Pretty lucky

The scene I witnessed yesterday made the cover of the NY Post -- oddly pushing coverage of the passage of gay marriage in NY State off the front page. The woman lost her job and her boyfriend dumped her on the same day, and I think the article mentioned she was only living in the building for a week, so I imagine that could have been an unstable situation, too. I'm a pretty lucky guy.

A little sore from lifting yesterday, which is a good thing -- soreness means the lifting is making a difference. And Gawd knows so many people work out mindlessly with out the push to get out of the comfort zone, and wondering why nothing changes. Something is changing!




TODAY'S COOKING:
Machta Ice Tea: Haven't had tea in a while, time to get back on that horse. 1.8 ounce of the stuff was $16, so I think I'm going to either switch or find it in bulk on-line, like I do with uber-expensive vanilla beans. In the meantime, I used .9 ounce to steep a gallon of water, but I noticed on the packaging the leaves can be used twice. So though it'll fill the fridge up for a while, it's a good efficiency.
Mint Ice Cream: Made the custard yesterday with mint we got from the CSA. Tastes pretty damn fresh, and the extra vanilla bean doesn't hurt.
Chocolate Chip cookies: How does one define a chocolate chip cookie? Chocolate chips, sure. Vanilla flavor cookie, ok. Equal parts brown and white sugar creamed with butter, that's key. It's such a constricted formula, but it tastes so good!
Rice & Lentils: Wanted a side dish for burritos. Dumped a 2 cups of shortgrain brown rice and 1 cup of black lentils into the rice cooker with 8 cups of water, salt, smoked paprika, ground up some dried mushrooms, onion powder and white pepper. Came out pretty tasty.

BREAKFAST: 9am, banana


LUNCH: 1:15pm, watermelon, pasta with sauce and a little cheese, a spoonful of mint ice cream, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 3:30pm, a beer, a slice of pizza, a small square of blackbean brownie, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 8:30pm, 2 homemade burritos, brown rice & lentils, water, 4 chocolate chip cookies, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

OOFAH!

When Edie jumps on me in the morning, the noise I make when the air is pushed out of my chest is, more or less, "OOFAH!" Now Edie likes running up to me or B with a slap/hug and shouts "OOFAH!"

Well, I left the restaurant, and while I did give 2 weeks notice, my last day was this past Monday, with the drama and silliness I expected from a boss with whom my relationship was rather odd and always sort of unstable for the two years I worked with him. Basically, for the past several weeks the wind has been knocked out of me in slow motion, and is only slowly coming back to me in the same sluggish way.

I've been taking it easy this week, and B has been spectacularly supportive, the best wife/friend/life partner/mom I could have ever hoped to meet (and marry & impregnate & stuff!) I don't know if the wallowing and the existential crisis and the feeling-sorry-for-myself is over yet, but I'm starting to come back to normal, and have a more positive outlook. I lifted weights this morning for the first time in weeks, felt good. Got a call about a potential gig from a contact last night, don't know if it's for me but taking a meeting next week.

My family is in good health. Our home is clean and comfortable. And I don't ever have to go back to work for that guy. My three goals: cook some, see friends I've neglected lately, and slowly ease into a work search.


BRUNCH: 11:15am, small pastrami sandwich, a little lomein, a little coleslaw, pickle, a cheesy cracker, a few weird multigrain pringles, a bite of pizza, a forkful of pizza, a spoonful of ice cream, .75 bowl, hunger 45
Edie graduated from her NYC funded early learning and literacy program, which she has been attending twice a week for the past 3 months or so. B came, and there was a parent-donated spread, which was fun to graze through.

After dropping B off at the subway, we came upon a dramatic scene at the corner of Canal and Essex. The entire intersection was roped off with police tape, and hundreds of people were standing around looking at a roof. We joined the crowd and looked, and there was a young Asian woman sitting awkwardly on the edge of a building, while two beefy cops seemed to be talking to her. After a couple of minutes, she started gesturing and seemed to start sliding off, when the cops grabbed her and dragged her out of view. There was a collective gasp, then a collective cheer. Walking away as the crowd dispersed, I couldn't help but think why she was there. It's easy to dismiss as simply a crazy person, but what if it was something else? Family problems? Lost her job? Lost her life savings? Betrayal? Made a mistake she can't live with? Who knows? It's sad. My times are hard right now, but not in a jump-off-the-roof hard. Thank goodness for B&E! And the foundation my parents gave me. And my friends. And my bicycles.

DINNER: 6:25pm, 4 small homemade burritos, seared shrimp, water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Made blackbeans overnight a couple of days ago, nice and thick and tasty. Today made some guac and grated some mild cheddar, wrapped them in small whole wheat tortillas. Skipped the rice. Between the intensity of the beans and the onioniness of the guac, think these are my best yet. Betsy got rather upset about the heavy oily shrimp steam released into the house, agitating her impregnated state. Man, no meal without heavy emotional drama today.....

EVENING SNACK: midnight, cheese steak, watermelon, chocolate chip & peanuts, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Feeling relaxed in a quiet house, got the munchies and went to town. Not the healthiest eating day nutritionally, but definitely a healing day emotionally. Gotta get down on some salad yo.