hijiki tofu patty, water, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5


EVENING SNACK: 10pm, hotdog with kimchi, small piece of potato nick, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

Listless

Woke up tired, felt listless at Edie's playgroup, and when she took a nap, I napped too, a solid 1.5 hours. Kinda skipped lunch, and snacked a bit on the food me and the students made for the 100+ people of the PTA meetings. On the way home, still not horrendously hungry, but picked up some noodles so when I went food shopping soon after, I wouldn't overspend by being hungry.


BREAKFAST: 9:15am, iced green tea, toasted pumpernickel bagel with chevre and sable, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


PM SNACK: 1:45pm, handful of chocolate covered espresso beans


SCHOOL SNACKING: 3:30-6:30pm, croutons, a spoonful of mac n' cheese, a brownie, seltzer, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 7:45pm, beef lomein, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5


EVENING SNACK: 9:30pm, cheesy poofs, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

Workworkworkwork pt 3

Well, the intention was for a healthy breakfast, but I ended up revving my engines hard. I was a little hungry at home, but had visions of a roasted veg and goat cheese sammich in my head. So I contented myself to some espresso beans, but when I got to Almondine, the sandwiches weren't ready yet! So I went across the street to Jaques Torres and got a slammin' cookie. Not healthy, but perfectly indulgent and satisfying, makes me happy to focus on healthier options later on.

AM SNACK: 8am, iced green tea, handful of chocolate covered espresso beans
BREAKFAST: 9:45am, large chocolate chip cookie, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 12:45pm, 2 slices of green apple pizza, water, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5
Further experimentation. Definitely a worthy seasonal pie. Key is a balsamic reduction, no tomato sauce, and a healthy dose of salt and pepper. Thin slice, no need to pre-fry the tomatoes.

PM SNACK: 4:30pm, green salad, two small almond ice creams, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5
DINNER: 5:15pm, 3 meatballs with Romano, a few olives, water, 3 chocochip cookies,1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
A coworker brought in homemade cookies, had to have a few. Man, today is turning into an overboard sweets day!


EVENING SNACK: 7pm, 2 thin & crispy slices, .25 bowl, hunger 3/5
Experiment stretching a medium dough to large and lightly topping it. Reminded me of the cracker-like pizza I had many years ago at the very first 'artisinal' pizza place I experienced.

EVENING SNACK: 10:15pm, 2 burgers & fries, 1 bowl, hunger 3/5

Workworkworkwork pt 2

Woke up to B placing Edie on the bed, and B narrating while Edie gingerly poked my face. "Nose!" Nose poke. "Hair!" Beard poke. "Where are poppa's ears?!" Ear poke. "Eyes!" Eye poke. Perhaps the most awesome way to wake up ever.

Had some dreams about being stuck in a construction zone of the Manhattan side of the Staten Island ferry, trying to get to the Island but being thwarted by the construction. Stranger, the construction worker explained I could not leave the zone the same way I came in, but would have to take a rickety single-person pontoon boat from there to Governor's Island, where I'd have to wait many hours for a ride to Staten Island.

Due to a self-locking door, a kitchen guy and myself spent a brief part of the morning jimmying the lock of the office, pretty annoying.

BREAKFAST: 8:45am, organic wholegrain chex with the good milk, half portion of iced green tea, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
LUNCH: 1pm, roasted potatoes with fennel sausage, water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Freshly sliced potatoes cooked in a caste iron pan with onion, season with salt, pepper and parsley, and some seared crumbled sausage sprinkled on top. Pretty much the best off-menu lunch I'm gonna get in the pizza restaurant.

LUNCH 2: 2pm, 3 slices of green tomato-balsamic pizza, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Pizza experimentation. Seared some thick slices of green tomato in caste iron, thin sliced some and placed directly on pizza. Thin cooked-on definitely the winner. The nice bitterness of the tomato against the acidy sweetness of the balsamic just worked, and complimented perfectly by the bed of moz and garlic. Gotta try this at home for friends.

