Marsala

Weird eating day. Got to school early to help get a leg up on cooking a rather large meal for about 40 heads, which had to have apps out at 5:30 and entrees out at 6. Funny, after a lot of thought and anxiety on my part, the logistics went great. I spent a couple of hours getting four huge pound cakes in the over and pounded out 50+ chicken breasts, and was able to drive the 6 students at a moderate pace to get everything out on time.

Despite being such a standard fare, I've never had Chicken Marsala before -- I've had chicken in creamy wine sauce with veg, but not in this specific style. Breast dredged in flour-salt-oregano, browned in butter, mushrooms sauteed in same butter, all places in a baking dish with marsala wine, poached for 20 minutes, chicken removed, heavy cream added, sauce reduced, seasoned, topped on the chicken and mushrooms. The marsala was a bit too sweet, but it was some cheap-ass bottom shelf stuff. This dish over mushroom risotto would be filling, but rocking.


AM SNACK: 7:45am, iced green tea


AM SNACK: 10:30am, handful of chocolate covered espresso beans

SCHOOL NIBBLES: 2-7pm, tastes of broccoli, potatoes, chicken marsala, pound cake, mik shake, a few shrimp scampi, salsa & chips, a few swigs of soda, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 8:15pm, chicken marsala, mashed potatoes, pound cake, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

Tired again, surprisingly

Not enough sleep again. Spent an hour at Edie's school for a sweet Hanukkah party. Woke up after a nap and grabbed some left over Chinese intended for Edie, but the tiredness required something quick and easy. Didn't eat enough dinner, ended up repeat-snacking until getting to bed around 10:30pm.

BREAKFAST: 7am, iced green tea, steel cut oatmeal, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5


AM SNACK: 8:45am, a couple of latkes, a couple of chocolate cookies, ,.25 bowl,  hunger 4/5


LUNCH: 1:15pm, vegetable lomein, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 6pm, hotdog, large green salad, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5


EVENING SNACK: 8pm, peanutbutter on wholewheat toast, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5


EVENING SNACK: 9pm, chocolate chips & cornflakes, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5


EVENING SNACK: 10pm, vegeburger on wholewheat bun, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

Good Monday

Almost a whole night's sleep allowed me to go to Brooklyn to visit C and her 2 year old daughter Autumn in the morning after dropping Edie off. Took a nice long walk to Trader Joe's after, then home. Spent a nice hour with both kids after school in the park.

AM SNACK: 6:45am, iced green tea


AM SNACK: 8:15am, banana

BREAKFAST: 10am, hot tea, a mini bagel & butter, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5


LUNCH: 12:30pm, supermarket sushi, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5
Swung by Trader Joes on the way home, the sushi there was very cheap. I picked up a largish platter for $6, and sat on the street and tried to eat it, but....you get what you pay for. The main feature of this kind of stuff is not the fish, but the rice, and here the rice was kinda overcooked and mushy, not that delicate balance of sticky and individual at once. Ate about 1/2 of it, so in reality it was the same price as better stuff, just crappier.

PM SNACK: 1:15pm, 2 chocolate ice cream mochi, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 3pm, beef empanada, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Walking with E&E after picking up Edie from school, stopped by a local tiny empanada shop - quite interesting, as it's similar to what I envision a modern knish shop to be, only the wrong ethnicity. Not a huge beef fan, but a beef empanada is kinda like the potato knish or the cheese slice, y'know? Nice flavor, cumin, wine, softened raisins. Yeast dough, baked. Reheated on a griddle with a cover. Hmmmm.

DINNER: 7:45pm, large green salad, shrimp toast, wonton soup, vegetable lomeain, 8oz ginger ale, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Zoned-out

Strangely enough, sleep went well last night, I slept midnight to 8:30 with minimal interruptions, and others in the house seemed to be similarly peaceful. B&Edie went out in the morning, and in the early evening we all went to a neighborhood Hannukah party. All in all, a zoned-out Sunday.

AM SNACK: 8:30am, iced green tea


BREAKFAST: 9:45am, good yogurt with honey, vanilla and peanuts, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 12:30pm, Stouffer's French bread pizzas, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 6pm, a few latkes, a few pieces of donut, diet coke, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5


EVENING SNACK: 10pm, tortellini in sauce, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

Never Quite

It sucks waking up after a long hard night of non-sleeping family members and feeling flat out destroyed, like if your brain was on a heart monitor, you'd be showing a flat line. I managed to motivate to make a fruit smoothie to get me going, but the brain box never quite kicked in. The day was taken with a trip uptown to visit with B's family, and I was able to sneak in a small nap, but still. Ugg.


BREAKFAST: 8:30am, iced green tea, fruit smoothie, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


AM SNACK: 11:30am, chococheese knish, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5


LUNCH: 3pm, 2 slices of pizza, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER pt 1: 6:30pm, large green salad with sauteed shrimp, handful of newman-os, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING SNACK: 8pm, ramen noodles, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

Instinct Override

Edie off at school, B out with Mil, I got to focus on having some fun in the kitchen, overriding my other instinct to just sleep.


TODAY'S COOKING:
Potato knishes, chocolate hazelnut knishes: Made mini sized 2-3 bite knishes to bring to a kiddie hannukah party tomorrow, and some for a family gathering next week. Choco knishes were an experiment, losing the nutella and working to balance dutch cocoa, hazelnut paste and shortening. Not there yet, but in the right direction.


Wholewheat 10-grain bread: Busted out the bread machine, used my standard recipe but added 2 tbsp of vital gluten, on the idea it'll strengthen the bread, make it heartier. It did, but not enough, and it fell apart as I was slicing it beyong the 2 slices I needed for my sandwich. Maybe it fell apart because it was still warm? Hmmmm.


AM SNACK: 7:30am, iced green tea


BREAKFAST: 8:45am, sausage mcmuffin, hashbrown, diet coke, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5


AM SNACK: 11am, bites of potato filing, bites of chocohazelnut cheese filling


LUNCH: 2pm, sardine and avocado on freshly baked wholewheat, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5


PM SNACK: 6pm, cookies baked by a friend, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5


EVENING SNACK: 8pm, bowl of potato chips, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Shuttering

Betsy went out for a massage in the morning, and me and Mil met her out for lunch. The day just seemed to speed by due to lack of sleep, and came to a grinding shuttering halt around 9pm when my brain felt like it was falling out of my skull from lack of sleep.


AM SNACK: 6:30am, iced green tea


BREAKFAST: 7:30am, 3/4 of a toasted sesame bagel with cream cheese, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
The Ediemonster declared ownership of the rest of the bagel, maybe ate a small toddler bite and the rest was grist for the toy mill.

AM SNACK: 10:30am, slice of streetza, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5


LUNCH: 12:15pm, ziti & meatballs, a few brussel sprouts, root beer, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Lunch with the wifey at Pulinos. Haven't been there in a while, it's really fallen off with desperate service, just OK food. Kinda empty, too. Didn't finish my ziti, it was just unremarkable.


DINNER: 5:30pm, tilapia, 2 spinach knishes, health salad, pickles, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


EVENING SNACK: 7pm, handfull of newman-o cookies.

I miss bike riding.

Slept in as much as possible this morning, hoping to catch up on some sleep. Went to school to teach, got there early so I could slowly organize the class without worrying about my fuzzy head screwing things up. Class went well, students were very happy with the Italian-American menu. Riding home from Red Hook on a fuzzy head and full stomach was a slow slog, but it was nice to be outside and pedalling. I miss bike riding, the going-placishness of it, the calm it brings me, the connection to the city.

BREAKFAST: 7:30am, iced green tea, cheerios & organic dead milk, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5


LUNCH: 1pm, 1 slice streetza, small amount of ginger ale, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5


SCHOOL DINNER: 6:30pm, chicken parm, meatball, fresh pasta with tomato sauce, broccoli, sprite, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


EVENING SNACK: 9:45pm, 3 small pancakes, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Adventuresome

It was too cold to hang out outside with Edie after school yesterday, so we went home and had a great amount of fun doing the laundry together. Funny how routine things can become adventuresome when done with a toddler.

BREAKFAST: 7:30am, iced green tea, the good oatmeal, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5
1.5 cups water, .5 steel cut oats, 1 tablespoon butter, 1 tablespoon brown sugar, 1/4 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp cinnamon and 1/4 tsp cardemom. Good, but I think I can cut back the last 3 ingredients to 1/8 tsp -- I guess I'll just have to go "heavy pinch"

LUNCH: 12:30pm, 2 spinach knishes, health salad, pickles, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 6pm, 2 slices streetza, large green salad, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


EVENING SNACK: 8pm, whole wheat ritz crackers & nutella, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Yay Edie!

Woke up without a lot of sleep. Skipped a proper breakfast to get Edie to school and then go to Union Square to pick up a big bag o' cat food. Back in time for my first ever Parent Teacher conference as a parent. It was running behind schedule, so instead of going out for a nice breakfast with B, I grabbed some Chinese street cart breakfast. Rest of the day went in a haze of lack of sleep.

According to Edie's teacher, she's very mature and forward-thinking for a 2.5 year old. Hopefully I'll be hearing stuff like that for many years to come! Yay Edie!

AM SNACK: 7:30am, iced green tea


BREAKFAST: 10:30am, rice noodle & fishball, lotus leaf wraps, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 5pm, stouffer's french bread pizza, large green salad, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5


EVENING SNACK: 8pm, peanuts & chocolate chips, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Too Many Cookies

B & Mil spent the day in doors while I took Edie on the big bike and took the ferry to SI to visit Sailor Snug Harbor, a spot I grew up near and had a lot of pre-teen angst in. In the evening, we popped over to some neighborhood friends for a nice home cooked dinner. Ate too many cookies in the evening and suffered for it.


