For the love of pork.

A good Sunday. After cooking up a healthy significant breakfast, helped B clean up the house bit before some cousins and friends came over to kick off the bike season with a small tour around the tip of Manhattan. An afternoon jaunt to Greenpoint for some authentic Polish food, small in quantity, topped off with sprint down to Red Hook for a drink in a salty bar. A good edge-of-Spring day. Didn't stick to Brown's rules (which are now in the left hand column of this blog) strictly, but getting better. Next week will be improved. Let's say the week starts on Monday...

BREAKFAST: 8:45am, 2.5 wholewheat waffles, 3 slices of bacon, 1.75 bowl, hunger 4/5
Hungry for a real big breakfast, and didn't want to give up control to a restaurant. Made my waffles, replacing white flower with whole wheat pastry flour. I also left the eggs out over night to bring them to room temp, and zapped the milk to make it slightly warm. The melted butter did not seize, and the egg whites became much more solid, making for a lighter waffle. The taste of the whole wheat was very mild, in a pleasant nutty way. Definitely the new standard. Gonna experiment with brown sugar and AP whole wheat next...

Brown's rules permits red meat but once a week, which at the outset I imagined as cow. Does red meat also mean pork, lamb, buffalo and bear? Isn't pork the other white meat?! -sigh- I guess it is, I just love pork so much. On the negative side, I ate red meat for breakfast. On the positive side, it was well below an 8 oz serving and half of my usual breakfast bacon intake...

PM SNACK: 2:15pm, bite of bagel with creamcheese, bite of pizza, half bite of dry ruggelah
Riding around with cousins and friends, doing a bit of the tour thing. Didn't want to eat, but ya gotta take a bite to be a participant.

LUNCH: 4pm, 6 mixed perogies, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Two potato/cheese, two kraut and two meat. Again, went against Brown's rules and had another bite of ride meat, but much less than a serving, maybe an ounce. How do they make this meat in the perogie? I suspect it's been ground then boiled to make stock, then tossed with a few spices, and stuffed.

PM SNACK: 5:30pm, 1 pint of beer, 1 bite of frito pie, a small quiver of french fries, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
D, E, K and I popped over to Red Hook for a drink. E ordered a horrible looking frito pie -- a crock full of fritos, topped with a very generous portion of all-beef no-bean chili, and a layer of what must of been cheese-wiz. I didn't want to taste it, but when I refused, E asked me if I was a food snob. Urg! I'll eat anything!! It was as gross as I expected, but makes me want to make some at home. I'll use my "whole grain" tortilla chips, my home-ground skyline chili, and a good quality raw milk sharp cheddar. Red meat IS allowed once a week....

DINNER: 8pm, baked sole with herbes de Provance, kale and brown rice, chocolate ice cream, small amount of dark chocolate and 3 graham crackers, water, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Three small fillets of sole (6 oz) baked with some herbs and a little pat of butter, small delicate flavor, needed a little salt. I reheated the mushroom brown rice from earlier in the week, and cut up a full head of fresh kale into it. Threw in some chicken stock, and let that cook the kale down a little and revive the rice. Still a little too salty, but a good save.

After a second portion of kale and rice, realized I had ridden about 20 miles today and was a bit undercalorized. Rather than wait until 10 to lose my mind, I powered through a delicious desert, full on. B berated me for risking my sleep tonight, but hopefully the bike ride will counter it.

The Siren's Call

Edie had some dramatic moments between 9 and midnight, which I took care of while B slept. Still, though I wasn't hungry, I wasn't full either, and the call of the chocolate ice cream in the freezer was calling to me. "Oooo, Norbert, you so sassy. Donchu just want to put me in yo mouf, and wiggle me around? Bow chicka wow wow!" Some how, I resisted it's siren call.

Woke up hungry, hungrier than usual, due to last night's sninner, I suppose. A large part of the eating day would be out of my direct control, so I added a banana to the whole-grain granola. The eating day didn't go too bad. Other than a small bowl of pasta, I was relatively in Brown's rules. I was going to make a big dinner of waffles, fish and kale, but I just wasn't hungry enough.

