Out with B and the inlaws, we went to Olive Garden for lunch. I've never been, and though I've read all sorts of things about it (in sum: genius business, horrible food) and was a little curious. B's brother is a big fan, particularly for the unlimited soup-salad-bread stick deal.
I was first impressed by how pleasant the dining room was, and the service was pretty great. There were some cheesy touches, sure, but over all chill. I noticed first thing ours, and all the other, tables were huge, which makes sense -- the plates are huge, the portions are huge, and if a table were to order apps, entrees deserts on top of the soups, salads, and bread, there wouldn't be an inch to spare.
Three of us four just ordered soup/salad, and I was kinda surprised how not good it was. The salad was mostly iceberg lettuce, with some red onion, tomato and peppericinis thrown in. Dressing was mild and generic Italian. And the olives -- for a place called "the Olive Garden", I'd think this would be a big deal, but they were extremely mild, almost flavorless black olives from a can, the kind of olives for people who hate olives.
The bread sticks were freshly baked, but tasted of retarder and softeners, and lots of salt and salty cheese and garlic salt. By the end of the meal when they cooled, they tasted 3 times gummier. I ordered a "Zuppa Toscana", which was a version of Farro & Sausage I've made many times with my students. Salty, oddly watered down, a cream base that kinda fought the potato and sausage, very mild flavored. I took a bite of B's cheese ravioli, which was kinda off -- like Chef Boyardee outta the can.
Looking over the menu, I couldn't believe some of the stuff on there -- deep fried, breaded lasagna?! And none of it was cheap, most entrees around $20. Olives for people who hate olives, Italian food for people who don't really like, well, food. Very odd. Still, I enjoyed it, as it was efficient, clean, spacious and they gave Edie crayons and a sheet to play with when we got there. I imagine if I ordered an entree, I would have blown my stomach at -- with two servings of salad and 3 bread sticks (and about half my soup, though that too was unlimited), it was enough to stop me from being hungry.
AM SNACK: 8:30am, iced green tea
BREAKFAST: 9:30am, good granola with organic dead milk, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5
LUNCH: 1:30pm, salad, soup, bread sticks, Andes chocolate mints, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
DINNER: 6:30pm, breaded shrimp, baked potato, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Had some potatoes laying around from knish making -- eating baked potato triggered two thoughts. One, this was a common side dish my mom would make, with a little butter and salt, and brought me back. The other thought was the taste of unadulterated potato --- in my potato knish, there is shortening, egg, salt, pepper and caramelized onion to alter and accentuate the consistency and flavor, while here there is little interfere.
EVENING SNACK: 9pm, peanuts & chocolate chips, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Saturday, January 14
Friday, January 13
Reimagining momma-style salad.
Visited a friend in DUMBO in the morning with Mil, then off to the doc for Mil's 2 month check in (all is well.) Picked up Edie from school but it was too cold and bitter to stay out.
Upped my veg & fruit game today, thinking of strategies to keep this a little more of a habit. I think it's time for the return, and perhaps the further development of the the momma-style salad. My default is how my dad made salad -- lettuce based, finely chopped, dressed and eaten with a fork, many ingredients. My mom's style, however, was few items (usually carrot, cucumber and bell pepper) cut into large chunks and dressed with nothing but a sprinkle of salt, maybe a drop of olive oil, eaten with fingers. I think it'll be fun to explore some vegetable options to add to this, figure out some more interesting but simple ways of dressing. I've never made this kind of salad other than for immediate eating, perhaps I can make it in quantity to eat over a few days...
TODAY'S COOKING
Pasta with spinach and roasted garlic: This meal is not so remarkable, except for Edie's reaction. Boiled up some tri-color fusilli, sauteed frozen garlic with olive oil, red pepper flakes, salt, roasted two heads of going-bad garlic in the oven for two hours, and combined all with a cup of freshly grated parm and a little bit of tomato sauce, just enough to give a coat and a subtle tomato hint, not saucy. Finished with a splash of olive oil.
I was content to eat this in front of a video screen, as the fam had already eaten. Edie was running around burning off energy, and as she is wont to do, runs up to me and says, "Want it! Want papa food!" So I give her bit off my fork, she runs out, runs back in and shouts, "I love it papa! More!" And this repeats about 10 times or so, just gobbling up my spinachy pasta. A whole 'nuther level of cooking satisfaction!
