Twinge

I woke at 5:15, hoping for a good, long, day-spanning bike ride. I got out, and felt good, though it was a little bit cold. I had to stop after an hour, because what I though was normal lower back discomfort (which goes away after I warm up) started getting sharper, and realized it was my ol' kidney being twingy. Not sure where it was gonna go, I road over to the subway and went home. The discomfort got worse, and by the time I got off the train, was happy with my decision. Took ibuprofin and a litre of water when I got home, and got into bed, eventually napping for a few hours. When I woke up, I felt fine, sad I missed a good riding day, glad I didn't have to take a painkiller that would have knocked me out for the whole weekend.

BREAKFAST: 5:30am, hardcore oatmeal, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5


AM SNACK: 7:15am, green tea donut, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5


LUNCH: 2pm, 2 grilled cheese on whole wheat with Swiss & turkey, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 6pm, green salad, 3 slices pizza, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Gluey

Woke up at 5:45 after feeding the Milli Mil back to sleep. Got a good work out in, raised my number of reps again. Moved as fast as I could to get the babies ready, and took us up via express bus to Grandma's house on the UES. After seeing some family in a playground, walked two sleeping babies down to the boat pond to grab a knish, then subway'd it home. Made for a good, sunny Friday. Edie is still covered in rash, but her fever is gone and her energy is back.

AM SNACK: 6:30am, iced green tea

BREAKFAST: 8:30am, smoothie, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5


AM SNACK: 10:45am, donut, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5


PM SNACK: 12:30pm, honey roasted almonds, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5


LUNCH: 1:15pm, potato knish, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
The knish from the Knish Nosh outlet in Central Park was surprisingly....gluey, developed too much gluten from the potatoes being manipulated. Weird. Too big, tasted all right, but by the end the glueyness really came to the front.



DINNER: 6pm, Malaysian style string beans with shrimp, brown rice, roti canai, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Ordered in, the string beans were well seasoned but in no sauce, so it turned out to be a much healthier meal than I anticipated. A few little shrimp, but mostly just string beans.



EVENING SNACK: 8pm, whole wheat ritz with nutella, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

Comfort and decompression in food

So Edie woke up with a rash on her front and back, though not feverish. We skipped a playdate in the back of our building with her classmates, as I did not want to spread whatever she has, but it was hard, between her bouncing off the walls and Milli needing attention. At one point, it was a chorus of wails, one under each arm, but that soon lead to a sleeping Milli and Edie watching Yo Gabba Gabba in peace. Still, it was not an easy morning. I needed comfort, and food gave that to me for lunch.

Baby sitter came and got Mil, I put Edie on the big bike and we rode to see the doctor the long way -- instead of going cross town, we circled the tip of Manhattan, and it was just what we needed. I felt my tension release, and Edie sang at the top of her lungs until she fell asleep. The doc says she has roseola (roe-zee-OH-la), a cute name for a mild condition. A few days of fever, followed by 3 days of mild rash. Communicable to other kids until the rash goes away. Mild headache. So Edie is in the last stages, and should be ready to re-debut into society on Saturday. -sigh-

Betsy took Edie home from the doc, and I decompressed with dinner at Dojo and some solo food shopping at Pathmark. Dojo doesn't have the greatest food, but it's relatively healthy and I just needed to be served and sit in silence, no dishes, no cooking, no need for my attention. -phew- Treated myself to a sack o' cookies in front of the TV in the evening.

AM SNACK: 8:30am, iced green tea


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


LUNCH: noon, stouffers French bread pizzas, handful of baby carrots, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 5pm, hijiki tofu sandwich on whole wheat pita, large spinach salad, cold sesame noodles, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5


EVENING SNACK: 7:30pm, package of Milano cookies, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

Wobbly

Fell asleep in front of the TV around 8, crawled into bed an hour later. Got some decent sleep despite waking up 3 or  4 times to take care of Milli. Edie was still feeling off her game. We 3 went for a walk with her push bike close by and ended up at the local diner for an early lunch. Baby sitter came at 1 but I didn't want to leave Edie feeling bleh, so we ended up snoozing on the couch while Mil was looked after in a bedroom. I slept for 2 hours, but Edles ended up sleeping for 4, a sure sign she still has a bug.

Not the greatest eating day, but was able to fit a few nutritionally valid things in. I guess the stress of Edie being sick and off for Spring break has me a little wobbly.

AM SNACK: 7am, iced green tea


BREAKFAST: 8am, good yogurt, honey, vanilla, fistful of almonds, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

AM SNACK: 10am, potato chips, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 11:30am, hamburger, fries, 2 chicken fingers, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5


PM SNACK: 3:15pm, granola bar


DINNER: 6pm, kraft dinner, baby spinach with almonds and a little dressing, 4oz of Sprite, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5


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

High Line

Woke up to pop a bottle in Milli's mouth at 5:30am, couldn't get back to sleep so just got up, despite not getting to bed until 1am. Lack of sleep informed my day, as well as Edie's health. B took the day off and took Edie to the doc in the morning. Doc confirmed Edie has a virus, but so far nothing to freak out about.

