Day of Rest

ADDENDA:
Slept fitfully, uncomfortable. Postponed another birthday dinner tonight with a friend, and a birthday breakfast, seems I have a lot of good meals out banked! Damn, I love to eat good food. The 'sick' food I've been eating yesterday and today is mostly homemade, it's a good vibe.

I remember in past years when I came out of an illness like this, I'd be really hungry and I'd break the health-enforced fast with a brick of Chinese. Seems kinda self-abusive now, he.

On a side note, I just picked up a small but potentially exciting non-graphics freelance gig that involves....food! It's too early to say more, but when the poop hits the fan, I'll tell ya all about it.

AM WATERING: 2am, 24 oz still

BREAKFAST: 8:30am, chocolate soy icecream, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Have homemade ice cream in the fridge, too, but don't think dairy would do me well in this state.

LUNCH: 11:45am, homemade pasta and tomato sauce, 24 oz still water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5 Appetite coming back, feel better but still out of sorts. Skipped the grated cheese.

PM SNACK: 4:30pm, homemade powerbar, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 7:30pm, boca burger with pickles on superhippy toast, brown rice, 2 bowls, hunger 4/5
Not a lot of energy to cook, but throwing rice and vegetable broth in a rice cooker with butter is easy peasy. I was originally supposed to have a birthday dinner with Yana this evening, and the cooker was her wedding gift, so I guess it balances out.

EVENING DRUGGING: 10pm, shot of nyquil

Junk Food Armageddon

ADDENDA:
My first summer at summer camp, we had parent's day right in the middle of the month I was away. It was the very first time I was away from my parents, and I struggled with home-sickness for the first week. I was OK for the second, but then my parents visited.

It was a glorious day, and I cried when they left, probably the first time I ever cried for my parents (I was 10). One thing I remember clearly....most of the other campers were from Long Island, and came from much wealthier homes than I did. The camp fed us 3 squares a day, 'family-style', meaning you could as much as you wanted. No one was in need of food. Regardless, other parents would mail their kids all sorts of junk-food which counselors would collect and put into big plastic barrels to keep the animals out.

But when parent's day came, it was JUNK FOOD ARMAGEDDON. Parents would just bring tons of crap to eat all day, take their kids out off campus into the wilds of Pennsylvania to get 'real food', etc. I don't remember what we ate that day, but I do remember a small blue cooler which had some simple things for a light lunch, probably bread and cheese and fruit. My parents never gave me sweets, so it was a huge treat for my mom to give me a plastic baggie full of chocolate chip cookies she made (undoubtedly the recipe off the back of a Nestle's morsel's bag) before they split. I cried, hugged, it was difficult for the three of us.

That evening, the counselors and staff had all the kids take out the huge amount of junk food crap they received that day and put it on the picnic table in the middle of our bunks. Basically, we were told this has to be eaten now, whatever's left thrown away. I had not eaten a single one of my cookies because I wanted to wait till I was hungry and try to make them last for the 2 weeks I had till I saw my parents again. But, it was share and eat and throw away, and I really didn't want to share or throw away, so I took my bag of cookies and ate the whole thing - all these kids had this horrible store-bought cheesy-poof crap in vast quantities, and all I had was my bag of cookies, a little part of my mom right with me. I distinctly remember eating the whole bag, taking a few steps, and chucking my guts out. Wasn't pleasant, but I was glad those stupid kids didn't get any of my cookies, they wouldn't of appreciated them anyway. Still kinda glad.

(When I did a google image search for 'Junk Food Armageddon', this Hulk Hogan pic came up - he was at the height of his popularity when I was arounf 10....)

Brought my Easter candy to the office today, some others also brought theirs in, and put it on the lunch table for whoever to eat. Kinda like the adult version of the parent's day picnic table.

Weighed myself this morning, perhaps not what one is supposed to do the day after Easter dinner, 234. Though others might be disappointed, losing a pound over a few weeks seems right to me. Still, gotta step it up.

BREAKFAST: 8:30am, 1 fuji apple, .5 bowls, hunger 3/5
Feel like I have a food-hangover, but I need to go into a client's to pop out some work, would be foolish to eat nothing.

LUNCH #1: Noon, tomato soup, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Swung by B's office and we went to lunch together. Not very hungry and just ordered soup, but once I ate it, it went down my throat fast, guess I was hungrier than I thought.

LUNCH #2: 2:15pm, handful of cocktail shrimp, prime rib sandwich on super hippy bread with b&b pickles, 2 bowl, hunger 4/5
Left overs from last night's feast, 20 seconds in the micro and still tender and juicy and yummy. Matched well with the toughness of the superhippy. Tried the Rick's Picks super-expensive pickles, was good, not as cloyingly sweet like industrial bread n' butters, but still, not a big deal, not worth the money. Guess I'm just not a pickle fanatic.

PM SNACK: 5pm, a headless solid dark chocolate bunny, .5 bowls, hunger 4/5
A little bit too much. Threw out the remainder of the Easter sweets.

DINNER: 8pm, 2 little rice balls, 2 little fried olives, spoonful of eggplant parm, 1 meat ball, gnocchi with sausage in a light cream sauce, about 2 teaspoons worth of various chocolates, 1 glass prosecco, water, 2 bowls, hunger 3/5
Birthday dinner for a close friend at a nice local restaurant, really good vibes. Cupcakes were also distributed, showed a rare restraint because after the tiny bits of fancy chocolates, the last thing I wanted was a cupcake.

CHEESE ON TOAST!!

ADDENDA:
When ever my godson Elijah has his picture taken, he shouts "CHEESE ON TOAST!", not quite sure why, I guess an adult had him say it once in hopes of making him smile. I guess he may think it's what makes the camera click. Anyway, as an experimental bite before brunch out, I toasted some superhippy bread and melted some cheese on it in the micro, came out pretty damn tasty. Not as tasty (or heavy) as buttery grilled cheese, but definitely a breakfast food I can ad to my menu.

Some insomnia from a crazy sleep day yesterday, but woke up with an appetite and a clearer head. Swung by the farmer's market, bought a jar of bread & butter pickles from Rick's Picks - a nice condiment for boca burgers. For $8 for a small jar, they better be special ($11 on line!!) The $9 I pay for the superhippy bread confirmed the adage, you get what you pay for. Makes me think I should cook up something cool in my kitchen and sell it at farmer's markets. Power bars? Pancake mix? Homemade ice cream? Hmmmm... maybe when I do the management course at culinary, I'll figure out a business plan to rock out at the farmer's market with some kitchen delights...

