Cooking

Me n' Edles went to Wholefoods in the morning to collect what was needed for the evening meal, and I sample some prepared foods as I hadn't had a real breakfast, bleah. My friend V came over around noon and we prepped the evening meal, as well as bang out a tray of special brownies.

D & has new gal (which he is moving to Portland for) came over for dinner. Started with thick cut heirloom tomatoes and vidalia onion, served with a tomato-based "steak" sauce that replicated Peter Luger's. The entree was fresh linguine with a pistachio pesto, and the pesto came out much better than the first attempt (which ended in a cream sauce), but still needed work -- perhaps more oil. That was served with a side of green beans, quickly blanched than sauteed with garlic, olive oil, wine and a little lemon. For dessert was a citrus-almond pound cake and a little green tea ice cream. It was pretty good, though I should of used cake flour for a slightly lighter finished product.

The day flew by, though the hour I spent with Edie in the park in the morning was pure pleasure. During cooking, she was either napping or mostly amusing herself in the safety of her room, with breaks to come out and get some huggin'.

The fam & I are decamping to the Northfork of Long Island this weekend, so this blog will go dark until Monday, which will have a short recap. Until then, my 1.2 readers!!

AM SNACK: 8am, iced green tea


BREAKFAST: 9:30am, 2 small pancakes, a chicken sausage, a lame shrimp summer roll, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM NIBBLING: 1-4pm, a little tomato & onion, a little pasta and pesto, a little ice cream, water
Didn't really eat lunch, but sampled the dishes I was making for dinner.

DINNER: 7pm, fresh pasta with pistachio pesto, sauteed green beans, tomato & onion with steak sauce, pound cake, a little green tea ice cream, 2 glasses wine, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

I love food.

Slapped on the rain suit and road over the bridge to work -- sheeting rain all morning, without pause. These slow days are more tiring than fast days.

BREAKFAST: 8:30am, watermelon, 1 bowl, hunger 3/5
LUNCH: 11:15am, turkey & cheese sandwich, chocolate chop cookie, Manhattan Special, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5
To break up the monotony of a sheeting-rain day at the resto, I popped out to the local fancy bakery and picked up a killer sammich -- fresh semolina roll, nice creamy french stinky cheese, some sort of herbed mayo, fragrant red onion. The cookie was huge and chocolaty. Ah, food, I love you!

PM SNACK: 2:30pm, meatball
New batch made, had to test.

LUNCH 2: 3:15pm, piece of calzone, 1/2 a pint of beer
No customers, but a pair of regulars who eat for free came in, so I shared a meal with them while we chatted in the empty restaurant. Did not need the beer, but felt like the friendly thing to do.

PM SNACK: 6pm, small slice of pizza, sprite, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5
DINNER: 8:30pm, a little salad, a little artichoke, a couple of squares of Sicilian, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
EVENING SNACK: 10:15pm, special cookie
No comment.

Smiley Happy

Edie woke up about an hour after I got home last night, I fed her a half bottle of milk while snuggling on the couch, but I think it woke her up more, rather than get her back to sleep when she's with her momma. I can't say I minded too much, as I missed her all day. I turned off the lights in the living room and watched Mad Men with her, hoping the drone of the tv would get her down, but after it was over, she wanted to get off my chest and run around the living room a bit -- B woke up around this time and was not amused with our 1am TV party. I brought Edles back to bedroom to relax on my tummy, it was a long evening.

Woke up tired, but woke up to Edie slamming her tummy into my head and giggling wildly, so that ain't too bad. The weather is overcast, and after the rain killing business yesterday, didn't expect too much different today. Slow days at the resto are hard to get through sometimes, but it helps to know I have a comfy home with a smiley happy wife and a smiley happy Edie.

