My most ornate Linner ever

We were supposed to go out with a few peeps to breakfast, but the bitter cold had everyone cancel. Which was fine, I spent the morning shopping for groceries, and after making a challenge-friendly breakfast, got into cooking up a storm for a mid-afternoon dinner with friends.

BREAKFAST: 11:15am, zucchini pancake, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5
Added egg this time, cooked with a little safflower oil in cast iron. Good, but not great, still was best the first time with HVS. Tasted the slight egginess of the pancake, kinda freaked me out a little but still enjoyed it.

LINNER: 3:30pm, arancini, shrimp & herb ravioli with tomato pesto, red chard with caramelized onion, 1 chocolate ravioli, chocolate babka, water, seltzer, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Spent three hours getting this meal together. First thing, got the onions on in some chicken fat to caramelize slowly over 2 hours. Made pasta dough, two kinds of filling -- B won't eat shrimp, so I made a cheese feeling made of ricotta, cream cheese, chopped spinach, parm, nutmeg, salt, pepper). The shrimp ravioli followed this recipe. While the dough rested, made the shrimp filling, then cleaned and destemed the chard. Rolled out the dough through the pasta machine, assembled and cut the raviolis by hand for a more rustic, large feel. Got the chard in boiling water for 3 minutes, then drained and tossed with the sweet, soft brown onions and a handful of diced kalamata olives. Got some peanut oil on the fire with thermometer to heat up to deep fry temp. Got some simple syrup on to poach the chocolate ravioli. Diced herbs to use in sauce. Roasted some oiled cherry tomatoes under the broiler until they burst, while softening shallots in olive oil. Tossed shallots, tomatoes and herbs together and cooked to release the tomato's liquid and make something thick n' saucy. Close to 3 when Y & her boyfriend were to come, set frying the arancini. Old mushroom risotto that's been living in the freezer for a while, scooped a small ball, dipped in flour, dipped in an egg/milk wash, then dipped in whole wheat bread crumbs, then into the deep fryer until dark golden. During service, just had to get the ravioli in boiling water, everything else was pretty much done. And at the end, the babka was from the freezer, already defrosted in the fridge and just nuked for a minute to be totally ready to serve.

Food was good, but not great. The ravioli need more salt in the filling, and the pasta was a bit too stiff for my taste. The chard was a little too oily. The arancini were good, the babka was great. A lot of fun, though I generated a hella-lot of dirty dishes which my wife & dishwasher B made hash of pretty efficiently.

String Beanz

Met the challenge again, with the help of the large green salad. Dinner brought some lightly-steamed string beans, steamed enough so that it clearly ain't raw, but still have a healthy snap to it. Tossed with some onions and garlic sauteed in a little peanut oil and salt, and it just tasted like something I should be making on a regular basis. Maybe with less peanut oil, maybe butter instead?

BREAKFAST pt 1: 7:30am, homemade granola with organic dead milk, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

BREAKFAST pt 2: 10:30am, bagel with cream cheese, tomato and onion, water, .75 bowl, hunger 3/5

LUNCH: 4pm, large green salad, onion-flavored veggie booty, small quantity of cherry lime ice cream, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 6pm, pancake, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 7:30pm, cheese tortellini with homemade tomato sauce, steamed string beans tossed with sauteed onion and garlic, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

Crunking

After crunking out at 7pm last night, woke up at 4. By 5 my stomach starting bothering me -- am I full? Am I hungry? After 15 minutes, I determined something needed to go in.

BREAKFAST pt 1: 5am, smoothie, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
What better way to start off a challenge day than a tall glass o' fruit. Best smoothie yet! Overripe banana, enough whole milk, to come half way up the blender blades, 1 heaping tablespoon of the good yogurt, handful of fresh grapes, frozen blueberries, mango & cherries, a tablespoon of fresh ground flax, a pinch of salt, a large pinch of vanilla sugar and one new ingredient: a 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon. The subtle spiciness just set it off, giving a 4th dimension to the flavor profile. I try not to toot my own horn in this space, but if I was served this smoothie in a breakfast joint, I'd make a point of becoming a loyal customer.

BREAKFAST pt 2: 8:15am, 4 homemade cinnamon pancakes, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Did laundry, did the Edie thing, and watched some TV after breakfast pt 1. Watched an episode of "Cooks Country", where they did a recipe for "ultimate" pancakes, involving dry malted milk and a few other things most people, even cooks, don't keep in their cupboards. It did occur to me that I DID have all the staples for pancakes on hand.

So I revisited the c-school recipe, very simple, very good results. Light, fluffy, very ungreasy but tender. Based on what cinnamon did for me with the smoothie, I hit the dry ingredients with a big tablespoon. I forgot to kick it up with vanilla, so I served myself the pancakes with a bit of maple syrup -- it gave a nice vanilla-smoke note to the proceedings. I also added an extra egg to the batter, and this were some of the best pancakes yet. Two for two!

LUNCH: 3pm, extra-large green salad with sauteed shrimp, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 6:45pm, beef & broccoli with pork fried rice, egg roll, water, small amount of cherry lime ice cream, 2 bowl, hunger 4/5
Well, it had broccoli in it!

Challenge Fail

Oy. Woke up too early and my day kind of stayed off balance for the rest of the day. Finished up the first batch of granola, then spent the morning with Edie -- she is getting more confident in exploring the house, crawling commando-style room to room. Yomomma came over around 12:30, we ate a few potatoes together, then I took off to the high school I've taught at for a meeting to figure out the next semester. As I left the house, I realized I was still hungry and grabbed a local slice. After the meeting, I swung by Ikea then took the ferry home. Getting off the boat, realized I was hungry again and grabbed some street food in Chinatown.

I was thinking of steaming the string beans for dinner, but B suggested ordering in with Yomomma, and as I said, I was feeling a bit off. When I went to lay down after eating to digest, I blinked out. Tomorrow, I aim to double up on my veg intake!

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

LUNCH: 12:30am, a small amount of roasted potatoes, slice of streetza, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 4:15pm, 2 lotus leaf wraps, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5
Like a tiny Chinese burrito. The lotus leaf is inedible, but gives the most fragrant flavor to the sticky rice. The chopped pork and mushroom in the middle is redolent of soy and sesame.

DINNER: 6:15pm, shrimp burrito, 1 glass of beer, small amount of cherry-lime ice cream, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5
I think perhaps the beer put me over the edge into early sleepytime. I am no drinker.

