Not very relishable

On a beautiful ride out to Orchard Beach & City Island, I stumbled upon this potato chips at a local bodega. Salty, sweet, vinegary, couldn't taste much pepper, was like salt & vinegar with the sharp stabby notes of the vinegar removed.

Weird packaging, stressing the "all natural" on the front and a list of ingredients to make a bell pepper relish on the back (though no method -- for that you have to go to the website.) Potato chips are freakin' potato chips, they may be all natural but they sure ain't healthful.

Last week's ride I blew out after 20 miles, but I should of eaten. On this ride I had a healthy lunch at mile 28, and didn't blow out until mile 41 or so. I even packed a cliff bar just in case, but it didn't come to that. Will I be ready for 100 in mid May? I think I may have to take more drastic actions...

I listened to a podcast of an NPR interview of Mario Batali, on a book tour promoting a new cook book about simple Italian dishes that are focused on what is made in the homes of Italy, not restaurants. He described how there are no big meat main dishes, and that a typical meal would be a tiny bit of protein (if any), a small amount of starch (like pasta) and mostly vegetables. A 1 lb bag of dried pasta in Italy feeds 5 people, but in the U.S. it feeds 2 people. I weighed my pasta this evening before cooking and....it was indeed 6.4 oz, an ounce and half away from being half a pound! A big batch of pasta is a good recovery meal after a long ride, though.

BREAKFAST: 9am, organic chex with dead milk, banana, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Wanted to save dinner for the evening, but my usual first snack on a long bikeride is the fabulous donuts from my local shop. So in the spirit of doing something friggin' differently, I swapped it out with a super ripe banana, very sweet and satisfying.

LUNCH: 1:15pm, turkey with let, tom, oni and roasted peppers on wholewheat roll, oddly flavored potato chips, 20oz of Gatorade, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5
From a friendly small-town feeling deli on City Island, with which I pedalled over to Orchard Beach to sit on a picnic table by the beach to eat.

DINNER: 6pm, large green salad, mini cheese raviolis with homemade chili, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5
The 50 mile ride blew me out, and took a nice bath. After, I set up the boiling water while ate salad, then cooked the pasta. Pasta and red meat, 2 things only to be eaten once a week. Well, I think I made it to Saturday! Tomorrow is Dim Sum, so rules are suspended for that then...

EVENING SNACK: 7:15pm, half a small chocolate babka, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Indulgent, homemade, felt right.

EVENING SNACK: 8:30pm, wholewheat waffle, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5
I can't believe I was hungry enough for this after that chunk of babka, but I was, and it was good!

Lagom

Friday started well -- I did the laundry last night, so it only needed folding this morning, giving me time to get down with the wafflizing. Me n' Edles did a few chores outside, but I just wasn't feeling it, despite it being a beautiful, warm, sunny day. When I hit the couch after dinner around 6:30, I just kinda shut down and was in bed snoozing by 8. Maybe fighting an approaching illness?

BREAKFAST: 9:15am, 2 wholewheat waffles, 2 slices of bacon, water, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5
In today's waffles, I used straight wholewheat flour, not ww pastry, and replaces white sugar with light brown sugar. Whole wheat gives a much more interesting flavor than white in this application, though there is a slight grit that I could imagine turning off a palate that is used to silky smooth white stuff. I held myself to 2 slices of bacon, rather than the usual 5 or 6, so while it's not in the rules, it's a good limit to live by. Two was lagom: Swedish for "enough is as good as a feast", words to live by...

LUNCH: 3pm, green salad, homemade mushroom brown rice, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Thought I could skip lunch because of the heavy breakfast and early dinner, but by 3 realized I was too hungry. Ate around the kitchen, stuck to the good stuff.

DINNER: 5pm, falafel platter, half a veggie burger, half an order of fries, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
With B at Petisco, the local superior diner. B didn't finish her meal, so I vacuumed it up for her.

Good eating vibes today

BREAKFAST: 8:30am, organic wholegrain cheerios with dead milk, banana, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 11:30am, 3/4 of a wholewheat waffle, the good yogurt with roasted salted mixed nuts & a little honey and vanilla, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Thinking of sardine sandwiches, but didn't feel like something fishy, in anticipation of what may be eaten this evening. I bought a bag of salted and roasted mix nuts (walnuts, almonds, macadamias, fiberts, a few others but no peanuts) to up my nut intake, and it really made this yogurt a much more interesting experience than my usual raw cashews.

Which reminded me of the Alton Brown episode that inspired my recent dietary direction. He pretty much dismisses raw foodism as a nutritious way to alter one's diet. While it is true that uncooked food has more nutrients then cooked food, which breaks down and destroys some nutrients, what is also is true is that the nutrients locked in raw food are much harder for the human body to absorb. While the raw state has more nutrients, the cooked state has more nutrients...that can be used by the human body! I'm sure there are exceptions to this rule, but it kinda makes sense within reason.

