Squigglebeast

Upon reflection, perhaps the massive quantities of caffeine I consumed all through the day was perhaps not the cleverest idea. While delicious, and was fun staying up until 1am with my wife watching bad/good TV, I didn't really need to shave my head, do the laundry and make ice cream between 2 and 5am.

Edie is beautiful. She's getting more and more interactive with the world, becoming a bit of squigglebeast when it comes to things like staying on the changing table, laying on the couch by my side, or being put down on any surface. She can crawl backwards awkwardly, and when in the crib, she is on all fours, pumping her little booty up in the air, like an engine revving for a quick start.

I had to get rid of my hair -- I have been growing it since Edie was born, but like with Rufus's fur, it's become one of the things she loves to tug on with all her might when she gets close to it. It's easy to put on a shirt to get her away from my chest hair, but head hair is something less manageable. Until now.

BREAKFAST: 9am, toasted pumpernickel bagel with creamcheese and sable, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Hadn't had sable in a while, damn it's good. Should be on a pizza.

LUNCH: 12:30pm, 2 small slices of pizza, Manhattan Special, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 2:30pm, hot chocolate, .5 bowl, hunger 4.5
From Jaques Torres, incredibly rich and on target. Got the "small", which was probably 10oz, or a 1950s extra large.

DINNER: 5:45pm, large green salad, potato chips, chocolate cornflake cluster thingies, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING SNACK: 2am, 2 pancakes, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

Urge

Not a great eating day for me, pretty good for Edie. She finished up the pear & raspberry puree in the morning, finished up a jar of peas in the afternoon, lots of formula in between. Me, I spent the morning at Wholefoods, munched on potato chips, went to the playdate drop-in and munched on extra fatty chocolate chip cookies, and munched on a mess of cookies in the evening after feeling a strong urge to consume sugar. Perhaps the baked potatoes set it off?

BREAKFAST: 6:30am, toasted egg bagel with cream cheese, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
B bought the last batch of bagels, and now at the bottom all that are left are whole wheat, a cinnamon raisin (!) and this chewy monstrosity. Why can't I have a wife who can choose bagels properly? Waaaaa!

PM SNACK: 12:30pm, potato chips, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Snack of champions.

PM SNACK: 2pm, "chocolate chip brittle", .25 bowl, hunger 4/5
The leader baked these for the playdate drop in. Really just a chocolate chip cookie with extra fat, pushed into a big pan and cut into triangles. Addictive, though.

DINNER: 7pm, large green salad, sauteed curry shrimp with 2 baked potatoes, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING SNACK: 9pm, newmano cookies, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

Trudge

Laundry in the morning, a trudge to the post office in the afternoon, asleep by 7pm. Maybe I'm fighting a bug?

BREAKFAST: 10am, good yogurt with homemade vanilla extract, agave, raw cashews, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 12:30pm, beef lomein, wonton soup, shrimp toast, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Ordered in Chinese. After doing laundry, a bunch of chores and living the life with Edie, just felt like treating myself to something comforting and easy.

DINNER: 6pm, slice of Earth Mother pizza, slice of Mel Cooley pizza, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
B brought in some 2boots.

Tundra

Woke up to a snowy world, and after being indoors for more than 36 hours straight, had to enter it. Rode the mountain bike through the tundra to Brooklyn, to look after E's cat, then across the wasteland to C's house, where she has a 8 month and 3 week old border residing in her tummy. Then fought the snow beasts a few blocks and had dinner with Y, at a rather lame Italian restaurant. Why does the lasagne taste like nutmeg? Does the octopus have to be this chewy? The temp dropped, the roads froze, and took a train home to the warm welcoming light of B & a sleeping Edles.

BREAKFAST: 9am, 2 frozen mini pizzas, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 1:30pm, 1 slice streetza, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 3pm, diet coke

PM SNACK: 6pm, apple turnover, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 7:15pm, grilled octopus, meat lasagne, tiramisu, bread, water, 1.75 bowl, hunger 4/5

Midnight Hotdog

Today was a snow day, so plans were cancelled, Edie & I got into our union suits (and B resisted and wore a house dress instead, hrumph), and we read the paper, watched a DVD, put Edie on the carpet and watched her skills at crawling backwards, and I spent some time annotating what I ate as soon as I ate it.

Edie is really taking to solid food mush stuff. Pureed carrots were eagerly gobbled, then a half jar of mushy peas. In the afternoon B tried some pears & raspberries on her, which she screwed up her face at and refused to take.

BREAKFAST: 8:30am, pancakes, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Glorious, fluffy beasts. I made some with bananas and walnuts for B to eat in bed, the rest plain. I happened to have all the ingredients on hand, but a little low on milk, so I replaced 1/3 of the milk with some heavy cream lying around. Wow, it definitely made the the pancakes more toothsome. Made me think about how these are SOOOOO superior to diner pancakes, even superior to someplace like Clinton Street Baking, who are known for their pancakes (their suspected secret: seltzer in the batter). But cost-wise, my pancakes would be very expensive -- heavy cream, organic medium eggs, a real vanilla bean, no oil only butter, etc.

Lying on the couch waiting for the storm to come, lost consciousness from 11-2pm...

PM SNACK: 2pm, 4 pieces chocolate dipped shortbread, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5
Snowing, feeling fuzzy, Edie and I are wearing matching red union suits. She gets cuter every day somehow. B also napped in the bedroom with Edie, good being part of a team/family.

PM SNACK: 5pm, large green salad with a pickle and black sesame crackers, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Had to eat something after a day of the heaviest carbs possible. The current salad is a mix of red leaf lettuce and iceberg. Iceberg is kinda nutritionally void and has no flavor, but has a distinct texture and crunch that I grew up with. I'll never forget in my mom's last few months, I was cooking for her, and I made a salad with romaine. When she asked why I didn't use iceberg, I gave her a nudgy lecture about it's nutrition and plainness, to which she said half-heartedly, "but I like it." I felt horrible, and she had ice berg after that. I know I shouldn't be eating iceberg, but I'm matching it with stronger greens, and, well, I like it.

DINNER: 7:15pm, cheese ravioli, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Some frozen ravioli in the freezer, made a sauce by reducing some old white wine, adding olive oil and cooking some crushed fresh garlic in it for a minute, added Worcestershire, tossing in the ravioli, then topping with grated parm. Needed something, a missing element, ground pepper? Heavy cream? Mushrooms? Nuts?

MIDNIGHT SNACK: hotdog on wholewheat bun, .75 bowl, hunger 3/5
Not so much hungry as looking for something to eat for entertainment. Edie & B went to sleep hours ago, TV and internet is starting to bore, not feeling focused enough to read anything, not quite tired enough for sleep, a horrible limbo.

Housewife

Did laundry and baking the night before, so all there was to do was to temper some chocolate and dip shortbread, watch a crummy DVD and feed the Edie. Went to a play date in the afternoon with a selection of the mommas, and walked home slowly and joined B for a nice night in. A symmetrical, peaceful, domestic day. I feel like a 1950's housewife, in a good way,

BREAKFAST: 9am, 2 small pizzas, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

AM SNACK: 11:30am, 2 chocolate dipped short bread cookies, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 2-6pm, slices of sausage, bread and olive oil, 1 glass wine, 2 glass lemon soda, a few bits of vegetable, 2 ginger cookies, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK:7pm, 1 slice streetza, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

L.E.S. S.U.V.

