A compliment to me or an insult to pizza

Took Edie up and down the Summerstreets event. Swung by the Knish Knosh outpost by the 72nd Street boat basin around 10am, and those bastards told me they don't have knishes until 11am! What kind of knish vendor opens at 7am but doesn't serve knishes until 11? They had a lot of bagged chips, bottles and cans, sandwiches, and hot dogs....bleah, I guess they're there to serve the tourist community just as much as they're there to serve the knish.

Ended up with B and some f amily from out of town at H&H bagels before heading back home. Lazy afternoon taking Edie out. B went out with friends in the eve, so I pretended like I was single in my 20s after Edie went to bed and ordered in food and watched TV, he he.

Made Edie an English muffin with cheddar, melted nicely under the oven's broiler. She immediately called it "pizza!", which is either a compliment to me or an insult to pizza...


BREAKFAST: 8am, brown rice crispies with organic dead milk, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5


BRUNCH: 10:30am, onion bagel with cream cheese, LT&onion, diet sprite, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5
I hate how bagel places always put too much cream cheese on the bagel, there must be a balance. I always give a small press, and all the cheese that shoots into the middle hole and around the edges gets collected in a paper napkin. What a waste.

LUNCH: 1:30pm, small amount of pork tenderloin, small potato knish, small spinach knish, health salad, pickle, water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

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

PM SNACK: 7pm, roll of Chipsahoy cookies, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 8:45pm, shrimp vindaloo with rice, nan, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Jeez, I miss English Indian food -- this stuff ordered from my local Indian is horrible, and for some reason every time I order from them, I'm surprised. The shrimp was overcooked, the vindaloo was overly vinegary and oddly bland.



EVENING SNACK: 10pm, chocolate peanut butter ice cream, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Morning vs Evening cravings

Rode out to Coney Island in the morning, lifted weights right after while still warm in the body. Ate small when my body cooled down and tried to avoid eating until meeting people for veg dim sum, but started feeling a bit light headed and groggy by 3pm, so had a snack.

Again, sweets cravings got the best of me in the evening. Hunger in the evening and sweets cravings seem to go hand in hand -- hunger in the morning isn't so sweets-focused. Hmmm.


BREAKFAST: 7:45am, toasted bagel with cream cheese, water, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5


BIKE SNACK: 10:30am, Gatorade


LUNCH: 12:45pm, large green salad, 1 small potato knish, water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


PM SNACK: 3:15pm, slice of whole wheat bread with hummus, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 4:30PM, assorted vegetarian dim sum, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5


EVENING SNACK: 7pm, 2 ice cream cones, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5


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

Sweets again

Woke up slightly sore from yesterday's morning weights -- I think I may have hit it a little harder because I knew I'd be sitting around all day. Went to a nice surprise party in the early evening with the family, ate a little bit of everything, but was craving sweets when I got home.

TODAY'S COOKING
Mint Ice Cream: I slightly overcooked the custard and had to strain out a little bit of some scrambled eggs. Tasting it this morning, for some reason this batch tasted eggier than usual. The fresh CSA mint tasted really nice, but the eggs seemed to really stand up to the mint and the vanilla for some reason.

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

AM SNACK: 9:30am, a few spoonfuls of mint ice cream

LUNCH: 12:15pm, breaded tilapia, small potato knish, small spinach knish, health salad, pickle, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5 

DINNER: 5:30pm, bacon wrapped olives, stinky cheese on crackers, 1 beer, handful of carrots, cucumber and peppers, handful of nuts, a couple of chicken fingers, a snippet of steak, , .75 bowl, hunger 4/5 


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


EVENING SNACK: 10pm, large wedge of watermelon

Sweets Will Not Be Ignored

Had a good eating day more or less, despite spending a good portion of the day hiding in a movie theater. I probably had the nicest meal of anyone sneaking food in! Knocked out some cooking when I got home.


TODAY'S COOKING:
Mint Ice Cream Custard: Had a huge bunch of mint from the CSA, simmered it's leaves in a quart of half and half and a cup of sugar for about an hour. Three vanilla beans and a dozen egg yolks thickened it up nice.
Health Salad: Had a head of cabbage from the CSA that had to go somewhere.
Roasted Fingerling Potatoes: CSA potatoes, halved and dressed in olive oil and spices with chunks of CSA garlic and onion. Threw in some random spices, cumin, coriander, chili powder, came out nice.

BREAKFAST: 9am, smoothie, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5
Frozen bananas are a bitch to blend.

LUNCH: noon, sliced roast pork tenderloin, 3 small knishes, 2 pickles, water, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5


PM SNACK: 2pm, granola, small bite of chocolate, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 7pm, large green salad, roasted fingerling potatoes, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING SNACK: 8pm, large piece of watermelon, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5 


EVENING SNACK: 10pm, peanuts & chocolate chips, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5
I really hoped the watermelon would dampen my sugar cravings, but....it didn't.