BREAKFAST #1: 10:15am, 500mg vitamin C, small piece of toasted superhippy bread with melted raw milk cheese, .25 bowl, hunger 3/5

BREAKFAST #2: 11:15am, 1 large pancake, sausage patty, home fries, water, 1.5 bowls, hunger 3/5
Brunch on 12th St. with B & my cousin. I received three huge puffy wholewheat & cornmeal pancakes, ate one of them. They were dry, tough, surprisingly tasteless and totally inferior to my own pancakes in just about every way. I ordered the sausage because the menu said it was made there - it looked homemade, but tasted industrial, with way too much salt.

PM SNACK: 3pm, fuji apple, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Just bought a bunch of apples, had to eat the one that's been sitting out for a week...still crisp! Yum!

PM SNACK: 5pm, 4 pieces fresh hot wholewheat organic shortbread, 1 scoop homemade chocolate soy ice cream, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Made shortbread with Betsy, to bring to a big Easter dinner tomorrow at a goyish friend's family tomorrow. I mixed wholewheat pastry flour with wholewheat all-purpose for a better chunky consistency last time. Gonna try bread flour next time.

DINNER #1: 7pm, 4 small potato pancakes, apple compote, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Made potato pancakes from dinnerfest frozen mix, still pretty damn good despite some purplish colors on the top. Tried to cook up a couple of chunks of pork loin that was in the freezer, but it smelled funky so I chucked it. Not enough food....

DINNER #2: 8:15pm, fresh pasta with tomato sauce and grated cheese, cup of almond icecream, 1.5 bowls, hunger 4/5
Left over fresh pasta from dinnerfest was great, I let the pasta dry for 10 minutes before I cut it into noodles, and when it unfroze in boiling water it all come apart nicely, not one ugly ball.

EVENING SNACK: 10:30pm, 2 pieces of shortbread with chocolate chips on top, .25 bowls, hunger 3/5
Sugar cravings. Funny how eating more sugar creates cravings for more sugar...

New Years Eve Goes to the Dogs

BREAKFAST: 8:30am, 1 piece toasted superhippy bread & peanut butter, hunger 3/5

LUNCH: 1pm, large serving of cheese pizza, a couple of small slices of vegan veg pizza, water, hunger 4/5
Met up with Beautiful B in New Haven, I took the commuter train, she too the Amtrak down for Beantown, after he week with her momma. I wore a suit and tie, and came bearing a gift and flowers. It was literally only a 10 minute walk to Frank Pepes, the pizzeria of note we hit up on the way to and from our honeymoon. Unfortunately they had no clam pie today, I guess it's not the season?

PM SNACK: 5pm, small bowel veggie booty, hunger 4/5
Tight time tolerances between coming home and going out!

PM NYE DRINK: 7:15pm, 1/2 glass champagne
A snort in the West Village with Lisa & Leroy. Road the tandem over, the Prince Street bike lane was a dream.

PM SNACK: 8:45pm, a few handfuls of curry cashews, a couple of vanilla-lemon vegan sweety things, hunger 4/5
At the HQ of the HVS.

DINNER: 9:30pm, shrimp basil fried rice, fried littler taro pockets, a little salad, steamed veg dumplings, water, hunger 4/5
We were the last ones eating in 2007 at this Thai restaurant.

EVENING SNACK: 11-12:30am, 2 glasses seltzer, 2 ice cream-cone cupcakes, hunger 3/5
Went to a nice relaxed party in Brooklyn with the HVS was a wonderfully friendly Rat Terrier there to help us ring in the new year. After midnight, the hostess served cute cupcakes freshly baked into flat-bottom ice cream cones. It was a thing from her mother, oh so 70s. I could think of nothing better to start the new years with. A freshly baked food-stuff passed down from some one's mom. (OK, it was probably a Betty Crocker mix, but that's what my mom would of done, too!!)

More Mood, Less Food

ADDENDA:
Had an interesting meeting with Ilsa last night. I'm feeling a lot of anger and ill will towards my work in general since the since-backed off corporate directives a few weeks ago, despite never feeling more happy with the people I actually work with day to day. That brick o' Chinese I scarfed the other day was probably a result of that pressure. I shouldn't let it get to me that way.

I had a friend who when she got upset at herself, would literally smack herself on the head till she bled. Is scarfing a block of sodium-infused lard with some noodles in it so different, especially when I'm not even that hungry? Ilsa is afraid pressures will cause me to backslide, when I should be simply maintaining my healthier habits through these cold winter months. I got to get a handle on this.

BREAKFAST: 8:30am, good yogurt with raw nuts, honey, vanilla, hunger 3/5

AM WATERING: 9:45am, 24 oz still

BP: 9:50am, 137/91
Despite being tired, did not sleep well last night, kept on #2ing for a few hours, then watched bad TV for an hour. Determined to eat better today, aim to go home tonight and aim for some quality ZZZs.

LUNCH: 12:45pm, superhippy peanutbutter sandwich, hummus with carrots, cuce, red pepper, celery, a few bites of cod, hunger 4/5
Cod tasted fresh, but underdressed. Next time, I'll get you, Cod!!

PM SNACK: 4:30pm, organic Fuji apple, raw milk appeller funky cheese, hunger 4/5
Chocolate being spread around the office, I heroically resisted.

DINNER: 7:45pm, 4 fresh spring rolls with shrimp, sauteed pork medallions in a mushroom wine sauce over brown jasmine rice, liter of seltzer, hunger 4/5
Oh my, this was an interest mealing meal. Click on the pic for an upclose look! Too bad these computers don't do smellovision - while the final result proved this to still be in the experimental stage, the smell in the kitchen was overwhelmingly intensely delicious.

When Ilsa was scolding me about how she doesn't care if I eat good pork every day, as long as I stay away from the bricks o' Chinese food. So I picked up a thick pork medallion and mushrooms on the way home. Rather than simply grill it and throw it over rice, I went on line and got an interesting recipe. However, I kinda winged it and added white wine, subtracted whatever 'savory' is, crushed dried rosemary in a pestle, replaced chicken stock with a container of veal stock I had in the freezer (picked up on a random shopping trip ages ago) and let rip.

Two things surprised me. One is the veal stock. I bought it originally because I read somewhere that veal stock is the 'secret weapon' of many chefs - it has the magical ability to make anything tastier. And my god, it does! I've eaten veal stock many times before but didn't know it - it's that indescribable delicious mouth feel that is like eating velvet. Damn, it's good.