Spent the morning at the restaurant, popped around Brooklyn while Edie slept on me, and did a little grocery shopping and chores in the 'hood (see pic) before retiring in to do laundry, bake shortbread for tomorrow's playdate, and snuggle the wifey.

Edie's input and output was better today. She was a bit resistant to a rice cereal/carrot puree/formula mix in the morning, but dug the new apple/apricot mush this afternoon. And the poops, oy, this ain't that kind of blog or I'd tell you all about 'em!

AM SNACK: 8am, swig of gatorade

BREAKFAST: 9:45am, 3 latkes, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

AM SNACK: 10:15am, marzipan donut, chocolate donut, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

AM SNACK: 11am, Manhattan Special, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 12:30pm, 2 small slices pizza, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 5:30pm, large green salad, a few pickle spears, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 8pm, shrimp saag, pakora, samosa, naan, 1.75 bowl, hunger 4/5

Focus

Yomomma came over and I took off to school for the final class. B & Edie came out and gave the students a thrill (who wouldn't be thrilled by a giggly baby?). Class may or may not start again in late Feb/early March, but until then, I guess I'll focus on home cooking, and Edie cooking. She's still being a bit resistant to solid food.

BREAKFAST: 9:30am, pumpernickel bagel with cream cheese, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 12:45pm, 3 latke, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 2:30pm, a handful of chocolate cookies, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 6:30pm, pork shao mai, a few bits of fried calamari, chicken asparagus risotto, flourless chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream and raspberry sauce, seltzer, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING WATERING: 8:30pm, a quart o' watta

Cupcake Day

Spent a hunk of the day out talking about a food coop with a planner, then to the mother's group. Today was National Cupcake Day, so had one at the coffee shop I was meeting at.

Edie has started getting a little resistant to solid food, and a little backed up as well. I fed her a diluted prune juice solution in the evening, which did the trick, but I'm concerned about her nutrition.

BREAKFAST: 9am, organic chex with organic dead milk, swig of cider, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: noon, cupcake, cup of tea, .25 bowl, hunger 3/5

PM SNACK: 2pm, 2 chocochip cookies, 1 small wrap, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

LINNER: 4:30pm, fresh pasta with olive oil, parm, cherry tomatoes, and 3 meatballs,cider, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

DUNCH: 8:30pm, large green salad, pickles, sesame crackers, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING SNACK: 10pm, chocolate chips, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Chores

A day of chores. Laundry and feeding Edie all sorts of things out of the fridge -- mushy peas, oatmeal and formula concoction, broccoli and pear puree. We made a 12:30 pediatrician appointment, where Edie got a series of scheduled immunizations and had all her stats taken (she's growing up fabulously, thank you!) then we hit up stores in and around Union Square. We walked back home, stopping by Wholefoods.

By that time, I needed to feed Edie again, and though I intended to make salad and cook dinner, when B came through the door both Edie & I were passed out on the couch in each other's arms. So much for a nice home cooked meal!

BREAKFAST: 10:15am, 3 cold latkes, a pickle spear, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 2pm, tomato moz focaccia, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 3:45pm, apple cider, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 6:30pm, pork pad thai, chicken shrimp dumplings, water, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING SNACK: 8pm, chocolate chips, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Ain't No Party Like a Latke Party

Today we had a number of mothers, mostly with their babies, and a smattering of spouses come over for a Hanukkah playdate. B put a lot of effort in getting the house as clean as possible, from dry cleaning the couch covers last week to having our cleaning guy come in the day before. B made little gelt & dreidel baggies, set up the menorah and generally was the kind of host money can't buy. We made cookie and apple sauce yesterday, and an hour before guests arrived I started frying off latkes, which I finished about an hour after they arrived.

Got a lot of compliments on the latkes and adult applesauce, the cookies not so much. But I did put out the choco/peanutbutter/rice crispie things in small squares, on an iced plate with toothpicks and they were a big hit with the mommas.

People rolled in between 1:30 and 2 and the last popped out by 5. We have a restocked wine rack and B feels more plugged in to the neighborhood mommas. If only all holiday things were so pleasant!

BREAKFAST: 9:30am, toasted everything bagel with cream cheese, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

ALL DAY SNACKING: noon-5pm, several latkes, bits of sugar cookies, peanutbutter chocolate crispie bites, 1 cup run punch, 1 cup wine, a bit of apple sauce, a snippet of cheese, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 8pm, curry shrimp with brown rice, wonton soup, 1/4 of a can of pepsi, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5
Ordered in Chinese not so much for hunger, but the relaxing familiar quantities. It was the food my parents and I enjoyed together to the end, in the comfort of their kitchen.

Cookie Exchange

Spent the morning mising & prepping for some mothers and their babies of the 'hood come over for some Hannukah action. In the afternoon I took off with half of the batch of sugar cookies I made (only instead of dreidles and Jewish stars we ground out all day, made some that were...less Jewish!) to a friend's place in Jackson Heights for a cookie exchange. Everyone baked 30 cookies, and everyone got to take home a selection of 24. Suffice to say, there was not a lot of alcohol being consumed, but plenty of sweets.

After, a few of us ventured into the neighborhood for Philippino food -- cheap, delicious and different. Can't wait for Edie to be a bit older, she needs to be exposed to pork adobo and taro greens!

BREAKFAST: 9:30am, organic cheerios with organic dead milk, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

AM SNACK: 11:30am, sugar cookies, .25 bowl hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 2pm, BLT with homefries, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 4:30pm, lots of cookies, 1 glass champagne, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 7:30pm, pork adobo, deep fried pork belly chunks with pepper dipping sauce, chopped pork liver, taro leaves in coconut curry, meaty stick appetizer things, white rice, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Brownie

Woke up after only 3 hours sleep. Laundry in the morning, food shopping midday, stopped by Katz's for a dog on the way back from the market. Once we got home, turned around and went to a playdate in the East Village, then dropped Edie home with B and went to the movies with D.

Ate an old special brownie that has been in the freezer since the summer and....I'm glad I didn't discover this in high school or I may of made a lot of silly decisions. Once a season is more than enough.

AM SNACK: 6:30am, gatorade, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

BREAKFAST: 9:15am, toasted pumpernickel bagel with creamcheese, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 1pm, hotdog, fries, pickles, water, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 3pm, a few sweet little things, two cups of mulled wine, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 6pm, magical brownie

DINNER: 8pm, shrimp burritto, pork taco, rice & beans, chips & salsa, a frozen margarita, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING SNACK: 9pm, kit kat, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Clean bill

Not a lot of sleep. Edie was much better in the morning, no fever, GI distress mostly passed. Still, it was a night of a new feeling: parental worry. I guess I really am an adult now. Edles & I hit up the pediatrician (I just wrote "pedo", but it just looked wrong) at 9am, and Edie got a clean bill of health.