BREAKFAST: 10:45am, iced green tea, onion bagel with cream cheese, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 4:30pm, large green salad, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 6pm, baked ziti, sauteed kale, 1 glass of beer, 1 glass of wine, pineapple, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


EVENING SNACK: 9pm, cookies, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

A good day, despite lack of sleep

Woke up late, as another night of sleepless children kept the household in chaos. We did manage to get out of the house by noon, training it up to midtown for  a nice walk through Central Park and a visit to the zoo. We got home by 4ish, and B left around 6:30 for a wedding party of a close friend while I stayed behind with the hottentots. Fortunately, my friend MAP very generously came over to babysquat, watch Sesame St and generally be cool while I kept a lid on the situation.

Lunch comprise of some horrible foods, but tried to make up for it with an easy, but nutritionally valid dinner.

TODAY'S COOKING:
Oatmeal: I had Betsy make the oatmeal while I held the baby, which made me make up measurements for the recipe: 1.5 cups water, .5 steel cut oats, 2 tbsp brown sugar, 1 tbsp butter, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon. Micro on high 8 minutes, stirring half way through. Surprisingly salty, should cut it back to 1/4 teaspoon.

AM SNACK: 9:30am, iced green tea


BREAKFAST: 10am, oatmeal, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH pt 1: 12:30pm, street dirty water dog, waffle with chocolate, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5
In Central Park, pre-zoo. The dirty water dog was somehow exactly as I remember them and worse. Skinless hotdogs are kinda disgusting, compared to natural-casing dogs which have more snap, juice and flavor.


LUNCH pt 2: 2:45pm, small slice of pizza, french fries & ketchup, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
At the cafe at the Central Park Zoo. I never ate french fries with pizza until Edie decided french fries are a major food group, and Betsy decided pizza is good no matter where the source. Hrumph.

PM SNORT: 6pm, glass of hard cider

DINNER: 9:30pm, large green salad, 2 spinach knishes, 1 kasha knish, health salad, pickle, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5


EVENING SNACK: 10:30am, peanuts & chocolate chips, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Crepier

A rough night of sleeplessness, crying babies, unhappy toddlers, frazzled wives and a lucky unaware cat. Betsy took Mil to a regular doc appt while I wheeled out Edie around the neighborhood with a friend, who is looking at spaces to open a food retail business. Edie popped off to sleep pretty much immediately, and when I got home at 1, got to work on some experimental pancakes.

Took the duo out to the local playground in the afternoon -- it's chilly, but not unplayable like it will be in the winter and got lazy and ordered in Chinese for dinner, but not before making a big green salad to get some balance in there.

TODAY'S COOKING:
Pancakes: Swung by Essex St Market this morning, got the good buttermilk from Saxelby. When my dad made pancakes, they were always from a mix, and they were always thin and a bit rubbery....I miss that. So I took my standard c-school pancake recipe (24 oz AP Flour, 3 oz sugar, 1 tsp baking powder, 2 tsp salt / 24 oz whole milk, 3 egg, 2 oz butter) and kinda winged it (24 oz AP flour, 3 oz vanilla sugar, 1 tsp baking powder, 2 tsp salt, 1 tsp cinnamon, scrapings of 4 vanilla beans / 24 oz buttermilk, 12 oz whole milk, 4 eggs, 3 oz butter) using the same method.

The pancakes definitely came out flatter/denser/moister/mushier/crepier. The liquid really prevented strong gluten formation. Tasted good, but some weird spot between a pancake and a French crepe.


BREAKFAST: 9:30am, organic cornflakes & milk, iced green tea, banana, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 1:30pm, pancakes, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5


PM SNACK: 5:15pm, large green salad, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5
Made salad today to balance the big dinner I knew coming.


DINNER: 6pm, chicken w/broccoli, pork fried rice, egg roll, grape soda, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5


EVENING SNACK: 7pm, peanut butter cups, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5
A gift of affection from wifey. Hrumph.

Failed Rice

After sleeping from around noon to 8:30 this morning, my body and head felt like little scrubbing bubbles had entered my system and just flushed all the junk away without and discomfort or upset. I wish the same could be said for B, who was a bit frazzled from going up against the two headed beast known as our kids "sleeping".

In the afternoon, we looked after our neighbor's two kids (of similar ages to E&E), and for the most part went smoothly. I looked after 3 for the first two hours, then B come over with Mil and she looked after the two babies while I took the toddlers to a playroom. It went pretty smoothly for me until the families with 8 kids started rolling in making the room feel like the inside of a jet engine. B seemed a little frazzled by the crying in stereo, but did great considering the night she had before. Next week, our friends will cover our childcare needs while we go out and do something date-ish.

TODAY'S COOKING
Failed Rice:  When I have a yen for rice, I bust out the rice cooker and throw in whatever is on hand that might be good, though sometimes it comes out quite nasty. This was one of those times. Started with long grain brown rice and water. Added salt, butter, minced dried morrels. Should of stopped there. Added a few glugs of red wine, some cayenne, a dash of machta (green tea powder), ground black pepper and onion powder. Came out weirdly earthy/spicy without too much heat. Not very tasty. I think I tried to do two different flavor combinations at once, and they fought each other.

BREAKFAST: 8:45am, iced green tea, good oatmeal, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5


BRUNCH: 11:45am, pumpernickel bagel with cream cheese, 1.5 donuts, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5


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


DINNER: 7:30pm, chili shrimp, failed rice, health salad, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Raw shrimp marinated in olive oil, chili powder and a little salt, sauteed hot and quick.

EVENING SNACK: 9:30pm, wholewheat ritz crackers and nutella, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

Shorted out

The list of food that I ate this day is not incomplete -- I did not eat anything after lunch until I woke up the next day at 8:30am. Around 12:30, my battery just....died. Betsy was out with Edie, and I was home with Mil, trying to get myself together to go out at 1pm to go teach. I couldn't get the fuzzies out of my head, and my limbs felt like rubber. I called school to tell them I wasn't coming in, put myself to bed when my mother-in-law showed up around 1, and....with a few interruptions, pretty much slept through until 8:30 the next day. It was more than a little rough on B taking care of two kids over night, but my brain literally shorted-out. Oy. One part exhaustion, one part bug, nothings ever shut me down like that before, and I don't think I've ever slept for so many hours in one shot before.


BREAKFAST: 7:45am, iced green tea, good yogurt with honey, vanilla and almonds, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5


LUNCH: 11:30am, 2 slices of frozen pizza, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

Trip to the Museum

The day was centered around taking the two tots up to the Museum of Natural History with our friends, who also have 2 tots of similar age. Lunch was had in the museum's cafe out of convenience, then a nice walk across the park ended in a detour to see the tree in Rock Center.

BREAKFAST: 7:45am, iced green tea, smoothie, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5


AM SNACK: 9:30am, potato samosa, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5


LUNCH: 12 noon, small plate of sushi, chicken fingers, diet coke, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


PM SNACK: 5:15pm, potato chips, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 6pm, breaded tilapia, 2 small spinach knishes, health salad, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

The lid on my head

Took the mini-mes to a playdate in the 'hood in the morning, then put Edie on a bike and rode around downtown with B and his son for a few hours in the afternoon, before bringing Edie to a regular check up at the doc. Ordered in Indian food in the early evening.

Not making any progress on the knish front, due to being busy with the kids, and looking that Edie does not have school these two weeks, have realized I can not do special order holiday knishes without really putting a lot of stress on my family. Bummer, but I'm glad I have a great family, so it's not that big a trade-off.

AM SNACK: 9:30am, iced green tea, a couple of pumpkin chocolate chip cookies


BREAKFAST: 11am, PB&J on wholewheat, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5


LUNCH: 1:45pm, health salad, potato chips, pickle, a little mint ice cream, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


PM SNACK: 4pm, whole wheat focaccia, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 6:30pm, shrimp korma & rice, roti, samosa, water, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5
One of the first times ordering in didn't seem unnecessary or lazy or indulgent, but very necessary to keep the lid on my head from boiling over.

Sunday Thinkin'

Took Edie out in the morning, with the specter of no school for her for the next two weeks hanging over my head. B had some good friends over in the early afternoon, brought some wonderful homemade pumpkin chocolate chip cookies with them. Off to a friend's kid's birthday in the early evening, feeling zoned out and tired (and a rum & cider drink probably didn't help, but did make me think about making a rum/apple flavored ice cream.)

BREAKFAST: 8:15 am, iced green tea, oatmeal, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Oatmeal sat out over night, didn't taste quite right, too salty with a tang. Gonna toss it, redo it later.

BREAKFAST 2: 10:15am, pancakes, bacon, home fries, diet coke, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


PM SNACK: 12:45am, handful of pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5


LUNCH: 2:45pm, large green salad, potato chips, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 5:30pm, slice of streetza, chocolate cake, rum & cider drink, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5 

DINNER: 8:30pm, health salad, pototo chips, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

Oatmeal Reverie

Last night was rough: an email came in late from Edie's school that due to a bed bug situation, the school will be shut down for two weeks...ugh, parent problems. MAP & D came over with gifts from abroad and helped entertain Edie while B & Mil slept. I was supposed to go to a party with the ice cream cake, but me and Mil stayed behind and tried to sleep. TV in the evening, sleep around 11.

TODAY'S COOKING:
Steel cut oatmeal: For expediency, I cooked it up in the microwave, with a dash of salt, butter and brown sugar. Wow, I forgot what a perfect food that oatmeal can be, especially when it's seasoned and flavored correctly -- it tastes healthy, in a way that makes you want to be healthy every day of the week. Though salt, butter and brown sugar is considered "sinful", the oaty flavor is so complimentary to them with only a slight nudge. Why the packets of flavored oatmeal over salt, over sweeten and add creepy shiz to approximate what I just did in the microwave bowl astounds me -- I know why they do it (hello, capitalism!) but it's still amazing people eat it and think, "this is oatmeal."