Second is even though I tried to undercook the meat (browned 1 minute on each side instead of 2, let simmer in the sauce for 10 minutes instead of 15), it was STILL a little pale, dry and overcooked. Next time I do this recipe I'm going to brown it at higher heat for less time, simmer it in the sauce for less time, and get a fattier cut of meat that is still on the bone.

Feel like la-la-la-latkes tonite!

ADDENDA:
Not surprised my BP is a little high this morning, feel a slight headache, know I haven't been eating as well as I normally do lately. Today is the day to snap back. Started with a good breakfast, packed a lunch even the HVS would approve of (minus the raw goat's milk cheese to compliment the apple), and tonight I'm going to hit up the market for supplies then attempt a latke recipe out of Saveur magazine.

My grandmother made latkes, but my mom never did. The recipe in the mag is surprising straight forward - grated potato and onion, matzo meal, egg, chive, salt and pepper and oil. They do, however, get all fancy pants and suggest alternates to apple sauce or sour cream, like creme fraiche...hmmmm. I kinda feel like I'm in the experimental stages of creating a new tradition, so when my kid/kids come along, I'll already have something yummy up my sleeve to pop on them.

Just received the Global sharpening steel in the mail today, I feel like a kid with a new toy - I can't wait to hone my blades tonight before chopping something!

My recent stress at work has been getting a lot of news coverage lately. Though it's hitting the papers now, I feel for the most part it's over, at least for me.

BREAKFAST: 8am, organic wholegrain chex with good milk, 1 small banana, hunger 4/5

AM WATERING: 10:15am, 24 oz still

BP: 11am, 132/96

LUNCH: 1pm, superhippy peanutbutter sammich, baby carrots with homemade hummus, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 4pm, apple and a small amount of funky cheese, hunger 4/5
I think my funky cheese turned or something. Oh well.

PM SNACK: 5pm, Roberts Smart Puffs, hunger 4/5
Very hungry, don't want to go nuts as it'll take an hour or so to make dinner once I get home. Craving sugar, cookies looked good, but damn, after eating crappy for the last 4-5 days, I gotta focus on making sweet-free days not so special!

PM SNACK: 6:30pm, unsalted pistachios in shell, hunger 4/5
Picked these up as a potential interesting daytime snack, but felt too hungry to start cooking without a handful of something.

DINNER: 7:30pm, curry lamb sausage with mushrooms, homemade potato latkes with creme fraiche, seltzer, hunger 4/5
Oh my. This came out good. I thought I used a lot of salt, as the preparation called for salting the shredded potatoes and onion over a sieve to sweat out the liquid. I guess salt got sweated out too, because the final product was not salty at all - I imagine some might even call it bordering on bland (but was just right for me!) Couldn't find chives at the market, next time if I can't I'll go nuts with some scallion, that might excite the flavor profile.

EVENING SNACK: 9:30pm, 1.5 oz chunk of Sharfen Berger 70% dark chocolate, hunger 3/5
Betsy snarfed those horrid soy ice cream sandwiches right after dinner, I couldn't be bothered. However, after an hour I started craving sugar and by 9:30 the drums were so loud in my ears. I went to into the kitchen, thinking, "Good! I know there is no sweets here so I'll be able to resist!" Unfortunately, on the top shelf there was a high-quality piece of cooking chocolate, left over from my gelato-making. I only ate 1/3 of it, and for the next 30 minutes I craved more, but it passed.

I was surprised - I had a very satisfying, heavy meal for dinner. Maybe it was because of the potato factor?

Putting My House in Order

ADDENDA:
Woke up this morning at 7 after a restless night, grabbed the laptop on the floor and emailed work, saying I wouldn't be in today. Rather than feel crappy about work all day, I've decided to start putting my house in order now instead of 'later'. So far I've done some crucial fixes to my commuter bike, vacuumed and done the dishes, drano'd the sink and will soon set the over to auto-clean. I'm gonna shower, then update my resume and send it off to a headhunter who I've kept contact with over the past year. Will take 5 minutes to look at some job listings on line, then go see an afternoon movie with the retirees/trustfund babies/unemployed shmoes!

And tonight, I shall cook like I never cooked before. Went book shopping yesterday, and got an interesting cook book, which after picking it up realized I was in the same social circle with the authors years ago, back when I was young n' hip. Not sure what I'll make, but it's gotta be vegan and wheat/potato-free, in advance of the eventual HVS Chapter meeting in January...

BREAKFAST: 7:30am, good yogurt with honey, vanilla and raw nuts, hunger 3/5

AM SNACK: 11:45am, 1 slice superhippy bread with good homemade hummus, 33 oz bottle of seltzer, hunger 4/5
Seems aging a few days in the fridge takes the bite off the raw garlic, nice. Gotta hydrate or I'll feel weird or falsely hungry, gonna treat myself to some bubbly.

LUNCH: 1:45pm, 12 seared mixed dumplings, hunger 4/5
Ate them in the movies, very relaxing.

DINNER: 6:30pm, green salad, grilled curried tofu over brown basmanti with sauted broc, cipolinis and criminis, apple crumble & choc. gelato.
My first effort out of the veganomicon, not very good. The curry marinade tasted bitter, the tofu stuck to the grill. But the sauteed veg was delicious. This will not be the HVS Chapter meeting meal, but I do want to experiment more with pressing, grilling, baking and marinading tofu....

234 Pounds o' Fury!!

ADDENDA:
What hath thow raught? Ilsa has a blog!! Here!

Weighed myself this morning, almost forgot, but the scale was in the way (the weigh?) of me retrieving my cell phone. 234. Was wearing pants, and just ate breakfast, so it's probably closer to my standard 230. Not feeling very furious, but anything that is tagged with "o' Fury!!" sounds less blubbery.

Feel weird about the pint of soy icecream I snarfed last night. On one hand, I think I enjoyed and appreciated it more than I would of if it was a regular habit. On the other hand, my lust for it immediately following my substandard home meal was overpowering in a way. Ilsa's blog suggests brushing teeth to get the stomach-body-brain signals to shout "done!" to the lust impulses. May just try that.

BREAKFAST: 8am, organic chex with good milk, banana, hunger 3/5
Start the sweets off right.

AM WATERING: 9:30am, 24 oz still

BP 9:45am: 132/90

LUNCH: 12:30pm, homemade hummus, carrot sticks, cucumber slices, 2 slices normal wholewheat bread, 2 slices weird dense superGerman "bread", 3 pieces sesame tofu, hunger 4/5
Out of superhippy bread from the farmer's market, so I got this weird, dense block of bread-like material imported from Germany, full of whole grains, weirdly moist, and shelf-stable for months in the unopened wrapper.