However, upon review of her diet, the doc recommended adding some non-binding foods in there. We've been doing the rice cereal, mashed banana, carrot, sweet potato and that's about it other than formula -- she hasn't taken to apple, pear, and a few others. So we're going to add a wee bit of prune juice, stewed prunes and....I'm going to go to Wholefoods and pick up a selection of baby foods. I've come to the conclusion that making small quantities of fresh baby food is good in concept, but between the time it takes to make and the packing of the food and the washing of the dishes it creates, I need to find a non-creepy baby food at the market.

Looking at what I ate today, jeeze, I was tired. And unfortunately, the Manhattan Specials kept me up until 3am...

BREAKFAST: 8am, newman-os, gatorade, .25 bowl, hunger 2/5

AM SNACK: 10:30am, brown rice shrimp maki rolls, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: noon, left over fresh pasta, water, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 1:30pm, a little taste of different chocolates & peanut butter

PM SNACK: 3pm, manhattan special, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 5pm, slice of pepperoni pizza, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 6pm, manhattan special, .t bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 7pm, scraps of peanut butter & dark chocolate ganache rice crispie thingies, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 7:45pm, Stouffers Frenchbread pizza, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Pizza & Edie

Easy morning, busy afternoon, stressful evening. Just chilled with the Bird until A showed up to look after her. Prepared some fresh pasta and meatballs for her as a thank you, before hiding off to school weighed down with 2 pizza stones.

Class went well, 5 hours rarely zip by so fast. On the way home, B informed me Edie had some GI distress, and later in the evening she was running a low grade fever. But Edie still had her smiley disposition despite sleeping less than usual, and I was able to get some sleep by 3am. B woke me at 7:30 so she could take a shower and Edie's fever had gone. Doc gave the all-clear this morning.

BREAKFAST: 9am, a handful of chocolate chips, a few newman-o cookies, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 12:30pm, meatballs with fresh pasta and doctored pizza sauce, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

CLASS EATING: 3-7pm, various bites of pizza, 2 cans soda, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING SNACK: 8pm, 1 beer, funyons, newman-os, water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

Cutting Boards

My dad had a thick butcher block cutting board. It never looked great -- he used it a lot, it always looked a bit beat up, and my mom complained about it a lot. My dad never got rid of it, it was too expensive to replace.

In their senior years, my parents loved going up to the crafts fair at Lincoln Center once a year. I went with them a few times, but the stuff there never really did anything for me. In the early part of this decade, one evening a few days after this crafts fair, my parents told me they got something expensive....something expensive for ME....something expensive that will be my wedding present....and this is years before I even met my wife.

When B moved in, she put my father's dank cutting board under the sink and replaced it with her own, a rather thin board, but wider and fresher. Recently, due to sitting in a small pool of water, the board finally split in half. B has been on my case for a while now to get a new board. When hers bit the dust, out came my dad's old warhorse.

Yesterday, after trudging to the Church St post office to get Edie's application in for a passport, we worked our way up to Sur La Table and found a good hardwood butcher block -- $68, but I got 10% discount with my culinary-school ID, which would have made my father very, very happy. It's pretty much a new version of my dad's old board.

B wanted to bury dad's board in the small plot we have in the community garden, but I want it to go back under the sink to pop up in times of need. My dad's wife couldn't rid us of this board, my wife will not rid us of this board, and hopefully Edie's college apartment will be graced by this board.

After mom and dad passed away, it was up to me to clean out their apartment, a rather frighteningly charged task. In the back of one of the hallway closets, on a high shelf, wrapped in four or five plastic grocery bags, was something stashed away that I did not recognize. Everything else in the house, from the furniture to the books to the clothes to the nick-knacks to the kitchen supplies to the picture frames, everything had some point of reference to some point in the life I shared with my parents. Just looking at a box in the closet, I could tell you what was in it and when it was from. Old plastic utility box with green top, that's all string, cords and power lines from the basement on Staten Island. Cardboard box with torn top, that was dad's school papers.

This bag, however, didn't fit. My parents were not big on secrets, so I instantly knew that this had to be the wedding gift. I opened it up, and in it was a cutting board. It was made up of multi-colored bands of wood, and had rounded corners on one side, and rubber bumpers on the other. A variety of emotions ran through -- my god, what a horrible wedding gift! Relief, my parents would never know how I didn't like their gift. Sadness, my parents never got to see me get married and present it. Amusement, is this their way of trying to prevent me and my spouse from having the same aggro they had in their marriage? And damn, how expensive could a cutting board be?!

I think when it comes time for Edie to furnish her first apartment, I'm going to try to pawn off my dad's board on her, and B will put her foot down and give her the new, multi-colored board that I could never bring myself to use, it's just too precious to use myself.

BREAKFAST: 8:30am, good yogurt with agave and cashews, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 12:30pm, mac n' cheese, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 5:45pm, large green salad, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Hungry right before going out -- it was this or cookies, and I didn't want to report cookies on this blog!

DINNER: 7pm, roasted mushrooms, sausage n' polenta, water, 1.5 cupcakes, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5
B, E & I went out to visit the jewelery designer who did our wedding bands who just opened up a shop in our hood, then out to dinner at Frankies, where we held our rehearsal dinner for our wedding. Then around the corner to Sugar Sweet Sunshine for cupcakes! A few rough nights lately with not enough sleep, a nice date-like night out with a sleepy baby was just what the doctor ordered.

Ache

A dorky, dorky day. Woke up late, wiped out from my mountain adventure yesterday. Got the laundry done by noon, made it to the passport agency but have to go back tomorrow to complete Edie's paperwork as the bureaucrats are very sloppy. Ate lunch at a businessman's spot on Fulton, then took the ferry to Ikea. Didn't get most of what was on my list, and on the way home went to Pathmark for produce. With Edie on my front and all the groceries on my back, my feet were aching by the time I got home.

BREAKFAST: 9am, organic cheerios with organic dead milk, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 1:15pm, roast pork in a sweet and sour sauce over white rice, shrimp empanada, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 7pm, large green salad, 2 slices of streetza, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING SNACK: 8pm, 6 newman-o cookies, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Up a mountain

Spent the day with K, we took a train up to Beacon and just walked around in the sunny crisp air all day. It crescendoed with an attempt to walk up Mt. Beacon, but the slushy snow, long shadows and steep paths only got us 2/3 of the way up.

It did make me hungry, though. We ate lunch at a deli right at the base of the park of the mountain -- it was kinda crappy, but it was all that was available and was fuel in the truest sense. When I got home, I had the kind of hunger that emerges after an all-day bike ride. And I slept like a log.

BREAKFAST: 8:15am, organic cheerios with organic dead milk, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

AM SNACK: 9:45am, chocolate chip cookie, water, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 1:30pm, turkey and swiss on a roll, corn chips, gatorade, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 6pm, large green salad, mac n' cheese, mint ice cream, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING SNACK: 9pm, funyons, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Rainy

Spent the rainy afternoon at a party nearby of other parents. Children and babies thick like locusts. Lots of food.