I put on 4 cups of steel cut with 12 cups of boiling water, table spoon of salt, 1 oz of brown sugar and 1/4 cup of butter, turned off the heat and going to let it sit overnight. Tomorrow, with a minute reheat in the zapper (vs. the 8 minutes it took this morning), I'm gonna have perfect oatmeal on tap for the next few weeks.

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


BREAKFAST: 9:30am, steel cut oatmeal, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 12:30pm, snippet of knish, a few whole wheat crackers


LUNCH: 3:15pm, large green salad, large chocolate coin, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 6pm, orechiette pasta with spinach, shrimp and asiago cheese, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING SNACK: 7:30pm, mint ice cream, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Despite Chaos, still produced a nice cake.

Due to a bed bug scare at Edie's school, class was cancelled with little notice. B went off to get her hair did, I strapped on the Mil and strapped Edie in to a stroller, and went to another parent's house for a playdate (good thing I had fresh knishes on hand to be sociable with!) Afterwards, the three of us did some light food shopping and strolled to a neighborhood friend of the Knishery to deliver some complimentary knishes in exchange for a sample of their family's favorite "mince" (cut up dried fruit reconstituted with juice and booze). In ER Park, Edie refused to sleep, but was able to take off her jacket, shoes, socks, clawed her way out of the straps and went for the cutest barefoot run along the river -- I had to chase after her and reshod her, while a sleeping baby was strapped to my chest. It was both annoying, fun, exciting, tiring and silly. Despite me being officially scolding, I could not be more proud of the happiness, energy, excitement and joy that my daughter exudes.

Picked up some slices on the way home, and after eating, whipped up a fancy dessert for a friend's kid's birthday party tomorrow. B came home, and we got on with it.


TODAY'S COOKING:
Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream Cake: A friend gave us a cheesecake in a collared pan last week, and we're going to their house tomorrow for their 3 yr old's party, so I thought it would be nice to return the pan, with something in it. Baked a simple chocolate flourless cake and froze it. Made a batch of mint ice cream, steeped 2 bunches of mint for an hour before cookingin the eggs. Added a few drops of green food coloring simply because this is a kid's party and, well, mint ice cream should be weirdly green at a kid's party. Did that in the early afternoon. In the evening churned the ice cream, added some chocolate chips and poured over the cake in the pan to set in the freezer over night.


AM SNACK: 8:30am, iced green tea

AM SNACK: 10:30-11:30am, handful of cookies

LUNCH: 2:30pm, 2 slices streetza, large green salad, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 6:30pm, spinach knish, fried potato knish, health salad, pickles, 3 chicken nuggets, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5


EVENING SNACK: 7:30pm, mint chocolate chip ice cream, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Dough Boy, I am, I am.

228.2--->231.0

No surprise on the weight gain -- since the baby came on the 10th, I have not ridden a bike (other than for transportation), have not lifted any weights (other than an 8 lb baby and a 30 lb toddler on occasion) and have been eating quite poorly, in large quantities. But the I suspect the tide is turning.

Two things exciting on the knish front today: one, this was published, and two, I made a round of experimental deep-fried knishes that were much better right off the bat than I expected them to be. More importantly, I made filling for, and cooked off, about 72 knishes while dealing with an infant who needed constant feeding, burping, touching and the occasional put-down for sleep, and it went ok, except for maybe a Baby Bjorn that ended up covered in flour.

TODAY'S COOKING
Spinach Knishes & NY Style Knishes: I had left over dough to use up from the Thanksgiving knishes, so made nice batch of spinach/potato filling -- if I'm going to eat knishes AND be healthy, a knish with more than 1/3 very nutrition-dense greenery seems smarter than, say, a chicken skin knish. But looking ahead to the future, took a crack at the square 'Gabila' style fried knish, the kind that used to be sold at all hot dog carts (and you can still find them on occasion.) I used the same dough, the same plain potato filling, just wrapped it totally and in a square. Used hot oil - 450, because it didn't need to cook through, just needed to crisp the dough -- hotter and shorter fry means less oil is absorbed. On the first bite I knew that this was special. Hmmmm. How American of me.

AM SNACK: 7:30am, iced green tea

LUNCH: 1pm, 2 spinach knishes, large green salad, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


AFTERNOON SNACK: 4:30pm, 3/4 NY style knish, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 7:30pm, sushi, shumai, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
After cooking all day, needed to order in. Few things more fun than having your 2.5 year old daughter sample sushi and shumai for the first time. Fortunately, I was paying attention when she was about to put the little green ball of wasabi in her mouth, and prevented a night's worth of misery on every one's part.

Feeling Lardy

Food shopping after Edie delivered to school. Taught pizza at school in the afternoon. Feeling lardy, took a solid step back to healthier eating today. Now have to magically find the time and energy to start lifting weights again.


TODAY'S COOKING
Health Salad: Got to get some healthier eating back on line, craving vegetables. Made the big green salad, also made a big bowl of cabbage slaw, haven't done this in too long -- and now it's season appropriate!

AM SNACK: 8am, iced green tea


BREAKFAST: 10am, smoothie, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


LUNCH: 1pm, breaded tilapia fillet, health salad, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

SCHOOL FOOD: 3-7pm, various bits of pizza, lemon aide, a few oreos, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


EVENING SNACK: 10pm, graham crackers, pretzels,.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

More juggling

Had a rough night with GI tract issues, fortunately B took care of things in the morning and I was able to sleep until 11:15am -- with out which I would have probably been groggy, sick and achy. Spent the early afternoon looking after Mil and watching TV while B got her sleep in, then picked up Edie with Mil and took them to a playroom while it rained out. It was a bit of a juggling act, and only was able to keep it contained for about 30 minutes before we had to head home.


BREAKFAST: 11:30am, iced green tea, chocolate covered espresso beans, toasted bagel & cream cheese, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

LINNER: 4:30pm, meat tortellini with a little sauce & grated cheese, cheesecake, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

DNACK: 9pm, 2 slices of frozen pizza, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Good intentions turn to cheese cake

Ate extremely poorly today, due to the chaos of figuring out the 2-kid thing, running out of salad and fresh veg at home, the building lack of exercise and lack of sleep. I originally intended to go out biking today due to good weather but just felt to run down and fuzzy after dropping Edie at school. Didn't eat much, but when the 4 of us were out on the town, had a meal of greasy pizza with a fig leaf of salad on it. Intended to have a good dinner, but between a lack of fresh produce and a cheesecake from a friend showing up, that was derailed. I was up late with stomach issues....

Soon, I must get back on the weight lifting thing, and fill the fridge with some fruit and veg...

AM SNACK: 7:30am, iced green tea, small handful of chocolate covered espresso beans

PM SNACK: 2pm, potato chips, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 3:30pm, 2 slices of pizza, green salad, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5


EVENING SNACK: 7pm, cheesecake, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

Juggling

Woke up groggy, got Edie out in the morning, went to the local diner, then took off to DUMBO on bike to hang out with K for a couple of hours. Edie fell asleep on the ride over and had an early nap, and on the way home picked up a lunch at my favorite cheapy dumpling house in Chinatown. The afternoon saw a low key family outing to the local park, and the evening saw a lot of juggling getting various little ones fed and to sleep. Not tiresome, but tired.

AM SNACK: 9:30am, iced green tea

BREAKFAST: 10:45am, corn muffin, bacon, diet coke, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5


LUNCH: 2pm, shrimp fried rice, pork dumplings, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 9pm, french fries, pickle, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

A long, intense, good, life-loving day.

A busy but good day. The morning and early afternoon was taken with food shopping and laundry while juggling Edie, Mil and a very tired B, immediately followed by taking Edie out on the bike to ER park: not to ride, but to lull her into an afternoon nap. Once she konks out, I stop, remove her helmet and make her comfy (in a sleeping bag that attaches to the seat, hood up, bike on stand tilted back a little) and read until she wakes in 45 to an hour - a little pool of quiet much appreciated.

This is the second day I tried this format -- Edie has been resisting naps outside of school -- and it works like a charm, the LES equivalent of a parent jumping in a car with their toddler to get 'em to sleep. I only hope when she's older she'll get excited about going out for a ride and not just associate it with falling asleep, he he.

In the afternoon, D came over, visiting from the other coast, and after playing with the kids and wife, we went out to meet E, then walked across Central Park to Telepan, a good restaurant of a chef who I saw lecture while in c-school. The room was beautiful, very NYC 2011, nice to be able to sit for 2.5 hours with good friends and talk -- something you can't do at a crowded joint where they need to flip your table ASAP. Most of the food was on point, but a pasta middle course was surprisingly unspecial -- and at this level, everything is expected to be a minimum of special. But regardless, a great night out, makes me want to cook good food for my family.

AM SNACK: 9am, iced green tea

LUNCH: 11am, green salad, potato chips, breaded shrimp, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 4pm, potato chips, chorizo, grenadine soda, handful of chocolate covered espresso beans, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5
D brought an amazing chorizo as a gift, what an incredibly tasty snack. I may have to find some of this in NYC to have on hand .



DINNER: 6:30pm, smoked trout on a blini, spaghetti bolognese with a little lobster, pork with kraut & potato, variety of desserts, bread, 1 beer, water, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

A Bad Knish

Walked over to Wholefoods with Baby Mil to pick up some ingredients -- who the hell buys a Xmas tree the day after Thanksgiving? Won't it be dead in a month's time? B's fam came over in the afternoon, and I made them the BEST grilled cheese sandwiches in the world, and made a sheet cake (specifically requested) for B's mom's birthday.

