Ruminations on Edie

It occurred to me last night that Edie looks like me. Someone recently joked that babies have evolved to initially look like their fathers, so they don't toss them out of the cave. I know back in the day people would not get too emotionally attached to their babies because they would often die -- sometimes, babies weren't even named until their 2nd birthday! That sounds like a reasonable allowance for high infant mortality, but judging by how Edie is thriving, we should have named her about 9 months before she was born, he he.

She has my mouth, as B has been pointing out multiple times a day, but I also see my father in her forehead and brow, my mom in the particular oval of her head. Looking back, the first day I was just too stunned to see the resemblance. She was all wrinkly, shaky, pointy headed and a little bit like one of those fake rubber baby models they use in the movies (like in "The Hangover" -- I doubt they had a real stunt baby bonk its head on a car door). But the next day -- once she was all cleaned up, a little bit calmer, and more filled out with B's wonderful breast milk -- I really held her for the first time and got to stare at her sleeping face, and I was reminded of my first date with B and how I just kind of fell for her within 60 seconds. I would have been a horrible old-world father, I'd be quaking in my boots from fear of bebe getting the plague or whatever.

As I already said, Edie didn't need to learn to feed; the moment she was placed on B's belly, she literally made a crawl upward and when her mouth was placed on the nipple, started suckling. I didn't even have any time to worry about it. What a stress it must be when babies are too zonked to know enough to get on the boobie.

We were given a "free" container of formula on our last day in the hospital, as well as a handy Similac tote bag. At the pediatrician's office, a whole mess of different formulas are available for sale. I imagine if B had breast issues or our kid was messed up enough to not breast feed, formula would be a plan B....but shouldn't it strictly be a plan of last resort? To give that crap away, like it was normal and inexpensive....nothing is less expensive AND valuable than real 100% freshly squoze boobiejuice! For all this concern for the mother and child, for all this regulation and pushy laws and intrusive prodding, why in hell is formula not being restricted like cigarettes and booze as something to be disdained and only used in limited appropriate circumstances that circumvent breast feeding? Am I being naive?

That said, I can't wait for Edie to get off the teat so I can participate in feeding her....making her food myself, the best pure mush in the land, then B can go do her thing and I can take Edie out and really see the world. Wooooo!

BREAKFAST: 7am, chocolate tart, .5 bowl, hunger 3/5
Needed to eat something healthier, but also wanted to test the tart I spent the afternoon making yesterday. Based on this recipe, E requested it for her birthday. I went out and bought tart pans. The crust was no biggy, but the timing....make the dough, refrigerate 30 minutes. Make the caramel, chill 5 hours. Make the ganache, chill 5 hours before decorating with grey salt. I doubled the recipe, but got 3 tarts out it, which made me wonder. The crust I under mixed, dry and crumbly, like a good tart crust should be. The caramel, the recipe calls for 340 degrees but by the time I got to 320, it started to smoke and smell burnt, so I pulled it and hit it with cream and butter (and some funky creme fraiche).

Between the burning smell, the pale look of the crust (not enough chocolate? Too much flour) and the curiously liquidy ganache, I thought it would be a disaster. Fortunately, the caramel set up perfectly - thick, gooey, sweet, rich and sticky in the right ways, really decadent. The ganache set well, too. The crust is a bit of a mess, but hidden well beneath the layers.

AM SNACK: 10:15am, munchos, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Didn't want anything sweet. Had a craving for Doritos of all things, something I never eat, but when I went to the grocery and looked at the ingredients, my stomach changed its mind. Munchos are an interesting "potato crisp" product, made of dehydrated potatoes, various starches, and the very last ingredient is yeast. Light-ish.

LUNCH: 1pm, samosas in chickpeas, 2 roti, water, 1.75 bowl, hunger 4/5
Picked up some lunch to go at a taxi stand I like, as I was eating realized it was way too much food. I used to eat like that, I gotta avoid this trap. Baby makes me wanna eat!

PM SNACK: 2:45pm, small piece of homemade chocolate caramel tart, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5
The problem with having advanced cooking skills at home is that when you make something like this, it's hard to resist because it's so over the top decadent and delicious, relatively difficult to make, expensive to buy, and I unfortunately appreciate it waaaay too much. Hrumph!

DINNER: 6-10pm, a beer, handful of tortilla chips and a little fresh salsa, a bite of fried chicken, a little mac n' cheese, more chocolate tart, a beer, a glass of champagne, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5
Birthday for E. I fried chicken for her, using a c-school Southern fried chicken recipe, using half veg oil and half Crisco, people liked it though I'm not a fan. Got compliments from both friends and strangers on the fried chicken and the tart, which was nice but weird....I just don't take a compliment well, and when it's a stranger, it's hard to be obnoxious about it without coming off as a dick. With people you know, you can dismiss them and they know that you love them and it's not disrespect, but you can't assume that of strangers.

Stuffed

Twelve or so of my classmates and professor met at a student's family restaurant out in New Hyde Park. I tore myself away from B and Ediebird because this restaurant happens to be a pizza restaurant, and it was too tempting to pass up a tour of a large pizza operation.

After class, went grocery shopping, got home and cooked perogies for B and a friend of hers who was visiting and helping with Edie. Then I cooked my ass off, made 2 batches of proper mac and cheese, then 3 chocolate caramel tarts based on the Marlow & Sons recipe for E's birthday tomorrow. B's mom came over, so they had plenty of mac to eat as I geared up and got out.

I road over to New Hyde Park in Nassau, it was a good, if trafficky, ride, only 18 miles, but through the dirty car-riddled heart of Queens. Middle Village? Queens Village? Who thought of those clever names? Hollis sure is way the fudge out there.

Guy's shop is huge, practically half a city block, and a kitchen that sprawls over a huge basement. The food was pretty good, honest fare that makes no pretense to be anything other than what it is. A lot of the food (the bread, the moz) are made on premises, which is no small deal. It was fun hanging with the folk, but I avoided the booze and kinda wanted to leave early, and left at the first possible moment, but still didn't get home till 11:30.

I gotta start eating less!

BREAKFAST: 6:30am, granola with organic dead milk, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

AM SNACK: 11am, brownie, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
On break from school, went over to the Madeliene Patisserie, this brownie was surprisingly horrible. Too much butter and sugar, not enough flour or chocolate, tasted like an overly sweet gritty butter cube with some mild cocoa flavor.

PM SNACK: 1:30pm, 2 spinach perogies, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Picked up some fresh perogies from the market, quickly sauteed half an onion in safflower oil with salt, boiled the perogies for 3 minutes, then pan fried them wih the onions, finished with some dried chives, surprisingly good. Gave 2 of my 4 to B in anticipation of dinner...

BIKE DRINK: 4-6pm, 16 oz of gatorade

DINNER: 7pm, 3 slices of different style pizza, 2 pieces bread, 2 glasses wine, fried calamari, various antipasto, pasta and sauce, veal rolatini, a few snippets of dessert, 1.75 bowl, hunger 4/5

Hiccups!!

After some of B's family visited in the morning to check out Birdie, we had a pediatrician's appointment. Edie gained a whole quarter pound since Saturday! She's my quarter-pounder! That's a good thing, B is doing a wonderful job with Edes, though when I tell her this, I don't know if she believes me. So I guess I have to blog about it to make it f'real. H'rumph!

