Hell Ride, courtesy of the MTA

Spent the early morning applying frosting to the cupcakes, then a painfully twisting ride by various modes of public transportation to Greenpoint -- a 20 minute bike ride became a blindingly epic 1 3/4 hour slog by train and shuttlebus with 3 transfers total. Nice brunch with B's friend's, and one with a car drove us home after, a total of about 10 minutes back.

Unfortunately when we got back around 3, I fell asleep on the couch and B fell asleep on Edie's bed with Edie in her arms...meaning a total of 3 hour nap for Edles. When I got up, I ate a small homemade burrito (the last one in the freezer) and took Edie out for a late night swing -- all the way to 7pm!

I picked up a pint of ben & jerries on the way home, and I was tempted to order in, but the double whammy of fast food AND a lot of ice cream struck me less as fun and more like abuse. So I cooked up some frozen spinach, finished the left over pasta and baked up a piece of fish. By the time B gave up trying to get Edie to bed around 9:30, I felt comfortable and satiated. I let Edie wander around her room and sing in the dark while I camped out on her comfy bed until she announced "Sleep game!" and crawled into the crook of my arm and fell asleep, around 10:30. Ahhhhhh.


BREAKFAST: 8:30am, iced green tea, 3 small cupcakes, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5


LUNCH: noon, 1.5 bagels with cream cheese and tomato & onion, 1/2 glass prosecco, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5


PM SNACK: 6pm, small burrito, multigrain tortilla chips, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 8pm, breaded tilapia, cooked spinach, pasta, pint of ice cream, water, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

Pushy Knish!

A good day, made it to Bay Ridge while Edie was in school, and did a few chores and baking in the afternoon. Betsy was out with friends in the evening, and I enjoyed getting Edie through dinner, bath and bed around 8:30. As life proceeds, she becomes more and more less like a baby and more like a miniature person...

TODAY'S COOKING
Cupcakes & frosting: Wanted to make cupcakes for a brunch with some of B's friend's tomorrow. Used this and this recipe, neither of which knocked my socks off but were solid traditional recipes. It does make me amazed how people waste money on mixes and canned frosting when it's relatively easy to make from scratch.


AM SNACK: 7:30am, iced green tea
I'm really happy with this batch, just sweet enough, slightly umami mouth feel, very subtle hint of the earthy green tea flavor.

BREAKFAST: 9:45am, waffle, bacon, hot tea, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Out in Bay Ridge visiting old friend P at the Bay View Diner. It's a different world out there.

PM SNACK: 1pm, potato knish, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Edie & I went straight home after school because of the rain. I unpacked her lunch bag and it seemed she ate most of everything except the quartered potato knish that B packed for her. I had a little nibble of the cold knish, and it actually tasted really good, and I finished it -- just the kind of response I'm looking for! Earlier versions didn't have that PUSH to it, this one does. Needs a little pepper to round it, but over all v5.0 is a zillion times better than the beta version...

LUNCH: 1:45pm, green salad, multigrain tortilla chips, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 3:15pm, 2 donuts, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5
Sweet afternoon snack to hopefully cut down in the evening. From the local good place, one chocolate and one "oatmeal", which was gross. It was too healthy and too unhealthy all at once. On one hand, it had toasted rolled oats stuck on by a very sweet glaze, and the actual donut had bits of candied fruit. All in all, like over sweetened industrial oatmeal or granola bar.


DINNER: 6pm, 2 hamburgers, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Got 1/2 lb of chopped meat from the new Heritage Meats stall in the Essex St Market, a mix of chuck and brisket from grass-fed organic blah blah blah animals. Mixed with a little grated onion, Worcestershire, salt and pepper and a shot of siracha, which I regret as I didn't like it that spicy. I also regret picking up a few generic rolls from the local supermarket, bad bread ruins a burger. Still, the meat was definitely just as good as if I ground it at home, it was tasty and firm and fresh.


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

Knish 5.0

Betsy stayed home yesterday and slept, and I got Edie fed, bathed and to sleep by 9:30. The Sleep Game involved more getting her toy monkeys to sleep than herself, but it was still a good transition from up and playing to lights off and in bed. Unfortunately, I had some gastric distress and was up until after midnight. It continued this morning and had to have B take Edie to school.

Felt a bit better mid morning, got laundry done, lifted weights, started on knish fillings. L, who gave the knish lecture in the early summer who inspired me, came over for dinner to taste my knishes. Overwhelmingly positive feedback, and she & B got along like a house on fire, but I know they're not perfect yet, but coming along.


TODAY'S COOKING
Knishes: Potato, broc-ched-potato, spinach-potato & mushroom potato.

AM SNACK: 7:30am, iced green tea


BREAKFAST: 10am, smoothie, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Hit the spot. Milk, greek yogurt, banana, grapes, blueberries, mango, cherries, vanilla extract, flax. Forgot salt, still pretty good.