PM SNACK: 4pm, a small cup of almond ice cream, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 5:45pm, green salad

DINNER: 8pm, 2 slices of white pizza with bacon and olives, 8 oz sprite, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Workworkworkwork

I'm still a little sore from T's tournament of terror last Friday, and the new layer of weariness from riding a strong 70 miles yesterday didn't help me feel much better when I woke up this morning. But I started with a good breakfast while racing through chores, and hoped for the best.

Mildly busy in the resto today, trying to hold myself to a better eating habit.

BREAKFAST: 9am, steelcut oatmeal, iced green tea, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Already we're out of oatmeal. Guess I gotta put a new pot on to soak tonight.

PM SNACK: 3pm, green salad, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
 
LUNCH: 3:30pm, 4 slices of Sicilian, small almond ice cream,  8oz sprite, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5
 
PM SNACK: 6:15pm, cranberry lime soda
 
DINNER: 7:30pm, sauteed shrimp in light garlic sauce with a little bread, another small almond ice cream, half a vanilla soda, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING SNACK: 10:30pm, wholegrain tortilla chips with salsa, chocolate chips, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

Spent

Pretty much a perfect day. Woke at 7, saw a little Edie & B, then took off for the Tour de Bronx. Beautiful weather, the bike felt great, the ride went smoothly. Coming home, my friend E got in touch and dropped in on her in Greenpoint for some seriously Polish food, hit the spot perfectly. Spent the even refreshening myself, playing with the Edles and just enjoying the feeling of a spent body.

BREAKFAST: 7:30am, granola with the good milk, iced green tea, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5


BIKE SNACK: 11am, cliff bar, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5


BIKE SNACK: 12pm, bagel with cream cheese, apple juice, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


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


DINNER: 5pm, kielbasa, perogies, stuffed cabbage, kraut, potato pancake, slaw, a few tomatoes, water, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING SNACK: 8pm, large quantity of ramen noodles, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

Paint the town mauve

Surprisingly sore from T's tribulation of terribleness, man I need to toughen up a bit. Plans to travel today cancelled, so me and the fam had a nice morning in Soho, then a swing by the Hester Street Fair for a revelatory snack. Babysitter came in the eve, and me and B painted the town a nice shade of mauve, just like a nice pre-middle age couple should!

BREAKFAST: 9:15am, pumpernickel bagel with chevre and sable, iced green tea, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Holy crap, using goat cheese on a bagel with smoked fish makes something so familiar so interesting. Damn, why didn't I do this years ago?

LUNCH pt 1: 1:30p, beef empanada, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Fried to order at the Hester Street Fair. Perhaps the best empanada I ever had. My only complaint is that when the dude offered my hot sauce and/or spicy mayo, I should have taken him up on it -- if a guy who makes something this good offers a condiment to go with his product, it probably makes it even better.

LUNCH pt 2: 2:15pm, large green salad, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5
I used boston and ice berg lettuces. While there is lots of water and a little fiber in it, I probably should aim for a greener, more nutritional leaf next time.

PM SNACK: 4pm, half a brownie


DINNER: 5:45pm, sausage and kraut, kale pakora, guacamole, whole wheat naan, pint of beer, water, a little chocolate souffle, a little apple cheesecake, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Took B out for dinner and a movie. Went to an old standby, Tabla, which is going to be closing in the next month or so. Food was good but not as good as I remember, the level of service was trimmed back, and all and all the specter of the  bad economy hung in the room like stagnant cigarette smoke. Still, I had a lot of great dinners in that room and it was nice to have one more time there.

T's Dwelling of Discomfit

A good Edie day. In the morning we were all over downtown Manhattan via bike doing chores, after nap, we met up with a friend and his baby in the 'hood. In the evening I yogacized at T's Palace of Pain, then we snickled in the East Village. Two conclusions: I really need to focus on strength training, so I'm not flopping around like a nearly-dead fish at T's Circus of Stress, which I hope to be doing every Friday eve for a while...