Ridiculously cute moment of the day: When B put down Edwina (a nickname suggested by a relative who shall remain nameless), Lil E' had the CUTEST hiccups. Drinking milk too fast? I couldn't resist, I had to shoot some footage:



BREAKFAST: 10am, organic chex with organic dead milk, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH 1: 12:30pm, small piece of potato nik, kimchi, ice cream, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH 2: 3pm, falafel sandwich, fries, horrible grape soda, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
After pediatrician, wandered with B, ended up at a Maoz on 8th Street. Falafel was good, the fries were fneh and the Fanta grape soda was kinda gross, more candy-like than grapey.

PM SNACK: 6pm, ice cream, .33 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 9:15pm, good peanutbutter on superhippy bread, water, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

Edie vs. Rufus?

Woke at 6am with the idea of going back to school today, but just too tired and overwhelmed by what needs to be done....and leaving B & Birdie by their lonesome. I mean, look at that picture! Baaaaaaah!! :)

I fell asleep on the couch near the end of B's birthday celebration, and woke around 10pm. Got back to bed around 2am, and when I woke at 10am today, felt a little queasy but ok. Got a lot done -- made some business calls, laundry, organized the house, held Edie when she wasn't feeding or pooping, brought Rufus in to the vet, etc. Rufus has gotten a bit thin, but seems otherwise healthy. Vet thinks the turmoil of the baby has taken an emotional toll on the Ruf, but we have some urine and blood tests to come back to be conclusive.

AM SNACK: 9:45am, birthday cake, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

BREAKFAST: 10:15am, toasted bagel with cream cheese, swig of gatorade, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 1:15pm, potato nik with mustard, kimchi, ice cream, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 7:30pm, curry puffs, shrimp and tofu pad thai, half a ginger ale, some gatorade, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

HAPPY BIRDIE DAY, B!!

Today is B's b-day! Above is the slide-show I assembled over the past couple of days, between cooking, snuggling with Edie, trying to keep things calm.

Woke at 7, churned cookies n' cream ice cream, made a yellow sheet cake using a buttermilk recipe that came out weird. Helped clean the house, a short stack of B's friends came over, along with her family, and a special guest appearance from the HVS. Edie got into her lap and slept like a peaceful lil' kitten.

BREAKFAST: 9:15am, cake, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Made 2 layers, but the cake was off. Nice and moist, but overcooked on the bottom and under risen -- I think my baking powder or baking sodas are dead. I tried to depan one, and it crumbled, which is for the best -- less icky cake for people to eat. Good thing the ice cream seems to have worked out...

LUNCH: 2pm, asparagus risotto, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 3pm, buttercream frosted cake, ice cream, half glass prosecco, almond cookie, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 10pm, homemade pasta with oil, butter, garlic, salt & white wine, gatorade, water, ice cream, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Eating around Edie

Last night I slept like a baby. B and Granny B, on the other hand, slept with a baby, which is not quite the same thing. Fortunately, there is not much for Edie to learn about feeding -- she seemed to know what to do about 20 seconds after popping out of B's belly. We're very fortunate -- the new mom we were sharing a small room with (divided by a thin curtain) had a baby who was refusing to nurse, and it was just all stress.

Side note about our roomies: Then again, these maroons were also ordering in sushi the first night they were in, and I overheard her family talking about some new cooking show about master chefs, where the food was just soooo boring, and how Tom Collicio is not a chef, just a restaurateur, and Craft is just ok. I'm not a fan of Tom C., but Craft is a spectacular restaurant and despite the media hype, he's the real thing. And B said they were watching Fox News all night, figures.

From 7 to 9, B and Granny B slept and every once in a while I'd shuttle Lil' Edie back and forth from B's milk supply, checking her diaper and just lovin' her. I think my beard might be irritating her skin, I may have to do something about that soon.

We took E to her first pediatrician app't today, and everything went swimmingly. It was nice being out in the world with B&E, out in Union Square. We took the bus home together, Lil' E's first ride on public transportation!

BREAKFAST: 8:30am, buttermilk pancakes, Neiman Ranch bacon, apple cider, 1.5 bowl
B gently woke me at 6:45am, so I got into the kitchen. Felt like it was Army time, and an army can't roll if it's belly ain't full. I put on a big pot of steel cut oats, which I don't like, but B and GrannyB do. I laid out a slab of bacon in the oven, and mixed up some buttermilk pancakes from scratch.

I made attractive plates for the ladies, with the oats in the center with a little pat of butter melting in a pool in the middle, garnished with quarters of pancakes on one side and a strip of bacon on the other. I wolfed mine down while standing at the range, and fed Rufus a whole strip of bacon, which he wolfed (catted?) down.

PM SNACK: 3pm, 2/3 of a slice of streetza, slug of ginger ale, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
After Edie's app't, walked past a slice joint on University below 14th St, couldn't resist as I've never tried it. Very typical slice joint. Slice reheated, very not fresh, crust a little too dry, sauce way too acidy, cheese cheap tasting and too plentiful. Not very good.

DINNER: 6pm, big salad, deep fried shrimp, 2 ears of boiled corn, a teaspoon of kimchi, a small bowl of chocolate chips and cashews, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
While B&E slept, I made myself dinner. I picked up shrimp from the market, but upon opening up, it smelled a little funky and felt a little slimy. So I made a simple batter with flour, milk, egg, baking soda and salt, and deep fried those lil' f@kers, just like any restaurant does with proteins that are a bit funky. Came out bleah. Method was on point, but batter needed more salt and more liquid to be thinner. Maybe some herbs or beer to amp up flavor. Corn was flavorless, not in season yet. I picked up some kimchi from the farmer's market but it was way too spicy and vinegary, gotta go to Little Korea and pick up some proper stuff.

Coming Attraction

Crazy day, everything good. Ediebird has come home to roost! Lil' E has been sleeping, suckling and pooping a lot. While she and the B have slept, I've been cooking up sweets for B's b-day on Sunday, and tinkering on the computer. For when people ask for pictures, rather than trot out some boring stack, trying to jazz it up.... here is the first crack at the first 15 or so seconds...

Chillin' with Birdie

Everything is great. Will be back on it tomorrow.

Bird's the Word

This food blog is temporarily interrupted by reality. 6 lbs, 14.8 oz, 20" long, Edna Berti Wildman. Edna after my momma Edna, Berti after B's grandma Bertha, affectionately referred to as Berti. I shall never call her Edna, that was my mom, but Edie, Edie Bird, Bird, Birdie, Boid, Edes, Ed, Bert, Bertrand, Bertholomew or perhaps MiniBets will all due just fine.


Not to state the obvious, but this blog will be taking a baby-centric spin, as that's where my life is going. The name of the blog was a foreshadowing of this event, btw.


She's like a mini me!!!!!


Monkey! Freshly squoze!

Ate a couple of bad sausage links and half a rubber waffle from the breakfast they served, later wandered out after Gramma B came and ate a bad slice of pizza, some potato chips and Gatorade. Running on fumes.

Edie has been furiously suckling on B, no issues there. The ultrasounds predicted 8+ pounds, so to have her come out under 7 was a bit of a surprise, but no worry -- it's clear in the first 12 hours of her time with us that she's all about gittin' hers. Very awake when not sleeping, very hungry for milk (well, it's all colostrum right now), and very shouty when awake and not gettin' none of that sweet B boobie. I can't wait to go bike riding with her! Eat pizza with her! Play her some ska music and dance around the living room! Conspire to play tricks om B! Double snuggle with Rufus!

I think I'm going home tonight per hospital regulations, but will skip the food blogging today. Will try to pick up the thread in a couple of days, folks.