Hummus was good, needs more cumin. Next batch is going to rock. Hard. My dad never had the secret weapon of the roasted garlic, damn I wish I could share that with him. I think he'd be impressed. After tasting it, he'd nod, and say something quietly, like, "Noah, that's pretty good. I wish I thought of that." A small grin was like a hug from him (though in later years I subjected him to more unasked-for hugs than I can count.)

PM SNACK: 4:15pm, apple & raw funki havarti, hunger 3/5
Apple was mushy, May have to run out and grab another snack, as I have a knife skills class 6:30-10 tonight.

PM SNACK: 5:15pm, lamb on pita, hunger 4/5
As I'm eating this, I'm thinking, "This is not going to help me lose weight, is it?"

PM SNACK: 7pmish, carrots sticks & inferior hummus, small handful of olives, lemony water, hunger 4/5
Snacks during class

DINNER: 9:30pm, yummy carrot soup, quinoa with orange supreme, white bean thingy, sauteed broccoli with mushrooms, roasted cubed potatoes, hunger 4/5
Dinner was made with all the veg that the students prepped in knife skills class, all vegan, the HVS would of been proud. Food was actually pretty good, but could of used some sort of protein for satiety's sake.

Googling 'Dessert Fast' gets fast dessert recipes

ADDENDA:
Got a slightly fitful 9 hours of sleep, due to stuffy nose. Woke up groggy and headachey. My nose mucus is very yellowy, sign of my body fighting the good fight. May have to refrain from social obligations today, and refrain from cooking (don't want to get my sick into a week's worth of food!)

Today at around noon will be a full 7 days without desserts. Is this illness my body reacting to the change? Things over-all are going good with work, with B, with home, looking forward to going away with B for Thanksgiving, so I don't think it's depression or stress related as it may of been years ago. In the past, when I got sick, it was fast and overwhelming and would knock me out for 4-5 days solidly. This feels different, like my body is stronger in fighting it. I believe I may be OK tomorrow (knock on wood.)

Yesterday I bought a 2nd pizza stone, a sieve, a sifter and a garlic-roasting thingy. Wednesday is going to be another full-on pizza freakout with a few friends...

BREAKFAST: 8:30am, good yogurt with honey, vanilla and raw cashews, hunger 3/5

AM DRUGGING: 9am, 2 extra strength tylenol, 1 500mg vitamin C (rosehips)
This is on top of my daily dirtpill...

AM SNACK: 10:30am, 1 slice of toasted superhuppy bread with good peanut butter, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 12:30pm, 12 boiled mixed perogies with onion, hunger 4/5
This is the meal I usually desire after being sick for a while. This illness is different - my appetite and, uhhh, output, is not being affected, but I'm definitely stuffy headed.

PM SNACK: 4pm, small amount of chocolate tofu pie batter, hunger 3/5
This is the definition of fun. Watched a movie for a couple of hours on the couch, felt a little better, restless. Don't want to make sick food, but baking will kill the germs, right? So I made a couple of tofu pies for this coming Wednesday, but for the first time I made crust from scratch. I really didn't know what I was doing, but I was giggling like an insane person as I did it, watching things come out kinda weird and wrong. I wish I had a mother or grandmother who could of taught me the so-called 'women's work' of old - making pie crust from scratch is a lot trickier than it looks, as shortening is very temperamental!

As I did with my mom as a kid when we made Betty Crocker brownies as a kid (ummmm, fudgy!), I licked the mixer jug after everything was in the oven. I guess this is how a dessert fast ends, eating chocolaty mess spread over my hands and face over a warm oven like I was a kid enjoying spending time with mom.

DINNER: 8:45pm, singapore rice noodles & pork, half a shrimp summer roll, hunger 4.5/5
Got out of the house and saw a movie with Danny, felt much better for it. Dinner at cheap Vietnamese place with huge portions. No desire for dessert.

EVENING SNACK: 11:30pm, bowl of veggie booty, hunger 3/5
Slight case of insomnia. Go to bed around 1.

Dessert-Fast, Day 4 (Or: Whoever Invented Chocolate is a Friggin' Genius)

ADDENDA:
Last night I swung by the market to restock on apples and bananas. I also picked up a very expensive bag of organic, raw, de-shelled cocoa beans. This morning me and B tried them. Neither of us were able to keep it in our mouths for more than 10-15 seconds before spitting them out. It definitely had a lot of layers of taste to it. A prominent note in the background was definitely the dark chocolate flavor I know and love. But the foreground was this massive, loud bitter explosion which is like two calloused hands gripping your jaw and upper lip and pulling them as far apart as possible, in hopes of making you spit it out.

Some South American dude thousands of years ago was sitting around chewing on these things, probably spitting them out but thinking, hmmm, that flavor in the back of my mouth, that's kind of nice. Maybe if I grind it up, add some sweetener to mellow the bitter, and add some milk to smooth out the mouth feel, I just might have something.....and his name....Irving P. Chocolateberg.

Ilsa asked for a full 7 day sweet fast, I've been telling myself 5 days. It's not over yet, but I remember when I kicked a caffeine addiction in my 20s, the first 3 days were the worst. Maybe I will go for 7 days. I do know I'm not going to break it with a donut from Donut Plant - I want to break it with something I made. I think I need to make chocolate gelato...

BREAKFAST: 7:30am, organic cornflakes with good milk, banana, hunger 3/5
Noticed the cornflakes are sweetened with 'concentrated grape juice'. I guess that's a step up from high-fructose corn syrup, and the total amount per serving is 3g (as opposed to 24g of straight carbs) but still - juicing a fruit then concentrating it sounds like refined sugar to me. I feel like I may of cheated? I guess I'll let Ilsa be the referee in this call.

AM WATERING: 10am, 24 oz still
Got to work late due to rain, then rushed into meetings. Will take BP later today.

LUNCH: 12:30pm, super hippy peanut butter sammich, large green salad with organic ranch dressing, hunger 4/5
The new WF-brand organic ranch dressing is a bit too vinegary for my taste. I really need to find/make a dressing I like.

BP 2:30pm: 139/85
Have a slight headache, and had to remove a lot of clothing to get a reading without an error.