Hips

Edie & rolled out to the restaurant in the morning, then met up with the HVS and some old compatriots in midtown. A walk down to Union Square made me aware the weight on my hips from strapping on Edie, and after getting Edie to bed, knocked out a big salad and cherry-lime ice cream. The ice cream was surprisingly not that great, it was good, but kinda like very good frozen yogurt.

BREAKFAST: 8am, toasted pumpernickel bagel with homemade babaganoush and sable, apple cider, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH pt 1: noon, wedge of a smoked turkey sandwich, Manhattan Special, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH pt 2: 1:45pm, seaweed salad, piece of bread, water, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 3:45pm, 3 hazelnut waffle cookies, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 6:45pm, a few spoonfuls of cherry lime ice cream

DINNER pt 1: 7:30pm, large green salad, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER pt 2: 9pm, lamb with rice & potatoes, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

Still rising

Made a second batch of granola today -- 1 cup instead of 1.5 cups of mixed sweeteners, axed the dried apple, doubled up on the vanilla, cinnamon and cardamon. Came out pretty good, better sweetness level, though a slight bit more spicy in a non-heat kind of way.

The HVS said fruit smoothies would not apply to this challenge, but in the morning I had not gone shopping yet and upon thinking about it, it seemed like the next best thing to NOT eating a fruit smoothie, he he. The actual smoothie is not a "fruit flavored" concoction, it's about 75% whole, raw fruit. Sure it's blended, it's a legitimate processing that even raw-food places use. Applying mechanical processing to a food does a lot less damage to the nutritional value than applying heat or chemical process. No fats were used in processing, and the 1/4 teaspoon of salt and 1/2 teaspoon of sugar were more for balancing than for sweetening or hiding off flavors. So there!

BREAKFAST: 8:45am, smoothie, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Banana, frozen cherries, frozen blueberries, frozen mango, freshly ground flax seed, milk, good yogurt, dash of salt and sugar. Tasted good, but a little flat. Maybe a hint of cinnamon or cayenne would give a nice tickle to the nose?

LUNCH: 12:30pm, bucatini with homemade tomato sauce and sauteed spinach, pint of apple cider, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5
In honor of the challenge, I quickly sauteed the frozen spinach in olive oil, not a slathering of chicken fat, though I was tempted. Measured out one cup. Sauteed with one clove of crushed garlic and a dash of salt, was a nice earthy match to the deep tomato sauce.

PM SNACK: 2pm, oatmeal chocochip cookie

DINNER: 7pm, garlic & herb pork sausage, roasted broccoli, roasted potatoes, a single Reese's peanut butter cup, water, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5
I think roasting was a no-no in the challenge, but all roasting is not equal. The Long Island fingerlings had to be baked for a full hour (and potatoes are low on the nutritional scale), but my broccoli got hit for just 10 minutes, came out nice n' crisp n' bright green, not overcooked. A dash of olive oil, a little salt & pepper, some toasted panko breadcrumbs, a little fresh garlic, and finished with a dusting of Parmesan. It was pretty kick ass n' healthy, if not 100% challenge-proof. But hark, I got some string beans looking to get totally steamed soon....

Rising slowly to the challenge

So this week I have bee challenged by my friend the HVS & my wife to eat a minimum of 2 cups minimally processed plant material (including fruit) every day this week. It's nice that it's not a reductive challenge, but a challenge never the less. I could relatively easily eat a vegetarian diet all week, and with a little more effort be strictly vegan; it's the minimally processed part that is the kicker. It is my training, no, it is my instinct to cook and alter and reorganize the raw basic bits into combinations that are more than the sum of their parts. To simply mix the basic raw stuff together with out really doing much to it (like in a salad) is a challenge indeed. But I guess I should start small.

I had to -- the weather was miserable today in NYC, with high winds and sheeting rain, nothing an apple-cheeked 7 month old should be exposed to if she doesn't have to. Tomorrow evening I'll start playing with the challenge, but today I just made due with what was on hand.

BREAKFAST pt 1: 9:30am, banana, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

BREAKFAST pt 2: 10:15am, toasted garlic bagel with homemade babaganoush & sable, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
I wanted to start off this week's challenge right, but it just wasn't enough, and I need to go food shopping to fruit it up a bit.

LUNCH: 2:30pm, edemame, spring roll, pork dumplings, sushi, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Ordered in during this bad weather.

DINNER pt 1: 6pm, large green salad, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Well, for today, this has to complete the challenge. So, how big is a "large" green salad? I scooped it out in a 1-cup cup and it came to a little over 3 cups.

DINNER pt 2: 6:45pm, hald a large pizza with pepperoni & sausage, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Merciful

Woke up mercifully late to the Double Es having a nice morning together, ate some homemade granola for breakfast finally. Definitely sweeter than the farmer's market stuff, definitely chewier, too. Gonna cut back on the sweeteners and dried apples in the next batch.

Spent the day out with the Es and yomomma in Brooklyn, went to annoying restaurant for lunch with B likes. A menu with 95% egg dishes just doesn't work for a non-egg eater. Ordered in dinner and skipped salad in anticipation of this coming week's challenge: 2 cups of minimally processed fruit and vegetable matter every day. Oy. I kinda achieve that every time I eat the big green salad, but it won't hurt to try to get out of the standard repertoire, either.

BREAKFAST: 10:30am, homemade granola with organic dead milk, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 2pm, moz & pesto panini, water, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 6:30pm, 2 potato samosas, shrimp saag, rice, garlic naan, water, 1.75 bowl, hunger 4/5

All the more.

In the morning the Double Es and I went to Cafe Petisco for a big breakfast, then went for a walk by the river. Lazed around the house, napped, then rolled out to meet the HVS for dinner. Edie is getting bigger. At 7 months, she's more and more interactive with her environment, figuring things out. When our food arrived, Edie (strapped to my chest) reached out and grabbed the plate, raising it in the air at an angle. The food comes tumbling into my lap -- you know it's love when someone dumps a plate of hot food in your lap and you love them all the more.