Pizza and Baby Power

Not your average day. Had my first excellent steak sandwich, ate pizza on my bed while B contracted, and then we went to the hospital to give birth. Details to come. (Yes, I wrote most of this entry before I was a dad....)

BREAKFAST: 10am, glass of homemade lemonade, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Good, but I know I can make the best lemonade in the universe with some tweaking. A dash of salt, all brown sugar, make a simple syrup with it, yeah.

LUNCH 1: 11am, steak sammich, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Sliced the palm-sized piece of beef from yesterday's dinner thinly. Still juicy. Microwaved for 10 seconds, just to get the chill off of it. Toasted some 100% whole wheat bread. Put on the good mustard from the pickle shop, my mistake -- steak this good and perfectly cooked needs no condiment. Still, perhaps the best steak sandwich possible. My mom and dad used to eat steak sandwiches all the time, from left overs from steaks they ate the day before, and they were always kinda gross. I wish they were around to share this sandwich.

PM SNACK: 12:30pm, glass o' lemonade

LUNCH 2: 2:15pm, green salad with olive oil, vinegar and salt, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Made chopped salad with romaine, carrot, cuce, scallion, red bell pepper, white onion and some vine ripened tomato.

LUNCH 3: 4pm, 2 slices of local streetza, handful of chocolate rugula, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Back from the gyno, seems B is in labo rfer real, dilation and all that stuff. I picked up some slices on my block, some chocolate from the kosher bakery, then ate it in bed with the B while she had her contractions. Pizza and baby power.

LABOR SNACKING: 5pm-1am, a handful of chocolate rugula, a donut , water, I think that was it.

Tomorrow, a steak sammich.

Bebe is still FutureBebe, any minute now. Chill day, slept in, lolled around while B met up with her mom for another test uptown, food shopped, hung out with an out of town friend, met up with everyone for a nice dinner. Life is good for now, just need Bebe.

BREAKFAST: 10am, onion bagel and cream cheese, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 1:30pm, mashed taro treasure boxes, mixed gluten, mini lotus leaf wrapped sticky rice, mock shrimp dumplings, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Took myself to lunch at Vegetarian Dim Sum.

PM SNACK: 3:30pm, homemade lemonade, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Added a little light brown sugar, think I'm gonna play a little bit more with that next time.

DINNER: 6:30pm, a couple of pieces of bread and butter, lobster bisque, a small bite of king crab leg, a few snippets of slab bacon, half a steak and fries, a bit of chocolate cake and creme brulee, half a beer, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Dinner at Balthazar with B and a couple of friends. The steak just looked too big, took home half of it. Previously I would of just eaten it and felt sick, glad I had the good sense to pause.

I want some Bebe Show now!

Went out, but B was too pregnant to go out, so I went home. We need to get this bebeshow on the road!

BREAKFAST: 8:30am, ice cream cone, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

BREAKFAST 2: 10:45am, 3/4 of a bagel and butter, some Gatorade, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 12:30, a little bit of bacon-studded chocolate

LUNCH: 3pm, fried chicken, various sides, water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
This was supposed to be good fried chicken, I found it merely ok. I am not a fan of this food in general, though I do remember the fried chicken we were taught to make in c-school was quite fantastic. I guess cooking small quantities for yourself and on a restaurant scale are very different things. Which adds to the old warning: People who open restaurants only because they can cook at home are idiots.

PM SNACK: 6pm, ice cream cone, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINER: 9:30pm. pizza with cooked sauce, ricotta, garlic, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Made at home with Pillsbury dough out of a pressurized canister pushed into n aluminium a half sheet pan. Topped with marinara I made a few days ago, a few dollops of whole milk ricotta, fresh garlic, salt, pepper, oregano and olive oil. Baked according to label, 13 minutes at 425, came out pale white and flibbidy flobbidy. Baked at 500 for another 10 minutes, almost burnt on the edges, still flibbidy in the middle. The toppings made it ok, but the crust was weird -- even though it was baked from raw, it tasted like I was eating a cheap frozen pizza.

Long good day

Woke at 7, got out of the house by 8:30, met D at 9 in Brooklyn Heights, then we rode bikes down Flatbush out to the BQE bikepath and road out east into East New York before heading north up into the string of parks that dot Queens, up in to Flushing Meadows. We took the 7 train in, but I got out before Manhattan and road into Greenpoint, stumbled upon the Renegade Art Fair. Bought matching t-shirts for me and FutureBebe, with a rainbow and a bicycle on them. Got home, ate pasta, back out again for a nice walk with B to the movies. Met up with her friends, went to a mediocre but convenient dinner after. Walked part way home, then hopped in a cab. Once B safely delivered, hopped on commuter bike to Greenpoint to hang with friends, wandering around the nether regions of Williamsburg.

-Phew!- I'm glad I'm old, not single, and don't have to have nights like that too often after days like that! I'm dog tired.

BREAKFAST: 7:30am, smoothie, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5
Good milk, good yogurt, vanilla sugar, salt, banana, blueberries, cherries, grapes, freshly ground flax seed. I left out the kiwi today, and found it much more pleasant. Kiwi gives a sour kick that does make the flavor a lot bigger, but to my own personal taste, a little less pleasant. I guess I just don't like kiwi. I wish I could expound and explain exactly why -- I do like sour-tasting foods, but I guess in this context I want more of a straight-ahead sweet experience.

LUNCH 1: 11:30am, turkey and swiss with lettuce, tomato, onion mustard on rye bread, Manhattan Special, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Out it Glendale, Queens, at a busy local sammich shop. Ride makin' me hungry

LUNCH 2: 2:30pm, homemade pasta with homemade sauce, Gatorade, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Straight up carbs with an electrolyte drink, perfect for recovery after 40 mile ride in warm weather

PM SNACK: 4pm, chocolate hazelnut vegan frozen dessert, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Pre-movie stop at Stogo, it really hit the spot despite me not liking their product too much -- it was cold, smooth and not very sweet, just what I was craving.

DINNER: 7pm, lamb schnitzel with one small potato, glass of cava, water, large scoop of chocolate peanut butter ice cream in a chocolate-coated waffle cone, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Dinner at the Smith, stupid menu, not very good food, slow service, but convenient. A little bit of everything, everything done not that well.

EVENING SNORT: 9:30pm, a beer, a bite of trendy but over salted burger

Today is National Donut Day!

Woke up after 10 hours of weird sleep. Dreamt that L opened a sandwich shop a few 100 feet away from the pizza place, with amazing brisket sandwiches. He was trying to woo me to run it for him. I would only do it if he promised to never be there. I was putting pizza aside for dependence!

I was out doing chores in the neighborhood this morning, when I walked past the local donut shop (with literally some of the best donuts in the world), and they had a chalk board out front announcing that today is, in fact, National Donut Day. How could I not honor that? Unfortunately, the man behind the counter is very familiar with my face, and asked me where I've been lately -- y'know, just working a lot, trying to lose a little weight. I asked him if there was an official donut of National Donut Day, to which he responded a little aghast, "That would be donut discrimination! All donuts deserve to be eaten equally." Really. Well, I think that Mexican churro should be discriminated against. Their churro is so authentic, you want to see if it has a green card!

BREAKFAST 1: 9am, organic cheerios with the good milk, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

BREAKFAST 2: 10:45am, chocolate donut, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 1:15pm, matzo farfel, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Wow! This was the last of the batch I made a few weeks ago, and dah-AM, is it tasty. Very rich, but so tender, moist, flavorful....it froze great, too. I still have a couple of quarts of chicken stock left in the freeze, but once that is gone, I can generate more schmaltz to farfel it up again...