PM SNACKING: 3-6:30pm, one small wedge of roast beef sandwich, 2 cubes of brownies, a few mouthfuls of shrimp salad, a mouthful of pasta salad, 3 juice drinks, 1 can of seltzer, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Me n' my students cooked for the PTA, so I couldn't just make tofu n' whole wheat everything. Pasta and roast beef is yellow because it's once a week, and I think that was the first time....though I suspect some pasta n' chili will be a nice post-bike ride meal tomorrow...it WAS a small amount...

DINNER: 8pm, 2 slices of streetza, 3 cubes of brownies, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5
B and her mom ordered in a mediocre pizza, but when I got home from an afternoon in a kitchen, didn't feel like cooking. Two slices in a 550 degree oven on a stone for 2 minutes really made then crisp and brown, the only way to make the best of crappy pizza. Still hungry after, so I dipped into some of the brownies that I brought home for B. Didn't feel too bad about it, because I didn't eat too much today anyway...

Pretty well

For a day whose eating was half dictated by professional obligations, it went pretty well. Breakfast and lunch were taken at home, and me and the students made all sorts of things for the PTA conferences tomorrow, but today we finished up vegetable soup and made many sheets of brownies. The mint recipe for the brownies were off, but still edible.

I restrained myself from eating much after class, and I swung by the restaurant in the evening and ate some pizza. I was offered a drink of anything, but it was all either too much sugar or too much caffeine. I'm glad I turned it down -- if anything is gonna change, I gotta change these habits.

BREAKFAST: 9:15am, pumpernickel bagel with cream cheese, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 12:45pm, large green salad with multi-grain tortilla chips, smoothie pop, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 5:45pm, a little vegetable soup, 2 small squares of mint brownies, 2 juice drinks, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 7:45pm, half a medium pizza, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Eatin' with Jude Law & Abba-dude

BREAKFAST: 9am, large piece of banana bread, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5
I'm giving this the green light because of the extra bananas, halving of sugar and the replacement of white flour with whole wheat. Part of me still feels this is a little desserty, but it tastes too healthy.

LUNCH: noon, several small squares of pizza, water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Went to lunch at Pulino's with a bunch of moms and out babies. This was the second day this joint was open, and among others, saw the dude from Abba, Jude Law and Ed Levine all there chowing. Pizza was good. We ordered three of the 10" pies for 4 of us, and being the polite ladies we are, left over one square of each. Though not the healthiest, points for eating appropriate amount. Very tempted to get a beer because another mom was getting a pint, but the place offers no half pints, so I didn't indulge. Try to aim for my one alcoholic beverage for the end of the week..

PM SNACK: 2:45pm, chocolate chip banana bread, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Made by the leader of the playdate. Very different than my banana bread, very moist, very sweet and overflowing with chocolate. There goes my one desert for the week, he he!

PM SNACK: 5pm, large green salad, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 8:30pm, chicken sausage with sauteed chard & onions over mushroom rice a la Noah, water, 3 chocolate truffles, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Got home late after Food Coop business, set up rice in the rice cooker before I split. Short grain brown rice, chicken stock, a blob of butter, salt, lots of crumbled up dried porcinis and morels, fresh diced oregano, pinch of cayenne, handful of sliced almonds, dried minced onion, and maybe even something else I don't remember. A big head of chard cooked down into a small fistful, cooked up with some softened onions in olive oil. The sausage from the market was surprisingly flavorful, redolent of red peppers and garlic. It would of been all-good, except that B had some people over and had 3 little chocolate truffles from a local chocolate maker on hand, and they just sat there and taunted me.

Green Letter Day

Never ate lunch OR dessert today, a good start to the week. Undoubtedly it'll be all down hill from here, with social occasions surrounding food taking me off the path....

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

NOON SNACK: noon, grapes, piece of cheddar, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Easily the largest amount of grapes I've ever eaten in one sitting. Really easy to eat.

AFTERNOON SNACK: 1pm, whole grain bread with good peanut butter, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

AFTERNOON SNACK: 3:30pm, mushroom knish, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
On the walk back from the supermarket, I started building dinner in my head, and realized that by the time I got home, cooked what I wanted to cook then sat down to eat, I'd be out of my mind with hunger. This was from a proper knishery, not one of those horrible yellow fried squares. As I was eating, I thought I should of gotten the spinach knish, or for real green text, a sweet potato knish...

PM SNACK: 5pm, baby carrots & ginger roasted almonds, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 9pm, 'zen' pizza, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
I got this nontraditional large slice from Viva Herbal, a spelt crust, no cheese, lots of green-tea infused soy products & vegetables.

Red letter day.

Last day of the week, ended it with an indulgent food delivery and a large portion of homemade ice cream. Tomorrow is a chance to see how long I can stay in the green before going yellow n' red...

BREAKFAST: 10am, piece of wholewheat banana bread, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Is it a dessert? Is it a fruit? Is it a wholegrain?

LUNCH: 12:30, mock frito-pie, smoothie-sicle, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Took the whole grain corn chips, topped it with homemade beef chili and some cheddar, wacked in in a cast-iron skillet and into the oven. Pretty good, though a very different beast than what I sampled last Sunday. Didn't feel ill after one bite!!

DINNER: 6:45pm, small sushi plate, gyoza, shrimp and vegetable tempura, green salad, chocolate ice cream, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5