B & E got home and E was out for the count, so I strapped Milli Mil on and went out the door, not sure where to head. The weather was nice, I made a left out the house and a right on Grand Street, trying to think of where to go and nothing appealing. A bus pulled up as I walked past the stop, so we spontaneously got on it and took it to the end of the line, the High Line Park.

Walked slowly from end to end, exiting briefly to get lunch. Not many options that weren't sit-down and expensive, and the only nice prepared food place had a line going out the door. So I picked up some Subway, and ate it in the park. It was a nice several hours just holding on to my baby.

My eating wasn't the greatest, but when I'm overtired I always crave junkier foods...

BREAKFAST: 7am, brown rice crispies with organic dead milk, banana, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5


AM SNACK 10am, chocolate chip cookies, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5


LUNCH: 2pm, foot long veggie burger sub, potato chips, diet coke, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 5:30pm, 2 chocolate chip cookies


DINNER 6:30pm, crab cake, baby carrots, pickle, water, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

Crabby Cakes & Crabby Edie

Edie was a bit feverish last night, but seemed good this morning. After B left for work, juggled the kids, got the laundry done, got a weight lifting session in, made smoothies for me n' Edie, did dishes, ate a proper lunch and prepped foods for dinner, had a couple of good friends in town. Basically was running around non-stop until they showed up, then left the house. Edie became a bit tired while out, and lethargic and feverish when we got home. Dinner was great, but it was a bit sad not to have happy Edie bouncing around entertaining everyone. I never realized how happy and full of energy my daughter has become until suddenly she dials it down.


TODAY'S COOKING
Health Salad: Standard recipe, but no white vinegar on hand, substituted apple cider vinegar. A little less sharp, but nice. Apples n' cabbage are a fine combo.

Chocolate Chip Cookies: Rather than use the recipe on the back of the pack of chocolate chips, I used a fussy Cook's Illustrated recipe. It involved browning the butter in a skillet, then whisking it with the sugars and egg, letting it rest then re-whisking it several times, to get a similar leavening-flaky effect as creaming sugar into (solid) butter, but with the much richer, complex flavor of browned butter. Cookies came out surprising great, much more interesting than the standard. Took an extra pan, some careful watching to brown and not burn, and the whisking/resting took and extra 15 minutes, but worth it.

Crab Cakes: Another fussy recipe from this month's Cook's Illustrated. Pretty standard, softened celery & onion, mustard, Old Bay, Tabasco, fried in a coating of toasted panko. The main innovation is to use a moussiline as a binder, something I haven't made since c-school. Instead of eggs as a binder, which makes everything taste like a fried egg, took some raw shrimp and processed it to a mince, then added a small amount of heavy cream and pulsed it to a chunky paste. (Take that with fillers & aromatics, put it in a loaf pan in water and bake it, that's a fancy Frenchy shrimp terrine.) Added it to the flavors and the crab meat -- the shrimp flavor blended seamlessly with the jumbo lump crab meat and everything just tasted crabby, not crabby/shrimpy, or as it used to, crabby/eggy.

AM SNACK: 8:30am, iced green tea


BREAKFAST: 10:30am, smoothie, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


AM SNACK: 11:30am, chocolate chip cookie


LUNCH: 1:15pm, large green salad, PBJ on whole wheat toast,  water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Both chillun' up, just finished laundry, prepping dinner, very harried and distracted, but in it all I plopped Mil down in his bumbo seat by my feet, sat Edie next to me in her high chair, and we all paused and ate lunch together. A moment of calm. Edie asked to hold hands. I put my foot out so Mil could grasp my big toe. Despite only having one hand to eat salad and a sandwich, it was quite satisfying.


PM SNACK: 4:30pm, granola bar, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 6pm, crab cakes, roasted brussel sprouts, spinach and sweet potato knishes, health salad, pint of beer, several chocolate chip cookies, 1.75 bowl, hunger 4/5
Probably over-ate a bit, but it was all home cooked and shared with a close friend I don't see nearly enough.

EVENING SNACK: 10pm, 3 cookies, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Ride Through Easter

Woke up at 6 to go bike riding, but B said Edie felt warm, so I erred on the side of family and slept in until 8:30ish. Had some relatives over for a nice visit, then motivated and got on the bike and zipped out to Coney. Sunny Easter Sunday, the boardwalk was jammed. Home and made a simple but heavy dinner. Ran out after to Wholefoods and the drug store for formula.


BREAKFAST: 9am, iced green tea, hardcore oatmeal, banana, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Found some left over oatmeal in the fridge, had it eat it or toss it out...

AM SNACK: 10:45am, handful of almonds, handful of chocolate covered espresso beans
Needed a kick to get the day started...

LUNCH: 12:15pm, knish, pickle, chocolate cookies, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5


BIKE SNACK: 4:30pm, granola bar

DINNER: 6:15pm, 4oz whole wheat spaghetti & tomato sauce with broiled scallops, large green salad, pint of grenadine soda, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING SNACK: 8:30pm,small bag of cookies, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5


EVENING SNACK: 9pm, brown rice crispies with organic dead milk, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5


EVENING SNACK: 10pm, popcorn, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5