Straight Ballin', Yo

Spent the day in, recovering from a cough and stuffy nose, went out just to give Edie a nice walk around the 'hood. Kept my self busy when my momma-in-law email-shouted that chicken soup should be served in a sick house. Too bad B was too stubborn to have any.

TODAY'S COOKING
Matzoball soup: It's nice when a well-stocked pantry lets you do what you want on the fly, without having to leave the house. Especially when everyone is sick! I'm getting over a head cold, B slept 15 hours, and Edie is finishing a course of antibiotics to knock out a small chest infection. Yomomma was shouting in email about Jewish penicillin, so I did a quick run down in my head of what I needed, and while I didn't have the ingredients for IDEAL matzo ball soup, I had everything I needed.

Half gallon of homemade chicken stock out of the freezer and onto the fire. 8 eggs, bar of melted butter, some homemade seltzer, salt and pepper, 2 cups of matzo meal combined and refrigerated for 30 minutes. Balled into 1" rounds, dropped in simmer stock around with 2 slivered carrots. Finished with pastina in the last few minutes, little tiny pasta stars. Seasoned with salt and pepper, BAM! Homemade chicken soup in about an hour.

Ideal: Shmaltz would of made the balls much tastier, and unlike butter, kosher. A chicken breast quickly sauteed then chopped up into the finished soup would of made a more complete thing. A mess of chopped parsley would of given a nice color and taste. Celery and onion to compliment the carrot would of made for a bigger heartier soup.

AM SNACK: 7:30am, iced green tea
I steeped this batch for 8 minutes instead of 10, and it made a big difference. Despite only 1/2 cup of sugar into the whole gallon, noticeably less bitter.


BREAKFAST: 9:45am, toasted pumpernickel bagel with creamcheese, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5


PM SNACK: 1:30pm, large green salad, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5


LUNCH: 2pm, homemade matzoball soup, health salad, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 2:45pm, chocolate babka, seltzer, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 8:30pm, shrimp burrito, tortilla chips, water, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING SNACK: 10pm, small ramekin of dark chocolate chips

Babkatopia

Woke up to Edie hollerin' at 6am. Sore from a good lifting session yesterday, and stuffed up and sore throat from an annoying cold. Got a lot done today, meeting with tax attorney, laundry done, babkas cooked, a nice walk with Edie, thought I was feeling ok. When B got home, she was feeling rough so I decided to cancel my evening's plans and while she was playing with Edie, I laid down to close my eyes for a second and...all of a sudden it was 9pm! I guess my cold got the better of me.

TODAY'S COOKING:
Babka:Oy. I haven't made babka this season yet, and the warm weather reminded me that yes, this season will be over eventually (and at work, I go back to Mondays on a regular basis on March 21st.) So this weekend's project was babkas.

I looked at the Encyclopedia of Jewish Food's recipe and was unimpressed (not as rich, not as chocolaty, sweeter) so I stuck with the recipe I've been using, but for a change up I did two things: I did make a batch of cinnamon filling from the book (mostly brown sugar, spiked with cinnamon, butter and a few tablespoons of corn syrup to give  a good mouth feel) and made the strusel at the end of the recipe.

I made a double recipe of dough, and my 5 quart mixer could  barely contain it, what a mess. I should have done two batches. And I ran the chocolate through the food processor to chop it quick, but while incorporating the butter, sugar and spices, it started melting a little and seizing -- should have froze the chocolate first. And never having topped the babkas with strusel, I assumed it would spread and look a bit like icing (as it's confectioner's sugar, butter and flour), but did not spread and turned tan -- I should of piped it into a nice pattern, instead it looks like my babka have cancer.

But 9 medium loaves and 5 mini loaves were produced. I started the dough around 8:30am, and the actual babkas exited the oven a little before 5. One fell on the floor while being removed, so I ate a few slices of that one, and when B got home, she killed it with cream cheese (!). That's like slathering an eggy, sugary stick of butter riddled by dark chocolate with fatty dairy spread!

AM SNACK: 7:15am, half a glass of green iced tea

BREAKFAST: 7:45am, organic wholegrain chex with organic dead milk, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Usually not that hungry this early, but it came on me.

AM SNACK: 11am, snippets of chocolate babka filling (dark chocolate ground with sugar and cinnamon)

LUNCH: 1pm, small green salad, 2 fish sticks, large amount of angel hair pasta with oil & garlic, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 5pm, 2 slices of babka, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5


EVENING SNACK: 9:30pm, small amount of wholegrain gold fish


EVENING SNACK: 11pm, hotdog with extra kraut, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

Thank goodness the DMV doesn't serve food.

Productive day. Spent the morning with Edie and lifted weights more effectively, concentrating on going slow. A sitter took over, and I went out for errands, including a horrible 2.5 hours at the DMV to get my license renewed. People who work there just don't give a crap.

TODAY'S COOKING
Iced Tea: Another gallon for the week, picked up some ridiculously expensive tins of loose Japanese green tea while out today.
Green Salad: Mixing it up with the health salad!

BREAKFAST: 9am, iced green tea

LUNCH: noon, sardines and avocado on homemade wholewheat bread, health salad, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5


PM SNACK: 4pm, brown rice sushi & brown rice nori rolls, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 6pm, bowl of mixed pierogies in butter, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Finished the batch I made for the stupidbowl. 13 pieces turned out to me not that much, because I made them so small.