TODAY'S COOKING
Vanilla sheet cake w/buttercream icing: Used this recipe, but in a 9 x13 glass pan, and upped the vanilla substantially. Teaspoon of quadruple strength extract, scrapings of 3 beans AND 2 cups of vanilla sugar. Made it for B's momma, whose birthday was recently

Grilled Cheese: B's family was over, and I'm just tired of ALWAYS ordering in when they're here. Grill pan and press, nice 7 grain bread, raclette and sharp cheddar, maple bacon, freshly sliced tomato, some caramelized onion from my stash, lubricated with brown butter. Real grilled cheese, not for the faint of heart.

BREAKFAST: 8:30am, iced green tea, onion bagel with cream cheese, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

AM SNACK: 11am, potato knish, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5
This is the first time I've eaten a Yonah Shimmel knish since starting to cook and sell my own. Can't really write about this on my business blog, or I'd sound like a snivelling lil' bitch. The good: It's impressively large for $3.50. A nice hint of black pepper. And, ummm, thats about it. The bad: Underseasoned, practically no onion flavor, a limp and unsubstantial crust overwhelmed by the filling, a big mouthful of uninspired mashed potatoes. Fneh.


AM SNACK: 11:30am, chocolate cupcake, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Despite knowing I was going home to make cake, the journey to Wholefoods with Milli Mil strapped to me deserved a stop at Sunshine bakery. I got an all-chocolate one, which is substantially different than the all vanilla cake I was making later!

LUNCH: 3pm, grilled cheese with bacon & tomato, water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 7pm, pasta a la Noah, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Boiled up some rotini, the last 3 minutes threw in some diced raw shrimp to give everything a shrimpy flavor. Once drained, sauteed fresh garlic, chopped tomato, oregano and a dash of cayenne. Mixed together, topped with a large grating of parm.

Thankseating

Betsy woke me up luxuriously late. By 11 me n' Edie were on the big bike to Central Park. By the time we got there, Edie was comfortably napping so we sat in the Poet's Walk while watching the tourists, reminiscing about my dad and I sitting there, and making phone calls. Edie ate her lunch while sitting on my lap in a playground  across from Mt. Sinai, then we went to B's Aunt S on the UES for Thanksgiving lunch -- lunch instead of dinner, due to all the senior citizens and babies involved. Most of the food was ordered in, but someone brought some glorious mashed potatoes, and I brought some pumpkin knishes and some local pickles.

It was a nice affair, but I look forward someday to hosting a family thanksgiving in my own home, just like my parents did and gave me such wonderful, warm feelings of family. That I really hope to be able to pass along to my children.

E & I left around 4:30 by bike to catch the last of the sun, and we went down Central Park and Broadway to Times Square -- the first time Edie really saw Times Square in full throttle. It was pretty groovy.

BREAKFAST: 9:30am, fruit smoothie, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5


LUNCH: 2:30pm, turkey &gravy, stuffing, mashed potatoes, string beans, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5


PM SNACK: 5:30pm, graham crackers & nutella, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 8:30pm, frozen pizza, large green salad, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

Chinese memories

Woke at 5am, got to school by bike by 7. From 7 to 1pm, cooking, reheating, prepping, preparing with a handful of students. We actually got all the food on the tables by 12:45, and while they ate I plated about 100 slices of cheesecake. Some food was more popular than other, but over all the feedback was positive.

Got home by 3, took Edie out to a playroom and picked up Chinese food on the way home. I remember coming to this joint many times with my father -- my parents did not believe in wasting money on "free" delivery because the place was only a 5 minute walk away. My mom would call in the order, my dad and I would walk down and pick up, and when we arrived back my mom would have already set the table.  Waiting there with Edie, it made me remember what it was like to be there with my dad. It was nice.


AM SNACK: 5:30am, iced green tea


AM SNACK: 8am, brownies, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5


SCHOOL SNACKING, 11am-2pm, little bites of turkey, cheese cake, stuffing, mac n' cheese, string beans, salad, lemon aide, fruit punch, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 5:45pm, beef lomein, shrimp toast, wonton soup, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Cooking for 200

Rush to get chores done in the morning, afternoon and evening teaching, with a lot of food made for the Thanksgiving lunch we're serving to 200 the next day.

AM SNACK: 8am, iced green tea


LUNCH: 11:15am, hot dog with onions, handful of pumpernickel pretzels, water, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5


PM SCHOOL SNACK: 6pm, scoop of mac n' cheese, small slice of cheese cake, lemon aide, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 9pm, large green salad, baked french fries, water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

Adventures with Mil

The day hinged around taking Mil to the doc for a 1 week check up. B slept, and I strapped him on in a Baby Bjorn, and we took the bus to the Union Square Farmer's Market & Holiday thing. We walked, he slept, I hugged, it was nice. He's put on a good amount of weight, a pound. Edie is getting harder and harder to pick up, solidly built, getting taller, but Mil is light as a feather for now. Got home by bus, but took a nice walk-about down Grand Street. Picked up Edie, got the food shopping done. Cooked up 15 lbs of onions for future knishing, just to have it on hand.

AM SNACK: 7:30am, iced green tea


BREAKFAST: 9am, toasted everything bagel with cream cheese, grenadine soda, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5


LUNCH: 2pm, Stouffers french bread pizzas, slice of mousse cake, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 7pm, chicken nuggets & kasha varnishkes, large green salad, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING SNACK: 9pm, chocolate chips & peanuts, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Knishes all around

Spent the morning uptown for a suit fitting, as I'm in a wedding party this coming summer. Swung by a Chinese businessman's lunch spot I used to dine at all the time when I worked in midtown. It was Sunday so it was pretty empty, but the food was expectedly delicious. This place literally pumps out thousands of meals every day during the week, it must be nice to be chill on the weekends. Got home by 1 to greet some friends and some strangers (but now new friends) to come visit the baby and pick up knishes. After 3, I got on the bike and delivered knishes to various friends. The evening was chill, spent some quality time with Milli Mil.

BREAKFAST: 8:45am, iced green tea, organic chex with organic dead milk, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5


LUNCH: 12:15pm, eggroll, tofu & baby shrimp with rice, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5


PM SNACK: 1:15pm, slice of mousse cake, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5


PM SNACK: 5pm, handful of french fries, slice of mousse cake, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 8pm, breaded tilapia fillet on whole wheat toast, potato leak soup, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
A friend gave us some homemade soup, a little underseasoned but delicious.

A visit from the snicklefamily

Visited some friends with a toddler and newborn in the morning, brought a selection of donuts from the Donut Plant. Took Edie outside on an unseasonably warm Fall day in the afternoon to play in leaves. Stopped by the local diner for bad quick food, before coming home and having the Snicklefamily over to meet Mil and play with Edles. Chill evening.


AM SNACK: 9:30am, iced green tea


BREAKFAST: 11:30am, iced green tea, donut, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5


LUNCH: 2:30pm, burger, fries, diet coke, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


SNICKLESNACK: 4pm, half a kasha knish, vegan cupcake, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5
The kasha knish has been in the fridge more than a week, and with 10 minutes of heating, came right back to life.



DINNER: 9pm, tortellini with sauce, 2 slices black out cake, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Last week a friend broought over a huge cake. Just starting to work through it now.

Good, busy

Got to bed at 11:30, woke up at 7 feeling a bit drained and confused, but ok. Got straight to work on baking some pumpkins n' stuff, and after delivering Edie, got down to the business of making pumpkin knishes. B's mom & bro came over in the evening and we ordered in a pizza, it was a good busy day.

TODAY'S COOKING:
Pumpkin Knishes: Three rounds of 36, a few went down me n' Betsy and our friend T's throats -- a little saltier than I aimed for, but tasty. I initially feared I didn't make enough, but the filling kind of hit the nail on the head, though I made almost 2x as much dough as necessary....which means I may have to make more knishes later this week, he he. Perhaps experiment with dough in the middle of the filling...

AM SNACK: 7:30am, iced green tea


BREAKFAST: 9am, 4 whole wheat waffles, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 12:15pm, small bowl of farro & sausage, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 1pm, pumpkin knish, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5 
Had to taste after the first round came out of the oven. A little too salty, but not unreasonable. Pretty good. I'd not feel ripped off being charge $3 for this.

LUNCH: 2pm, baked ziti, kasha varnishkes, grenadine soda, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Tossed the salad because it smelled like old fridge. I zapped some baked ziti and by the time I finished half of it, I realized it was unusually "tangy" like sour cream, so I tossed it. Kasha was still good, however. -phew-

DINNER: 6pm, pizza, water, a little bownie & ice cream, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5


EVENING SNACK: 10pm, graham crackers, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Peaing in a Pod

Didn't get much sleep, couldn't fall asleep until 1am, Edie was up a couple of times to interrupt the night that was supposed to be our first night smoothly with the night nurse. B got up and comforted Edie, and I was too zonked to step up. Grouchy morning, but B took Edie to class and spent her first time out doing her own thing since the baby came, while I had some nice quiet time one on one with Milli Mil.

After a while of him getting up and going back to sleep repeatedly, I just strapped him on in the Baby Bjorn while I went about my house business and it worked like a charm. Poppa and son peaing in a big pod.

TODAY'S COOKING:
Knish Dough: Making the pumpkin knishes tomorrow, so got a leg up and boiled off 15 lbs of potatoes, half of which went into a large batch of dough. The rest will be mixed into the pumpkin filling to give it a bit of heft.