BREAKFAST: 8:45am, BLT on toasted rye with mustard, water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: noon, mac n' cheese, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM GORGING: 1pm, a few brownies, assorted cheeses, a piece of pork rib, flat bread with potato, pumpkin seeds, a few carrots and string beans, a few cups of rum punch, a snort of prosecco, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 6:30pm, large green salad, popcorn, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 8pm, 3 meatballs, 2 vegan chocolate chip cookies, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

Tribute

Again, no appealing breakfast food so went for a pizza. Promptly went shopping at the local supermarket and bought....funyuns, a highly processed mock-onion ring that took me straight back to 4th grade. Kinda gross, kinda delicious.

Had lunch with Y before hitting up Wholefoods, finally stocked up on breakfast elements and the like. HVS came over in the evening and I made c-school vegetable soup, though I finished with the juice of a lemon, but it was a large lemon, and the soup ended up tasting a bit like lemon soup, blech. How ever, I took some WF whole wheat pizza dough and topped it with hummus, thinly sliced tomato, home-roasted red peppers, olive oil and salt and it came out pretty not-nasty.

On one of the first dates between me and my wife, she invited me back to her place to cook me a meal. Boy, was that ugly! She took pitas, topped it with some vegetable matter and shredded cheese, undercooked it in the oven, then presented it as "pitza". BLECH! Good thing I don't subscribe to the whole "a woman's role is in the kitchen" or we would have had problems. This pizza was my tribute to my beautiful, intelligent, sexy, capable, motherly but culinarily-challenged wife.

BREAKFAST: 10am, frozen pizza, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 1pm, funyuns, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 2pm, chirashi sushi, age tofu, hot chocolate, molten chocolate cake, 1 bowl, hunger 3/5

SNICKLEDINNER: 6:15pm, green salad, vegetable soup, "pitza", vegan chocolate chip cookies, a glass of red wine, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Hold the meat

After a sleep shortened by Manhattan Special, woke up with a small knot in my stomach, most likely the meat still digesting. Ate a little meat today, not intentionally, but looking forward to a homemade snickle tomorrow.

This evening, B, E & I attended the first tentative meeting of a LES food coop, very interesting. I volunteered for the steering committee, let's see what comes out of it....

BREAKFAST: 9am, 2 small soy-sausage patties, a few spoonfuls of mint ice cream, hunger 2/5

LUNCH: 1pm, civilatta with potatoes, a little green salad, cream soda, 1 bowl, hunger 3/5
Not much in the mood for sausage, but L prepared it for me and it would of been rude not to eat it.

PM SNACK: 2:30pm, apple, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
From the Brooklyn Borough Hall farmers market, a big juicy Honey Crisp. Hit the spot.

DINNER: 5:45pm, black pepper soy protein slice thingies over broccoli greens, summer rolls, miso soup, mint ice cream, 1.25 bowl, hunger 3/5
Ordered in from Wild Ginger, definitely feeling non-meaty.

EVENING SNACK: 9pm, boiled leek dumplings, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

Meaty meat

Weird eating day. Woke up feeling OK after a solid 11 hours of sleep. Out of milk, couldn't do cereal or smoothie, and found myself hungry. Frozen pizza.....bread, tomato sauce, cheese, three good things for breakfast.

School was mighty meaty, as today was meat day. It was fun making the same meatballs I made in the restaurant with the students, but I ended up eating way too many. After that, I couldn't do more than a bite of everything else just for taste. I think soon I need to hit up some vegetable matter in a big way. I think the HVS will be upon us Friday, I got some good vegetable stock to work with and I think I need to bust out some vegan cookies....

BREAKFAST: 9:30am, frozen pizza, pint of apple cider, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

CLASS EATING: 3-7:30pm, about 6 meatballs, a few cups of sweet tea and mint lemonade, a snippet of pasta and sauce, a snippet of polenta, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING DRANK: 8pm, Manhattan Special, .5 bowl, hunger 2/5
Stopped by the restaurant to have L sample the student's meatballs, based on his recipe. He dug it. I wasn't hungry, but couldn't resist the pull of a complimentary Manhattan Special.

EVENING SNACK: 11pm, flax tortilla chips, fresh salsa, .25 bowl, hunger 3/5
Stomach felt weird, needed something new in it that was not meat. Caffiene kept me up until 3am.

Over engineered

BREAKFAST: 8am, glass of apple cider, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 11:30am, fillet o' fish sandwich, fried, diet coke, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Walking around downtown, doing chores, stopped in at McDonald's for lunch. Burgers there are just frightfully over engineered, went with a fish sandwich -- something I last ate when I was a little kid going there with my mom and grandmom and brother and cousin and aunt, when the fish sandwich was a new addition to the menu. I was surprised how tiny it was, probably hasn't changed since the 70s. Small rectangle of fried fish stuff, a yellow slice of cheese, a slather of tartar sauce. According to the nutritional info hidden underneath the place mat, this meal had 760 calories -- half from the sammich and half from the drink. My drink was a medium - 20 friggin' ounces!! That's 2 and a half cups! More than a full pint!

I think I went because it reminded me of going with my mom. We'd probably go, at most, once every couple of months, it was special. I hope when Edie is an adult and indulges in food nostalgia, it'll be something less evil than McDonalds....though it'll probably be pizza!

PM SNACK: 1:30pm, 2 small wedges of "pizza", 2 small brownies, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
At the drop in at the center, the leader made some weird thing called pizza that involved hummus, tomatoes and spinach. B would've probably liked it.

PM SNACK: 5pm, flax tortilla chips with salsa, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 6pm, lemon ricotta pancakes, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
B wanted pancakes for dinner, so I tried to adult it up. Took the c-school recipe, added a cup of ricotta and the juice of a lemon, came out a bit heavy but tasty. Could have used a 2nd lemon.

All day dinner

Caramelized onions are a beautiful thing. They can't be rushed. I woke at 6am, and got to work on the evening meal at 6:30. First thing up was caramelized onions. Wide slice, 9 onions, enough to crowd a 12" pan. A heaping dollop of the chicken fat I rendered the night before, and the flame the notch above low -- and then I went about my business, coming back to it every 10-15 minutes to move the onions around the pan.

Before leaving for the market at 12:30, I made a flourless chocolate cake, churned mint ice cream, made a large quantity of vegetable stock, rehydrated dried morrels and porcinis for risotto (and made a deep mushroom stock that went into the same dish), and made a batch of pasta. The meal didn't have pasta, but I wanted the chicken soup to be alphabet soup, with all the names of the guests:


I guess it was a lot of work for little payoff, but it was fun, and I have 4 servings of fresh linguine in the freezer to eat on for the next few weeks. After we got home from market, I prepped the mise for the soup (slivered nappa cabbage and carrot coins, diced parsley), cooked off the the red chard in a water bath and combined with the 4-hour onions and diced olives and got the whole thing into the warm oven to hold until dinner time. Then I did the full risotto method, which demanded me standing in front of the oven for a full hour, washing dishes between strokes of stirring.

