Oatmeal Reverie

Last night was rough: an email came in late from Edie's school that due to a bed bug situation, the school will be shut down for two weeks...ugh, parent problems. MAP & D came over with gifts from abroad and helped entertain Edie while B & Mil slept. I was supposed to go to a party with the ice cream cake, but me and Mil stayed behind and tried to sleep. TV in the evening, sleep around 11.

TODAY'S COOKING:
Steel cut oatmeal: For expediency, I cooked it up in the microwave, with a dash of salt, butter and brown sugar. Wow, I forgot what a perfect food that oatmeal can be, especially when it's seasoned and flavored correctly -- it tastes healthy, in a way that makes you want to be healthy every day of the week. Though salt, butter and brown sugar is considered "sinful", the oaty flavor is so complimentary to them with only a slight nudge. Why the packets of flavored oatmeal over salt, over sweeten and add creepy shiz to approximate what I just did in the microwave bowl astounds me -- I know why they do it (hello, capitalism!) but it's still amazing people eat it and think, "this is oatmeal."

I put on 4 cups of steel cut with 12 cups of boiling water, table spoon of salt, 1 oz of brown sugar and 1/4 cup of butter, turned off the heat and going to let it sit overnight. Tomorrow, with a minute reheat in the zapper (vs. the 8 minutes it took this morning), I'm gonna have perfect oatmeal on tap for the next few weeks.

AM SNACK: 8:30am, iced green tea, chocolate covered espresso beans


BREAKFAST: 9:30am, steel cut oatmeal, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 12:30pm, snippet of knish, a few whole wheat crackers


LUNCH: 3:15pm, large green salad, large chocolate coin, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 6pm, orechiette pasta with spinach, shrimp and asiago cheese, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING SNACK: 7:30pm, mint ice cream, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Despite Chaos, still produced a nice cake.

Due to a bed bug scare at Edie's school, class was cancelled with little notice. B went off to get her hair did, I strapped on the Mil and strapped Edie in to a stroller, and went to another parent's house for a playdate (good thing I had fresh knishes on hand to be sociable with!) Afterwards, the three of us did some light food shopping and strolled to a neighborhood friend of the Knishery to deliver some complimentary knishes in exchange for a sample of their family's favorite "mince" (cut up dried fruit reconstituted with juice and booze). In ER Park, Edie refused to sleep, but was able to take off her jacket, shoes, socks, clawed her way out of the straps and went for the cutest barefoot run along the river -- I had to chase after her and reshod her, while a sleeping baby was strapped to my chest. It was both annoying, fun, exciting, tiring and silly. Despite me being officially scolding, I could not be more proud of the happiness, energy, excitement and joy that my daughter exudes.

Picked up some slices on the way home, and after eating, whipped up a fancy dessert for a friend's kid's birthday party tomorrow. B came home, and we got on with it.


TODAY'S COOKING:
Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream Cake: A friend gave us a cheesecake in a collared pan last week, and we're going to their house tomorrow for their 3 yr old's party, so I thought it would be nice to return the pan, with something in it. Baked a simple chocolate flourless cake and froze it. Made a batch of mint ice cream, steeped 2 bunches of mint for an hour before cookingin the eggs. Added a few drops of green food coloring simply because this is a kid's party and, well, mint ice cream should be weirdly green at a kid's party. Did that in the early afternoon. In the evening churned the ice cream, added some chocolate chips and poured over the cake in the pan to set in the freezer over night.


AM SNACK: 8:30am, iced green tea

AM SNACK: 10:30-11:30am, handful of cookies

LUNCH: 2:30pm, 2 slices streetza, large green salad, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 6:30pm, spinach knish, fried potato knish, health salad, pickles, 3 chicken nuggets, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5


EVENING SNACK: 7:30pm, mint chocolate chip ice cream, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Dough Boy, I am, I am.

228.2--->231.0

No surprise on the weight gain -- since the baby came on the 10th, I have not ridden a bike (other than for transportation), have not lifted any weights (other than an 8 lb baby and a 30 lb toddler on occasion) and have been eating quite poorly, in large quantities. But the I suspect the tide is turning.

Two things exciting on the knish front today: one, this was published, and two, I made a round of experimental deep-fried knishes that were much better right off the bat than I expected them to be. More importantly, I made filling for, and cooked off, about 72 knishes while dealing with an infant who needed constant feeding, burping, touching and the occasional put-down for sleep, and it went ok, except for maybe a Baby Bjorn that ended up covered in flour.