AM SNACK: 7:30am, iced green tea


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


AM SNACK: 10:30am, brownie, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

AM SNACK: noon, cookie, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 12:30, frozen pizza, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 7:15pm, hot dog, fries, pickles, water, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

Warm & Fuzzy

Got to bed around 10:30, and Edie slept through the night, but sleep was interrupted several times by Baby Mil. Woke up feeling a little warm and fuzzy (not in a good way), and after getting Edie to school, got a healthy smoothie down, did some essential prep then got a few hours of sleep in before eating a sandwich and riding my bike in the rain to Red Hook to teach.

Last week was a bit stressful, but this week the class went great -- 8 recipes in quantity in preparation for serving Thanksgiving to the school next week, went very smoothly. Rather than have an awkward meal of bits and pieces, my supervisor ordered in a couple of pizzas for us, it was a nice change of pace.

When I got home, snuggled with Edie but she insisted Betsy put her to sleep. For the first time, a night nurse came to look after Milli Mil while Betsy & I got a proper night's sleep.

AM SNACK: 7:30am, iced green tea


BREAKFAST: 9am, smoothie, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 12:30pm, turkey and Swiss on wholewheat, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5


PM TASTING: 3-6pm, tastes of cheesecake batter, brownie batter, Cesar dressing, biscuit


DINNER: 6:30pm, 2 slices pizza, soda, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5


EVENING SNACK: 9pm, brownie

EVENING SNACK: midnight, a big bowl of farro & sausage, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
I brought this home from school, we made it last week, and DAMN is it good. It's a relatively easy recipe from c-school I've had my students make to demonstrate different grains. It's an Italian version of Spanish "Soupy Rice" made with whole wheat kernels, a lot of chicken stock we made ourselves, and fennel -- potato, beans and sausage are secondary players. Very filling, very real.

Someday I will sleep again

Sleep was a little better than the night before, but not by much. Edie is definitely expressing her disapproval at not being the only star in the sky, but is still very curious about and affectionate towards Milli Mil.

AM SNACK: 7:30am, iced green tea


BREAKFAST: 9:45am, 4 whole wheat waffles, water, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5


LUNCH: 12:15pm, cheese ravioli with sauce, chocolate donuts, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 4pm, potato chips, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 6pm, hotdog, kraft dinner, green salad, chocolate donuts, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Back to Life

It's been a bit of a roller coaster with the new baby, the under slept wife, the having friends over, the doting grandma helping out a lot, the maintaining a normal schedule and level of attention for Edie. I will not lie, I've been eating massive amounts of junk food for almost four days, and need to come correct soon or I'll get sick. I made a big green salad to have on hand, which should help a bit.

No time to lift weights, and even if I did, I'd be too tired to be effective on them, hopefully I can resume next week.


AM SNACK: 7:30am, iced green tea


BREAKFAST: 9am, toasted bagel with cream cheese and sable, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5
Left over fish from yesterday's get together. I fell in love with sable when people sent it over when my dad died, and I gorged on it when my mom died. It's a good coming & going food for me, I guess.


LUNCH: 2pm, spaghetti with sauce, pickle, ice cream, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5
A neighborhood friend dropped off some food, including homemade sauce. A bit sweeter than I like, but still much better than any jarred stuff.


DINNER: 7:30pm, rice & beans, guac, corn tortillas, green salad, water, peanuts & chocolate chips, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


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

Teeter....TOTTER!

Emil Isaac Wildman, 7 lbs 7oz. All are doing well. Like Edles, Mil took to feeding from the Mothership like a duck to water.

For reasons that should be apparent, this blog is on hold until Sunday. See ya then!

Teetering Teetering

Edie has been recovering from a cold lately, and in the cutest froggy voice/snotty nose has been making her discomfort known. It's not the greatest time for Edie to be putting the terrible into 2, with the waking up and shouting at 4am and such, as Betsy is even more pregnant than she was yesterday. Just in case, we've schedule a pediatrician appointment for E to make sure nothing else is causing her frustration.

After dropping Edie off, checked into McD's for breakfast, I was hungry and couldn't go home and just needed to destress for a minute. Amazing how my parent's bringing me there as a kid has imprinted this on me.

Got laundry, cooking, some light housecleaning done while Mrs. B slept off the night before. I went to vote, kinda annoyed for seven spots there were....7 people running, all Democrats except for one, who was running as both a dem AND a Republican. I'm a strong believer in our civic responsibility to always vote no matter what, but this kinda pushed my patience. Went out to dinner with a knish-friend.

TODAY'S COOKING
Baked Ziti: Comfort food, not from a fast food joint. Followed Batali's recipe loosely. 2 lbs of mini ziti, 4 cups of sauce outta the freezer, 4 cups of besciamella cooked up on the spot, 2 lbs of moz ($17, the only 'expensive' part of this huge sheet of food), a head of basil plucked and torn right off the plant, topped off with whole wheat panko bread crumbs. Forgot the romano, oh well.


AM SNACK: 7:30am, iced green tea


BREAKFAST: 9am, sausage mcmuffin, hashbrown, diet coke


LUNCH: 12:15pm, baked ziti, half a kasha knish, green salad, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 5pm, 2 wholewheat waffles, peanuts & chocolate chips, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 8pm, bulgogi, kimchi pajun, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5


EVENING SNACK: 10pm, a handful of girlscout cookies, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Teetering Still

Lifted weights after delivering Edie, and got a good smoothie in right after -- it's said that weight lifiting is potentially more effective, if you eat right after.

AM SNACK: 7:30am, iced green tea


BREAKFAST: 9:30am, smoothie, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5
Banana, milk, good yogurt, cherry, blueberry, mango, peach, flax, vanilla, salt. Purty good. Enough to make 4 mini frozen pops for Edles.

LUNCH: 12:45pm, 2 small ham & swiss knishes, popcorn, pint of grenadine soda, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 6pm, frozen pizza, large green salad, cookies, 1.75 bowl, hunger 4/5
Comfort.

Existential Pain

A difficult day entertaining a toddler who decided to act on the "terrible" in "terrible twos", while B needed to sleep and keep her belly intact for now. Edie is experiencing the existential pain of only being able to be in a single place at once -- she can not both be at home and out side on the swings at the same time, and she's letting her displeasure at this fact be known.

Eventually I got her out to the swings via a shared slice of pizza, and B was up enough to let me tune out in the evening. Any day now.

BREAKFAST: 8am, good yogurt with honey, vanilla and peanuts, iced green tea, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

NOON SNACK: 12pm, spinach knish, a few spoonfuls of peanut butter, a little jerky, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

AFTERNOON SNACK: 3pm, most of one slice of streetza, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 6pm, shrimp with broc, pork fried rice, wonton soup, egg roll, 6 small donuts, 1.75 bowl, hunger 4/5

On Standby

Took Edie out in the morning to Smorgasburg with friends, she fell asleep and we hung out in a park for a few hours while she napped. Mellow afternoon in the hood. On standby to B's tummy.


TODAY'S COOKING
Caramelized Onions: Had 15 lbs of onions left over from the Knishening, cooked them all off in two pans in the oven over 5 or 6 hours, will be good to have on hand for random knishing.

Kasha: Made a box of the stuff to finish up some knish dough. Followed box recipe, except added an extra egg yolk to the pre-simmering toasting to see what effect would come up.

AM SNACK: 8:15am, iced green tea


BREAKFAST: 9:30am, pumpernickel bagel with cream cheese, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5


LUNCH pt 1: 11:30am, lobster roll, shot of soup, a macaroon, a donut, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Eating around Smorgasburg. Picked up a nice packet of beef jerky.



LUNCH pt 2: 3:30pm, spaghetti with sauce, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 6:30pm, chicken nuggets, kraft dinner, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5 
Nice to eat the same thing with Edie at her dinner, albeit in larger portion.

Still teetering

After Edie got to school, lifted weights, went to midtown for an appointment, got laundry and food shopping done, then did little in the evening other than eat too much cake. Betsy is still teetering. The veil between being born and not being born is thinning.

AM SNACK: 7:45am, iced green tea


BREAKFAST: 9:30am, granola with organic dead milk, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5


LUNCH: 1:45pm, frozen pizza, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER:  7pm, large green salad, small amount of chips & guac, small amount of rice pudding, large amount of chocolate cake, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

A nice day

After Edie was delivered to school, me and Big B went to the movies with her brother, taking in street sandwiches with us. In the afternoon, got a nice cooking session in before meeting E uptown for a nice late dinner. I actually swung by Knish Nosh in Central Park in hopes of sampling one, but they were closed at 7:30pm. Hrumph.


TODAY'S COOKING:
Potato & Spinach knishes: Knocked out a couple dozen with left over filling from last week, dough I made this week, and a lb of frozen spinach I cooked up today with 3 heads of roasted garlic. As a goof, spontaneously made a sweet peanut butter & chocolate chip knish which came out better than it should have been.


AM SNACK: 7:45am, iced green tea


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

AM SNACK: 11am, potato knish, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5 
I'm a little sheepish to admit that this knish cooked last week was actually the first one I tried. As I was going, I did taste the mix for balance and flavor, and sample bits of cooked dough to make sure it was right, but I didn't actually have time to taste it all together in finished form -- there was nothing I could do to make it better once it was browned properly and out of the oven. So I guess I'm happy to find that, hey, this is really good! Maybe a tad close to being too salty, but pleasantly balanced between heavy and light, redolently oniony in the caramelized sense, and despite microwaving out of laziness, the crust had  a nice chew to it. I may have something here!