BREAKFAST: 11am, blueberry pancakes, bacon, homefries, water, a slightly stale chocolate chip cookie, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 4:30pm, large green salad, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

SNICKLEDINNER: 6:45pm, fruity cocktail, sticky crispy noodles, grilled tofu with satay sauce, sesame seed pancake, garlic shrimp with sticky rice, a few bites of vegan cupcakes, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING SNACK: 11:30pm, chocolate hazelnut spread with whole grain crackers, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

Sprain

Went out to Veg Dim Sum with K, and on the way home stepped on some uneven pavement and sprained my left ankle. Edles was in a the carriage so I didn't fall and Edie didn't even notice, but it was bad enough that I skipped out of a play date in the afternoon and a dinner out with E later in the evening. Wanted pizza, but didn't want the hassle of making a phone call and answering the door, so I zapped some homemade mac n' cheese that I made weeks ago. Frozen is definitely not as good as fresh, but still way superior to the yellow stuff out of a box.

B has been eating up all the granola, and giving away a bunch. Must make another batch soon, as I would like to have some for breakfast!

BREAKFAST: 7:30am, toasted pumpernickel bagel with homemade babaganoush and sable, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: noon, vegetarian dim sum, tea, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER pt 1: 5pm, large green salad, pickle, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER pt 2: 7:30pm, mac & cheese, whole grain crackers with chocolate hazelnut spread, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Granola

Off to go food shopping with Edie strapped on, stopped in the local diner. Woke up feeling tired, stomach was a bit tight, thought I needed a belly bomb to get going. I was right! After a moderately greasy meal (chased by a fresh gourmet donut from down the street), felt much better.

BREAKFAST: 9:15am, BLT on bagel, homefries, lemon donut, water, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 2:45pm, homemade granola, homemade kasha varniskas, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Wasn't planning to have granola for lunch, but when it came out of the oven, it was just too groovy to pass up. I followed the general outline of the recipe the HVS forwarded to me, but gave it my own funk:

3 cups rolled oats
1 1/2 cups cashews
1 cup sliced almonds
1 cup pumpkin seeds
1 cup shredded coconut
1/2 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup agave
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup evoo
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cardamom
1 cup chopped dried apple
1 cup dried cherries

Surprisingly good, better than the expensive granola I buy at the farmer's market. I called that the "good granola", I shall call the homemade stuff the "best granola". Just a nice level of sweet/salty/savory, with the cardamon and cinnamon duality rubbing up nice against the vanilla and the earthy tones of the sweeteners.

SNICKLESNACK: 7:30pm, bowl of dahl, vegan brownie, vegan lemon cookie, water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Went to yoga with the HVS, first time in almost 2/3 of a year.

Tired

Spent most of the day at the restaurant, skipped food shopping and walked home over the Manhattan Bridge. Feeling a bit tired.

BREAKFAST: 8:45am, white toast with babaganoush, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 12:30pm, half a pizza, a piece of calzone, a small piece of cheesecake, Manhattan Special, equivalent of half a glass of wine, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Well, the challenge definitely got violated on this one, but it would of been extremely rude to not eat from a professional sense. Between tasting some new menu stuff, a wine tasting and a storied piece of cake, I ate a lot more than I planned to.

DINNER: 7pm, basil fried rice, fried shrimps, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Felt run down. Ordered in with B before hitting the pillows around 9.

Lunkfast

LUNKFAST: 11:30am, sausage with homemade kasha varnishkas, water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Had weird dreams, woke up with a tight stomach. After getting the laundry out, started feeding Edie, which made my appetite come alive. Had a couple of large sausages in the fridge that was given to me as a gift. One was some sort of cheese-stuffed thing, other was a dry "bahnmi" sausage. The first was kinda gross, oozing cheese, the second was good but a little bit too salty. Had about half of each.

PM SNACK: 2pm, chocolate chip cookie brittle, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5
This was from the leader of the playdate drop-in, she makes homemade baked goods, so I'm gonna say this does not violate the challenge this week...

PM SNACK: 4:15pm, babaganoush on white toast, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER PT 1: 5:15pm, zucchini pancake, mint chocolate chip ice cream, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Used rice flour, fried it in caste iron, forgot to use an egg. Came out gloopy and not as good as when the HVS was here.

DINNER PT 2: 8:45pm, cheese ravioli with homemade sauce, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

Pie?

Today was the first day of the no-non-homemade-junkfood challenge. I almost forgot -- as B & I wandered through Brooklyn, she stopped to get a cup of coffee at a cafe and I asked her to get me something sweet, but then I took it back. Then again, waking up and finishing the day with a luxurious almond-chocolate tart is not too much of a struggle, he he.

I have mint chocolate chip ice cream and another 12-inch tart on hand, but I need something else to break up the monotony. Gotta make something fun to get me through the whole week. What shall it be? Unmagical brownies? C-chip cookies? Maybe I should review my c-school notes, replicate something challenging. Edie Bird Pie!

BREAKFAST: 8:30am, chocolate tart, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 1:15pm, crappy pizza, diet coke, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 7pm, large green salad, 2 small slices of leftover Chicago-style pizza, chocolate tart, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

They call this pizza?

Made sauce the other day, bought all the ingredients. Today time was spent making Chicago-style pizza dough, which involves corn meal and a lot of butter. Between rises, the dough was rolled out, spread with a layer of soft butter, then rolled up and rolled out -- laminated like a croissant.

While that was in progress, I finished baking the two large tart shells to accept the large amount of chocolate pastry cream I had laying around. Just to kick it up a notch, I melted a dark chocolate bar with a little butter, then poured that into the shells to set before spreading in the cream, just to give it another layer of texture.

The actual dessert served was chocolate "ravioli" with cherry "marinara" and powdered sugar "cheese". It was good, but way too much work.



BREAKFAST: 9:45am, good yogurt with honey, homemade vanilla extract and cashews, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACKING: 12-4pm, snippets of moz, sausage, onion & olives, a few prosciutto canapes, water, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Oddly enough, I spent so much mental energy prepping dinner that I forgot to eat lunch. Got hungry around the time guests were supposed to show up.

PM SNACK: 4:30pm, large wedge of chocolate tart, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Waiting for guests to arrive.

DINNER: 5:45pm, several slices of Chicago-style pizza, several ham & pickle canapes, chocolate raviolis, a few mini canolis, 2 glasses of wine, 1.75 bowl, hunger 4/5
Edie really enjoyed the party, interacting with several people at once, hangin' like one of the fellahs.