AM SNACK: 7am, iced green tea
AM SNACK: 7:45am, banana bread, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5
BREAKFAST: 10:30am, wholewheat bagel with cream cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
LUNCH: 1:45pm, fruit smoothie, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
PM SNACK: 3:45pm, momma style salad, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5
PM SNACK: 4:45pm, 3 bagel-wrapped mini hot dogs
DINNER: 6:30pm, pasta with spinach and roasted garlic, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
EVENING SNACK: 8pm, chocolate chips & peanuts, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Upped my veg & fruit game today, thinking of strategies to keep this a little more of a habit. I think it's time for the return, and perhaps the further development of the the momma-style salad. My default is how my dad made salad -- lettuce based, finely chopped, dressed and eaten with a fork, many ingredients. My mom's style, however, was few items (usually carrot, cucumber and bell pepper) cut into large chunks and dressed with nothing but a sprinkle of salt, maybe a drop of olive oil, eaten with fingers. I think it'll be fun to explore some vegetable options to add to this, figure out some more interesting but simple ways of dressing. I've never made this kind of salad other than for immediate eating, perhaps I can make it in quantity to eat over a few days...
TODAY'S COOKING
Pasta with spinach and roasted garlic: This meal is not so remarkable, except for Edie's reaction. Boiled up some tri-color fusilli, sauteed frozen garlic with olive oil, red pepper flakes, salt, roasted two heads of going-bad garlic in the oven for two hours, and combined all with a cup of freshly grated parm and a little bit of tomato sauce, just enough to give a coat and a subtle tomato hint, not saucy. Finished with a splash of olive oil.
I was content to eat this in front of a video screen, as the fam had already eaten. Edie was running around burning off energy, and as she is wont to do, runs up to me and says, "Want it! Want papa food!" So I give her bit off my fork, she runs out, runs back in and shouts, "I love it papa! More!" And this repeats about 10 times or so, just gobbling up my spinachy pasta. A whole 'nuther level of cooking satisfaction!
AM SNACK: 7am, iced green tea
AM SNACK: 7:45am, banana bread, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5
BREAKFAST: 10:30am, wholewheat bagel with cream cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
LUNCH: 1:45pm, fruit smoothie, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
PM SNACK: 3:45pm, momma style salad, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5
PM SNACK: 4:45pm, 3 bagel-wrapped mini hot dogs
DINNER: 6:30pm, pasta with spinach and roasted garlic, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
EVENING SNACK: 8pm, chocolate chips & peanuts, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Thursday, January 12
Special K is a sugar trap
Lifted weights with a few pauses to juggle the baby, felt good. It sucks I lost so much strength capacity in the two months off, but hopefully it'll come back fast -- the only good thing is being able to make myself sore for two days off one session, which is direct evidence that it's working.
AM SNACK: 7:45am, iced green tea
BREAKFAST: 9:45am, Special K with organic dead milk, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Funny how this is supposedly one of the "healthier" of the big national brands, but tastes overwhelmingly sweet compared to the organic whole-grainy small brand stuff I usually eat. Even compared to the granola I make, this stuff comes off sweet. I picked up this box because it reminded me of what my parents use to pick up, but ugh, never again.
LUNCH: 12:30pm, 2 slices of vegany pizza, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Stopped by Viva Herbal for their faux-pizza, spelt crust, no cheese, seitan and lots of roasted veg on top.
DINNER: 5:15pm, breaded shrimp, health salad, momma style salad, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Gotta up my vegetable game, so cut up some cucumber, red bell pepper and red onion into large pieces and mixed them with baby carrots, did the trick.
EVENING SNACK: 7:45pm, chocolate chips & peanuts, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5
AM SNACK: 7:45am, iced green tea
BREAKFAST: 9:45am, Special K with organic dead milk, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Funny how this is supposedly one of the "healthier" of the big national brands, but tastes overwhelmingly sweet compared to the organic whole-grainy small brand stuff I usually eat. Even compared to the granola I make, this stuff comes off sweet. I picked up this box because it reminded me of what my parents use to pick up, but ugh, never again.
LUNCH: 12:30pm, 2 slices of vegany pizza, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Stopped by Viva Herbal for their faux-pizza, spelt crust, no cheese, seitan and lots of roasted veg on top.
DINNER: 5:15pm, breaded shrimp, health salad, momma style salad, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Gotta up my vegetable game, so cut up some cucumber, red bell pepper and red onion into large pieces and mixed them with baby carrots, did the trick.