LUNCH: noon, falafel sandwich, popcorn, diet coke , 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


PM SNACK: 4:30pm, large green salad, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 8:15pm, sushi, gyoza, edemame, sake, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5


EVENING SNACK: 10:30pm, nutella & pretzels, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Drained & Teetering

Woke up totally exhausted -- between being up until 1am then Edie & B up in the middle of the night & crawling all over me, it was a rough night. Also woke up a little sore -- lifted weights for the first time in a few weeks yesterday, it was a great pleasure to get back to that.

Got chores done in the morning without napping some how, then rode to school for a pretty good class. Totally drained when I got home. Betsy & her belly is teetering, the expansion of this family is coming soon I suspect.


AM SNACK: 7:45am, iced green tea


BREAKFAST: 10am, smoothie, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5
Yesterday's was just too good not to do again.

LUNCH: 12:30pm, pasta with sauce, potato chips, large green salad, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5


SCHOOL DINNER: 5:45pm, chimichurri flank steak, mac n' cheese, snapple, a few cookies, water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING SNACK: 9pm, frozen waffles, peanuts & chocolate chips, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

Weigh-in

?---> 228.2

Have not weighed in in a couple of months, due to batteries being dead in the scale and....just not wanting to know. Now with the Knishening behind me (for now), trying to get back to some of my better habits. As for my weight, it's pretty much where it sits without interference, with out calorie restriction, without binging. I do wonder if my muscle to fat ratio has changed at all, though, as over the past 3 or 4 months I can feel them getting stronger,  a little more pronounced....underneath my blubber.

Had a reporter over in the afternoon for a couple of hours. After he left, got cooking on three things at once. By the time I was done, I was a little bit too tired to d o anything else, but still had a hard time falling asleep.

TODAY'S COOKING:
Tomato Sauce: Fresh oregano and thyme, extra onion sauteed as I have several bags of onion left over from the Knishening.

Granola: Standard recipe, though replaced the variety of sweeteners with just one - half cup of brown sugar.

Knish Dough: Had a small amount of potatoes left over from the Knishening, just enough for a batch of dough. Good thing, as I have a large container of potato filling in the fridge. Gonna make the knishes in the next two days.


AM SNACK: 7:30am, iced green tea


BREAKFAST: 9:45am, smoothie, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5
Milk, yogurt, banana, cherry, mango, peach, blueberry, flax, vanilla ex, salt. Ahhhh, I wish I could get this on tap. It's a bit of a mess with the blender to make, but when it's freshly blended, it's great. Bottled stuff, store bought stuff, it just doesn't cut it.


LUNCH: 12:30pm, 2 Stouffer's Frenchbread pizzas, large green salad, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 3:45pm, potato knish, glass of grenadine soda, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Entertaining a member of the press, would be rude not to eat too when plying a person with knishes.

DINNER: 7:30pm, chicken nuggets, potato chips, pickle, cookies, ice cream, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Lazy dinner. Just didn't feel like cooking.

EVENING SNACK: 11:30pm, potato chips, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

Recovery Day

Had a hard time falling asleep last night, and woke up exhausted. After getting Edie to school and doing some basic chores, plopped in front of the TV and napped for 3 hours. With just enough time to eat, picked up Edie and did a proper food shop to restock the kitchen after the knish blowout. Still felt low powered and drowsy the rest of the day.

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


LUNCH: 2pm, cappelini with garlic, oil and romano, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 7pm, ice cream, a few chocolate chip cookies, .75 bowl, hunger 2/5
Not hungry in a sick kind of way, but thought something, anything would make me feel a little less unsteady.

Another installment of dues, paid in full

Woke up rested but grumpy -- I had come this far, and though far reduced in it's hope and excitement, the Knishening had to go forward. The last minute change of date, location and price structure (from a set price to a donation box), on top of bitterly cold wind and a meager sun, had me standing out in my yard for three hours, hustling knishes and keeping a smiley face on.

I guess setting aside your bad feelings and sucking it up is a key definition of what being an adult is, but it doesn't make it sting any less. I did have some good conversations (a # of a purveyor who sells chicken fat!) and a lot of compliments on the knishes, so in all a bad situation was slightly made less bad. Still, I need to think long and hard about if this is what I want to do. Restauranting is a very weather sensitive business, and it was bad luck that my premiere event had to be both outdoors and on the snowiest October day in all recorded history. I'm glad I had the experience and the forethought to keep expenses to a bare minimum -- despite the loss, the future of Knishery NYC will not be determined by the financial outcome of this past weekend.

After four or so hours of being cheerful and outgoing when I felt like being the exact opposite, kinda went home and collapsed into myself, making my very pregnant wife not very happy. She had dealt with all my hyper focused knish making/mess generating all week, and I guess she was hoping for a more happy me when it was over. -sigh-


BREAKFAST: 9am, BLT on rye, corn muffin, diet coke, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


AFTERNOON SNACKS: 2-3pm, a couple of sweet knishes, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 6pm, shrimp burrito, chips & guac, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5


EVENING SNACK: 8pm, half a pint of ice cream, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

A Day Away from Knishes

Got to bed around 11, woke up at 9:30 to a happy B&E. Horrible weather, sleeting and windy and freezing, it would have been a disaster to have a debut knish stand today. Had a cleaning person over to do the laundry and clean the house top to bottom, and B went out to get her hair did while I took Edles out to a local restaurant to feed. It was even worse weather on the way home. Me n' Edles watched a little TV when my momma in law came to help out with Edie, and I quickly passed out on the couch for a solid 4 hours -- 5 days of intense knish making will do that to a guy.

We ordered in pizza, as the fridge is still in lock down with too many trays of knishes. Tomorrow they will be disgorged to the world, and hopefully I will get some good vibes, personal and business related, back.

BREAKFAST: 10:30am, blueberry pancakes, bacon, potatoes, water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 6pm, 3 slices pizza, green salad, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5


EVENING SNACK: 7:15pm, box of entemann's chocolate chip cookies, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

The Knishening is (was) Tomorrow

Hoo boy. Edie is a little feverish, B is a little pregnant, I woke up with not enough sleep and the final day of knishing ahead of me.

AM SNACK: 7:15am, diet coke

----

That's all I wrote, in the morning. I don't quite remember what I ate the rest of the day, except it involved a 2 liter bottle of diet coke fueling me. I baked 166 potato knishes while juggling other things, like a phone call from Edie's school saying she was 102 degrees and needed to be picked up. I picked her up, she was in a good mood, and Betsy was able to cut her day short and meet me when we got back so I could go back to the knishes.

The last round of knishes, the last round of the day, the last round of the week, the last round before setting up shop tomorrow, was in the oven when I sat down to check my email. I heard the weather was going to be iffy so I thought to email the fair organizers to see if they have any arrangements with food banks or charities in case I have a lot left over. There was an email from the organizers cancelling the event, due to predictions of rain, wind, snow and freezing, sleety weather.

I first called Betsy to tell her the news, who was at the pediatrician with E (E is fine, but better safe than sorry.) Then I stood by my living room window and stared out the window for a solid 10 minutes, wearing nothing but floury boxer shorts, hands knitted in a ball behind my back. What does one do with 500 knishes and no place to sell them? My permit to sell is temporary, limited to one day in one place, any other day in any other place requires a new permit, not to mention publicity, time and a host of other arrangements. Being that I've been working from a home kitchen, I've been banking knishes -- after the weekend, they will seriously start to lose quality. They gotta move, and they gotta move this weekend. An email to the fair organizers brought back no suggestions.

Sunday is better weather. So Sunday it has to be. Where? I live next to two green spaces. I send an email to my coop board and the organizer of a group that cares for the public park next door. In a few hours, I get permission to distribute and ask for donations from my backyard, but to be discrete about the money thing. I quickly update my blog, my facebook, create a facebook event, get in contact with the media that has been friendly to me the past month to spread the word. I'll be hosting the equivalent of an adult lemon aide stand on Sunday. Who said giving birth to a business would be easy?

Sitting around, mind racing in the evening. For all is said and done, with the refund of the cost of the table, the money I'm in for is not that much in the scheme of things, even if I don't make dollar 1 this time around. But this was a one shot deal --- I can not put my household and family through an entire week of full time production for such a meager yield -- I should be able to pop out 500 pieces in 1 eight hour run in a properly scaled industrial kitchen, not 5 twelve hour runs where my family has to crawl around a grumpy knish maker, and a fridge that is barren of everything but the bare essentials to get through the week.

Contemplating the next move, gonna give it some thought while enjoying this baby coming up. Which could be any day now.

The Knishening - Day 4

Woke up at 6am after some fantastically graphic stress dreams. Got some knish-related work done before getting Edie to school, did some food shopping in the morning and spent about 11 hours cranking out brocolli cheddar knishes and spinach & roasted garlic knishes. All in all, almost 200 pieces. I actually ordered in a sloppy breakfast from the local diner because at the moment, the oven, the stovetop and the microwave were all working, he he he.

Edie & Betsy went over to a friend's for dinner and they brought me back some left overs, which helped. It was good to be able to start winding down around 8pm, allowing me to clean a little and prepare for the final day of cooking tomorrow.

BREAKFAST: 10:15am, pancakes, sausage, potatoes, diet coke, 1 bowl


PM SNACK: 12:30pm, greasy corn muffin, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5


PM SNACK: 2pm, broc cheddar knish, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER pt 1: 6:30pm, chicken nuggets, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER pt 2: 8pm, 2 slices of pizza, can of diet coke, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

The Knishening - Day 3

Woke up worn out from yesterday's knishening, but the knish shall not be denied. Spent the morning delivering trays to friend's houses for storage, as my fridge is limited. Made 4 big batches of dough which will hopefully get me through, cooked off the rest of the pumpkin filling, then went to Brooklyn and taught.

Got home totally blown out. Got through part of a short list of things that needed to be done, passed out around 10.