In Style

Made pastry cream last night, this morning attempted to turn it into chocolate-almond pastry cream -- as a filling for chocolate ravioli I'll be serving as desert for tomorrow's dinner party. The recipe called for gianduja, a hazelnut-infused chocolate not available at my local markets. So I tried to melt chocolate on a double boiler with almond paste, but almond paste does not melt. D'oh! So as I mixed and mixed, the paste turned into sticky little grit-bits. I mixed the melted mass in with the cold pastry cream, and voila -- chocolate pudding with little sweet lumps of gooey almond paste. Fine for a snack, inappropriate for a refined fancy desert filling.

So I ran to the local market to pick up ingredients and remade the pastry cream, and infused it with chocolate and almond extract in the evening. The chocolate ravioli only took a small portion of the cream, so I made two large tart shells to take the 2 loads of chocolate pastry cream. I guess if I'm going to only eat home-made sweets this week, might as well do it in style....

BREAKFAST: 9am, chocolate pudding with candy almond bits, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

BREAKFAST 2: 11:30am, onion bagel with butter, sable and onion, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5 Totally forgot the babaganoush!

LUNCH: 2:30pm, muffaletta sandwich, 1/3 of a chocolate caramel tart, 1 beer, water, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 8pm, 2 slices of white bread toast with babaganoush, tortilla chips with a little salsa, a few spoonfuls of chocolate pastry cream, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

I went there.

Not a great eating day, but could of been worse.

BREAKFAST: 9:30am, toasted onion bagel with cream cheese, sable and red onion, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 12:15pm, grilled chicken strips, potato nik, water, .75 bowl, hunger 3/5

DINNER: 6:30pm, shrimp toast, pork dumplings, beef chow fun, a can of Pepsi, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5
B was out getting her hair did, I was feeding Edie, cleaning up the house and dealing with other stuff so ordering in just seemed easy. It came with a free can of Pepsi, and it was just there as I was eating, so I opened it up intending only to take a sip. Huh. The sweet high acidity of it really cut through the very fatty food -- a palate cleanser, not unlike eating French food with a bright red wine. Yes, I'm equating take out Chinese and Pepsi with French food and red wine. I went there.

It's gettin' snickly in here!

The HVS came over in the morning with a bunch of spare vegetables. She get's a delivery every week and some of it built up, so we hunkered down and got to work making some snickly snacks out of them.


Two acorn squashes, an eggplant, a couple of zucchinis, a short stack of oranges and clementines. First thing was juice all the oranges and shoot it down. HVS made matchsticks of the zucchinis, then I tossed it with equal parts flour & water and a dash of salt, then fried it in peanut oil. When close to done, added a shot of sesame oil, whipped up a simple dipping sauce of soy sauce, rice vinegar and sesame oil, and voila:


I was surprised by how really simple and surprisingly authentic tasting this dish came out. Gonna experiment with higher gluten flour, higher temp, maybe add rice flour, scallions, hmmmm...

Roasted an eggplant, peeled it, then blended it with tahini, lemon juice, garlic, a little salt and olive oil for nice baba ganoush. Acorn squashes got split, oiled, salted, a drop of molasses then roasted. Potatoes were peeled, chopped, tossed with oil, salt and minced rosemary and roasted to brown. It was fun whipping out these simple dishes. Yomomma came by around 12:30 and nibbled on some of it with us. Now only if Edie was old enough to enjoy eating (& cooking) this stuff, too!

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

SNICKLE SNACK: 10:30-1:30pm, freshly squeezed orange juice, zucchini pancake with soy dipping sauce, a taste of baba ganoush, a small dish of rosemary roasted potatoes, a taste of roasted acorn squash, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 2:30pm, BLT, fries, coleslaw, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Met P for lunch out at Chat n' Chew on Union Square. Yuck. The menu said thick-cut bacon but my sandwich came with a large lump of deep-fried thin-cut over-salted industrial bacon, left about 2/3 of it over on the plate. Really.

PM SNACK: 5:45pm, graham crackers with chocolate, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Just woke up from a nap, needed something to get going.

DINNER: 10:30pm, kasha varnishkes with chicken, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5


BONUS PIC!!

Squeaky

Spent the morning at the restaurant, and the afternoon at a hospital where my friend gave birth a day a go. Edie is now 7 months old, and 7 months ago I was in a hospital room with a new born squeaky girl, just like C's new addition, Autumn.

Hunger is back, though the day was busy enough to not eat enough. When I got home, I immediately dispensed a large salad then quickly made a nice homemade meal.

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

LUNCH: 12:30pm, sausage, potatoes, salad, Manhattan Special, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Ate with L at the restaurant. Delicious, prepared in cast iron in the pizza oven.

DINNER: 5:15pm, grilled chili chicken breast strips over kasha varnishkes, large green salad, 1 cupcake, water, 1.5 bowl, hunger 5/5
Didn't eat enough up to this point, got hungry enough to feel nauseous and a little light headed. Picked up a chicken boob from a local butcher, sliced it, marinated it quick and grilled it fast and went well with the kasha I made yesterday.

EVENING SNACK: 7:30pm, dark chocolate and graham crackers, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

Not hungry today

Just not very hungry today, my body must be recovering from a bug, this is not typical.

Spent the evening at a food coop meeting, thought it's too early for the subject to really be about food, more about business structure and philosophy, from which the food can flow.

BREAKFAST: 8:30am, organic granola with organic dead milk, .5 bowl, hunger 3/5
I gotta start making my own granola, it'll be cheaper and more available in quantity.

LUNCH: 1pm, left over pasta, .75 bowl, hunger 3/5

PM SNACK: 2pm, cherry crumble bar
A home baked snack from the group leader of the play date drop in.

PM SNACK: 4pm, large green salad, snippets of kasha varnishkes, .75 bowl, hunger 3/5
After coming home from the group and before B came home, I cooked up a big ol' bucket of kasha varniskes. I caramelized 3 Spanish onions in chicken fat, toasted some barley then reconstituted it in chicken stock, fat, salt and pepper. Boiled up some egg noodle bow ties and tossed it all together, along with more salt and a lot more fresh ground pepper.

DINNER: 6:45pm, fish taco with rice & beans, glass of cava, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Out to Petisco with B, E and a couple of friends.

Sweetness

Felt really low energy today, not very hungry, either. After laundry, fell asleep with Edie in my arms on the couch for a couple of hours. Sweetness incarnate. Need to go food shopping and get some homemade salad in my life.