EVENING SNACK: 7:45pm, chocolate chips & peanuts, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Wednesday, January 11
Brisketing
Woke up at 7 to the normal business of 2 kids and a wife, and was relieved to find that I felt much better than when I got to bed -- 9 hours of (semi)uninterrupted sleep does well to nip impending illness in the bed. Shoulders still sore, probably from my attempted pull ups -- looking forward to attempting again tomorrow.
A prominent blog asked me for a brisket knish recipe, and while I have a few in my library and some ideas in my head, haven't made one yet, so I spent the day getting that together. Fun working with stuff like tripe, which I haven't touched since c-school.
TODAY'S COOKING
Brisket Knishes: In the morning, diced 6 lbs of onions and set them to slow caramelize in the oven. Boiled a few potatoes to make a batch of dough. Went to the Essex St market with Mil strapped on to pick up some brisket & tripe. 2 lbs of brisket went into the caste iron pot with beef stock, a head of crushed garlic, a dash of Worcestershire, salt, a dash of brown sugar, smoked paprika and coriander, baked at 300 for 3 hours. Once rested, chopped up and ground with the tripe (which was boiled in water for 2 hours.) Mixed with some simply prepped kasha, caramelized onions, ground pepper, more salt & eggs, then rolled into knish shape and baked.
Funny thing about the tripe -- after boiling for two hours, looked and felt exactly the same as in it's uncooked state.
Banana Bread: Spontaneously baked off two banana breads in the evening when Bcomplained noted that we had a bunch of bananas going bad. So I looked up a simple recipe on line, to which I was missing most of the recipe, so I just went by ratios and substituted like crazy -- shortening for butter, yogurt for sour cream, whole wheat flour for white, brown sugar for white, etc.
Dry: 4 cups whole wheat flour, tbsp baking soda, tbsp baking powder, tsp salt. Wet: 2 2/3 cups sugar (half brown, half white) creamed into 1/2 cup shortening, 2 cups B's diet yogurt, 4 eggs, 6 bananas, tbsp vanilla extract, a few shakes of cinnamon. Baked at 350 for 45 minutes.
AM SNACK: 7:30am, iced green tea
Flipping around TV, watched some Cooking Channel, saw a bit comparing level of caffeine in different drinks. 8oz of plain coffee is about 80 mg of caffeine, while a 1oz shot of espresso is 50mg. 8oz of green tea is about 30, so being that I drink pints, I've been getting less than a cup of coffee but more than a shot of espresso. Hmmmm.
BREAKFAST: 9am, banana
AM SNACK: 11:30am, granola with organic dead milk, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
LUNCH: 1:30pm, brisket on wholewheat, health salad, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
I don't particularly like brisket, especially when someone without skills make it -- usually it comes out tough, stringy and tasting like barfed tomatoes. However, I actually enjoyed this brisket -- after letting it rest, I sliced it thin against the grain and dunked it in the braising liquid before mounting it on bread. It was tender, tasted sharply beefy in the right way, garlicky-sweet-smokey-briney, pleasant. Too bad I had to grind up the balance of the meat to make knishes!
PM SNACK: 7pm, freshly baked banana bread, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
DINNER: 8:30pm, chicken nuggets, pickle, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5
Felt run down, wanted something quick. Was gonna make mac n' cheese from a box, but no butter, and shortening probably would have made it nast-ay.
A prominent blog asked me for a brisket knish recipe, and while I have a few in my library and some ideas in my head, haven't made one yet, so I spent the day getting that together. Fun working with stuff like tripe, which I haven't touched since c-school.
TODAY'S COOKING
Brisket Knishes: In the morning, diced 6 lbs of onions and set them to slow caramelize in the oven. Boiled a few potatoes to make a batch of dough. Went to the Essex St market with Mil strapped on to pick up some brisket & tripe. 2 lbs of brisket went into the caste iron pot with beef stock, a head of crushed garlic, a dash of Worcestershire, salt, a dash of brown sugar, smoked paprika and coriander, baked at 300 for 3 hours. Once rested, chopped up and ground with the tripe (which was boiled in water for 2 hours.) Mixed with some simply prepped kasha, caramelized onions, ground pepper, more salt & eggs, then rolled into knish shape and baked.
Funny thing about the tripe -- after boiling for two hours, looked and felt exactly the same as in it's uncooked state.