LUNCH: 1:15pm, large green salad, falafels, small spinach knish, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5 

DINNER: 5:45pm, 4 halves of 4 different knishes, seltzer, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING SNACK: 7:30pm, peanuts & chocoalte chips, corn chips, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

The Sleep Game

Last night went much better. Betsy was asleep in our room, she left work early and felt totally blown out, and being she's so pregnant, did not want to push it. By 9pm, after a bath and playtime and a meal and 2 extra mini meals after, Edie just didn't want to go to sleep. So as we were at the kitchen table, I asked her if I could go to sleep. She said, "No!" So I put my head on the table, then she put her head on the table. A light bulb went off, and I said, "OK, now we are going to play the sleep game!" Edie exclaimed, "Sleep game! Sleep game!" I brought her to her room, put down the shades, got under the covers with her and turned off the lights. "Now we pretend we're asleep!! Zzzzzzz!" She imitated me, and within 5 minutes, she was fast asleep in my arms. -sigh-


TODAY'S COOKING
Tomato Sauce: Made a big round to last a while. Sauteed 4 chopped onions in olive oil to soft, added 2 finely grated carrots until cooked, then minced bunch of fresh oregano and fresh basil from the CSA. Added 4 large cans of whole peeled tomatoes right through a food mill, then added 2 full heads of roasted garlic, mashed up by hand. A shot of balsamic, a healthy dash of salt, simmer for about 45 minutes then cool to room temp to pack for the freezer. Gosh, I remember when me & my dad did this, we'd have all 4 burners going with 4 big pots, and we'd make enough to last 6 months. I think the next round I should try to mimic his recipe, which involved tomato paste, Italian sweet peppers, and a jar of cheap spaghetti sauce as a base...it was more like extending the jar of sauce as much as making something from scratch...


Knish filling & dough: For round 5.0, I'm caramelizing 5 lbs of onions in the oven instead of the stovetop, boiling the potatoes and adding extra shortening and a few whole eggs to see how the final comes out.


Green Tea: Just made 2 gallons with high quality stuff, 1/4 cup sugar in each gallon to hide the bitterness of my poor brewing skills. Definitely will be nice to wake up to again.


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

AM SNACK: 11:45am, homemade brownie


LUNCH: 2:15pm, large green salad, lame Trader Joes frozen pizza, pickle, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 7:30pm, capellini pasta with sauce, vanilla ice cream, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

Not enough sleep

Edie had a bad night, up hootin' & hollerin' in the middle of the night. B worked on it for a while, but eventually let me take over. I fell asleep in her room in her new bed with her in my arms, it was soooo nice after such drama. However, we woke up late, Edie was an hour late to school. I had to decompress at the local diner before doing some food shopping and picking Edie up from school.

TODAY'S COOKING:
Brownies: the standard recipe, to be given out as samples, compared to Lil' Debbie, tomorrow at school. I learned the hard way last year they really need to be refrigerated overnight, or they crumble when cut...

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


LUNCH: 1:45pm, pork tonkatsu and curry rice, pork dumplings, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK:  4:45pm, bag of peanutbutter cups, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


EVENING SNACK: 8pm, peanutbutter & pumpernickel pretzels, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5


EVENING SNACK: 10pm, chicken nuggets, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

Done In

Lifted weights while Edie was in class, rode out to Coney in the afternoon. Tried to eat some doughnuts to head off sugar cravings in the evening, but I think a calorie deficit and a lack of salad did me in.


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

LUNCH: 12:30pm, rice noodles & fishball, 2 lotus lea wrap, water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


PM SNACK: 4:15pm, 2 donuts, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
A sweet snack in hopes of delaying dinner and avoiding sweets as the last thing before bed.


DINNER: 6:45pm, falafels & hummus, pickle, some stinky cheese, hot dog, scoop of vanilla ice cream, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4.5


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

Flop

Well, this was not the day I expected to have. Woke up at 4:30am, good weather, felt good. Bike prepped and ready, all indications it was gonna be a swell 100 mile all-day ride on the NYC Century. Eating caffeine at 5am, lots of kerfuffle in the bedrooms, Edie up and crying, Betsy up and blown-out from waking up multiple times during the night. We removed a side from Edie's crib, since she almost escaped it yesterday, but having that side missing had her roll out of the crib a few times and made for a bad night.

Though I really wanted to just get hopped up on beans and ride like crazy at 5:30am, there was no way I could just split on my very pregnant wife and very cranky daughter. So I ditched, B went to bed and I hung out and played with Edie for a few hours until B woke up, then I crashed out, and all of a sudden it was noon. We ended up getting a sitter at the last minute and borrowing a friend's car, and we made it out to Ikea to get a proper twin bed for Edie -- there is no way I want another night like that for any of us.

-sigh- Edie has started school last week. This week she graduates to a big girl bed. Her language has rocketed, she says things every day that I did not specifically recall teaching her, she just absorbs language out of the air. Her latest phrases are "I do not like it!" and "Get out of the shower!" I love her so much, she is so great. And she likes pizza, too.

This bike season sure is a big ol' flop, I haven't ridden this little since my parents passed. I imagine I won't be pushing 100 mile weeks back to back until #2 is in school...for now, I guess I'll have to focus on lifting more, eating less and getting rides in when I can.

AM SNACK: 5am, chocolate covered coffee beans, water, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5


BRUNCH: noon, pancakes & sausage, water, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5


LUNCH: 4:30pm, beef huarache, water, 1 bowl, hunger 3/5
The one bright spot of the trip to Ikea is that we got to swing by the ball field vendors for some good South American food.

DINNER: 8pm, slice of cold pizza, water, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5


EVENING SNACK: 10:30pm, cheese danish thing, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5