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

LUNCH: 1:30pm, green salad, eggplant parm hero, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 6:30pm, mint chip ice cream, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 9pm, 3 small fish sticks, small amount of pasta with homemade sauce, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

5

Between a crying baby, an upset and an unhappy tummy situation, I didn't get to bed until around 4:30am. Woke up around 1:30pm, and Edles & I rolled out to the greasy diner around the corner. Not good food, but we didn't have to get 100% bundled up to get there. B was supposed to take a nap. but ended up joining us. It was 5 years ago today that my mother passed away.

I used to meet my parents at this diner on Sunday afternoons. We would always get the same things. We'd all drink diet coke. It was cheap, fast, convenient. After, we'd either go back to their apartment to fart around, or mom would go home and me and dad would go to the movies, or a museum, or book and record shopping, whatever.

Five years is a long time, but I still see and hear my parents quite clearly. Scrambled eggs, toast, margarine no bacon (but they'd eat some of mine), home fries, diet coke, coffee with splenda.

LUNCH: 2:30pm, BLT on bagel, home fries, diet coke, water, half a black & white, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Not my usual nowadays, but comforting. Diet coke on ice in a tall plastic cup with a wedge of lemon is somehow superior from straight out of the can, but if I were to try to replicate this anywhere but at this diner, would probably taste like the acidy fakeness it is. After eating, Edie & I popped into the kosher bakery next door to get a black & white. My mom got these for me a few times, not because I like them, but because she grew up on them as a kid in Brighton Beach, and though she didn't eat them herself, it gave her some sort of feeling continuity or home by getting them for me. I ate the chocolate half.

PM SNACK: 6:30pm, blue corn chips with salsa, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 8pm, chicken soup with vegetable gyoza, potatonik, 2 graham crackers and a little chocolate, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Using my chicken stock, spiked it with sea salt and Worcestershire sauce. Tasted weird, good, not quite there yet.

Creaky

The famz went up to Uncle Andy's place in Chelsea for some TV, then we walked home, hitting the farmer's market, the baby supply store, a restaurant, etc. We had plans in the evening, but they all got cancelled through no cause of our own. HVS was coming off a big day of yoga tests after grinding for weeks, so it was great to be able have her come over and take a load off, even if that meant doing 10 minutes of creaky yoga!

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

AM SNACK: 11:30am, 2 donuts, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
From the Donut Plant, a lemon and a triple chocolate.

LUNCH: 2pm, pizza, Greek salad pizza, orange soda, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
At Pizza By the Inch, where they serve long Roman-style pies cut to order. The Greek salad pizza is basically a pre-baked shell with sauce, which they top with romaine, red onion, olives and sprinkle with feta. I'm not a big feta fan, but as a condiment it's pretty great.

PM SNACK: 5pm, apple cider, .25 bowl
Fresh from the farmer's market.

DINNER: 7:30pm, left over rigatoni & meatballs with spinach and ricotta, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5
The HVS was coming over, but wasn't hungry, so I zapped a few left overs which hit the spot.

SNICKLESNACK: 8pm, a little bit of dark chocolate, 2 graham crackers, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Snuggly

After doing the laundry in the morning, Edie and I napped and I ended up blowing off all plans for the afternoon. A cold snowy day outside, a warm snuggly baby inside, and enough little things to do around the house to remain sane. Edie fed strongly, and I got a few baby spoons of the good yogurt in. I can't begin to say how fun it is to feed her a food I love, and to watch her weird reaction; a screwed up little face followed by an open mouth looking for me.

BREAKFAST: 9am, apple cider, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Stomach still feeling a little weird from yesterday's dinner.

LUNCH: 12:30pm, rigatoni and sauce with meatballs, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Around 11:30 got hungry for lunch and started pacing the kitchen looking for something quick, but that feeling was what got me into trouble in yesterday's dinner. I happened to have an onion lying around and all the pantry ingredients for tomato sauce, so I made some. No recipe, just hoofed it, using a little tomato paste in the flavor base to see what would happen. Came out ok, I suspect the tomato paste gave it a stronger fakey tomato taste. Finished up the school meatballs.

I ate half my plate before realizing this was way too much food. I put it into a container and into the fridge -- in the past I would of just shovelled it down...

PM SNACK: 3:30pm, graham crackers and dark chocolate, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 6:30pm, 2 veggie soy sausage patties, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 8pm, chicken soup with vegetable gyoza, wheat crackers with the good peanut butter, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5
Stomach was feeling acidy but hungry. Roving around the kitchen again, realized I had freshly made never-frozen chicken stock in the fridge, so I cut it with 50% water and boiled up some dumplings in the freezer I picked up in Koreatown. Still nippy, B lead me to some wholegrain crackers which I shmeared with a little peanut butter. A light, very satisfying meal.

Dumb Dinner

Edie & I visited the Brooklyn Museum with our friend L. I thought we'd have some time in the morning to fart around but I was depending on Edie as an alarm clock, and she didn't go off until 9:45, so it was a quick jump out the door.

After the museum, we wandered in Prospect Heights for a late lunch, later than I like, I got too hungry and overate a little. It destroyed my appetite for a normal dinner, and on the way home I connected with B, and we spent some time wandered the aisles of the local drug stores (because that's what married people with babies do for fun, dang nabbit!) I almost got a single cheapo freezer case ice cream cone, but the line was too long, and the next drug store only had a 4 pack. -sigh--

Not a good dinner, not a good dinner at all. Dinner shouldn't give you a throbbing headache then send you to the bathroom when you should be soothing your baby. Lesson learned, I hope.

BREAKFAST: 10am, organic cheerios with organic dead milk, apple cider, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 3:30pm, variety of small Indian dishes including shrimp curry, chicken tikka, aloo gobi, rice, nan, rikta, water, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

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

"DINNER": 8pm, 3 more ice cream cones, hotdog, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

The Good Yogurt vs The Bad Yogurt

One of the things my wife and I do not see eye to eye on is yogurt. We both love Fage, the thick strained tangy Greek-style yogurt, what I call 'the good yogurt'. However, while I get plain ol' Fage, she get's Fage 0%, as in 0% fat. Fage, a cow's milk yogurt, in it's whole state, is not light: a full 2/3 of it's calories comes from fat, mostly saturated (though no trans). It makes sense, as fat IS flavor. While the 0% stuff looks identical, it's kinda like the difference between eating ice cream and eating paste in the shape of ice cream.