BREAKFAST: 9:15am, good granola with organic dead milk, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 12:45pm, pumpkin knish
Last knish out of the oven was a 13th, and so I ate it. It's good, but could use a little bit more salt -- why didn't I catch that earlier. Oh well, it's not bad, just not perfect.

SCHOOL SNACK: 3pm, chocolate covered pretzels, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5


SCHOOL DINNER: 6:30pm, shrimp in sauce, Cesar salad with fresh croutons, sprite, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


EVENING SNACK: 9pm, potato chips, chocolate chips & peanuts, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

The Knishening - Day 2

Woke up at 6am to get the onions in the oven, but only 2 of the trays fit. Peeled potatoes as Edie and B got up, and soon after I delivered E to school, got back to cooking the potatoes, cooking up the filling for the pumpkin knishes and kasha knishes, made a buttload of knish dough.

By 2:30 got everything cleaned up, cooling in the fridge or the counter and picked Edie up from school. First we went to the market to pick up some supplies, then to a park, where I ate some Chinatown vendor food. I dropped Edie off with our friend B and his son (sons, I guess, since he has a new sprog) while I did a shift at the CSA. Once home, I got to the process of assembly and baking until I couldn't no mo'. Ran out of dough, that was all. A little ahead of my production schedule, but as a few bumps have shown me, I'm really figuring this out as I go.


AM SNACK: 6:30am, iced green tea


BREAKFAST: 10:30am, good granola with dead organic milk, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 3:15pm, fishball with rice noodle, lotus leaf wraps, a donut, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5


PM SNACK: 9pm, mini kasha knish


DINNER: 10:30pm, 2 hotdogs, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

The Knishening - Day 1

Had dreams about making knishes, kind of. I had a made a huge amount of crisp thin dried round apple slices, and I was attempting to smear peanut butter on them and reassemble them so they looked kinda like lined apples. I was only able to make a handful of perfect ones, as a lot of the apple broke or was misshapen.

After taking Edie to school, went straight home and attacked the mountain of knish making. Today, did the dough, filling, assembly and baking of 125 apple-cheese and chocolate-hazelnut sweet knishes. Diced 15 lbs of onions before showering and picking up Edie at school at 3. When B got home a little after 6, started again and diced another 30 lbs. Pretty much got done what I wanted, but I suspect I'm going to have to go late Thurs and Friday nights....

AM SNACK: 7:15am, iced green tea


BREAKFAST: 10:30am, good granola, dead organic milk, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5


AM SNACK: 11:45am, pint of grenadine soda, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5


LUNCH: 4pm, shrimp lomein, egg roll, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 8:30pm, white castle burgers, water, peanuts & chocolate chips, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

The Knishening is Koming - Prelude

Woke up about 15 minutes after the time I was hoping to leave for the bike ride in the Bronx. Despite almost 11 hours of sleep (with an hour of TV watching around 2:30am), felt groggy and achy -- back is better yet, but still sore, though reasonably so. Nose is still stuffy.

But it's good, today I got to help Betsy out with Edie, and knock out some of the food shopping necessary to start production tomorrow. Brought home 150+ lbs of groceries on my bike for the beginning of the Knishening tomorrow, got the laundry done, played with Edie in the backyard for a few hours. In the early evening, a reporter from jewcy came over to interview me, don't think the piece will be published before the event, but perhaps after. So focused on planning today, kinda forgot to eat lunch.

Had a hard time falling asleep --between 11 hours of sleep last night, anxious about starting knish production tomorrow, and a bunch of Sunday night television shows I watch, I didn't get down until 1am.


AM SNACK: 9:30am, iced green tea

BREAKFAST: 11am, toasted sesame bagel with cream cheese, pint of grenadine soda, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


PM SNACK: 2pm, tortilla chips, a little guac, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Swung by a local Mexican joint where B&E were eating, on the way to the supermarket.



PM SNACK: 4pm, a couple of sweet knishes, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 5:30pm, half a sweet knish, glass of grenadine soda, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 8:30pm, eggplant parm hero, green salad, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING SNACK: 10pm, chocolate chips & peanuts, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Run Down

Woke up at 9:30, stuffy nose. Back feels even better, but still a little bit sore. Skipped weights, and will probably sacrifice them next week, too. After pancakes, Betsy went to work to get on top for her last week coming up before officially leaving to give birth, and I watched Edie while doing some knish-related chores. Got to bed a little after 9pm, feeling run down and hopeful I'll feel better for tomorrow's Tour De Bronx.


TODAY'S COOKING
Pancakes: Trying to empty out the fridge (milk, eggs, yogurt), and stock the freezer for this coming week's knish onslaught. No buttermilk on hand, but a half cup or so of the full fat Fage had a similar effect.

Burgers: Grated onion, Worcestershire, salt and this time some  garlic powder. Better distro through the meat than if using fresh. It was good.

BREAKFAST: 10am, iced green tea, pancakes, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 2pm, breaded shrimp, cheese tortellini in olive oil & garlic, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 6:30pm, 2 burgers on whole wheat buns, potato chips, butternut squash soup, milano cookies, water, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

Ramping up

Spent the day getting smaller details of next week's knish table done, stuff I may forget or overlook when I'm in the heat of multiple days of production . My back feels better, though still not 100%. Was going to lift weights, but think perhaps to wait another day rather than risk a recurrence.

Nose is getting stuffier, head a little heavy, better be careful or my weekend will be 86ed.

AM SNACK: 7:30am, iced green tea


BREAKFAST: 9am, toasted onion bagel with cream cheese and whitefish, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5


LUNCH: 1:15pm, 2 slices streetza, grape soda, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5


PM SNACK: 4:30pm, black cherry soda, a beer, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5
At a 2yr old's party.



DINNER: 6:15pm, butternut squash soup, large green salad, mashed potatoes, a little sliced turkey, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Zoo

Woke up with an achy back, but not as bad as last night, which is a relief -- it's muscular, not spine-related or torn-something. Edie had off from school, so we rode over to the Prospect Park Zoo in the morning. Visited an auntie in Park Slope in the afternoon, and had a nice rollicking evening with the ladies after.

Looking over today's eating, it's a bit of a roller coaster. Super healthy breakfast, super evil lunch, super healthy dinner, then rather crappy snack-explosion in the evening. I guess 50% is better that 0%, but I do know I can do better.

AM SNACK: 7:30am, iced green tea

BREAKFAST: 8:45am, smoothie, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5
Milk, yogurt, banana, blueberry, cherry, mango, peach, flax, salt, vanilla, a small dash of sugar. Used a frozen banana and made the whole thing too thick to blend, had to add extra milk. Still had to eat it with a spoon!

LUNCH: 12 noon, quarter pounder with cheese, fries, diet coke, 2 mcnuggets, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


PM SNACK: 4pm, rice noodle & fishball, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 7pm, breaded tilapia, butternut squash soup, green salad, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


EVENING SNACK: 9:15pm, popcorn, peanuts & chocolate chips, 5 chicken nuggets, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

Backy back

Spent the morning riding in the rain taking care of some chores. In the afternoon, taught and rode home in the rainy dark with 50+ lbs of borrowed equipment that'll help with the knish-production next week.

I'm not sure what caused it, but during class my back started hurting really bad, making it hard to lean over - maybe I lifted a large pot of water the wrong way? I'm not sure. It continued to hurt on the ride over, and by the time I got home, it hurt to stand from a sitting position, and I needed to just lie down and be still -- good thing, because that's my main activity in the evening nowadays?

AM SNACK: 7:45am, iced green tea


BREAKFAST: 10:45am, good granola with organic dead milk, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 12:45am, butternut squash soup, green salad, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


SCHOOL SNACK: 3pm, chocolate covered pretzels, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5


SCHOOL EATS: 6:30pm, grilled chicken, mashed potato, swiss chard w/caramelized onion & olives, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 9:15pm, mini cheese raviolis with homemade sauce, whole wheat ritz with nutella, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

Soup n' Sweet Knishes

TODAY'S COOKING
Various Cheese Knishes: Due to scheduling of life n' shiz, today was my last chance to experiment with some knish making. Desert-centric cheese knishes tend to be an afterthought, so there is two good things -- no one expects much, and the definition of what a sweet cheese knish must be isn't as codified as the savory potato.

I was not that thrilled with the apple-cheese knishes from last week, so for inspiration (and to dispose of 12+ lbs of CSA apples) over the weekend, I baked off 5 apple pies & crumbles. The essence of the pie is the flavorful liquid of the fruit that cooks out and becomes a thick, gelatinous sweet jam-like substance. How that happens is simple -- the fruit is tossed in flour, sugar and a little salt, and between the gluten of the flour and the pectin of the fruit, when the juices cook out it becomes that wonderful goo. I don't want to make pocket pies, but I want some of the wonderful goo in my fruit-cheese knishes.

So I scavenged around the kitchen and got myself a line up o' fruit: for the fresh team, we had banana, apple and pear, for the frozen team, blueberries, cherries & mangoes. I did up a mise-bowl of equal parts flour, sugar and a little salt, and dredged the fruit handful by handful before inserting them into the open mouths of plain and chocolate knishes. Everything except bananas I paired with the plain sweet cheese, threw the bananas in the chocolate.

I tweaked the recipes as I went, the main change was doubling the sugar in the plain cheese, as it just wasn't sweet enough before. This made the batter noticeably looser, which reminded me of what I was taught in c-school: sugar is always considered a wet ingredient, not a dry. Now I appreciate that more -- it dissolves or gets slushy in the presence of wet, adding to wet's mass.

Upon baking, it came clear that for the wetter fruit (everything but the banana), the fruit sweated enough to make a slight to large amount of gooey goodness on top of the cheese layer. As for the banana layer, the jury is still out, it may need some more thought.