By the time my guests arrived, risotto and chard were in the oven, the soup was ready to go with each person's name in a separate strainer, and the meat trimmed, prepped and pan heated. The meal went off without a hitch, though I slightly overcooked the chicken, slightly under seasoned the soup and the flourless chocolate cake came out unexpectedly dense. However, the risotto was on point and the chard surprised me -- between the sweetness and depth of flavor of the fatty soft pillowy onions and the brininess of the olive shards, the chard just glowed like a hero.

I had two friends who were coworkers at the restaurant, really good to see them and Edie really got on swell. I miss the comraderie and community that working in that pressurized no-BS situation brought.

I think Edie likes dreads. Maybe she'll be the Jewish white dread girl in high school!!

Today was all about the cooking, tomorrow back to Edieworld....

BREAKFAST: 10am, rice & beans, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 12:30pm, 1 slice of streetza, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 1:30pm, 2 wholefoods cookies, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 3:30pm, glass of apple cider, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 6pm, chicken soup, sauteed chicken breast with pan sauce, triple mushroom risotto, chard with caramelized onion and kalamata olives, flourless chocolate cake and mint ice cream, some mint lemonade/sweet tea concoction, 2 glasses wine, glass of homemade ginger ale, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

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

Bikes & Friends

Probably the best non-Edie day since she was born. B took over baby duty today completely, and I set out around 9am on the bike and road out to Coney Island by myself in the crisp fall air. Started out very slow and tight, but really enjoyed just being there and moving. Ended up in Bed Stuy at C&T's house, where C is very very pregnant. I know what they're going through, very much the nesting instinct kicking in and they haven't gotten out much. I felt very appreciated coming that far out just for a casual and brief hello.

From there road up to the 59th Street bridge and met with the HVS for lunch and a walk through Central Park, good catching up and just having some time to focus. After parting, hit up the super market for some groceries to start on some parts of the multi-course meal I'm cooking for friends tomorrow. After confabbing with B & the Edles, shot off on bike again to E's place in Greenpoint, where we toured around the abandoned industrial areas on bikes before ending up at Roberta's in Bushwick for a beer. I wasn't hungry, but they're pretty well-known for the wood-fired pizza, so I had to try some.

Saw a lot of good friends, got a good 40-45 miles in on the bike, and feel totally fired up to spend quality time with the Edles starting tomorrow!

BREAKFAST: 8am, good granola with dead organic milk, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

AM SNACK: 9am, chocolate donut, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: noon, 2 diet cokes

SNICKLESNACK: 2:15pm, gruyere with whole wheat bread and condiments, a bit of dirty healthy stuff, a huuuuge chocolate chip cookie, 1.5 bowl (half being just cookie), hunger 4/5

DINNER: 6:30pm, Stouffers Frenchbread pizzas, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING SNACK: 8:30pm, pint of beer, half a small margerita pizza, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING WATERING: 10pm, quart o' the wet

Mochi all around

x

BREAKFAST: 7:30am, the good yogurt with agave and cashews, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

AM SNACK: 10:30am, 2 ice cream mochi, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 12:30pm, mixed gluten, mashed taro treasure boxes, glutenous rice in lotus leaf, pan fried mock-pork dumplings, mock shrimp wrapped in rice paper, water, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 3:30pm, 2 ice cream mochi, flax seed tortilla chips with salsa, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 7pm, marinated grilled chicken breast strips, potato nick, 2 ice cream mochis, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Extravaganza!

Saw some pictures of myself from Thanksgiving, oy. I think I've gained the equivalent weight of Edie since Edie has been born. I don't have the heart to step on a scale. When I think about it, I don't think my weight is going to be significantly changed until I either go back to work, Edie goes into day care of some sort, my bike riding steps up in the Spring, I carve out some time for yoga and/or I revise my diet.

I was in the restaurant in the morning, then B&E joined me for lunch. We walked around Brooklyn, hitting up various bookstores and Trader Joes for groceries (food and books, that's our idea of a shopping extravaganza). I saw this book, pictured above, a lot of pictures and big words, that postulates that the real reason Americans are fat-asses are because dinner plates went from 9" to 12" some time in the 70s or 80s. It runs along the same idea why I measure my food intake in "bowls". Ilsa wanted me to get to 3 bowls a day -- today was 3.5.

BREAKFAST: 9:30am, organic cheerios, organic dead milk, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

AM SNACK: 11am, 2 chocolate covered graham crackers, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

AM SNACK: noon, 1 small slice of pizza, Manhattan Special, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 1:45pm, meatball appetizer, half a pizza, half a Manhattan Special, 3 chocolate covered graham crackers, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 7pm, most of a cheap sushi platter, 4 ice cream bon bons, water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

Thanksgiving

Another Thanksgiving lost in the wilderness. All my life Thanksgiving was my family unit's holiday -- one aunt had Hannukah, one grandmother had Passover, one uncle had the other day of Passover, another aunt had 4th of July, and we always had Thanksgiving, from when I was a kid growing up on Staten Island to my parent's apartment on the LES. My father died a week before Thanksgiving, and my mom and a few friends had Thanksgiving at my house, a first but it felt right. The next year, my mom was sick but home from the hospital, and we had Thanksgiving at her house, with a cousin and her kids visiting from California.

I started dating my wife then, and mom passed away in early January. By next Thanksgiving, I started attending her family's Thanksgiving, something they've been doing since my wife's childhood. It was warm, welcoming, appropriately Jewwy, but full of long associations and memories that were not my own.

But now with the fourth Thanksgiving with my wife and her family, and the first with my daughter, that's starting to melt a little, kinda like making compound butter in a mixer. The hard cold butter cubes go in, and beating it with the paddle eventually makes it smooth and fluffy, ready to accept whatever mix-ins you provide it before rehardening it in the fridge.

Where ever B's mom is, is Thanksgiving, and this year for the first time it was in her 1 bedroom apartment on the UES. There were about 10 of us, plus Edles. About 2/3 of the food was ordered in from a local diner, and the rest either brought in or made there (me & B & E arrived early so I could make the creamed potatoes from scratch, and I brought homemade ice cream and brownies, tea and lemonade from school.) The food was good. Could be a lot better.

Thanksgiving growing up was a....THE cooking holiday, which I imagine it is for most of America. Many family members brought something, but except for one particular fur-wearing non-cooking aunt, everyone either brought homemade stuff or wine. The menu was pretty much exactly the same year after year. My dad would make a crudite plate with hummus or French onion sour cream dip and roasted chestnuts to start. Dinner would be a roast turkey with gravy (from a jar), cranberry sauce (from a can), stuffing (Stove Top, what I'd be assigned to "make"), buttered lightly steamed string beans with mushroom, baked yams, soda, booze for the older folks, a random brought side dish, and desserts. Desserts were always brought, except for Dad's pumpkin pie (premade crust and filling out of a can.) Ice cream from the supermarket and usually a pie or two extra from guests. For many years through the 70s and early 80s, an uncle made chocolate mousse from scratch and it was fanTASTic. When he passed away in the late 80s, I missed his mousse more than I missed him.