Snatch

Good day, food shopping in the morning, out with Edie to Ikea via ferry in the afternoon, cooked a bit during nap time.

TODAY'S COOKING
Papa Salad: A proper chopped salad with red leaf, ice berg, carrot, pepper, cucumber, scallion and onion. Just like my dad used to make.
Pork Tenderloin: Did this recipe again, made a few little adjustments, came out damn near perfect. I gotta make this for people

Multigrain Wholewheat bread: In the bread machine, which hasn't seen the light of day in a while, but it sure is cheap, fresher and lacking in chemical ingredients that I'd get elsewhere.

BREAKFAST: 8:45am, 4 mini pancakes, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5


LUNCH: 1:15pm, pork tenderloin, whole wheat bread, 2 pickles, water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 5pm, large green salad, singapore mai fun, chocolate ice cream, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5 
Skipped meatballs at Ikea due to the porky lunch, but I've been kinda craving Chinese since last week's bike ride, so rather than call-in a brick, I picked up a pint on the way home and matched it with something healthy. Unfortunately, B requested ice cream and ended up eating it up after snatching it from her.

Umami Dinner

227.4--->221.0--->221.0

My weight has remained the same for the past month, but I didn't eat much yesterday, so I suspect I might be a little heavier. Still, it's good that I've maintained despite the increase in sweets and heavy foods I've run to this past month. July is a time for summer foods, but with the upset I had in June with the leaving of the job, the refocusing on the home cooking and finding myself making stuff like baked ziti and rice & beans, it's almost surprising I haven't gained more weight.

The good: ate a lot less restaurant and take out food, replaced it with home cooking, using upwards of 90% of each CSA delivery each week, consistently hitting the weights 3x a week, getting in 50-100 miles a week on the bike.

The bad: my sweets consumption has pretty much increased to daily, my vegetable, fruit and greens intake are too low.

So to be honest, eating less restaurant/take out and and more home cooking is not really a challenge -- it is my new reality until I find myself in a new position at a restaurant or somewhere else. The challenge to focus on this month is to, say, restrict sweets consumption to three days a week, and increase my intake of dark greens and/or fruit and/or raw vegetables to one a day. I guess I should start making vegetable salads again, and lean on that big bag of frozen spinach.

Lifted weights in the morning, nice 30 mile ride in the afternoon. Should of eaten more on the earlier end.

TODAY'S COOKING:
Pasta a la Papa: Very happy how this off-the-cuff pasta came out, worth making again. Sauteed 2 large diced onions in olive oil & salt, added sliced container of baby bella mushrooms. In the last 4 minutes, sprinkled with dried oregano and thyme. Last minute, crushed 4 cloves of garlic into it. Drained 1 lb of tri-color rotelle into hot pot, added sauteed veg, a healthy shot of Worcestershire, about a cup of freshly grated Parmesan cheese. Finished with a large pat of butter swished around until melted, and a few healthy turns of a pepper mill.

Writing this down, I see why it's so good. There are 3 big sources of umami - the cheese, the mushrooms, and the Worcestershire. (Doesn't hurt that I was really hungry from a day on the bike!)

BREAKFAST: 10:15am, pumpernickel bagel with cream cheese, water, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

BIKE LUNCH: 2:30pm, street pretzel, Gatorade, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 6:30pm, rotelle pasta with mushroom, onion & parm, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5


EVENING SNACK: 8:30pm, dark chocolate & cashews, brown rice crispies & organic dead milk, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5


EVENING SNACK: midnight, good peanut butter and nutella, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Anniversary

Didn't get much sleep, probably the effects of the meager 1.5 beers I had before late dinner last night. B,E & I went out for brunch this morning at Bubby's in DUMBO, where we got married and next to the park we had out first date/where I proposed. Today was our 6th anniversary, though for some reason until she told me, I thought it was our 5th.

Our six years can be divided neatly into three eras:

• First 2 years: Meet n' greet
• Second 2 years: Married n' harried
• Third 2 years: Edie indeedy!

I guess the fourth 2 years will be all about juggling 2 bebes and stuff. I'm very lucky to have snookered such a great gal to marry me, and even luckier to have such a wunder-bebe with her.

And so endeth July. I weigh in tomorrow, I suspect I'm a few pounds heavier, but physically I still feel good, muscles more toned than they've ever been, core-strength has increased a little, arms and shoulders feel slightly beefier. Working out three days a week on weights to the point of soreness the next day is something I should have started doing years ago. I have some thoughts about my eating patterns of late, I guess I'll go into that and the challenges tomorow.

Fell asleep at the tv around 7, a few hours later picked myself up and put myself to bed.

AM SNACK: 8:45am, handful of chocolate covered espresso beans

BRUNCH: 10:45am, pancakes, potatoes, sausage, pie, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

LINNER: 4:45pm, hotdog, knish, water, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5