Rufus went nuts licking the farfel bowl...


PM SNACK: 3pm, slice of streetza, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
I was on an errand that took me to the far side of my neighborhood, past a pizzeria that has been there forever and a day but always seemed just a little bit too...seedy. Off the corner of Essex and Grand, next to the Pickle Guys and across the way from a large high school, Vic's Pizza is a tiny space right out of the early 80s. As in, just recovering from the economic slump of the 70s, hasn't yet cleaned up and redecorated, but has a Ms. Pacman video game to keep up with the times. A large menu of simple Italian dishes on the wall, but no kitchen to be seen. Crappy 2 deck baker's pride oven. Lots of kids, a few Chinese locals, a parent and child, all huddled in from the rain. One man operation, a sullen quiet Hispanic guy. I see him take a large pie out of the oven, the crust as white as Clay Aitken. He starts slicing it and giving it to the kids, collecting money and giving change with the same hands - a major health code violation.

The pizza was undercooked, pale on the bottom, white at the crust, and was that rare combination of flibbidy flobbidy AND dry. And at $2.25, not cheap -- a dollar slice joint can get away with this quality, but not for the full throw. Well, I now know why I've never been there -- the quality of their pie matches their decor.

DINNER: 5:30pm, Ethiopian vegetarian combo, Haaagen Daaaaaz chocolate ice cream, Entemann's chocolate chip cookies, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5
B wanted to order in Ethiopian. I used to really like Ethiopian, but have fallen out of love with it since c-school. It just doesn't seem as original or interesting since then. But B wanted it, we got it, and it was pretty good. I picked up the Entemanns because of my emotional connection to them from my childhood, but compared to the homemade cookies I had just a few days ago, it makes me think why anyone would buy these craps. Tasted vaguely stale, vaguely chemically, vaguely fakey.

What keeps mankind alive?

Spent the afternoon after class at the restaurant, helping interview candidates. My gawd, some real bottom-of-the-barrel people, reminded me of the first few weeks of American Idol where the freaks come out and show their stripes. How does mankind survive?

Friends at the restaurant say I look skinnier, but I don't believe it. I'm not to anxious to stand on the scale and see what I weigh right now. I've been eating well since leaving the resto, so I'm sure my weigh is up, though my clothes are still a little loose.

Lunch weighed on me. I probably could skipped dinner, but skipping meals is lame, no one should do it, especially if you have a choice in the matter. Took a brief nap around 6pm, conked out around 11pm. Don't feel sick, just run down, I think it's still allergies.

BREAKFAST: 7am, smoothie, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5
Grapes, cherries, banana, kiwi, blueberries, flax, good milk and yogurt, vanilla sugar, pinch of salt. Kick total ass.

AM SNACK: 9:45am, 2 cart donuts, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 1pm, 1 slice pizza, 25 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 3pm, 3 hotdogs with mustar and kraut, small amount of oven fries, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Hotdogs today, burgers yesterday, pizza often. Staff lunch at the resto is not too high falutin'.

PM SNACK: 4:45pm, latte di mendorla

PM WATERING: 5:30pm, quart

DINNER: 9pm, asparagus risotto, .75 bowl, hunger 3/5
Not too hungry, but knew if I ate nothing I would feel funky the next morning.

She really IS glowing!

Of course, B can't just glow like a normal gal, she gotta toss off thick red and green bars that knock people over as she walks by them. It's quite startling.

Had a fun day at school, talking about the big picture P&L statements -- made business seem a lot more manageable from such a perspective. Gave a presentation about my ideal pizzeria, got some good (and strange) feedback, but I guess you need to check my other blog to hear all about it!

Spent most of the afternoon at the restaurant, doing some accounting tasks, taking care of the menus, signage, then spent a lot of time interviewing people for most positions in the place, interesting eye opener.

BREAKFAST: 7:15am, organic cheerios with the good milk, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

AM SNACK: 9:45am, chocolate almond croissant, water, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
A break from the cart/Starbucks school grind. A few fellow students directed me to a fancy pastry shop on 23rd that's the same walking distance as Starbucks. Sure, the croissant was $4, more than twice the cost of a Starbucks pastry and 4x the cost of a cart cake, but oh my gawd you get what you pay for. Redolent of butter and that wonderful 'brown' flavor -- caramelization, malliard reaction, whatever you want to call it, it has it. Tremendously satisfying. I needed two Starbucks pastries to get satisfied, at the cost of almost 900 calories. I imagine this butter bomb has more than 400 calories, but probably less than 900.

PM SNACKS:1-2:30, a few snippets of moz, ricotta calzone mix
Hanging at the restaurant in the quiet hours taking care of my remaining responsibilities.

LUNCH: 2:30pm, big hamburger on white bread bun, potato chips, pickle spear, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 6:45pm, large swig of red Gatorade

PM SNACK: 3:30pm, snippets of 10+ different kinds of gelato, .5 bowl, hunger 3/5
A Brooklyn gelato-maker delivered samples for us to try, to swing us away from Laboratorio de Gelato. With the exception of his rather amazing pistachio, all of the flavors were inferior. And the white chocolate gelato, really, that just offended me on principle!

DINNER: 7:30pm, potato nik with mustard, half a glass of musty red wine, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5
Potato nik tastes like my dad. I miss my dad. B needs to drink more wine so we can get this bebe show on the bebe road!

I cook, B bakes

Went out with B in the morning around the neighborhood, went to the crappy diner on my block because it was convenient. B slept most of the day with her big ol' belly while I worked on a school project and prepped dinner for B and a visiting friend of hers. Made pasta from scratch, haven't done it in a long time. After resting, the dough was way too wet so I just wacked in a lot of flour as ran it through the rollers, came out fine. Made marinara with a food mill for the first time (at home), a much more refined sauce from the chunky stuff I've made up to this point. Went with a trio of deserts because I could. I imagine when BabyB is here, homemade trios of deserts may be a thing of the past.

BREAKFAST: 9:30am, BLT on rye with mustard, homefries, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

AM SNACK: 11:30, potato nik, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 2pm, a few chocolate chip cookies, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 6:45pm, smoked moz with tomato and basil, fresh spaghetti with marinara and ricotta, a little cherry sorbet, a few chocolate chip cookies, cookies and cream ice cream, glass of white wine, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

Allergies, my butt, kicked

Thought I was just sleepy yesterday, but today after lunch on a bike ride down from the Upper East side, my nose was an open tap, my eyes were itching and I felt a little bit...intoxicated. Ah, it's that time of year again! A handful of days a year when certain trees or plants are blooming, I get sick without feeling crappy -- runny nose, run down, maybe itchy eyes and throat, but mind remains sharp, mood is fine and I sleep nice and deep in addition to daytime naps. Good thing I'm spending most of my time just waiting for miniB to enter life's stage.

BREAKFAST: 6:45am, good granola with the good milk, .5 bowl, hunger 3/5

AM SNACK: 9:45am, 2 cart donuts, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH:12:30, fried shrimp, a little baked potato, a few french fries, large house salad with creamy Italian dressing, water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Met up with B and Momma B in the Upper East side after B's check-in with a doc. We went to the Upper East side's diner institution, Jackson Hole. Shrimp was surprisingly good, probably out of the freezer but big, shrimpy and delicious. Came with a lot of salad, and avoided the fries. In the end, felt good about eating diner food.