EVENING SNACK: 8pm, popcorn, a little caramel ice cream, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

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

Don't Mess with MY oatmeal!

Third day at work, due to V-day. Next week I'm working 3 due to President's day. Looking forward to the busy season where I'll be in the resto Mon-Wed and in class on Thursdays. Makes Edie-Day on Friday all the more delicious!

AM SNACK: 8:30am, iced green tea
The cup of Japanese "blossom" green tea I had was so great this past week, later this week I plan to acquire a whole mess of it, along with some tea-brewing equipment, and totally upgrade my tea-game.

BREAKFAST: 10:15am, Irish Oatmeal, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5
Urg, need the good oatmeal back. Good thing Edie and Betsy like this oatmeal, will make the other half of the can for them so they don't mess with MY good oatmeal!!

LUNCH: 12:15pm, 4 slices superthin pizza with mushroom & onion, 8oz sprite, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
PM SNACK: 8pm, green salad, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5
Had to single-handedly work a group of 20 for 3 hours, buffet-style while working the rest of the resto and the phones, so while I didn't work THAT hard, I couldn't stop to eat either.



DINNER: 10:30pm, burgers, fries, 3/4 of an apple pie, 2 bowls, hunger 4/5
No comment.

Smooth Smoothie

Edie's coughing was on the uptick the last day and night, and it even kept ME up a bit. Woke up 6ish with Betsy and Edie, got some weight lifting in and chores around the house before they took off to the doctor. Turns out Edles has a sinus infection, is going on anti-biotics for the first time. :(. Well, it should be cleared up in a few days, so that's good. She's so CUTE when she coughs, her mouth is a tight little puckered O shape, wah!

TODAY'S COOKING:
Smoothie: banana, green grapes, frozen mango-cherries-blueberries, the good yogurt, organic dead milk, ground flax, vanilla extract, pinch o' salt. Pretty good, as usual. Pre-ground flax really takes an inconvenient step out, I suspect the cost in nutrition is negligible.

AM SNACK: 7am, iced green tea
BREAKFAST: 9am, smoothie, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5
LUNCH: 1:15pm, 4 slices superthin pizza, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
DINNER: 5:45pm, fried shrimp with green salad, 8oz sprite, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING SNACK: 10pm, beef lomein, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING SNACK: 11:30pm, cashews and chocolate chips, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Valentine's Work

The resto was open for V-day, thought I'd wake up early to lift weights, but slept through. I've been lifting 3 days a week for a few weeks now, and am starting to feel a little bit different. Come late March, between weekly yoga and weekly bike rides, the lifting will be cut back, but for now it's a good source of physical exertion.

AM SNACK: 8:30am, iced green tea
BREAKFAST: 10am, oatmeal, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5
What the? I bought a barrel of "Irish Oatmeal", assuming it was the same thing as my beloved "steel cut" "pinhead" oats. It LOOKED the same, but when I put them on to soak, they took all the water very quickly, in a few hours instead of overnight. Now that I'm eating it, the texture is very different -- the oat lumps a are smaller, less firm, and the starchy goo that develops between the oats is....less gooey. I suspect these oats were cut smaller and maybe even parcooked then dried for quicker cooking. Bleah. I have friends who swear by this stuff, but it's just a convenience compromise that delivers an inferior final product.

LUNCH: 1pm, 4 slices superthin pizza, water
PM SNACK: 4pm, green salad, 8oz sprite, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 5pm, Jaques Torres chocolate chip cookie, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5
A server did a chocolate run down the street, as it was slow and we were all jonesing for the main culinary ingredient of the day's holiday.

PM SNACK: 6pm, small slice salad pizza
DINNER: 7:45pm, meatballs, sauce, bread, water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

I wish cheesecake was healthy in any way.

Betsy was away at a shower with my cheesecake most of the daytime, while me n' Edles got stuff done in the 'hood and around the house. Made a nice dinner for B, for after the Edles went to bed.

TODAY'S COOKING
Pasta with sauce: I'll be working v-day tomorrow, so made a batch of pasta dough, rolled and cut into very thin square spaghetti, so thin it came out more like angel hair. Took about 2 minutes to cook after an afternoon of drying. Cooked down the onions for an hour before quickly cooking the mushrooms with a little fresh garlic. Had the last of the  sauce in the freezer from November, should make a fresh batch soon.

AM SNACK: 9:30am, iced green tea


BREAKFAST: 11am, toasted pumpernickel bagel with butter and sable, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 3pm, hotdog with mustard & kraut, health salad, water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


PM SNACK: 7pm, slice of cheesecake, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
B brought me home a wedge of the cake I made for her friend's baby shower. Surprisingly, I think by luck and by accident, I made a nearly perfect NY-style cheesecake. At the last minute, I through in extra egg yolks and a few drops of lemon essence, and baked at 200 from a cold oven for about 3.5 hours. Texture was perfectly smooth and creamy, but cheesecakey firm. The slight lemon tone perfectly complimented the vanilla. The only minus was the crust -- I used store-bought 100% wholewheat graham crackers that just didn't taste right. The next cheesecakes will involve graham crackers from scratch.

DINNER: 7:45pm, homemade angel hair pasta with homemade sauce, sauteed portobellos and caramelized onion, 1 glass prosecco, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING SNACK: 10pm, handful of whole wheat graham crackers