Anyway, B's mom is great, but even with the catering, it's a lot of work on her shoulders. I really hope next year, now that Edie is here, this cooking holiday migrates from the UES to the LES, and B's mom chooses to have her Thanksgiving (and it will always be HERS, and everyone else just guests) in Edie's home, preparing us for the time when the torch has to be passed. I've been in training for this -- I just knocked off a Thanksgiving meal for 150! I can do 10!!

On a side note, when we got to Yomomma's house, the table was already set. Yomomma mentioned she had set it the day before. She got NOTHIN' on my momma -- she'd set the table on Monday for the Thursday meal!! And day of she'd have to go over every piece and dust it -- about the same amount of time it would have taken to just set it. But I understand it now -- it's the pleasure of allowing yourself to relax by being early.

AM SNACK: 9am, a few spoonfuls of freshly churned vanilla ice cream, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

BREAKFAST: 11am, pumpernickel bagel with homemade butter, 5 slices o' organic uncured bacon, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

THANKSGIVING DINNER: 3:30-8pm, handful of pigs in blankets, potato chips, sliced turkey boob, stuffing, gravy, salad, creamed potatoes, sweet potato souffle, parker house rolls, sweet tea, mint lemon aid, 1 glass prosecco, water, vanilla ice cream, brownies, 2.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Sillier Dinner

Woke up at 5, was pedaling to Red Hook by 6, was knee-deep in prep and cooking by 6:30. Students started rolling in by 7, the dining room started getting set up around 11, the 150 mouths at 12:30 service at 1, and like a swarm of locusts, was all over by 1:30. It was fun to operate this machine, with many moving parts, warming it up early (literally and figuratively) and bringing it to one crescendo, followed by a smaller crescendo (dessert!)

The only thing I was really unhappy with was the turkey -- I've never actually roasted a turkey before (because, well, I don't like turkey and we roasted plenty of other meats in c-school) and I now know why it has such a bad rep. I don't mean bad rep, like evil factory farms, animals bred into unwalking, unhappy mutants or unhealthy hormones, antibiotics and chemicals stuffed into these poor birds. I mean it's REALLY difficult to roast a bird this size AND have it all come out good. If you get the center of the meat to 165˚, the outside is gonna overcook, period. Brining only got us so far. Looking at the pic above, yes, it's a nice color and yes, the butter basting let the skin come out nice n' crackly, but about 1/4 of the dark meat and 1/3 of the white was dry and tough, despite me following every method and maxim drawn from my experience.

If I were to do the bird again, I would either a) forgo roasting the bird all together and fry the mother or b) choose 3 smaller birds instead of 2 large, brine for 8 hours instead of 4 and baste twice as much. Oh well.

I missed Edles today. She is such a snuggly person to hang with.

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

KITCHEN TASTING, TESTING & SNACKING: 6:30am-2:30pm, bits of turkey, bits of ham, bits of creamed potatoes, a couple of brownies, a half piece of pumpkin cheese cake, several cups of mint lemonade and sweet tea, a few spoonfuls of cornbread stuffing, a taste of mac n' cheese, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Nice to overhear some students saying how much they liked the food. Overheard others that didn't. Hrumph.

PM SNACK: 4pm, slice of pumpkin cheesecake, 3 quarts of water, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 7pm, Cesar salad, half a Lombardi's pizza, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

Silly dinner

Busy day finishing up recipes and thinking of organizing the kitchen, then going to the school and directing my students to prep a meal for 150. Not as all-consuming as spending a day in a restaurant through service, but a close second.

BREAKFAST: 9:30am, good granola with organic dead milk, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 12:30pm, 2/3 of a Wholefoods frozen pizza, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 8pm, 2 pieces of pumpkin cheesecake, 1 small piece of cornbread, strong brewed sweet tea, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Yes, a stoopid dinner, but this was what we had, after doing prep for tomorrow's school Thanksgiving. A lot more will be on offer tomorrow.

EVENING WATERING: 9pm, quart o' water

Everyone is a critic!

While the laundry was in, I peeled, chopped, and boiled a pear for about 5 minutes, then turned it into sauce in the spice grinder. It was still way too hot, so I placed it in a ramekin, placed a plastic sandwich bag with 2 ice cubes in its center, then placed it in the freezer for a minute. It came out pretty close to room temp.

While cooking this up, I strapped Edie into the high chair and tied a napkin around her neck to act as bib. She could tell what was happening, and started flapping her arms and giving the cry of expectancy. It didn't occur to me that making the pear would take this long (adults like hot n' steamy stuff, babies not so much), but when it arrived to her chair-shelf, her eyes were trained on the ramekin, and she started doing her panting. Unbelievably cute.

The first spoonful I put into my mouth to test temp and texture. Only a few weeks ago I had my first pear -- I did not like its texture, but I was hopeful. The temp today was tepid, the texture like, well, apple sauce. The first baby spoon goes into Edie's mouth and....she screws up her face, her eyes squint, her mouth opens in a distinct frown. She swallows, her face unscrews. She pants; I place another spoonful to her lips and she pulls forward to take it in. Repeat of face, a little cry now. We do this about 2 or 3 more times before she refuses to take the pear. It was like she didn't remember from spoonful to spoonful that she didn't like it until the last.

We go down to get the laundry in the dryer, and when we come back, I see her eyeing the leftover food. So I tie the bib around her neck and we go for it again. The first 2 spoonfuls got no frown!! But the third did, and the fourth was refused. She was rubbing her eyes. I picked her up and gave her a solid burping, just in case, then lay her down in the crib. Within a minute she was out cold. Enough food experiments for my beautiful daughter for one day, the rest of the day will be mommy milk and a little rice cereal.

BREAKFAST: 9:30am, good granola with dead organic milk, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH PT 1: 12:30pm, rice & beans, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH PT 2: 2pm, slice of streetza, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 4pm, baby carrots, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 5:30pm, pasta with homemade sauce, shrimp and ricotta, small amount of chocolate chips, 1.75 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING SNACK: 2am, spoonful of peanut butter, small bowl of yogurt with agave, vanilla and cashews, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
I fell asleep around 8, woke up around 1:30 and watched TV until I fell asleep again at 3.

Mitt-full

B left the house in the morning to meet a gal friend for brunch while me and Edles hung back and kept the home fires burning. E came over around noon to join me for a bike ride and when she went to pick Edles up out of the bouncy seat, she got a mitt full of baby poo -- it was quite hilarious, at least from my 5 year-old sense of humor.

B brought back some donuts, a good pre-ride munch. We were planning to ride up to City Island, but E wasn't feeling well so we ended up stopping in Harlem for beer and a rib, then riding back over the mighty Triboro. I got home by 3ish, wanting to take B & Edles out in the crisp fall air, but B wasn't feeling up to it. Instead, we danced around to psychedelic Temptations songs in our lair. A lazy Sunday evening with Thai delivery and too much TV ensued.