PM SNACK: 3pm, funky-ass raw milk cheese and a tart, crisp apple, hunger 4/5
This snack made my headache go away. I picked up 2 random apples at WF yesterday, both conventional but locally grown. My first thought in biting into it was, "Mamajama!!" which gave me pause, as that is something I would never actually say. It was crisp and tart and thoroughly wonderful. The cheese I picked up last night, a weird Swiss I never heard of, was a bit like moldy old sneakers, but an incredible flavor when cut with the apple.

Ew, I just smelled my fingers, they smell like there were somewhere REALLY unspeakable...

PM SNACK: 5pm, 1 sesame pretzel stick, 2 potato samosa & a little cucumber dill salad, hunger 4/5
Making fresh pasta tonight, which takes time, don't want to be starving when I get home. Got an extra samosa for the Hungry Vegan Society, who recently has been commanded off her sympathy sugar fast by Ilsa. In protest, I ate one of the HVS's salty pretzel sticks. Between the writer's strike and the stagehand strike picketing outside my offices, maybe we should start a dessert strike? I keed, I keed...

DINNER: 8:30pm, large bowl of fresh homemade whole wheat pasta with homemade sauce with grated parm and cubed buffala moz, 2 pickles, water, hunger 4/5
Experimented with a 'hard white' whole wheat flour, the pasta came out good - not too wholewheaty tasting. Noticed the organic eggs I'm using are 'rich in Omega 3' - in the class I took, the lecturer took some time to explain anti-oxidants and the significance of Omega 3 vs Omega 6 fatty acids in cancer research. I still don't quite get it, but I do know Omega 3 is (supposedly) good. I'm sure at some point research will contradict it.

PM SNACK: 10:30pm, 2 slices Patsy's pizza with pepperoni, glass of wine, hunger 4/5
My house guest cousin rolled in late, then shortly after Betsy showed up bearing much pizza. I was kinda hungry/craving sugar while Iddo ate his pasta and I sipped a glass of red wine (which did seem to curb my sugar lust), then B showed up with a box o' 'za, and it was all over.

Oo, I'm such a Fatty McFatster. Oo, my hair is curly. Oo, etc etc.

ADDENDA:
Feeling a little fat lately, not riding, may not ride this weekend. No sweets yesterday, gonna try to hold out till dinner dessert - taking Corinna out for her birthday to Craft tonight, really looking forward to it, both the stubborn kid and the rational adult agree that this is a place to indulge. Last time I tried 2 days in a row I got a sad headache by after lunch.

BREAKFAST: 7:30am, toasted onion bagel with good butter, hunger 3/5

BP 8:15am: 125/85

LUNCH: 12:30pm, superhippy peanutbutter sandwich & large green salad with hippy garlic dressing, hunger 4/5
Good sandwich. Not sure about the Ann's non-vinegar garlic dressing, kinda both like and not like it. This is a very easy and convenient lunch to pack, but I need to expand my lunch palate if I hope to eat packed-lunch more than 2x a week.

PM SNACK: 2:30pm, lightly salted Kettle potato chips, hunger 4/5
I can't be super-hungry all day if I'm going to put the sweets on hold. The Roberts stuff is getting boring. These chips were good though still too salty (220mg in the bag, 10% of the dv, and just plain salt to boot), but satisfying.

DINNER: 6:30, 2 pieces white bread, 2 pieces multi-grain bread with butter, spoonful of smoked anchovies, a little hamachi sushi, a little romaine salad, bite of cod, small rack of organic hormone-free pork, roasted onions, creamy gnocchi, weirdly good Swiss chard, porchini mushrooms, a spoonful of butternut squash, small amounts of chocolate tart and ginger bread, mini choco-peanut tart, small shot of concord grape spritzer, water, 1 glass prosecco, hunger 4/5
Took Corinna to Craft for her birthday, great fun, and again the food was over-the-top good, was extra fun because Corinna always really gets into appreciating food - I think I kind of inherited that from her when I dated her starting when I was an impressionable 18 yr old.

Corinna and her husband have been practicing the Southbeach diet for 4 months now, and she looks really well and thinner. Other than he gnocchi and spritzer, most of the things we had she could eat in that diet. Because she ordered a lot of the meal, I tried some things I wouldn't otherwise - the Swiss chard was nice like spinachy but with it's own character, but the creamed butternut squash was too sweet for my tastes.

Feelin' a Little Snotty

ADDENDA:
Nose a little mucousy this morning, body is starting to fight something. Feel fine, but this can be the precursor to a sickness. In the past I wold aim to eat healthier and take a vitamin C, but between my daily dirtpills and eating as well as I can already, not sure what additional preventative measure I can take other than just use common sense...

BREAKFAST: 7:15am, organic crispex and good milk, hunger 3/5

AM WATERING: 8:30am, 24 oz still water

BP: 8:45am, 130/92
New cuff is big and not as easy to use, may do this at home before bed instead of at work.

LUNCH: 12 noon, peanut butter superhippy bread sandwich, pretzels, celery, hummus, 24 oz still water, hunger 4/5
The Hungry Vegan Society got militant and commandeered 1/4 of my sandwich! And a pretzel, too!

PM SNACK: 1:30pm, brown rice tortilla chips, hunger 4/5
The HVS shared the wealth. Kinda salty, slight headache, I wonder if it's from the salt. Haven't had a food-related headache in a while.

PM SNACK: 3:15pm, 6 smallish cookies, hunger 4/5
Two packs of Linden's cookies - 3 is never enough, but 6 is a bit too much. Gonna make pizza from scratch tonight, hopefully won't need sweets after it.

Having a good work day, drinking extra water, the snottiness has resided for now.

DINNER: 8pm, small green salad, homemade pizza, large piece of dark chocolate, hunger 4/5
Fun making pizza with B. This time I got the oven hotter and the crust was crisper. Used garlic in the uncooked sauce, made it a little bitter that a dash of sugar will balance next time. Julienned some fresh basil on top and man did that hit the spot. Still not restaurant-ready, but definitely better than the local slice joints.

Even though I was full, I went for the dark chocolate. Part of me knew I shouldn't, but the bratty kid in me said "Fuck you and fuck it! I want what I WANT. NOW." Didn't feel guilty after so much as hmmmm, how should I approach getting this under control without pissing off the kid? Needs more thought...

Feel like puh-puh-puh-pizza toniiiite!