But my wife insists that there isn't a big difference, that she loves her yogurt regardless. A few times we had taste tests with various friends and relatives passing through our kitchen in the morning hours (hello Ido! hello Mariko!) and while they were both polite about it, both agreed that the whole unreduced less processed yogurt tasted better.

So this early this evening Edie was in a feeding frenzy, first I fed her some oatmeal-pea-formula mush which she ripped through, then I fed her the remaining peas from the jar, and she showed no sign of slowing. So my wife suggested we feed her some yogurt, as Edie already had some at some point. And then, you guessed it, B pulled out the ZERO PERCENT PASTE!! (the horrah, the horrah)

Bottom line, when man discovered that there were bacteria that could be added to dairy that would not only not spoil it, but preserve it, thicken it and have probiotic health benefits, the first thing they probably thought (after, "Hey! It didn't kill me!") was "This is delicious!", not, "How can this help me slim my figure?" Zero % yogurt is "less than", it is more processed, it is "reduced", it is unbalanced. All that milk protein without it's natural fat to help the body absorb it? Babies should never be given any sort of "diet" food.

So Edie tried her first good yogurt, and she screwed up her face in the most adorable of ways, then opened her mouth and went for more. I served her about a tablespoon, and she would of eaten more, but with such a rich food, moderation is probably not a bad thing at this stage in the game.

BREAKFAST: 10:15am, apple cider, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 12:30pm, 3 slices white shrimp & bacon pizza, Manhattan Special, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

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

DINNER: 7pm, halibut fishsticks, brown rice mushroom pilaf mixed with garlic spinach, graham crackers, water, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Picked up some battered fishsticks while touring Trader Joe's today. When Is aw them, reminded me of some horrible fishsticks my mom would serve -- processed pressed fish cakes in super thick and greasy coating. These fish sticks were really nice -- the fish seemed to be whole fish, and the batter was relatively thin with a nice touch of tumeric.

No Intervention

After a calm day of a playdate drop in at the community center and some grocery shopping, made myself a quick meal then attended a meeting to establish a food coop on the LES. Had to leave early, as Edie was getting cranky. Spent the evening making chicken stock, and as B slept, Edie woke up a few times crying. I picked her up and soothed her, and 3 minutes later put her back in the crib -- this was the first time I got her back to sleep successfully without the intervention of Betsy. That was pretty satisfying.

BREAKFAST: 8:30am, good yogurt with homemade vanilla extract, cashews and honey, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

AM SNACK: 11:30am, tortilla chips with a little salsa, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 1:15pm, slice of streetza, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 1:45pm, piece of chocolate chip banana bread, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 6pm, bone-in pork chop, sauteed spinach, brown rice mushroom pilaf, apple cider, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Some left over rice microwaved, put a thick 2" chop in the pan with a little chicken fat for 20 minutes, took a bag of frozen spinach and put it in another pan with chicken fat, garlic, salt, cayenne and a little water and slowly heated it covered. Once I rested the meat for about 5 minutes, I tucked into another meal that I was surprisingly happy with. The spinach was tasty, the chop was a little less pink than I like but juicy and a nice crust. The rice from yesterday was an excellent nutty-tasting side dish, and I would be very happy if I got this plate at a restaurant for $23. Which makes me think, the food cost on this was probably about half that, and in a restaurant setting 1/4 would more appropriate.

EVENING SNACK: 11pm, vegan oatmeal chocochip cookies, sour cream and onion pop-chips, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Up late making chicken stock, got hungry.

Corner Baby

Insomnia kept me up until 4, Ediebird got me up at 7:30. Got laundry done, and the plan was to get out of the house after lunch, but felt so run down, had to spend all my strength and concentration on keeping Edie happy and fed and safe. Her backwards crawling has gotten stronger, but when you can only go in reverse, it's inevitable that you're going to back yourself into a corner:



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

LUNCH: 12 noon, large green salad, Stouffers Frenchbread pizzas, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 4pm, chocolate covered bacon, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 7:15pm, curry shrimp over porcini brown rice pilaf, chocolate chip mint ice cream, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5
It's nice when a casual meal is successful. Peeled and cleaned some shrimp, let in marinate in curry powder, cayenne and cinnamon. Sauteed onion and garlic in olive oil and butter, through in a pack of chopped dried porcinis, then toasted long grain brown rice. Covered it in a tetrapack of beef stock, brought to a boil and wacked it in the oven for about an hour. No recipe, just following basic method, and it came out really good. The premade stock was really salty, but fortunately the final rice was seasoned in the right spot.

Ice Cream & Peccadilloes

This morning a friend in the neighborhood came over with her 4 year old, and I ran the kid through the steps of making mint ice cream from scratch. He didn't quite have his coordination down (cracking an egg involved slamming it down full-force for a well-messy splatter) but it was fun anyway. I made a batch of mint custard yesterday so we would not have to wait 8 hours for it to chill.

In the evening, I went to Nobu with E to celebrate her latest personal peccadilloes. The restaurant was surprisingly empty, the weak economy in full force.

Tomorrow, B goes back to work and me n' Edie are back to getting our grooves back.

BREAKFAST: 10:30am, toasted pumpernickel bagel with cream cheese and homemade cured salmon, apple cider, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

AM SNACK: 11:30am, "pig candy", just a snap
I was given really decadent chocolate-covered bacon as a gift for the ice cream excursion. Really tasty, but it just tastes so....unhealthy.

PM SNACK: 12:30pm, mint ice cream, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 3pm, mac n' cheese, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 6:30pm, 7 small seafood courses, green tea mouse over sesame cake with redbean paste, half a bottle of sake, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING SNACK: 10pm, mint chocolate chip ice cream. .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Winding Down

A day with the family. B left early to get her hair did, and Edie and I joined her. While waiting for her hair to be cooked to well-done, we sat in a Chinese bakery and I ate an almond cookie. They had the very-Chinese stuff (sesame balls with super sweet black-bean paste in the middle) and the very-American (chocolate chip cookies), but I thought the almond cookie was a nice Chinese-American compromise. I forgot how crumbly they are, and about 1/3 of the cookie was caught between me and strapped-on Edie.

We spent the day at my brother-in-law's place, watching his whole-wall television, ordering in food, and watching Edie crawl across with a foot print as large as our whole apartment. A very chill way to wind down the holiday week.