Another thought is that the chocolate-hazelnut is not hazelnutty enough. I'm depending on nutella, but amping it with dutch cocoa powder. I may go full on cocoa powder and hazelnut butter for production....

Butternut Squash soup: I got some butternut squash, leeks and fresh apples from the CSA, so a quick blender soup seemed to make sense. The B-nut-S soup I made last week kinda rocked my world, so I had high hopes for this one, but it came out strictly...bleah. I did lots different with this one, and the end product couldn't be more different. Sauteed the chopped leeks in olive oil, put in a half head of minced garlic at the end of saute, then deglazed with some white wine I had in the fridge. Boiled up the processed squash with 2 apples instead of 2 sweet potatoes. Blended it all together, finished it with what I had on hand -- sour cream instead of plain ol' cream. Seasoned with salt and...fneh. The wine, the tart apples and the sour cream all added to a sligthly vinegary overtone, which made the garlic pop, but it was....vinegary. On the other hand, if I served this soup at a high-falutin' pretentious over-priced restaurant, people would probably think it was very sophisticated n' refined. Fneh.

AM SNACK: 7:30am, iced green tea


BREAKFAST: 9:30am, pumpernickel bagel with creamcheese and smoke white fish, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Bought some kippered white fish form WF on a grocery run this morning. Reminded me a bit of when I lived in England -- salty, tough, and not very good.

LUNCH: 1pm, 5 falafel balls with hummus, pickle pint of grenadine soda, pear & apple knish, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Was gonna also have salad, but smelly funky and the cuces went icy.

DINNER: 6:45pm, breaded shrimp, large green salad, butternut squash soup, 2 chocolate knishes, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5 

EVENING SNACK: 9pm, kraft dinner, mini waffles, peanuts & chocolate chips, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

Rotten Avocado

Spent the day working on Knish PR and taking care of the Edie. Got notice my new iPhone should arrive on Thursday, made me oddly excited.

AM SNACK: 7:45am, iced green tea


LUNCH: noon, sardines on homemade wholewheat, green salad, multigrain chips with school salsa, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Few things more disappointing then cutting open an avocado and finding it completely rotten and stinky.

DINNER pt 1: 5pm, meat tortellini in homemade sauce, 5 falafels w/hummus, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER pt 2: 8:15pm, Stouffers French Bread pizza, chocolate chips & peanuts, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

I didn't eat it, it just jumped in my mouth and made me swallow.

Woke up early, and some pie jumped down my throat. Did a slow 30 mile bike ride in relatively cold weather, fueled by junk food, and when I got home, more pie attacked me and jumped down my throat. On top of that, my momma-in-law was around in the afternoon and they ordered in Chinese, and low and behold, a bunch of greasy carbs jumped down my throat...twice! How did that happen?!


BREAKFAST: 6:45am, iced green tea, apple pie, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


BIKE SNACK: 10:15am, gatorade, potato chips, peanut butter cups, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5


PM SNACK: 1:30pm, apple pie, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 5:45pm, beef lomein, pork fried rice, egg roll, grape soda, .75 bowl hunger 4/5


DINNER pt 2: 7:30pm, beef lomein, pork fried rice, veg dumplings, water, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

Pie vs Crisp

A nice day with Edie, took her to Occupy Wall Street and the Imaginarium playground in the morning and a 2 yr old friend's b-day in the afternoon, with pie making bracketing Edie-time.


TODAY'S COOKING
Apple Pie: Wanted to make pancakes this morning, but not enough ingredients. Made pie dough instead using this recipe (I was too lazy to dig up a proper pate sucree recipe in my c-school journals), with shortening I had in the freezer. Freezing it made it easy to cut the fat into the dry ingredients in a quick moment in the food-processor, without it becoming paste - the key to a light and flaky crust, little pockets of fat that melt into the flour and leave pockets. I could cut by hand, but that would take minutes instead of seconds, he he. The dumb recipe says hold in the fridge 10 minutes, but I know that's wrong -- you'll have a sticky mess with warm dough like this, so I did it in the morning and held until the evening.

Betsy wanted me to make crisps to give to a few friends, but I wanted to go full-throttle on pies for two reasons: 1) any buffoon can make a half-decent crisp with minimal work and 2) I need to refresh myself on pie-filling, because all cheese & fruit knishes can be regarded as one part unique simplified cheesecake, 1 part pie filling. For the apple knish I pan-fried some apple slices in butter and seasoned with salt, brown-sugar and cinnamon, but it didn't have the thickened sweet liquid that really makes a pie so unctuous.

Granola: I've pretty much got this recipe down to a science. This recipe, with these adjustments: 4 cups oatmeal instead of three, 1 cup of raw cashews instead of 1.5 cups pistachios, 1 cup slivered almonds added, 1/3 cup maple syrup and 1/3 cup brown sugar as the total sweetener, 1 tablespoon vanilla extract added. Replace fruit with 1/2 cup dried cherries, chopped. Damn good.

AM SNACK: 7:45am, iced green tea

BREAKFAST: 8:15am, organic cornflakes, dead milk, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5


LUNCH: 12:30pm, 2 small hamburger, a handful of fries, diet coke, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACKS: 3-5pm, a few bites of chicken quesidilla, diet Dr. Pepper, a handful of chips, half a cupcake, 3/4 of a slice of cake, a few stuffed grape leaves, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 6:15pm, wholewheat boboli pizza, water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
My dad was a fan of this product, and I saw a whole wheat version, so I gave it a whirl. Topped with my own spaghetti sauce, cut up some of Edie's string cheese, dried oregano and basil, shaved some romano on to it. Crust still tasty kinda meh.


EVENING SNACK: 9pm, small bowl of ramen noodles, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Sabbath Dinner

Lifted weights in the morning, while hungry. I read somewhere that while eating before lifting is neither here nor there, eating after the lifting enables the body to process more efficiently and deliver the repairative aspects stronger when needed. I wonder if that's true, or just hooy.

AM SNACK: 7:45am, iced green tea


BREAKFAST: 9:45am, the good yogurt, honey, homemade vanilla extract, raw cashews, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 1:30pm, breaded tilapia, brown rice pilaf, large green salad, 2 small apple cheese knishes, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Happy with this last round of knish. The chocolate is good to go, the apple needs sweetening and maybe more vanilla, but the crust is great.

PM SNACK: 4:30am, multigrain tortilla chips & school made fresh salsa, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 6pm, salmon, brussel sprouts, roasted potatoes, 1 glass of wine, 1 chocolate cheese knish and a snippet of ice cream, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Over at a neighbor friend for sabbath dinner with our kids. Haven't put on a kippah and said prayers over candles n' stuff in many years, was weird but nice. Definitely helped that the host was also any excellent cook -- I usually despise salmon and brussel sprouts, two things very easy to over cook, but these two dishes was perfectly done.

Apple on Top

Edie had off from school today, so kept busy doing the laundry, baking knishes, given Edie mid-day showers, feeding myself, cleaning the huge mess Edie made in her path, took some phone calls resulting from the press release I've issued for the knish venture -- one even resulted in a piece on a blog the same day! Between baking, publicizing, taking active care of Edie, feeding myself homemade food, visiting a friend's new baby in the afternoon, all in all it was a busy day. When B came home, I ordered in dinner and collapsed on the sofa.

TODAY'S COOKING
Chicken Paillard: Hammered out the last piece of chicken, dunked it in a little peanut oil and Worcestershire -- definitely the best, salty, umami, just right. Gonna do this with my students next week.


Chocolate Hazelnut Cheese & Apple Cheese Knishes: Up until this point, the sweet knishes I've made were an afterthought, using left over dough. This time, it was all about the cheese knishes.

Instead of using the tougher, potato-based dough that has been my go-to for the savory, I consulted a book I plucked off of Amazon recently, Love & Knishes, long out of print, my edition from 1958. There were two dough recipes, one with and one without baking powder -- I chose the later, hoping for a flakier lighter lift. 2 cups flour, 2 eggs, 2 tbsp "salad oil" (I assumed vegetable oil)1 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp salt. It warned it may be too try to come together, and to add water. It did not come together, but water would just develop gluten without adding anything, so I threw in a 3rd egg and all was copacetic.

For the fillings, I did a second attempt at chocolate hazelnut and a first attempt at apple. For the first one, used 1 pack of farmer's cheese, half a container of nutella, 1/4 cup sugar, 1/4 flour, 1 tbsp cocoa powder (dutched), 1 egg, 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp vanilla. For the apple's cheese filling, the same with nutella swapped out for sour cream and no cocoa powder. I took three apples from the CSA, peeled, cored, sliced, fried in butter with a little cinnamon, cardamom, salt and brown sugar, until firm but a little soft. I made a slurry with 1 tsp of corn starch and 1 tbsp water, and added it to the pan once off the fire just to give the juices a little body, and prevent them from watering down the cheese mix.

Used a cupcake pan again, and after panning most of them, decided 4" square is enough dough for this pastries. For the apple, some I put the apples on the bottom, some on the top, but once they came out of the oven (300 degrees instead of the brown-inducing 425 for the savories, 20 minutes instead of savory 30-45), clearly the apple-on-top just looks more appetizing. Two hot ones went into my mouth with lunch and they were good, but the real test is when they are cold. The apple cheese didn't taste sweet enough (the apples were REALLY tart), but cold always makes things sweeter.

AM SNACK: 7:45am, iced green tea


BREAKFAST: 8:45am, smoothie, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 1:15pm, chicken paillard, brown rice pilaf, 2 small cheese knishes, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5 

DINNER: 7pm, pad thai, fried tofu, 1 beer, water, 2 small cheese knishes, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5