ADDENDA:
Got a full 8 hours of sleep, needed it from the echoes of Sunday's ride. Had the most bonkers dreams. I somehow got a time machine and I used it to take me and my friend Tamar back to 1970, before I was born, and we went around exploring NYC, looking at the typeface of the NY Times (in my dream it was different then, though I know it was the same), visited neighborhoods that are now hoity-toity but then slums, the undeveloped waterfronts, everything. I kinda wanted to pop in on my parents and see how they were doing, but Tamar and I both decided that would be too creepy. Like travelling through time is not creepy enough...

Last night before bed, I did something very unusual. I keep an off-line bike diary, where I record the experiences of ever long bikeride I take in a database. I've keep this log since my first real bikeride (to Coney Island, 35 miles) in 1999. Well, I've never really gone back and read entries. I pulled up all the entries for the Tour De Bronx, a ride I've done every year except '05, when my mom was sick and I was living with her (I was surprised to find that a solid 10 entries around that time were recorded, but I didn't write any thoughts - I was too depressed.) I write about the rides, but also about what I was feeling, what was going through my head during the ride, what I did the day before that maybe set up the physical state for the ride. It was, well, like travelling in a time machine. And, dare I say it, if I edited it and strung in some connective tissue, a lot more interesting than a silly food blog! Speaking of food...

Got whole-wheat dough in the freezer, picked up another ball of buffala mozz. Gonna experiment with uncooked pizza sauce tonight, blend the san marzanos, garlic, sea salt, olive oil, maybe an herb here or there. Ooo, I can see the healthy bright red color with little specs of herb in it now...

BREAKFAST: 7:30am, toasted garlic bagel with hummus and smoked cod, hunger 3.5/5
Bought the fish on a whim last night to change up breakfast a little, but it wasn't very good, especially compared to Russ & Daughters, I really shouldn't buy smoked fish anywhere except there. And though I'll spare you the TMI, upon getting to work I decided I need to throw out the remaining portion.

AM WATERING: 9am, 24 oz still water

LUNCH: 1pm, peanut butter on superhippy bread, last night's potatoes, 24 oz still water, hunger 4/5
The potatoes were too greasy but there is a certain potatoey flavor that the subtle lemon and herbs brought out that was really nice. Definitely a recipe I want to continue to refine. Huh, ate vegan by happenstance.

PM SNACK: 5:30pm, bag of Robert's Smart Puffs, hunger 4/5
Don't want to bing and rush to pizza tonight.

DINNER: 8pm, large green salad, one homemade pizza with wholewheat crust, small dish of black sesame gelato, seltzer, hunger 4/5
The first attempt at pizza was a tadpole emerging from the ocean for the first time. This pizza was the discovery of fire. Wow. I would not be embarrassed to serve that to friends. The whole wheat dough gave a pleasant nutty flavor, I blended the whole san marzanos with good olive oil, dried basil and a little sea salt, no cooking required. Light on the buffala moz, with a sprinkling of funky sheep pecorinno. Baked at 550+ on a stone, splashed it with olive oil when it came out. Crust was solidly crisp on the bottom, small pillowy layer on top locking into the sauce and well-baked cheese. All the ingredients came together to form a.....pizza! Not just bread, sauce and cheese, but pizza!

Funny, I met with Ilsa this evening but didn't feel the urge to run out and eat something unhealthy. Guess I'm slowly starting to get a grip on that nasty little boy.

Experiments in Decadence with Gelato

ADDENDA:
Wedding pics are up!

BREAKFAST: 7:30am, organic crispex with good milk, hunger 3/5

AM WATERING: 9am, 24 oz still water

LUNCH: 1:15pm, peanut butter on superhippy bread, baby organic carrots, hummus, whole wheat saltless pretzels, hunger 4/5
Packed it into my borg cube, had to eat at desk. Got a bunch of compliments on the cube. Almost forgot to pack lunch this morning, but feels good to sticking to 2 home lunches a week, especially with how much I've been eating out this week (and it looks like dinner is out tonight and tomorrow!) Gotta hit up the farmer's market HARD on Saturday...

LUNCH #2: 3pm, falafel sandwich on whole wheat, hunger 4/5
First lunch wasn't enough, don't want to be starving for yoga. Not feeling meat today.

DINNER: 8pm, homemade pancakes and cinnamon gelato, hunger 4/5
After yoga, wanted to just go home and chill, not much to eat at home. Felt in the mood for pancakes, though it seemed kinda boring. I don't like sweets with my pancakes, particularly syrup. Only desert in house is cinnamon gelato, kinda boring too.

Thinking of throwing in cinnamon into my pancake batter just to do something different. Thinking of waffles and chicken, maybe some non-bacon meat with the pancakes? Got nothing. Waffles n' ice cream, always good, but no waffles.....DUH! Rather than have pancakes then gelato and be bored, be totally decadent and have pancakes WITH gelato!! It was SOOO good, sopping up the melted cinnamony gelato with the fresh, crisp pancake. It was the same stuff I was going to eat, but eating it together just made it seem so....decadent.

High Stress

BREAKFAST: 9am, handful of tatertots, 2 sausage patties, 2/3 of a crappy corn muffin, 24 oz still water, hunger 3/5
Got to work before 7:30 to focus on a large project that's been scaring the hell out of me. When I woke up at 6, felt good but stomach in a knot. After getting through some work and feeling a little more comfortable, went down to the corporate cafeteria, where the options are severe and severely limited. This is the kind of breakfast I'd eat casually before I started thinking more. Tasted out-of-control salty, and surprisingly not as satisfying as I remember. Good thing I packed a healthy lunch...

Did have a dirtpill when I woke up...

LUNCH: 1pm, superhippy bread sandwich with peanut butter, about half of the salad, hunger 4/5
At my desk, felt good that despite not having moved forward at all on this big project, I feel a bit less clueless and helpless.

PM SNACK: 5:30pm, 2 handfuls of M&Ms, hunger 4/5
As day started winding down, rushing to settle things before taking off promptly at 5:45 for yoga. Realized I was really hungry - hungry enough to eat dinner straight from work, too hungry to do yoga. With time pressure, my only option was the vending machine in the kitchen space where you pop in a quarter and turn the crank, and you get a small handful of candy. I did it 2 times, one peanut and one plain, and man did it hit the spot and keep me going - THIS is what crappy sugar can do! I really appreciated it, rather than felt compelled to eat it because of a craving. Was nice.