Banana Bread: Spontaneously baked off two banana breads in the evening when B
Dry: 4 cups whole wheat flour, tbsp baking soda, tbsp baking powder, tsp salt. Wet: 2 2/3 cups sugar (half brown, half white) creamed into 1/2 cup shortening, 2 cups B's diet yogurt, 4 eggs, 6 bananas, tbsp vanilla extract, a few shakes of cinnamon. Baked at 350 for 45 minutes.
AM SNACK: 7:30am, iced green tea
Flipping around TV, watched some Cooking Channel, saw a bit comparing level of caffeine in different drinks. 8oz of plain coffee is about 80 mg of caffeine, while a 1oz shot of espresso is 50mg. 8oz of green tea is about 30, so being that I drink pints, I've been getting less than a cup of coffee but more than a shot of espresso. Hmmmm.
BREAKFAST: 9am, banana
AM SNACK: 11:30am, granola with organic dead milk, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
LUNCH: 1:30pm, brisket on wholewheat, health salad, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
I don't particularly like brisket, especially when someone without skills make it -- usually it comes out tough, stringy and tasting like barfed tomatoes. However, I actually enjoyed this brisket -- after letting it rest, I sliced it thin against the grain and dunked it in the braising liquid before mounting it on bread. It was tender, tasted sharply beefy in the right way, garlicky-sweet-smokey-briney, pleasant. Too bad I had to grind up the balance of the meat to make knishes!
PM SNACK: 7pm, freshly baked banana bread, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
DINNER: 8:30pm, chicken nuggets, pickle, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5
Felt run down, wanted something quick. Was gonna make mac n' cheese from a box, but no butter, and shortening probably would have made it nast-ay.
Tuesday, January 10
A weirdly filling lunch
Got a decent night's sleep, despite finishing the espresso-laiden chocolate ice cream last night. Slightly sore from yesterday's weights, particularly in the upper parts where I attemped a pull up -- thats good, muscle breaking down so it can come back stronger, harder.
Went out to lunch with B to a new Indian street-food restaurant on the edge of the neighborhood, was really good, and I ate a reasonable amount -- B finished her plate, I took home about 1/3 of my lunch. However, by the time I delivered Edie home around 4pm, my stomach was still full, in a weird way. My head started throbbing, and though I was hoping to do some chores and cooking in the evening, I ended up taking Tylenol, tums and got to bed by 10. My body was more sore in the evening than in the morning, which I credit the previous day's weight lifting, but it did not help my over all feeling of being hit by a truck.
Happy 1 month birthday, Milli Mil!
AM SNACK: 7:45am, iced green tea
BREAKFAST: 8:45am, Special K with organic dead milk, 4 chocolate chip cookies, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
LUNCH: 12:45pm, lamb, rice, naan, water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
EVENING SNACK: 8pm, 8oz of ginger ale
Went out to lunch with B to a new Indian street-food restaurant on the edge of the neighborhood, was really good, and I ate a reasonable amount -- B finished her plate, I took home about 1/3 of my lunch. However, by the time I delivered Edie home around 4pm, my stomach was still full, in a weird way. My head started throbbing, and though I was hoping to do some chores and cooking in the evening, I ended up taking Tylenol, tums and got to bed by 10. My body was more sore in the evening than in the morning, which I credit the previous day's weight lifting, but it did not help my over all feeling of being hit by a truck.
Happy 1 month birthday, Milli Mil!
AM SNACK: 7:45am, iced green tea
BREAKFAST: 8:45am, Special K with organic dead milk, 4 chocolate chip cookies, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
LUNCH: 12:45pm, lamb, rice, naan, water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
EVENING SNACK: 8pm, 8oz of ginger ale
Monday, January 9
Tossed off dinner
A good productive day, still feeling the rebound from being sick so long. Mil & I went to WF in the morning, knocked out some granola while doing chores after. Lifted weights for the first time since Mil was born -- definitely lost strength and tone, but felt great to try. Also attempted pull-ups on a new bar, couldn't even budge from the hanging position, look forward to seeing results there. Picked up Edie in the afternoon and my productivity tapered off from there. I gotta figure out how to be productive in the eve, when tiredness and TV take over....
TODAY'S COOKING:
Granola: Stuck to the traditional recipe, the last few experiments made it icky. No dried apples, just cherries.