PM SNACK: 4pm, 2 scoops of cookies n' cream ice cream, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 8:15pm, pint of pork fried rice, water, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

Queasy

Very lazy day, barely left the couch and ate too much. The HVS came over to see the Big B in her native habitat, and I spontaneously made some pre-dinner lemonade. It's so ridiculously easy, and no doubts after making so many gallons of it in the resto. I had 2 lemons, so I juiced them, threw in about 3/4 of a cup of sugar, then topped it off with 3x or so water. Taste, iced, served. I Just needed a squirt of lime and a sprig o' mint.

BREAKFAST: 7:30am, organic chex with good milk, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

AM SNACK: 10:45, crappy Wholefood trail mix, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

AM SNACK: 11:45, baby carrots with a litte evoo and seasalt, .25 bowl, hunger 3/5
The crappy trail mix gave my tummy a bit of a queasy feeling.

LUNCH: 2pm, asparagus risotto, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 3:45pm, cookies n' creme ice cream, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 7pm, chive cakes, spring rolls, summer rolls, shrimp and string beans in brown sauce with white rice, homemade lemonade, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Cocaine may be a hell of a drug, but Cookies n' Creme, it's a hell of an ice cream

Woke up, checked to make sure B wasn't giving birth, then took off to Coney Island. There was a half-marathon my friend E was running in, so I was able to fly down Ocean Parkway without any cross traffic. After running 13.1 miles in the heat and humidity, all that E and her friend wanted to do was scarf hotdogs, so scarf we did at Nathan's.

I just wasn't hungry this morning, but the cherry sorbet I labored on was....good, not great, I think I went too far on the cherry brandy, which prevented the ices from setting up too firm and gave a very mild booze tickle to the nose. On the other hand, it's VERY cherry-like in a real cherry way, and where it didn't crystallize, it's so smoooove. Next time, less kirschwasser and more gelatine.

I explored further into frozen deserts today. Yesterday, I made cream anglais, the base for really solid vanilla ice cream. Pint of whole milk, pint of heavy cream, cup of sugar, 2 scraped out vanilla beans, husks and all, into the pot, brought to a simmer. The second it hit simmer, I tempered a little bit of it into 12 whisked egg yolks, then tempered the yolks into the dairy -- if you just dumped in the yolks, instant scrambled eggs. Kept whisking until it thickened, then immediately through a meal mesh strainer into an ice bath. Refrigerated over night. This in itself is an intense sauce that can be poured over pastry, bread pudding, cakes, etc, but it's real hero status is the "French vanilla" ice cream it makes when ya churn it.

But I didn't want to be so....vanilla, so yesterday I asked her what ice cream flavor she desired. She peeped, not totally proud of herself, "Cookies n' creme!" Ugh, what a low rent flavor! I guessed it was just vanilla ice cream with an oreo mix-in, so no biggie, better to keep the old lady happy then be an ice cream snob.

I got a pack of Newman-Os from the supermarket, which I never had before. They pretty much look and taste exactly like oreos, except they don't leave a fatty film in your mouth and don't give you the chemical tickle at the back of your throat. As the ice cream was churning, I pulsed the majority of the cookies in the food processor to get a nice mix of powder, small bits and medium bits. One thing of note: the vanilla 'creme' all but disappeared, powdered and bonded to the darker chocolaty bits. Weird.

So I poured the cookies into the vanilla base a few moments before it was ready to stop, and once fully incorporated, shovelled it into a container and into the freezer to set. Then I tasted the remains of the dasher and barrel....

Oh my. This is interesting. Not what I expected. This is actually really, really.....good. The 'creme' of the cookies was powdered, and then kind of decided to sing bass-harmony with the pure vanilla of the ice cream....the cookies gave a nice interesting crunch and texture to the otherwise silky ice cream, but rather than being like sand, added a nice simple cocoa note that's kind of like, ummm, a castrato singing high above the vanilla harmony. The cookies also raised the sweetness and saltiness level of the affair, making it so different than what it was before. I guess that's really are there is to it, just blenderize and mix in cookies. I gotta try this with ginger snaps, with cinnamon graham crackers, with all-chocolate Newman-Os in my special 3-Deep-Chocolate ice cream (with cocoa, milk chocolate, dark chocolate and a dash of espresso grinds), ohhh, the mind is racing. I'm writing this in the afternoon while B is asleep, I can't wait to feed her some of this, she's gonna shout, "BAMALAMA!"

Hours later: Yep, she shouted bamalama.

AM SNACK: 8:30am, snippet of cherry sorbet
BRUNCH: 11:15am, 2 hotdogs with kraut and onion, a small amount of cheese fries, 1 beer, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

BIKE WATERING: 1pmish, 24 oz of water

PM SNACK: 2:15pm, cherry sorbet, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 3:30pm, asparagus risotto, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Oh my. This is a dish that despite the snobs that say risotto is no good if it's not just cooked, it actually tastes better the day after. More moisture gets into the grains, the starchy stocky creamy sauce gets more so, the flavors just mellow into each other, and it doesn't hurt that after last night's dinner, I hit it up with more salt to make it beg to be eaten.

PM SNACK: 4pm, 6 or so Newman-O cookies, scrapings of cookies n' creme ice cream out of the dasher barrel, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 9pm, vegan singapore mai fun, a summer roll, a few dumplings, a scoop of cookies n' creme, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Ordered in food with the bulbous B.

Cookin' like I mean it

Spent part of the morning making simple syrup for sorbet. Sorbet can be relatively easy to make with an ice cream machine, but not if you ain't got no sorbet syrup. Pint of water, on the fire stir in a mix of 11 oz of granulated sugar and quarter ounce of powdered gelatin. When it's all dissolved, drop in about 3 oz of light corn syrup, bring to a rolling boil. Pour into a clean container (any stray bits will cause crystallization), chill until ready to use.

When I got home from grocery shopping, I put my barefoot & pregnant wife to work depitting about a quart of cherries, which I then simmered in a quarter inch of water to loosen them up. Ran them in the food processor into a fine puree, and in the blender I placed the pint of gelatinous syrup, a dash of cinnamon, juice of half a large lemon, and a quarter ounce of kirsch...

I pulled this recipe from my c-school text, didn't make this one in class, I think I did lime sorbet then. The recipe calls for "kirsch", which when plugged into google comes back as a cherry brandy. After food shopping, I stopped by my local liquor store in the heart of the Lower East Side, and I ask the counter guy, "Do you carry kirsch?" To which he replied, "Are you making German chocolate cake?" To which I replied, "Nah, cherry ices from scratch." "Ah," he replied, turned around and pulled out a bottle of "Kirschwasser". Something tells me that if it wasn't the L.E.S., this would not of been so easy to source. Anyway...

Poured the cherry puree into the syrup mix, and blended for a solid two minutes. Poured through a fine metal mesh into a plastic container, which removed a surprisingly large amount of cherry pulp, and into the fridge.

Was hoping to catch a yoga class with the HVS today, but an hour before our cradle arrived and I made the mistake of immediately setting it up. After some frustration, I came to the conclusion that a key piece was defective, but by then I realized class was starting in 10 minutes... -sigh- ...third time in a row I flaked on a class, you think with me not on a work schedule I'd be less flaky.

Took my time making a massive quantity of asparagus risotto, kind of merging a Batali recipe, a c-school recipe, and just kind of winging it by eyeball. It came out very creamy and pretty good, though after eating a portion I had to go seriously up on the salt. Almost as an afterthought, got some chicken breasts out of the freezer, zapped them, coated them in olive oil, chili sauce and Worcestershire sauce, light salt, and off to the grill pan, where I got some nice marks going on. After all that, just didn't have the time or the space to make creamed spinach, maybe tomorrow.