BREAKFAST: 8am, homemade granola in organic dead milk, banana, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

AM SNACK: 11:30am, home-roasted almonds, a small piece of challah

LUNCH: 1:30pm, 1 piece of Italian bread, small salad, appetizer portion of ziti in red sauce, fillet of flounder in wine sauce with potato and steamed carrots, string beans and broc, water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 4pm, school-made salsa with whole grain tortilla chips, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 8:15pm, slice of demi-hippy bread with good peanut butter, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING SNACK: 10pm, handful of roasted almonds

Sninner

I think I negotiated the day well today. I think I'm going to post an interpretation of Alton Brown's plan for eating as a side bar, as I'm starting to refer to it over and over again, but the casual reader wouldn't have a clue to what I'm talking about.

On the way home from a late lunch, stopped by the local humungo supermarket and poked around. I picked up a couple of cans of....sardines. Brown went on and on about the nutritional power of these buggers, and I really really hope I like them. A simple preparation with parsley and vinegar, garnished with avocado on whole wheat bread is in my future...

BREAKFAST: 10:15am, organic chex with organic dead milk, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5
Inspected the ingredients of the cereal -- about 7 different grains, all whole, well within the comfort zone of B's rules of whole grains every day.

AM SNACK: 11am, slice of fresh pineapple
Cut up a whole pineapple for B and ate some. Inoffensive, but not great. Hints of vanilla.

PM SNACK: 1pm, baby carrots and cucumber, lightly salted, 5 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 2:45pm, vegetarian dim sum, including mixed gluten, mashed tarro treasure boxes, mini sticky rice wrapped in lotus leafs, monk dumplings, tea, water, 1.75 bowl, hunger 5/5
After doing chores, not much else to do except be hungry. Bundle Edie up in the stroller and made our way to Veg Dim Sum. I ordered 4 dishes, thinking I was exhibiting control, but it was on the edge of too much food. Going solo, I gotta remember to limit to 3, which is less fun but really, now. Brown's rules area bit agnostic on this meal, except maybe for the tea, though I don't think it was green.

PM SNACK: 5pm, frozen smoothie bomb pop, .25 bowl, hunger 3/5

SNINNER: 9pm, school-made salsa and "whole grain" tortilla chips, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Sninner: somewhere between a snack and a dinner! What exactly is "whole grain" tortilla chips? The ingredients are whole-kernel white corn, oil and salt. The texture was slightly grittier than the usual, but if I didn't know it was "whole grain", I wouldn't have noticed. I counted three whole-grain tortilla chips on the supermarket shelf, and all had the same ingredients. I only chose mine (Bachmann's) because it was the smallest (NYS as opposed to national) brand and had the least amount of fat per serving (though not by much.)

The salsa made in school was a bit lame, but we made it to demo knife skills, not make the best salsa in the world (and because the kids had only had cooked jarred salsas in the past, for them it WAS the best salsa!) Tomato, onion, jalapeno, onion, cilantro and tomato juice (ingredients: tomato, a few preservatives, salt), red wine vinegar, salt. No fat. So this sninner fit well within Brown's rules of order -- whole grain, lots of vegetable.

Katz in half

Spent the morning eating righteously, because I knew the balance of the day would be on thin ice. Edie & I met up with Cousin Jenni, in from Canada for a Bar Mitzvah we're attending this weekend. We met up at Katz's, because Jews can't get good deli in Canada (smoked meat my ass!) We split a meal that most people regard is a meal for one -- a pastrami sandwich, an order of fries. The plates are small but heaping. The customers in the cafeteria-style dining room reminded me of the people we saw in restaurants in Michigan -- large, overweight people, eating plates of large quantities of food. I would go to Katz's more often, but they don't sell half-portions.

In the evening, it was all about entertaining, not necessarily eating healthily. On the way home, we decided to pick something up fun that was of the neighborhood -- donuts from our increasingly famous local donut shop. Of course, when B got home about an hour later, she brings home....a big box of donuts. Great minds (and hungry stomachs) think alike.

So according to Brown's rules, I ate THREE once-a-week items -- red meat, pasta and desert. -sigh-. I was thinking maybe I should be much more strict 6 days a week, and go nuts once a week, but that doesn't make any sense -- that would turn this effort into a diet, rather than a lifestyle change. There needs to be flexibility and not a lot of self-loathing.

BREAKFAST: 9am, momma-style Israeli salad, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Baby carrots, cucumber chunks, a wedge of red pepper, a bit of Alpine-carraway cheese, hummus.