TODAY'S COOKING
Spinach Knishes & NY Style Knishes: I had left over dough to use up from the Thanksgiving knishes, so made nice batch of spinach/potato filling -- if I'm going to eat knishes AND be healthy, a knish with more than 1/3 very nutrition-dense greenery seems smarter than, say, a chicken skin knish. But looking ahead to the future, took a crack at the square 'Gabila' style fried knish, the kind that used to be sold at all hot dog carts (and you can still find them on occasion.) I used the same dough, the same plain potato filling, just wrapped it totally and in a square. Used hot oil - 450, because it didn't need to cook through, just needed to crisp the dough -- hotter and shorter fry means less oil is absorbed. On the first bite I knew that this was special. Hmmmm. How American of me.

AM SNACK: 7:30am, iced green tea

LUNCH: 1pm, 2 spinach knishes, large green salad, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


AFTERNOON SNACK: 4:30pm, 3/4 NY style knish, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 7:30pm, sushi, shumai, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
After cooking all day, needed to order in. Few things more fun than having your 2.5 year old daughter sample sushi and shumai for the first time. Fortunately, I was paying attention when she was about to put the little green ball of wasabi in her mouth, and prevented a night's worth of misery on every one's part.

Feeling Lardy

Food shopping after Edie delivered to school. Taught pizza at school in the afternoon. Feeling lardy, took a solid step back to healthier eating today. Now have to magically find the time and energy to start lifting weights again.


TODAY'S COOKING
Health Salad: Got to get some healthier eating back on line, craving vegetables. Made the big green salad, also made a big bowl of cabbage slaw, haven't done this in too long -- and now it's season appropriate!

AM SNACK: 8am, iced green tea


BREAKFAST: 10am, smoothie, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


LUNCH: 1pm, breaded tilapia fillet, health salad, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

SCHOOL FOOD: 3-7pm, various bits of pizza, lemon aide, a few oreos, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


EVENING SNACK: 10pm, graham crackers, pretzels,.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

More juggling

Had a rough night with GI tract issues, fortunately B took care of things in the morning and I was able to sleep until 11:15am -- with out which I would have probably been groggy, sick and achy. Spent the early afternoon looking after Mil and watching TV while B got her sleep in, then picked up Edie with Mil and took them to a playroom while it rained out. It was a bit of a juggling act, and only was able to keep it contained for about 30 minutes before we had to head home.


BREAKFAST: 11:30am, iced green tea, chocolate covered espresso beans, toasted bagel & cream cheese, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

LINNER: 4:30pm, meat tortellini with a little sauce & grated cheese, cheesecake, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

DNACK: 9pm, 2 slices of frozen pizza, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Good intentions turn to cheese cake

Ate extremely poorly today, due to the chaos of figuring out the 2-kid thing, running out of salad and fresh veg at home, the building lack of exercise and lack of sleep. I originally intended to go out biking today due to good weather but just felt to run down and fuzzy after dropping Edie at school. Didn't eat much, but when the 4 of us were out on the town, had a meal of greasy pizza with a fig leaf of salad on it. Intended to have a good dinner, but between a lack of fresh produce and a cheesecake from a friend showing up, that was derailed. I was up late with stomach issues....

Soon, I must get back on the weight lifting thing, and fill the fridge with some fruit and veg...

AM SNACK: 7:30am, iced green tea, small handful of chocolate covered espresso beans

PM SNACK: 2pm, potato chips, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 3:30pm, 2 slices of pizza, green salad, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5


EVENING SNACK: 7pm, cheesecake, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

Juggling

Woke up groggy, got Edie out in the morning, went to the local diner, then took off to DUMBO on bike to hang out with K for a couple of hours. Edie fell asleep on the ride over and had an early nap, and on the way home picked up a lunch at my favorite cheapy dumpling house in Chinatown. The afternoon saw a low key family outing to the local park, and the evening saw a lot of juggling getting various little ones fed and to sleep. Not tiresome, but tired.

AM SNACK: 9:30am, iced green tea

BREAKFAST: 10:45am, corn muffin, bacon, diet coke, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5


LUNCH: 2pm, shrimp fried rice, pork dumplings, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 9pm, french fries, pickle, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5