After dinner, I got the cherry sorbet mix into the freezer barrel, but even though it took on air, it was way too loose to eat, needs to set overnight. -sigh-

BREAKFAST: 7:30 am, smoothie, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Using what was left: a very ripe banana, good yogurt and good milk, heavy on blueberries and cherries, fresh ground flax, vanilla, salt, sugar. Came out good but without the grape and kiwi, definitely not as well-rounded.

I wonder how many calories are in this thing. Less than 3 hours later, I got hungry again...

BREAKFAST 2: 10:30am, toasted sesame bagel with whipped cream cheese, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH 1: 1:15pm, pasta with olive oil, butter, Worcestershire sauce and garlic, snippet of cookie dough, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH 2: 3:45pm, a couple small slices of artichoke pizza, half a diet Manhattan special, 1 bowl, hunger 3/5
I miss L's pizza, but this variation was not the best.


DINNER: 9:30pm, one and half grilled chicken breasts, reasonable scoop of asparagus risotto, small amount of crappy Wholefoods trailmix, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
I'm glad I was able to cook my ass off AND resist overeating. In the past, when I cooked lots of complicated heavy food, I used the excuse to eat an extra portion. This time, I got a whole mess of extra portions into the fridge and freezer, 'cause when the bebe comes, I may not be able to take a night to cook in peace with my B as my personal dish washer...

Still no bebe

BREAKFAST: 6:30am, good granola with the good milk, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

AM SNACK: 9:45am, apple fritter, chocolate donut, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5
I was hungry by the time break rolled around during class, and I walked over to Starbucks to get a pastry -- the street cart pastries just feel like rocks in my stomach. A single pastry didn't seem like enough, but 2 seemed excessive, but I went for it. The total calories according to the signage: a little less than 900 calories. For breakfast!

I know McDonald's breakfasts are famous for going up towards 2000 to 3000 calories, but my 900 calorie snack just seemed....excessive. This dissonance caught in my craw as I road my bike to the restaurant -- 2 hours later I still felt pretty full.

PM SNACK: 2pm, 2 pieces of sharp provolone
We're changing up the cheese on a salad, this cheese is totally rocking.

PM SNACK: 3:45pm, small amount of matzoh farfel, baby carrots and peanut butter, snippet of cookie dough .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 7pm, pork bahn mi, a few bites of summer roll and taro spring roll, a spoonful of pho, water, a cup cake, 2/3 of a glass of wine, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

MiniB a.k.a. BumpB: Electric Boogaloo

Had a good class, nice that I barely wanted to sleep during it. I get the feeling that B could pop open and spill out a MiniB at any moment, as she was due yesterday but the kid ain't havin' NONE of it! "I ain't comin' out until there is peace in the middle east, you bourgeois pigs!" Or something.

Spent a couple hours at the resto after school, L was as sweet as a lamb, even said he and the guys missed me, despite me being clumsy...because no compliment can go unsullied, I guess. I do miss that place, but am very happy to be chillin' with B and BumpB.

Had a low grade dinner, same pizzeria that B ate from last week before she went into labor that we now know to have been false. Maybe today's will kick off the real thang?

BREAKFAST: 6:30am, smoothie, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Same as the last two, minus the kiwi. Funny, I'm pulling back on the yogurt, milk, upped the cherries, upped the ice, came out much tastier. There is something to the balance of ingredients.

AM SNACK: 9:45am, 2 street donuts, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5
When looking at the cart, I wasn't looking for what was the yummiest, or what had the least calories or healthiest -- I was looking for what items would least likely give me a stomach ache.

LUNCH: 12:30pm, pork n' chive dumplings, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 1:30pm, 1 meatball, a sprig of chicory, .25 bowl, hunger 3/5

SNICKLE SNACK: 4:30pm, fake bacon salad, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
In the cafe of the HVS yoga studio, weird how the tempeh tasted vaguely bacony in a weird way, but oddly satisfying.

DINNER: 7pm, 4 slices of 2boots pizza with bbq shrimp, orange boylans soda, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Ordered in with B. I'm not a fan of 2boots pizza, but it is significantly different than a generic slice. The cornmeal used to keep the dough from sticking adds a certain mouth feel and crunch, and the hot pepper in the sauce brightens everything. The shrimp was shockingly....small and barnacly, but the BBQ sauce it sported was vinegary in the right strength, a good match against the spicy sauce. Overall, still over-cheesed and oddly bland despite all that was going on.

EVENING WATERING: 8pm, quart o' NYC tap, represent!

Kelly & Ping SUCKS

Good chill day with the B. After a night of weird dreams about L and the restaurant's produce purveyor, had a doc appointment -- B and MiniB are all good and ready to drop whenever it happens. Went to a crappy but convenient lunch, saw a bad movie, did a slow wander back home. Cooked nice dinner. Ah, maybe it won't be so bad if I never go back to work and the bebe delays coming until it's 18 and ready for college....I keed, I keed. C'mon, bebe!!

BREAKFAST: 9am, organic chex with organic good milk, 3 cookies, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: noon, 2 veg dumplings, 2 spring rolls, a small tasting of pad thai, a small tasting of sesame noodles, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Went to Kelly & Ping with B after our doc appointment, I didn't want to but she did. I don't like the faux counter service -- it's set up like a full service restaurant, but they make you do counter service, it's annoying. On top of that, the food is overpriced and shitty. I ordered an $8.50 "Dim Sum Lunch Box" and form the looks of it, was worth closer to $5, just not that much food. On top of that, the small lump of sesame noodles were clearly prepared days ago, with the sauce dried out and tacky on the noodles. I tried to eat a "shumai", but what is traditionally filled with shrimp, pork or chicken tasted like....tuna? I spit it out, not sure if it was good or not. I tried eating some of B's veg pad thai, but it tasted underseasoned and a little bland. Wow, this place just sucks from begining to end!

PM SNACK: 1pm, popcorn, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Popcorn with B and the the B2B at the movies!

PM SNACK: 4pm, half a vegan ice cream, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5
We stopped at Stogo for a cold desert, very underwhelming in the flavor department. They need to use refined sugar, palm oil and baked good that are less crumbly and more rich,

PM SNACK: 5:15pm, 1 homemade chocolate chip cookie, hunger 4/5
Each cookie is an ounce, so to call that a quarter bowl would be pushing it...

DINNER: 7:30pm, pan seared sea scallops over mushroom brown basmanti rice, salad, 3 cookies, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
K came over, fun to cook something nice, but really easy. Rice just needed a reheat, cookies already made, B made the salad. Quickly dredged the big ol' scallops in wholewheat flour, salt and cumin then into really hot oiled pan. Once a little brown on one side, flipped and into a 350 oven for about 3 minutes, came out perfectly tender and flavorful. While they rested, reduced some old white wine in the pan, then hit it with a wallop of butter and minced fresh dill and another dash of salt -- a simple pan sauce with a nice color and contrasting flavor. Just needed some stock to thicken it, but the left over floury bits in the pan did some work for me.

Life on Hold

After getting out of the house briefly to go up to Westchester for a BBQ and a nice bike ride to get home, felt like spending the day with Big B today, she's soooo pregnant still. We sat around and snuggled, took a walk in the neighborhood for a slice o' pizza, cooked up some very stocky rice and cookies. -sigh- I know I need to eat less, but it's sooo comforting!

