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.