AM SNACK: 8am, iced green tea
BREAKFAST: 9am, lemon donut, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5
LUNCH: 1:15pm, stouffer's frenchbread pizzas, a few c-chip cookies, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
DINNER: 5:30pm, baked scallops, brown rice, health salad, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
The cooking involved in this meal was so tossed off, it's weird to put it under "Today's Cooking". Brown rice tossed in ricecooker with olive oil, salt, and about 5 different dried spices. Scallops out of the freezer, into a baking dish coated with olive oil and 4 or 5 other dried spices, baked at 400 for 15 minutes. Came out great, but annoyed how much liquid they expelled, probably artificially pumped up with a saline solution in processing to increase the price. Good thing I baked it, as these kind of processed scallops will never brown in a pan.
EVENING SNACK: 7pm, chocolate ice cream, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
EVENING SNACK: 9pm, bagel-wrapped mini hotdogs, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
TODAY'S COOKING:
Granola: Stuck to the traditional recipe, the last few experiments made it icky. No dried apples, just cherries.
AM SNACK: 8am, iced green tea
BREAKFAST: 9am, lemon donut, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5
LUNCH: 1:15pm, stouffer's frenchbread pizzas, a few c-chip cookies, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
DINNER: 5:30pm, baked scallops, brown rice, health salad, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
The cooking involved in this meal was so tossed off, it's weird to put it under "Today's Cooking". Brown rice tossed in ricecooker with olive oil, salt, and about 5 different dried spices. Scallops out of the freezer, into a baking dish coated with olive oil and 4 or 5 other dried spices, baked at 400 for 15 minutes. Came out great, but annoyed how much liquid they expelled, probably artificially pumped up with a saline solution in processing to increase the price. Good thing I baked it, as these kind of processed scallops will never brown in a pan.
EVENING SNACK: 7pm, chocolate ice cream, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
EVENING SNACK: 9pm, bagel-wrapped mini hotdogs, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Sunday, January 8
Llamas & Sheep
Feeling great again, so happy not to be sick. Actually almost got 8 hours sleep, which didn't hurt. B & Mil went and did their thing, and Edie & I got on the big bike and went to Frankie's on Court Street to have a meal with a good friend, who also arrived on bike. The three of us pedalled over to the Prospect Park Zoo for an afternoon of monkeys, llamas and sheep.
Got home 3pmish, and the bike ride was a bit much -- my constitution is not fully recovered, a bike ride so short should not have drained me, but it was great to be out in the crisp air. Baked a bit, then we popped over to some neighbors for dinner, it was a nice change of pace.
TODAY'S COOKING
Chocolate Chip Cookies: Wanted to bring something nice for the hosts, and I already had espresso-heavy chocolate ice cream in the fridge, so baked off some cookies to sandwich it in. Used the Cook's Country recipe, which while only subtly different, is vastly superior to the Tollhouse recipe, as it uses weights instead of volumes, and is designed to be that sweet spot between chewy and crispy --- when you go volumes, you never quite know if you'll get tall dry cookies or flat greezy cookies...
AM SNACK: 9:30am, iced green tea
BRUNCH: 11:30am, lentil soup, bread, BLT, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
PM SNACK: 4pm, cookie dough, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5
DINNER: 5:30pm, carrot ginger soup, sauteed tofu with coconut sauce, collard greens, chocolate ice cream sandwich, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
EVENING SNACK: 9pm, handful of bagel-wrapped mini hotdogs, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Got home 3pmish, and the bike ride was a bit much -- my constitution is not fully recovered, a bike ride so short should not have drained me, but it was great to be out in the crisp air. Baked a bit, then we popped over to some neighbors for dinner, it was a nice change of pace.
TODAY'S COOKING
Chocolate Chip Cookies: Wanted to bring something nice for the hosts, and I already had espresso-heavy chocolate ice cream in the fridge, so baked off some cookies to sandwich it in. Used the Cook's Country recipe, which while only subtly different, is vastly superior to the Tollhouse recipe, as it uses weights instead of volumes, and is designed to be that sweet spot between chewy and crispy --- when you go volumes, you never quite know if you'll get tall dry cookies or flat greezy cookies...
AM SNACK: 9:30am, iced green tea
BRUNCH: 11:30am, lentil soup, bread, BLT, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
PM SNACK: 4pm, cookie dough, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5
DINNER: 5:30pm, carrot ginger soup, sauteed tofu with coconut sauce, collard greens, chocolate ice cream sandwich, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
EVENING SNACK: 9pm, handful of bagel-wrapped mini hotdogs, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5
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