BREAKFAST: 10:30am, almond cookie, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

AM SNACK: 11:15am, slice of streetza, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 12:30pm, vegetarian burrito, 1.25 bowl, hunger 3/5

PM SNACK: 4pm, diet root beer

DINNER: 8pm, half a margerita pizza, Cesar salad, glass of chardonnay, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING SNACK: 10:30pm, 2 chocolate chip cookies, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

New Year's Day Brunch

3 old friends from back in the day, 2 spouses and one 2 year old came over for brunch. Made butter and hummus yesterday, set fish for curing then, too. This morning made bagels, using 1oo% bread flour and despite the extra gluten almost blowing out my mixer, they were definitely chewier and crisper for it. I had poppy seeds, sesame seeds and dried onion on hand to top some of them. The fish came out extra mild, almost like salty sashimi, fortunately the fish was extra fatty so it really transmitted the curing flavors it did absorb.

Good friends, good food, a chillaxed atmosphere, and Edie was bopping around and thrilled to be there -- last year she was just a gestational bump riding along B's hip bones.

BREAKFAST: 8am, small piece of babka, apple cider, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

BRUNCH: 1pm, freshly baked bagel with freshly cured salmon, maitre d'hotel butter and cream cheese, several pieces of babka, seltzer, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 7pm, fresh pasta with school-made meatballs, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Dressed with garlic, oil and parm. Pretty good.

In with a roar, out with a babka

BREAKFAST: 7am, organic cheerios with organic dead milk, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: noon, veggie patty sub on whole wheat, small quantity of chips, diet coke, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Stopped in at Subway on the way to the supermarket -- didn't want to food shop hungry. I used to eat at Subway a lot when I tried to be vegan -- the veggie patty they have is vegan, but none of their breads are -- all contain a small amount of non-fat dry milk or egg product. Still, I ordered it without cheese. Funny to have a food sensory memory from my early/mid 20s, not my childhood.

PM SNACK: 2-5pm, chocolate babka filling, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Oy. Made a large quantity of this in the process of making 5 medium babka loaves. Take 2 1/4 pounds of good quality dark chocolate, chop it into chunks then plop it into a food processor to make mealy pebbles. Add 3/4 cup of sugar, 2 tablespoons of cinnamon and a stick and half of butter and pulse until you have a loose, dry sandy mixture. Intoxicating.

And the dough, oh boy. I never made a sweet yeast dough before. The yeast was activated in warm milk, and sugar and eggs were added to the liquid before meeting the flour. And once met, it was kneaded into 2 sticks of butter! Wowzers! Had to rise for 90 minutes, then get assembled, then another 30 minute rise, than about an hour and 15 of baking. All told, about 4.5 hours of labor. While waiting, I made hummus, maitre d'hotel butter from heavy cream, a big salad and got a slab of salmon curing (salt, brown sugar, dill, kirschwasser) for tomorrow's New Year's Day brunch...

PM SNACK: 6pm, green salad, large slice of hot-out-of-the-oven babka, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Had salad in advance of dinner, then when the babka came out of the oven, I just had to cut one in hald, and once I did that, I just had to cut a piece off to taste, and once I did that, I had to cut another piece because the first was so good.

DINNER: 7:15pm, pork dumplings, shrimp lomein, water, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5
And there goes 2009....

EVENING SNACK: 11pm, a few spoonfuls of ice cream, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Not my idea, but when B spoonfeeds me, I can not say no.

Party with Peas

Got to bed around 11 last night, in a weird state of tired/not tired, but through force of will stayed in bed and got to sleep. This morning B went to the doctor early, so me n' Edie partied on down with some peas and formula, then she passed out in her walker/activity thing and went back to bed. Seems B has a sinus infection and needs some anti-biotics, hence her low energy this week. I wonder if I have the same thing, I hope not. I've never had a sinus infection before, my sinuses feel fine.

BREAKFAST: 8:45am, good yogurt with honey, homemade vanilla extract and raw cashews, .5 bowl, hunger 3/5

LUNCH: 12:30pm, pork and broccoli rabe sandwich, small portion of pork braciolla with fresh pasta, water, bread, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Freeflowing meeting with L at Frankie's on lower Court Street. As weird as he is sometimes, it's always fun eating out with him.

PM SNACK: 4pm, popcorn, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Popped in a pan with olive oil and a little butter.

DINNER: 7pm, gyro with pilaf, potatoes, onion salad, roasted tomato, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5
B went to a Turkish restaurant we like while I hung back with the bebe, and she brought me home an entree. Now that's a good wife, friend and pardner!

Low

Couldn't fall asleep until 3 last night, and was woken up by B around 11 to make sure I was ok. We initially had plans for a day trip today, but that went out the window by the end of day yesterday.

Didn't eat dinner last night, and woke up without out appetite. Eventually ordered in, and stayed on the couch most of the day. Fell asleep for 2 hours in the afternoon, dreamt that B & I lived in the house I grew up in on Staten Island, very strange. I remembered little details of the house that I haven't thought of since I lived there, little things like the accordion cover of the shelves that held linens and bathroom supplies, it's specific scent of freshly washed towels and tens of soap bars. How the sun came streaming in on a winter's afternoon, making everything look golden and different. How the old-fashioned pencil sharpener attached to the side of the shelves gave it's own woody scent for days after just one use.

Low energy, enjoying Edie crawl backwards on the floor, trying to think of little as much as possible. Ordered in dinner, and watched TV with B.

I guess this is holiday eating.

LUNCH: 1pm, pizza, Cesar salad, 4 cookies, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 8pm, chirashi sushi, shrimp tempura hand roll, shumai, green salad, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

Hoot n' Holler

Feeling a little run down today. After eating an unusually large lunch, didn't eat anything else all day -- definitely not typical of my eating day.

BREAKFAST: 9:45am, organic cheerios with organic dead milk, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

AM SNACK: 11am, 3 cookies, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5
B actually hid these from me, and I had to hoot n' holler for 'em.

LUNCH: 3pm, Philly cheese steak with fries, tofu sticks with marinara, chocolate cake, water, 2 bowl, hunger 4/5
B, Edie & I took the ferry over to Ikea, but popped over to the Hope & Anchor for a greezy lunch with a friend. Then we popped next door to Baked, a world-class bakery in Red Hook. I definitely overate, and overate heavy, greasy food. Does deep fried tofu balance beef n' cheese?