AM SNACK: 8:30am, iced green tea
BREAKFAST: 9:15am, 2 banana pancakes, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
LUNCH: 1:30pm, 3 slices white bacon & onion Sicilian, sprite, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
PM SNACK: 5pm, cranberry lime soda
DINNER: 10pm, 2 slices pizza, sprite, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5
EVENING SNACK: 11:30pm, multigrain tortilla chips with salsa, .25 bowl, hunger 4.5

Plant!

I saw "Inception" yesterday, so it should be of no surprise to anyone that I had a freaky dream last night. I was working, running home to sleep and play with Edie, trying to wine and dine my wife and ride my bike, too, and in the process my chest hair started really growing thick and tangled and Robin Williams-esque. I had a wound, small and round and right in between my pectorals, but because of the excessive chest hair, I forgot about it -- I just assumed it would scab up and go away.

So months later, after running around busy with life, I decided my chest hair needed some grooming -- not cutting, just some combing and washing to get the detritus out. And low and behold, where my wound was is...a plant!! A vine-like plant growing out of the wound, camouflaged by my salt-and-pepper chest hair!! Thick at the root, thin and pointy and woven into the hair all around, and basil-like small leaves sticking out here and there, Swampthing like. I freaked out and pulled the thing out by the root, immediately relieved I found it before it attacked my internal organs, but worried it would grow back.

That was basically it. What did the plant symbolize? The bigger picture? Losing the forest for the trees? Maybe I need to eat more salad... After hanging out with my father-in-law, my mind has been going back more to my parents lately, maybe that could have something to do with it, but usually when they are on my mind, they make direct appearances in my dreams, not abstract things growing from my corpus...

It occurred to me this morning that because I'm on a 40-hr 3-day schedule, my Monday is actually my Monday and half of Tuesday. And my Tuesday is a sliver of Tuesday and all of Wednesday. And my Wednesday is Thursday and Friday all rolled into one.

BREAKFAST: 8:30am, organic wholegrain cheerios with organic dead milk, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
 
AM SNACK: 10:45am, 3 bites of cheap pastries,  a Manhattan Special, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5
 
PM SNACK: 12:45pm, green house salad, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
 
LUNCH: 1:30pm, 3 slices white Sicilian with bacon and onion, cranberry lime soda, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
 A new combination, voted pretty delicious by the staff.

LUNCH 2: 4:45pm, meatball appetizer, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
 
PM SNACK: 6:45pm, apple juice

PM SNACK: 9pm, sprite

DINNER: 11pm, 5 pork dumplings, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

Pancake School

It seems like such a long time since culinary school. Bike riding was cancelled today due to rain, so I hung out in the house until my father in law came over. I made banana pancakes from scratch, and all sorts of memories of what I learned came back to me.

• When wet goes into dry, mix minimally to avoid toughness i.e. gluten. Whisking is a no no
• When the banana side of the pancake goes down, wait until you smell the sugars of the banana caramelizing. There is no point to making banana pancakes until this happens
• A fish spatula is ideal for lifting sticky things out of a fry pan like, say, caramelized bananas -- it ain't just for fish.
• A cooling rack is essential if you plan to store these -- if left on a solid surface while hot, condensation will collect and you will have a permanently mushy pancake

One thing I forgot:

• One your comfortable, experiment with the recipe. It ain't the Bible.

I should of jazzed it up with vanilla bean and cinnamon, added extra eggs, supplanted some milk with cream and maybe even a subtle dash of hot pepper or hot sauce to add that little round note.

AM SNACK: 8:45am, iced green tea


BREAKFAST: 11am, homemade banana pancakes, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Ate them as they came out of the pan. The ones that were a little too dark went into my maw, so the nicest ones are saved for B & Edles.

PM SNACK: 2pm, seltzer, "small" popcorn, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
That popcorn had 320 calories, according to the listing at the theater...

DINNER: 6pm, beef carpacio, shrimp scampi, canolli, pepper soup, water, bread, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Out with El at a nice restaurant, excellent quality but small portions...he he.


EVENING SNACK: 9pm, scallion pancake, 3 pork dumplings, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Left over from the reign of the father in law.