DINNER: 8pm, one half a large Margerita DOC, one whole small Salamino DOC, liter of perrier, hunger 4/5
I blame yoga! I blame work! I blame Betsy and her friend, who didn't come home soon enough left me in the house with 2 warm, delicious pizzas from the best local pizza joint ever, Isabella's Oven. I ate half of each pizza and ran an errand, and when I got home 20 minutes later, realized I was still pretty hungry so I finished the small. Now, this pizza has a thin thin thin crust, minimal little islands of fresh moz on a sea of bright red simple tomato sauce, not the icky bready cheesy monsters served at slice joints.

Mofungo's name is better than it's reality.

ADDENDA:
I've forgotten to record my dirtpill consumption this past week or so, but suffice to say, I have not forgotten to take it, I guess it's just become habit that I don't think too much about. However, upon reflection (in preparation for my meeting with Ilsa tonight), I must say that I think something is definitely giving me a little more energy, feeling a bit more even, sleeping a little more sound, etc etc. I suspect it's the dirtpills (which I teasingly call that because they kinda look and taste like little compressed tablets of dirt!) but for all I know, it could be living with the sweetest woman with the biggest smile in the world....

BREAKFAST: 7:15am, good yogurt with honey, vanilla and raw cashews, dirtpill, hunger 3/5

AM SNACK: 9:30am, 24 oz still water

LUNCH: 2:45pm, large green salad, peanut butter on superhippy bread, hunger 4/5
Slammed at work, no time to eat till now, and at the computer again. At least it was from home!

DINNER: 8pm, 4 empenadas (beef, shrimp, sausage, potato), 1/2 bottle of Perrier, half bar of dark chocolate, hunger 4/5
Hungry, tired, after a long intense day at work had a relatively intense meeting with Ilsa. Wanted to go food shopping then cook, but as a pedalled, realized I needed to chill and go to sleep early. Couldn't decide what I wanted, so I thought specifically if I could eat anything in the world right now, what would it be....and it was pasties, specifically the Cornwall pasties sold at a stand in Victoria Station, London. Too tired to jump on a plane, did the next best thing and stopped by Ruben's Empenada's on 1st Ave between 7th and St. Marks. Took 'em home and reheated them, the shrimp and beef were better than I remembered, the sausage and potato were just ok. The British version has much richer and greasier dough, and sharp cheddar really makes potato come alive....

Between social plans tomorrow night and yoga Thursday, not going to be home to cook for a while. Maybe I should go crazy and pack lunch again tomorrow....

Noodlelove!

ADDENDA:
I'm on the last pages of Animal Vegetable Miracle....I'm worried, we're entering the winter....nothing I like is in season in the winter!! If I shop seasonally, my green salad will be a mere shell of it's former self. I gotta get a list of what is in season when, then maybe try to be more open minded on trying new veg and fruit. OK, OK, I'm 36 years old and my parents have past away, but finally I'm ready to eat all that creepy healthy stuff they tried to train me to like all those years ago...

BREAKFAST: 7:30am, yogurt with raw cashews and a dash of honey and vanilla, hunger 3/5

AM SNACK: 9:30am, 24 oz still water

LUNCH #1: 1:30pm, spaghetti noodles with barely any dressing, hunger 4/5
Oh lordy, those noodles were good. Didn't really need anything on them, the noodles themselves were a perfect texture, nice firm bite, just so....noodely. After I finished them, I patted myself on the back (hope no one saw!) This bring your-lunch-to-work ain't so bad, if I just have good left-overs on hand...

To think that B almost washed her soapy hands over them when they were resting in the sink, sniff sniff!

LUNCH #2: 4:30pm, fresh peanut butter on superhippy bread, hunger 4/5
Starting to feel nervous about yoga tonight. Damn, if only I didn't make Tamar take that bikeride....

DINNER: 8:45pm, 3 vegetable dumplings, half a vegan scallion pancake, Singapore-styled curry rice noodles, basil mooshoo rolls, water, hunger 4/5
Dinner at Zen Palate with B & T after my first experience with yoga. Still digesting the experience, will try to express my feelings tomorrow. Feel...weird about it. Weirdly familiar.

EVENING SNACK: 10:30pm, medium hunk of good dark chocolate, hunger 3/5
Occurred to me when I got home, I had no sweets the entire day. Briefly considered making today my first sweets-free day in recorded Noah-history, but then thought, "I just did yoga - I deserve chocolate!!" Not helping me fall asleep, though...

I've Got an Icecream Maker, and I'm Gonna Use It!

ADDENDA:
Remembered to pack lunch today. I assembled two discordant items that wouldn't be very good together but are yummy separate, but then I figured, duh, I can have 2 small meals instead of one big one....

Just got the ice cream maker attachment for the mixer this morning. Gonna be a goooood tiiiime!!! (Doing a little crack-head dance) And just bought this mini freezer online today. Reminds me, I gotta get a more accurate blood pressure monitor.

Gonna be filled with home made hummus, tomato sauce, ice cream, sorbet and sinful gelato....all locked away from prying Betsys!

BREAKFAST: 8am, toasted onion bagel with hummus, hunger 3/5

AM SNACK: 10am, 24 oz still water

LUNCH #1: 12:15pm, container of whole wheat pasta with smoked scallops, hunger 4/5
Frozen from last week, held up exceptionally well, a lot fresher tasting than I thought it would. This take-your-lunch-to-work-often thing may turn out for the best, yet.

LUNCH #2: 3:15, 3/4 of a superhippy bread & fresh peanut butter sammich, hunger 4/5
Almost fell asleep in the prior meeting. Gave 1/4 to T. Really helped wake me up, considering there is no sugar or caffiene in it, and a ridiculous amount of superhippy fiber and seeds in it.

DINNER: 8pm, green salad, smoked pork chop, roasted fingerling potatoes, wok-seared stringbeans with mushroom and garlic, apple crisp with dulche de leche gelato, 1 glass wine, hunger 4/5
Cooked for my friend Erikka, as Betsy was away with her gals. Most of the ingredients from the farmers market. Thinking of Ilsa, added some veg to off set the (ridiculously tiny, cute) potatoes. Never quite made potatoes or string beans like, came out OK, almost good. Erikka cleared her plate, and had 2nds of the taters, so it couldn't of been too bad!

Couch Potato - Potato = Miracle Diet!

ADDENDA:
Read an interesting article about how not only does exercising not promote weight loss, but that the idea that it should is a recent phenomenon. It tells me what I already know - if I ride my ass off all day, yes, I burn maybe 4x more calories than I do in a normal day, but I also find myself in a food frenzy where I eat at least 4x more. The article insinuates that if you sit around and do nothing, it's a lot easier to eat less calories than you expend.