BREAKFAST: 9:30am, the good granola with organic dead milk, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 12:30pm, potato nick, 1 donut, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 2pm, 2 ribs, a taste of mac n' cheese, a pint of beer, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 7pm, shrimp panang curry with sticky rice, curry puffs, salad, water, vanilla ice cream, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

Gargantuans

Woke up at 5 after a short night of fitful sleep, getting over a cold in it's final stages. Got myself to the farmer's market in Union Square and picked up supplies for brunch for 2 couples and their babies. Made a selection of bagels, nice small ones that aren't "mini" but aren't the gargantuans we get today -- a nice ratio of crust to innards. A set a side of salmon to cure a couple of days ago, busted that out and practiced my slicing skills. Whipped some heavy cream until the fat came together and formed butter.

I roasted some chestnuts for the first time. This was my dad's thing -- every Thanksgiving, he'd slice Xs into the tops of the nuts, brush them with oil, then roast them in this horrible electric counter top toaster oven -- what is up with those things? They were good, but once they came to room temp were a little rubbery. Going to experiment with this.

Edie was wonderful as always, enjoying the company.

BREAKFAST: 5am, small slice of flourless chocolate cake, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

BREAKFAST 2: half a piece of praline french toast, a breakfast sausage, a slice of bacon, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
From the breakfast bar at Wholefoods.

BRUNCH: noon-3pm, 2 homemade bagels with homamde gravlax, homemade butter and veg, several pieces of homemade flourless chocolate cake and vanilla ice cream, a glass of cider rum punch, a glass of prosecco, a handful of roasted chestnuts, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 8pm, 2 slices streetza, a green salad, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Cooey

Not much going on today. Didn't feel like leaving the house, with a warm cat on my lap and a warm cooey Edie nestled in my arm.

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

LUNCH pt 1: 12:30pm, large green salad, small amount of cous cous salad, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH pt 2: 2pm, shrimp with broccoli, pork fried rice, shrimp toast, diet coke, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 8pm, pasta with homemade tomato sauce and ricotta, a handful of chocolate chips, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

I never met a piece of tofu that isn't better deep fried.

The started high-stress, taking Edie to the drop in at the pediatrician to have her little cough checked out -- just a little cold, her disposition is fine. Subway wasn't running, and instead of being 15 minutes early, arrived a solid 20 minutes into the 45 minute drop in time zone.

Edie's feeding has increased, and the cough sounds like it needs liquid to soothe, so we've started Edie on straight water. She's taking to it straight away, reminding me of the 3-4 big bottles of water I down every day!

BREAKFAST: 8am, organic cheerios with organic dead milk, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH 1: 10:15am, large turkey & cheese sandwich, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
At Almondine, before hitting up the restaurant. Just hungry, a remnant of my unbalanced day yesterday. This was not just a sandwich to throw back and fill you up, a la Subway. A nice brown hearty crusty bread, a mild but interesting cheese (maybe gouda), moist smokey sliced turkey, a house-made mayo, it all just worked.

LUNCH 2: 12:30, 3 small slices pizza, 2 Manhattan Specials, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 6:30pm, rice-batter fried sprouted tofu cubes, spinach sauteed with chard and shitakes, sofrito rice & beans, butternut squash soup, apple crisp, vanilla ice cream, flourless chocolate cake, 2 glasses wine, water, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Cooked dinner for Ilsa, the mother of this blog, and C & B. Ilsa doesn't eat wheat, C doesn't eat meat, so had to get a little inventive. Just bought the rice flour at the market today and as a goof, did a basic fry batter with it instead of wheat flour -- actually came out surprisingly well, had a certain snap that wheat flour does not. I think I'd go halvsies with wheat next time. Ilsa supplied the apple crisp, which was very different than mine, and paired well with my ice cream.

Intense

An intense food day. Woke up with Ediebird before 7, fed her some rice mush and fed myself some smoothie mush, then got cooking sofrito for the rice n' beans I'm making tomorrow. I caramelized onions for a solid 2 hours before adding the peppers and garlic, came out more flavorful and full-bodied than before.

Momma-in-law came over to take the Edie, and I took off for school. We were cooking the sweets and the cornbread for next week's Thanksgiving blowout. We cooked, in large quantities, brownies, apple crisp, corn bread, pumpkin cheesecakes and sweet cinnamon compound butter. We jammed for a solid 4 hours, and I stayed behind while the cheesecakes set in the cooling oven's water baths.

Got home late n' spent, happy to be among my wifey and baby!

BREAKFAST: 8:15am, smoothie, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Little did I know that this would be pretty much the only nutritious thing I'd eat until the end of the day....

PM SNACK: 12:30p, ramekin of good chocolate chips, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

AFTERNOON SNACKING: 3-7pm, apple slices dressed with sugar, cinnamon and lemon, a few small squares of buttermilk cornbread, a juice box, some apple juice, tastes of brownie batter, pumpkin cheesecake batter, taste of raw apple crisp topping, .75 bowl hunger 4/5

DINNER: 9pm, Israeli cous-cous salad, lots of water, .5 bowl, hunger 3/5

EVENING SNACK: 11pm, boiled leek dumplings, 5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Did not eat enough today.

Just eatin'

BREAKFAST: 8am, pumpernickel bagel with cream cheese, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 12 noon, left over spinach pasta with tomato sauce, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 2:30pm, a few tortilla chips, a few oven-dried tomato slices, 2 choco chip cookies, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Snacks at the baby drop-in.

DINNER I: 6:15pm, spinach knish, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER II: 7:15pm, WF-brand frozen pizza, 2 pieces of goyish chocolate rugellah, water, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

Cider

Laundry early, then up to the Museum of Natural History with Edles to hang out with D and her 2 year old tot A. Lots of babies everywhere, lots of nannies, and lots of shops, eateries and tochke spots with stuff at knee level to tempt kids. I know the museum is dependent on donations to stay in business, but isn't this busking of the younger set a little out of step with it's mission to educate?

Stopped through the Union Square farmer's market on the way home, picked up some beautiful apples and some spectacular cider, as well as some day boat scallops from the shores of L.I.

BREAKFAST: 9:30am, Israeli Couscous, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5
Didn't feel like breakfast food.

LUNCH: 1:15pm, falafel salad box, lemonade, half a pita, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
On the Upper West Side with D and her 2 year old girl. I filled that salad box to the brim, and felt like it weighed something fierce. Really filling.

PM SNACK: 4pm, apple cider, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Got a half gallon of spectacular fresh unpasteurized cider from the farmer's market. Hot diggity! The purity of the cider uncooked, there is a whole other flavor profile that is masked by pasteurization. Same thing with milk, except uncooked milk is illegal, boooo!

DINNER: 5:15pm, fresh spinach linguine with tomato sauce and pan-seared scallops, with ricotta and parm, apple cider, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Some beautiful scallops from the farmer's market. Made some off-the-cuff pasta sauce with stuff lying around. Unlike the Batalli recipe I've used in the past, here I throw wine in the onions and cook it off, and use dried herbs on hand.

EVENING SNACK: 10pm, 2 buttermilk pancakes, .75 bowl, hunger 3/5
Hungryish, not for sugar, not because my stomach was rumbling, something else. Need for chewing and the feeling of eating?

A Catered Affair

Woke up to an alarm clock for the first time in a long time. Had to get together everything for the baby shower into a cart, get B and Edie together, and get out the door by 9am. Nothing like taking your family on the subways on a Sunday morning with about 65 lbs of food and stuff in a granny cart. I gotta hand it to B, she tolerates my shtick like no other, with good humor and makes this potentially awful morning smooth and fun.