Ah, yeah

Woke up around 4am after getting to bed around 10pm. Road my bike over to Greenpoint to look in after E's cat while she's away. Weather wasn't too cold, it was dry, the sun had this spectacular hue of breaking through many day's gloom and it was happy to be able to stretch it's arms. While huffing up the Williamsburg Bridge, I had one of those 'Ah, yeah' moments -- this is why I ride, this is why I must get Edie on a bike as soon as can be negotiated with B. Being able to read what the weather is saying, observing something as pedestrian as the bridge and every rivet looking like a story, the trains whizzing by and the sparse fellow pedestrians on the bridge, it was a feeling of connectedness that is hard to achieve without recreational medication. Its a feeling I had every day on my cross-country bike trek. It's something that is a goal to achieve as often as possible.

BREAKFAST: 6am, good yogurt with homemade vanilla extract, honey and cashews, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

AM SNACK: 8am, sour cream donut, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
While in Greenpoint, I stopped in on Peter Pan, an old-style bakery on the business strip there. Not as good as Donut Plant, but it is a top example of the old-school style. My donut was slightly crisp on the outside, tender and rich on the inside, and the flavor of the sour cream shown through. Nice.

LUNCH: 1:15pm, Stouffer's French bread pizzas, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 4:30pm, mac n' cheese, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 8pm, pint of bad ice cream, 5 cookies, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
In one of those moods.

Intermission

B took me to the Met for an Opera in the afternoon, and just like I used to do with my dad, I slept through most of it. It was nice getting dressed up, having Yomomma come down and look after Edie, and going and coming back. My only issue is that it was a one-act opera -- no intermission. Intermission is when you take a break from your nap, stretch your legs and admire the building some of the finest people watching. On top of that, you can get a flute of champagne AND a brownie! They should sell tickets just for intermission. I remember one opera had like 5 intermissions, that was a mind-blower.

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

AM SNACK: 11am, tortilla chips, pancake, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

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

DINNER: 5pm, catfish burrito with rice, beans, guacamole, salsa, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Prize Winner's Ice Cream

Woke up at 10:30 feeling horrible, scratchy throat, headache, tight stomach. Laid around for a while, then started off on Grandma Birdie's "Perfect Noodle Pudding". I got the recipe from B's mom, who got it from her sister, who got it from Grandma. It called for a few specific brands, like "Pennsylvania Dutch" wide noodles (I found Maneshevitz) and "Fleichman's" margerine (I replaced with organic butter.) She called for coating the noodles with beaten eggs, before adding each ingredient one at a time, but I basically made a sauce in the mixer, then mixed in al dente noodles after.

Everyone seems to love the noodle pudding, but I thought it was kind of gross -- noodles n' paste. But this was Grandma Birdie's recipe, and it's hard to compete with sense memory and nostalgia. The recipe was thus:

8 oz wide egg noodles
4 eggs, beaten
3 oz cream cheese
8 oz sour cream
8 oz farmer's cheese
1 tp salt
Bread crumbs to top

Cook noodles al dente. Blend all other ingredients except crumbs. Combine noodles and sauce in baking pan, top with crumbs, bake at 350˚ for 30 minutes or until top is browned.

No sugar, nothing to really give variety to the texture, no flavors other than the rather mild cheeses.

There was an Emmy winner, a New York Times columnist, a New Yorker contributor, a best selling author and a recent Pulitzer Prize winner at the Xmas party we attended, and they all were very complimentary on my ice cream. He he.

BREAKFAST: 11am, 2 pancakes, 2 tylenol, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

AM SNACK: 11:45am, tortilla chips with salsa fresca, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5
I know tomatoes are out of season, but this is ridiculous. Never had such flavorless salsa as this batch of Wholefoods salsa. Gotta make some myself, there are ways of jazzing up bland tomatoes.

PM SNACKING: 2pm-6pm,several pigs in blankets, bite of noodle pudding, a couple of small latkes, a slice of ham, a slice of turkey, half a bagel with salmon, some ice cream, a few chocolates, a little slice of chocolate cake, glass of fizzy water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 9pm, vegetable dumplings, .5 bowl, hunger 3/5

Eating comfort.

We were supposed to go out to the movies, then get some Chinese or Asian food or whatever, but B felt ill and spent most of the day sleeping it off. I got to bed around 6am, and was woken up with some arm twisting, and spent the morning making a large mac n' cheese. I was intending this for tomorrow's get together of B's family, but it was changed at the last minute for B's Grandma's recipe for noodle pudding, so this needed to be cooked off or eventually the milk and cheeses would go bad.

Never ate hot mac n' cheese right of the oven, I usually let it set for an hour or two, but this was pretty damn good. I let the roux get to the brown stage, I tripled the Worcestershire sauce, and used whole wheat panko and grated Parmesan to form the crust. I also cut back the noodles by 1/4 to make a saucier product. Probably the best mac n' cheese yet. I think powdered mustard in a larger quantity than the small sprinkle of cayenne will give a bigger flavor, too.

As B slept, took a walk in the 'hood with Edie. Stopped by the local supermarket to pick up some butter for tomorrow's noodle pudding. Very busy, but enough staff were around to handle it. Overheard a conversation with a register person -- they're actually open on Xmas, but a lot of people assume (like I did) that they will be closed. Picked up a walker-thingy for Edie from the office which accepts packages. Set it up, it's basically a basket with leg holes, suspended so Edie's feet touch the ground, and she's surrounded by noise-making buttons (with an off-switch, thank goodness) It's also on wheels so she can move around but is protected by it's bulk. We put her in that thing, and the joyous confusion on her face was a sight to behold.

As B started feeling better, I started feeling worse and felt kinda out of it by 10...

BREAKFAST: 10:30am, toasted bagel with creamcheese and sable, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 2pm, mac n' cheese, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 8pm, General Tso's Chicken with pork fried rice, egg roll, wonton soup, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5
B wasn't hungry, and I wasn't particularly hungry either, but I'm Jewish, it's Xmas eve, and most of my life that meant hanging out with my parents and catching a movie, then getting Chinese food, and nothing will stop me from this food tradition. I actually don't like General Tso's chicken, but I haven't tried it in years. I remember smelling it from across the table, as my mom would get it often. And I thought, well, if I don't like it, I won't eat it and I certainly don't need to eat a brick. I also ordered a wonton soup -- my dad would always order a wonton soup, especially when it came "free" as part of a combination, and would always save it for the next day for lunch. The food itself was pretty whatever, but communing with my parents was comforting. I was eating comfort all day.

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