So I guess couch potatoism minus the potato chips may be the diet craze of the future!

BREAKFAST: 8am, superhippy bread with wholefoods-branded hummus, dirtpill, hunger 2/5
Not particularly hungry after last night's late-night yogurt explosion, but figured it would be bad not to eat. The superhippy bread really is worth the $9 for the half loaf - it has a pleasing density, lots of different cracked seeds and grains give it an interesting texture, a faintly sour-dough flavor keeps it spritely without being salty.

BP 9:30am, 130/84

AM SNACK: 9:30am, 24 oz still water

LUNCH #1: 11:45am, 2 slices sesame pork w/ "lo mein", hunger 4/5
The corporate caf just reopened, and like with lipstick on a pig, it's the same old same old (crappy food, surly service) with a new look. Such crap food, and such small portions!

LUNCH #2: 4:15pm, falafel pita from the lamb guy, hunger 4.5/5
Back to back meetings til 4, felt faint. Last meeting I was day dreaming about wholefoods, what I'm going to make myself for dinner, as Betsy is otherwise engaged this evening....SHRIMP! If I liked berries, I'd make a shrimp n' berries dish, he he.

DINNER: 8pm, green salad, 1 lb of wild caught shrimp a la Noah, roasted organic red jacket potatoes also a la Noah, 8 oz of chocolate butter cookies, seltzer, hunger 4/5
When I say "a la Noah", it means I made it up as I went along because I didn't have the pressure of having to please another person. Shrimp was great, satisfying that I chose it from an array of 4 different kinds (this one looked the freshest), took a solid 20 minutes to peel and devein all of them. Potatoes came out surprisingly well, but I wonder how healthy potatoes are in general...

The Bloom is off the Blog

ADDENDA:
I think the newness of changing my diet and keeping this blog is starting to wear off, the same way the newness of a bike ride wears off after 30 miles, then you realize you still have another 70 to go before you can rest. I think this is a good thing, it'll be clearer what my real habits are.

Without giving too much thought, I made a healthy going-away breakfast for Mariko. Mariko was semi-complaining how unlike all the times she spent in my home before, this time there was no stash of potato chips, ice cream or cookies. Huh. Yesterday was almost a desert-free day! And not on purpose, either!

The award ceremony yesterday, held in the lobby of a bank, was bittersweet. It was very-much a community gathering with lots of folk from my mom's Y where she was the executive. Some familiar faces, who I haven't seen since her memorial service, were there and said hello. I got a nice framed certificate for the fund I set up, and had a minute on the mic to tell people how happy my mom would of been to see them all there helping the Y thrive, how she'd compliment the new executive on his hustling, and how her idea of how social justice is measured - by how society treats it's least-privileged and least-able, like children and senior citizens. I was intensely uncomfortable there, the 3 cookies I ate didn't really help me - I think in the past I would of snarfed more of the unlimited cookies.... But Betsy had a wide-beam grin shining on me the whole time, kind of made it worth it.Today I wore a sweatshirt with an abstract drawing I designed, based on a picture of my mom when she was young and hip in the early 60s. (There is a similar one of my father on the back, with a rather square flat-top from the same period, he he)

BREAKFAST: 7:30am, superhippy bread with good butter, a large dollop of yogurt, 2 crispy pieces of bacon, dirtpill, hunger 3/5
Made the bacon just so it seemed like I cooked something and not just prepared.

BP 9:15am - 129/86
Not perfect, but better than the last measurement. I think stress was elevating it last time. Just completing freelance work, everything is shaking out. I woke up at 6:30 this morning, got to work an hour early, and it feels like a really late starting day!

AM SNACK: Noon, 24 oz still water.

BP 12:15pm - 126/83
Just made an appointment with my MD next Thursday to see if these numbers are legit...and we'll see what all this pork and yogurt is doing to my cholesterol....

LUNCH: 1pm, pork tonkatsu with white rice and curry sauce, side of raw white cabbage and weird pickle bits, water, hunger 4/5
Waiting in line at Sapporo on 49th St (off 7th) with Erikka and Mariko, have avoided this place because of the line but because Mariko is leaving today, we waited. It was well worth it - the breaded pork cutlet was tender and tasty, the Japanese curry was flavorful and the right balance of sweet/salty/spicy and the raw cabbage was a nice palate cleanser. The place is more known for their ramen soup, but those are total salt traps...

After lunch, said a final goodbye to Mariko, then walked back. Started thinking about my Mom, the pleasure I used to get from introducing them to new cuisines in their later years - they spent most of their lives with Chinese food as being as 'exotic' is it got. They love love loved Indian food, though Ethiopian was a bit beyond the pale for them. They liked the cooked Japanese stuff, but thought eating fish raw was uncivilized. It was a bit embarrassing as a snobby snotty teen, but really every time we went out to restaurant together, it was a bit of an event. They didn't grow up with eating at a lot of restaurants, so eating out was special. The ceremony of sitting down with out distraction in a nice room other than your house, being served, given "free" bread (which my mom would embarrassingly wrap up and take home).

Our thing was that after the meal but before desert, we'd all guess how much the bill was (without tip, with tax), and whoever got closest got to pay the bill. My dad was closest EVERY time. I think in my entire life, I only got it closer once, but my dad insisted on paying anyway. I wish I pushed back and paid myself.

DINNER: 8pm, green salad, broiled bay scallops with butter and olive oil, small amount of baked small red-jacket potatos, a few bites of not-fresh corn, half a mini chocolate fudge cake with 2 scoops of malt gelato, 2 glasses of water, hunger 4/5
Went food shopping with B after work, was fun inventing the dinner menu with her on the fly. Let's hope the (non chocolate) gelato sticks around a bit longer, or I may really have to get that locking mini-freezer....

Used a garlic press on this heirloom garlic I got at Saturday's farmer's market, it was a 'German Red' or something like that. Still a little dirty, roots on the bottom. I noticed a remarkably large amount of liquid squirt out of them when I pressed them, and gave a scalliony less-sharp garlic flavor to the fish....really nice.

EVENING SNACK: 10:30pm, one saltless whole wheat pretzel with organic saltless peanutbutter, hunger 3.5/5
Funny thing, when B made the potatos, I knew it would not be enough food for me, so I threw on the corn that has been sitting around since Saturday morning. The corn wasn't really good, and I only had a few bites. When 10:30 rolled around, I was hungry in the way that I knew would interfere with going to sleep. Normally, this would be an ocassion for desert round 2, but that didn't even appeal to me at this moment.