BREAKFAST: 9am, smoothie, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Repeat of Saturday's smoothie: good yogurt, good milk, banana, grapes, cherries, blueberries, kiwi, freshly ground flax, salt, sugar, ice. If it was more in season, the sugar would not be necessary to balance.

AM SNACK: 11am, matzoh farfel, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
B massacred the farfel yesterday, so it was either eat it or let it be in danger when B woke up...

LUNCH: 1pm, 1 slice of streetza, small softserve cone, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 3pm, baby carrots, small piece of stinky cheese, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 6pm, brown basmanti rice cooked with stock and mushroom, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING SNACK: 9pm, homemade chocolate chip cookies, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

My stock brings all the Bs to the yard

BREAKFAST: 9:30am, matzoh farfel, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Not the lightest breakfast I ever had. Spent the morning cooking this up, based on the chicken stock I made yesterday. Put a good heaping spoonful of chicken fat in a wok, cooked it until it stopped bubbling -- all the water and impurities cooked off. Dropped in 2 cups of shredded carrot to soft, then 2 cups of minced onion and 2 cups of chopped portabello, dash of salt. Cooked till in smelled gooood and tasted sweet. Separately, 9 cups of crumbled matzoh, poured 2 cups of fresh stock over it and mixed by hand until absorbed.

This is where my stock kinda freaked me out a little, in a good way. I had the stock in the fridge in a large pot overnight, so all the fat came to the top and congealed, making it easy to spoon off into a container for separate use. I started spooning off the fat....and it got clearer, but didn't seem to stop....I realized that the stock itself was a bit...jelly-like! This is a good, good thing. Because I used three whole chickens with all the meat (minus the breasts), my stock now has a great deal of collagen -- the stuff of bone marrow and connective tissue that is incredible healthy to eat. Best thing, it has a fatty mouth feel but ads no fat, just protein! It's too intense to use as soup base, it has to be diluted, but when cooking something like risotto at full strength...oh my!

OK, OK, I soaked the matzoh while the salted veg was cooking off. Turned off heat, dumped soaked matzoh in the wok and mixed. Dropped a scoop of the mix into a bowl of 4 beaten eggs to raise the egg's temp, so when I dumped the eggs in it wouldn't turn into scramble. Coated the whole mess in egg, then dumped a table spoon of freshly grated ginger, a full bunch of minced parsley and seasoned with salt and a little pepper.

PM SNACK: 1pm, 2 ears corn with butter and salt, .5 bowl, hunger 3/5
Bought some corn yesterday, just curious. Good, not great.

LINNER: 2:30-6:30pm, corn chips, assorted dips, 2 thin slices of a large sammich, 2 hot dogs, 1 hamburger, 2 beers, water, 1 small canoli, a snippet of pepperoni, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Visited an old friend and her new husband up in Westchester, while B continued to bake the bebe. It was good to get out of the house and see some peeps. It's always weird when I go up there, really feel the difference between us 'city folk' and them 'suburb folk'. Still, some of my friends are newly pregnant, so a whole lotta bebe tawk was going down. I split at 6:30 feeling a bit bloated and achy. I wisely took my bike on the train up there, so instead of just turning around on the train, road down to Yonkers and took the train from there. I love biking. Freedom. Nice route, maybe take the HVS up there for our megaride this summer...

I cook up stock, B cooks up a bebe

Starting to cook a little bit more to keep my mind off things. B is sooooo pregnant!

B was complaining that her steel-cut oatmeal took too long to make, and that she'd rather get quick oats; it tastes crappier, it has a lot less nutrition, but it takes 3 minutes to make in the micro instead of 30 minutes on the stove top. Urrrrg! So last night I boiled 8 cups of water, tossed in 2 cups of steel cut oats and a pinch of salt, turned off the heat and covered. This morning I reheated and stirred to mix up the liquid at the bottom, and within 3 minutes perfect oatmeal -- and enough to serve up for breakfast all week and some for the freezer. Take that, over processed evil quick oats!

B tasted my smoothie this morning and swooned about how good it was. Then she asked if she could make one with her selection of fruit....and her fat free yogurt and fat free milk. AAAIGH! What is so hard about understanding that FAT IS GOOD?!

BREAKFAST: 9am, Smoothie Supreme, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Smoothies are something I started experimenting with when I first started consulting Ilsa, who inspired me to start cooking for myself and eventually go to c-school. Up until then, I did not like smoothies, my only experience being what they produce in smoothie shops. When you do it for yourself, however, and you choose the best ingredients, all the ingredients you like, well, it's something else. I also realized when the summer was coming to end that a smoothie....is HIGHLY seasonal.

In this smoothie, all in the blender, without measure: the good yogurt, the good milk, vanilla extract, a very ripe banana, fresh blueberries, cherries, red grapes and kiwi, freshly ground flax seed, a pinch of sea salt, a few tablespoons of sugar and a couple of ice cubes to adjust. MOST rocking and satisfying.

AM SNACK: 11:30am, scoop of cinnamon ice cream, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Why am I desiring this? Why am I hungry? I didn't eat this without thought, but I did eat it wondering why I'm setting myself up to gain a lot of weight.

LUNCH: 1pm, stuffed rigatoni in wine sauce, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5
Went to the local market to pick up some cheese cloth to make a sachet d'espice for the chicken stock I'm making, figured I'd pick up something for lunch. Got a 10.5 oz bag of stuffed rigatoni, which are kind of like lined rectangular raviolis. It looked like a single portion to me, but according to the packaging, is 2.5 servings.

Upon consideration, while standing in the frozen aisle, of course, duh, this is two portions. My younger more gluttonous self would have regarded a 2lb bag as one healthy portion and one small portion, but this is sanity. So I got it, and made a small portion for pregnant B, and a larger portion for me. Even with eating maybe 1.75 portions according to the label, it wasn't a full bowl.

After draining the pasta, in the pot I heated some olive oil, tossed in some minced shallot and softened it, covered it in some old pinot grigio from the fridge and reduced until no more alcohol tickled my nose. While the alcohol was cooking off, dropped in a handful of sliced grape tomatoes. Pinch of salt, a few drops of Worcestershire sauce, 2 cloves of garlic straight out of a press, then a bit pat of butter. By the time the butter melted with stirring, turned off the heat, folded in the pasta, serve. No need for grated cheese, as it was already cheese stuffed. B thought it was great, I thought it was a bit too sharp -- a dose of stock or glace would have mellowed it out. Maybe too much acid from the grape tomatoes? Maybe too much wine?

PM SNACK: 4pm, cinnamon ice cream, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Woke up from a nap with B, needed a quick pick me up

PM SNACK: 5pm, baby carrots and a little hummus, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 6:30pm, popcorn, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

SNICKLE DINNER: 9:15pm, falafel sandwich, cup of vegan peanut butter fudge ice cream, small bite of way too spicey chocolate truffle, grape fizzy lizzy, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Arepa! Arepa!

Did not eat well yesterday, but upon reflection, I am decompressing/recompressing. Decompressing from the go-go-go-go of the restaurant, recompressing for the go-go-go-go of the new iddy biddy bouncy bebe that is just around the corner. Can't wait to get my road bike back, now THAT is the supreme form of pressure release. Either that or drugs and infidelity, but homey don't roll like dat. Well, maybe and occasional special brownie...

BREAKFAST: 7am, half a toasted bagel & butter, baby carrots and cucumber, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
A breakfast my momma would approve of.

AM SNACK: 10am, small ice cream, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

AM SNACK: 11:30, pork and bok choy dumplings, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5
At my favorite dumpling joint on the way to the resto.