BREAKFAST: 8:30am, iced green tea, plain pinhead oatmeal, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Betsy finished the oats this morning by heating them up to absorb the last of the water, but she failed to season them with anything before putting it away -- now I'll have to individually season each portion with salt (sea salt!), spices (cinnamon! cardamom!), sweetener (brown sugar!) and maybe a fat (butter! olive oil!). But this morning I ate it Betsy-style, and appreciated it's oatiness. It was a little cardboard flavored, but I really appreciated the pleasant snap of the oat kernel between my teeth within the smoothie thick and creamy starch.

LUNCH: 12:30pm, sardine & avocado sandwich on superhippy bread, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Finally acquired some proper superhippy bread from the farmer's market, dense but soft, nutty flavor, the color of golden wheat. Sandwich was delicious, why have I not eaten one of these in so long?


PM SNACK: 1:45pm, freshly baked brownie, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Cooked up brownies while I fed Edie. Too delicious, but I'm sure my B will hoover them down in no time!

SNICKLEDINNER: 8:30pm, mock duck & noodle in curry, a few fried vegan bites, a small ginger-jasmine soda, water, vegan ice cream, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

Pizza seeping through the cracks

A day off from work, and I still find pizza a cornerstone of my diet! Lunch was leftovers that B shared with a friend the night before, and dinner was a result of freezer-fishing. Busy day, with taking Edie to the play group at the local community center in the morning, an intense session of teaching in the afternoon, and running out to the supermarket for a good big food shopping in the evening sans-Edie.

On the positive side, I put a huge dose of pinhead outs on the oven to soak overnight, to avoid 20 minutes of high-power microwaving...

AM SNACK: 8:15am, iced green tea


BREAKFAST: 9am, smoothie, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


LUNCH: 11:30am, half a lame vegan pizza, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


TEACHING SNIPPETS: 3:30-7pm, some boiled shrimp in a mayo-based sauce, a few strips of grilled chicken, a bunch of freshly baked buttery croutons, many little tastes of student mayo, 4 oz of coca cola, a bunch of seltzer, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING SNACK: 9pm, some dark chocolate with peanut butter


DINNER: 9:45pm, Stouffers French Bread pizzas, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5


EVENING SNACK: 11pm, cheesy poofs, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

A good sandwich

Mellow day at work, enlivened by a visit from C & her baby. Starting to find myself naturally swing back towards healthier eating habits, it's just time.

AM SNACK: 8:15am, iced green tea
BREAKFAST: 10am, vegetarian sandwich, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5
Wow wow wow wow. I was at Almondine again this morning, craving a sandwich. I've stuck with the turkey & cheese, as the tuna and 'vegetarian' didn't hold much interest. But in the name of getting back on track of my nutrition, I looked closely at the vegetarian sandwich: it was on a nice slice of rustic whole wheat bread, and it didn't have meat and cheese in it.

When I sat down with it, I first said "yuck!", and picked out the cauliflower. I did notice a nice wide selection of veg -- eggplant, zucchini, onion & red pepper, as well as broccoli, asparagus, mushroom and the aforementioned ick. It smelled slightly vinegary, the way proper roasted sandwich veg should. The bread had a squirt of fragrant olive oil, and little bits of curdy pot cheese studded the affair.

When I took my first bite, I realized a few things: the pot cheese was chevre, a nice tangy goat cheese. I noticed the balance of vegetables and cheese to bread was in perfect balance, and I noticed the veg was marinated in something involving roasted garlic.

Despite my reservations, again Almondine delivered the best ever vegetarian sandwich to mah mouf. Again, an ordinary food item is elevated to something wonderfully special in their bakery. Maybe not the ultimate health sandwich, but a step up from the turkey & emmenthaller with mayo on white bread.

PM SNACK: 1pm, 1 slice of experimental white pizza, .25 bowl, hunger 2/5
Not hungry, but had to eat it, it's my job.

PM SNACK: 3:15pm 8oz  sprite, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5
PM SNACK: 4pm, green salad, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5
PM SNACK: 5:30pm, 2 freshly baked meatballs, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
PM SNACK: 5:45, 3 homebaked cookies
Coworker baked them, using my advice greatly improved them. Nice.

PM SNACK: 7pm, one half of a slice of pizza


DINNER: 10pm, burger and fries, a slice of cold pizza, 4 mini muffins, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5