And no, I dealt with the cart while she carried the Edie. I would of done both, but it was too dangerous going up and down stairs with that kind of weight.

The baby shower I cooked the food for went smoothly. The food was a hit, got a lot of compliments, though I was surprised that my favorite dish, the cous-cous salad, was probably the least popular. Another friend of C's did the sweets, of which I couldn't help but think how I'd do it all differently, a little less sweet there, a little more sweet here. Oh well.

I made a rum punch which went down really well: 4 parts apple cider, 1 part OJ, 1 part cranberry juice, 1 cinnamon stick, garnished with 4 orange slices with whole cloves studded in them. Heated, then 1 part spiced rum added. Very seasonally appropriate, gonna do it again for the mothers at some point.

BREAKFAST: 8:30am, organic cheerios with organic dead milk, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

ALL DAY SNACKING: 10:30am-5:30pm, some Israeli cous-cous salad, a bite of mac n' cheese, 1 beer, 1 cup of rum punch, a handful of cream puffs, a slice of lemon cake, a thin slice of flourless chocolate cake, a handful of vegetable sticks, a handful of chocolate chip cookies, a few small cups of soda, a few bites of random cheeses on crackers, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

Simple Day

Cooked up large quantities of food today, for a baby-shower I'm cohosting at a friend's house tomorrow. Went to Wholefoods in the morning, then B split for a bookclub while Edie watched me work in the kitchen. B came home in the late afternoon as I was finishing up, I ordered in some dinner, and got to bed early. And that was the day that was!

BREAKFAST: 9:15am, organic cheerios with organic dead milk, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

DAY OF SNACKING: 12-5pm, cheese cubes, bits of mac n' cheese, Israeli cous cous, some potato nick, water, 1.25 bowl hunger 4/5

DINNER: 7:30pm, roti canai, pad thai, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5Simplke

Mothers

I did a quick shop in the hood while doing the laundry. I stopped into the kosher bakery on my block, and picked up some potato nick and ruggelah. There was an old man beside me ordering, had to be in his 80s and a life-long Lower East Sider. Hearing aide, tweed sports coat, wool flat-cap, thick glasses, hunched a bit. He opened an old thick wallet to get his money out, and in the plastic part which holds cards and IDs, on the top facing out was a photograph.

It was a photograph of an old smiling woman wearing a house-coat/mumu kind of thing, pointy cat-eye glasses, gray hair tied back and piled on top of her head, and an ornate curtain behind her. She was smiling broadly, which seemed to accentuate the globular nature of her Eastern European nose. The picture looked faded, the colors turning black and white, probably taken in the mid to late 60s. At first I thought this was his wife, but the picture was too old for a person in it looking that old....it must of been his mother. It made me really sad for a moment -- is this old man hanging on that closely to a memory of his dear departed mom? I think of my mom daily -- it's hard not to when you have an infant that shares her name -- but that picture both made me miss my mom and made me thank goodness that we had appropriate bounderies when she was alive. I mean, dude. It's your mom. Get over it!

Saw "2012" this evening. Question: If all the wealthy people in the world were to get into arks to save themselves from massive floods, and they were to take 2 of every animal like they did in the biblical story, and THEN you crammed 10s of 1000s of extra people who weren't planned for onto said ark, after a month at sea don't you think most of those animals would get eaten? That the ark would be kinda like Superdome II? Stupid Hollywood blockbusters.

BREAKFAST: 9:15am, good yogurt with homemade vanilla extract, honey, cashews, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5
My vanilla extract tastes different than the store bought stuff, but I can't quite put my finger on it. Is it more vanilla-y? Less boozy? It sure looks different, like a liquidy milk chocolate rather than watery black coffee.

LUNCH: 1:30pm, hot dog, potato nick, some chocolate rugellah, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
D from SI and her 2 year old A came over for a visit, I offered either homemade pasta with spinach and shrimp or this lunch, this lunch was much more 2-year-old friendly. I saw first hand what "Terrible 2s" mean, I wonder if Edie will ever be like that. Totally cute but really exhausting to even watch. Like watching a really long special-effects driven disaster movie...

DINNER: 10pm, 2 sices sausage pizza, salad, 1 beer, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Out at Patsy's after a movie with friends. Not my idea, but enjoyed it. In the basement, going to the bathroom, saw a large stack of #10 cans of roasted peppers. Lazy bums!

Baby Brain

Didn't do much today other than spend a lot of time on the couch snuggled with Edie. Attempted to go to yoga, but between leaving my metrocard behind and misreading the time of the class, was a bit of a farce. Still, it was good to be out in the bracing cold without concern whether the lil' bebe is uncomfortable or at risk of getting sick n' wot not.

BREAKFAST: 9am, organic cheerios with organic dead milk, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

AM SNACK: 11:30am, 2 lotus leaf wraps, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Picked these up from a street vendor on the walk over to the supermarket, little pockets of saucy pork surrounded by fragrant sticky rice. Each piece is $1.10, and the vendor offered to sell me a cold bag of 10 for $8.50. Mmmmm, I could eat those all day, and I don't think I need that much mystery meat in my life. Maybe I should try to make these at home, using good meat.

PM SNACK: 3pm, popcorn, 1 bowl, hunger 3/5
Stomach is feeling weirdly unhungry. Maybe it's because I'm spending the day indoors staying still with lovely Edles snuggled up on me? Used good butter and sea salt to make this popcorn I pucked up at the farmer's market.

DINNER: 6:30pm, slice of streetza, large chocolate chip cookie, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Was supposed to be yogaing at this time, but got the time wrong so I hung out until the HVS was done.

SNICKLESNACK: 8pm, pea soup, glass of cider, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5
I served myself the bacony version while HVS had the appropriately vegan version, along with the rice n' beans. Why am I not hungrier?

Ovaries

Spent the morning at the restaurant, then off to Union Square to pick up some stuff for the baby shower I'm cohosting Sunday. In the evening, Me, B & Edles trekked out to Brooklyn for the Corduroy Appreciation Club Grand Meeting. E was the only baby there -- there was another child, maybe 3 or 4, but that was the daughter of the president. Nice/Weird being at a gathering of non-baby folk.

I tried to pull back on the eating today, but I just stayed hungry. I ate a hot dog and rice at home before leaving, thinking that might be it for the day, but my stomach had different ideas. Is it the weather? The season? My ovaries?

BREAKFAST: 9am, pumpernickel bagel with cream cheese, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

AM SNACK: 11:30am, Manhattan Special, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
It tasted too sweet today. Huh, I wonder if it's me or inconsistency in the product.


LUNCH: 1pm, half a medium pizza, cream soda, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 5:15pm, hot dog with kraut, mushroom rice pilaf, a swig of cider, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING SNACK: 7pm, half a falafel sandwich, .33 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING SNORT: 7:45pm, glass of red wine

EVENING SNACK: 8:30pm, 2 small churros, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING SNACK: 10pm, 2 pancakes, small quantity of potato chips, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5