SNICKLE SNACK: 3:45pm, salad with seitan, dahl, peanut scone, water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 7pm, baby carrots and small piece of Grayson cheese, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Funny how cheese that smells like farts actually tastes pretty good when paired with something slightly sweet. B got really upset when she got home, because her sense of smell is really sensitive right now and I can only imagine what she encountered when she got through the door. A big ball o' dirty socks, rancid poots and cheesy toes!

DINNER: 9:15pm, pork arepa, fish arepa, cheese and guac arepa, 1 beer, a few squares of chocolate, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5
K expressed a whim for South American street food, and within 10 minutes we were sitting at the Caracas Arepa bar on 7th street. I love New York.

EVENING SNACK: midnight, scoop of cinnamon ice cream, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Pizza and burgers and donuts and ice cream and onion rings OH MY!

Picked up good donuts from the shop on my street, so I wouldn't have to deal with Starbucks or street cart pastry. From there, straight to the restaurant. L was in a better mood today than yesterday, we sat at the bar and went over several things, discussed new menu items, removing and revising old ones, designed an ad together for Edible Brooklyn, spoke in generalities about our future together. I pretty firmly said that until a few weeks after the baby comes, I want to strictly just do the graphics, light accounting and paperwares that no one else can do. After, we'll talk and see how we all feel. L invited me to stay for staff lunch, but it was still a few hours out, so I went home to be with the Big B.

After a few hours of nodding off and chilling, road my road bike up to Tudor City for an overhaul. The last time I took my bike in for this not-cheap procedure, my mom was dying, and by the time I got the bike back, she was gone. This time my bebe is getting ready to introduce itself, and in all likelihood when I get my bike back, it'll be all, "I LOVE TO SINGA!"



B joined me for a walk through Tudor City, we stopped at a crappy burger joint, took a bus home and picked up crappy ice cream from the CVS, in addition to newborn-sized diapers!! Blaaaag!

BREAKFAST: 8am, 2 donuts, water, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

AM SNACK: 10am, madeline, half a croissant, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 2:30pm, handful of baby carrots, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Ha! Look! Vegetables!

LUNCH: 3pm, 2 slices, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 6:30pm, burger, onion rings, Dr. Pepper, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING SNACK: 8pm, 2 small ice cream cones, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

Mo' Balance

Class in the morning, nice when you have enough sleep. Went to the resto after, knocked out a few tasks in an hour then split, as L seemed really busy, distracted and grouchy. He called later when I was shopping for dinner, we're meeting tomorrow to talk. I haven't been out shopping for dinner ingredients in many months, it felt really good. I need balance.

BREAKFAST: 7:15am, good yogurt with cashews, honey and vanilla, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

AM SNACK: 9:30am, apple fritter, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

AM SNACK: 11am, french bread, a few bits of cheese, a snippet of fish, 4 samples of wine, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 1:30pm, pickle, small piece of corn and spinach pizza, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 3:30pm, handful of cashews and chocolate chips, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 7pm, homemade chicken soup, mashed potatoes and roasted brocolli, water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Yomomma and Yobro came over to shower affection on B, so I whipped up some homemade food, which I have not done in quite a while. Chicken stock outta the freezer, quickly grilled some cut up chicken breast marinated in oil, chili sauce, Worcestershire sauce, soy and sake, dropped in the stock after boiling some pastina in it for 4 minutes, threw in some mandolined carrot and scallion, finished with some Streit's soup mandlin. Mashed potatoes, straight up country style, heavy cream, lots of butter and salt. Made some broccoli, but the market's broc was not up to snuff and used frozen, which did NOT work well in my recipe. They liked it, but it wasn't good.

No, not quite yet

Yesterday, Monday, was bizarre. We got to sleep after B was contracting all day, and when we woke up after a fitful night and morning, B felt....fine. Back to normal. Contractions gone. Worried, blown out from the emotional roller coaster from the craziness at work Saturday, the labor scare Sunday, Monday was just a haze of appreciating the wonderful B. Barely remember what I ate, but I do know I ate a pint of ice cream, and it did a number on my G.I. tract. Sheesh, I can't pound ice cream pints like I once did.

This morning started with an 8:30am appointment with the doc, and as I suspected, both B and the bebe are perfectly fine and normal and healthy -- she had contractions yesterday, but not more dilation, therefore it was "false labor". It was very exciting and nerve wracking, and not looking forward to having to freak out all over again soon. After the appointment we took ourselves out to Balthazar for breakfast, then I took off to the restaurant.

The restaurant was closed today, but we were a finalist in a meatball competition at a local food expo, sponsored by a lower-level foodie magazine. Was a weird vibe with L, he kinda knows he pissed me off and has been acting extra nice to me. I helped make the balls, and I sat with him and made a bunch of revisions to our menus. It was a quick drive up to the convention hall in Astoria. I've been to several food shows, mostly at Jacob Javits, and this was a much smaller-scale affair, but still a lot of stuff to eat. Mostly Queens-based restaurants and alcohol distributors, surprisingly little Greek food. Most of the meat balls entered in the contest were surprisingly mediocre, but there were a few that were actually amazing. Still, the ball that won was laughably crappy, which makes one wonder what the judges were thinking.

B is now at home until the baby pops, and I'm looking forward to cutting back my hours drastically at the restaurant until then, too. I want the transition at the restaurant to be smooth, so as not to give my team a hard time. As for L, whatever, but my team deserves my loyalty.

BREAKFAST: 8am, banana

BREAKFAST 2: 10am, french toast, bacon, water, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 2pm, handful of mini meat balls, sprite, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

FOOD SHOW HAZE: 6-8pm, crunchy shrimp, several styles of meatballs, pastas, savory tibits, a few drinks of booze, a little gelato, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING WATERING: 10pm, quart

All is Dream

Woke up late, 8:45am. B woke me up and said she didn't feel well, cramps, sweats, she didn't sleep at all. I run around the corner and get her some Mylanta and Gatorade, but she's clearly not just going to get better. After the day I had yesterday, I couldn't just not show up with out my professional reputation questioned, so I called my momma-in-law to come down and look after B, while I took off at 9:30 sharp to get to the shop.

Got rolling at 10 sharp, L was in church so didn't show up until after 12. Good vibes with the crew, feeling it was going to be a good day, enjoying the rhythm of making a bucket of lemonade. L shows up in a good mood, a nice change from the head-crackings he was dispensing yesterday. All morning I was exchanging calls with B. Her mom got in about 10 minutes after I split, she called the doc, doc said to come in to be checked out. Around 1 o'clock the verdict is in: B is in the early stages of labor, and she needs to go home and chill until it's closer, then she'll be admitted. When I was told this, I was in the kitchen, and I pretty much pooped myself (not literally, though.) B was being all nice and saying that I didn't need to come home, but after thinking about it for about 15 seconds, what was appropriate was clear. I pulled L aside and apologized, but I got the call and I had to leave. After a day like yesterday, it felt a little awkward, but I had to just man-up and be with my wife.

Rode my friggin' tandem at top speed home, got there only a minute after they got in. B was all shweaty and achey but good. We ended up falling asleep on the bed most of the afternoon. Ate horribly, must eat better tomorrow while waiting for B's belly to do its thing.

Yesterday doesn't quite seem real. Today, even less so. Tomorrow, I imagine it'll only go more pear-shaped.

BREAKFAST: 10am, Manhattan Special, a handful of Italian cookies, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 2:30pm, shrimp chowfun, egg roll, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 9pm, bagel and hummus, a little raclette cheese, pint of ice cream. 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5