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