AM SNACK: 10:15am, handful of red grapes.
After writing up yesterday's report about the surprising deliciousness of grapes, it made me hungry for something sweet....and there just happened to be grapes in the house! Not nearly as good as yesterday's. I guess that's to be expected when the fruit is out of season and imported from Chile.

AM SNACK: 10:45am, home-roasted gingersoy almonds, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Still hungry. Makes me think I need to make granola soon (as that is definitely both a) whole grains and b) chock full o' nuts)

LUNCH: 1pm, half a pastrami sandwich, half an order of fries, a small handful of pickles, water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 7pm, homemade pasta with homemade tomato sauce, a little bit of cooked spinach, about 1.5 donuts, water, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING SNACK: 9pm, left over pasta in sauce, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5
I found myself hungry after Jenni had left and the ladies had gone to sleep. My first move was to go for the homemade chocolate ice cream, but after thinking, realized that would be a second desert when I should be somewhere between once a week (B's rules) and one a day (for now, N's rules). So I ate the leftovers -- rather than a separate thing, just a continuation of dinner. Or at least that's how I rationalized it...

Grapes of Deliciousness

It's not a diet, as in something extreme that drops weight fast, then becomes intolerable and you gain all the weight back. It's a diet, as in the eating aspect of a lifestyle. Rome wasn't built in a day. I have plans to share a pastrami sandwich tomorrow, the once-a-week red meat, and their may be some home-made chili later in the week, but I can't really beat myself up about it. Though if it were up to the HVS, I'd beet myself up.

In the 30 minute program (which I've saved for review), Brown doesn't give a huge dissertation, and gives just a skeleton guideline -- rather than try to hold hands and answer every single dorky question, it's assumed that anyone who absorbs this information has a modicum of common sense (which makes the program all the more remarkable.) He limits red meat to once a week, and big-ups oily fish to a minimum of 3 times a week, but where does other meat and fish fall? Chicken and shrimp are neither every day or forbidden. I'm going to play the common-sense card and say 3 times a week, in 8-oz or less quantities per serving.

BREAKFAST: 8:45am, organic cheerios with organic dead milk, smoothie bomb pop, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Checked the cheerios ingredients, indeed the first three ingredients are whole grains, falling well into the everyday category. Dairy isn't categorized, but in this case it's a vehicle for the whole grain product, as it is a vehicle for the consistency of the smoothie and the pop I made out of it.

AM SNACK: 10:30am, roasted almonds, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: noon, brown mushroom rice and spinach, .75 bowl, hunger 3/5

PM SNACK: 2:30pm, 2 handfuls of red seedless grapes, banana
Setting up class, shuttling in between the supply closet and the kitchen. Started to get hungry, and a BIG ASS BOX of individually wrapped portions of Famous Amos chocolate chip cookies caught my eye. I could eat the hell out of a few of those right now, but....it's both dessert (1 a week) and a processed junk food (forbidden) (Brown's Rules) and it's a non-homemade dessert corporate junk food (lame) and a dessert in general (3 a week) (Noah's Rules). We were making smoothies today, and I knew we had fresh grapes and bananas in stock.... so I grabbed a handful of grapes, washed them, closed my eyes and thought of the Queen, and threw them back. Just like my week of fruit tastings, I was surprised again just how pleasant and easy these things were to eat. What up with dat? Why do I have this loop in my head saying fruit is yukky, when I know rationally it's pretty rocking?

PM TASTINGS: 5-6pm, a few spoonfuls of various fruit smoothies, a few spoonfuls of salsa, a handful of chips, snips of 5 different cheeses, a few apple slices, a few bread slices, a juice drink, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 6:30pm, half a beer, 2 small slices of pizza, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5
At the restaurant sharing food with the staff. I was offered a Manhattan Special, which is both soda pop (B-verboten) and too late to have a megadose of caffeine (N-tortuous sleeplessness), so I went with about 4 oz of tap beer (B-once a week) but N-will assist in winding down.

EVENING WATERING: 8:30pm, a liter

EVENING SNACK: 9pm, coffee cake, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5
This cake was given to us from a neighbor, for Purim. I just got hungry and itchy, and B left it out on the counter, all naked and exposed, it was just ASKING for it. OK, it broke all the rules, but I'm easing into this lifestyle thing, not all-or-nothing. And it wasn't very good.

My call to action...from television

Spring is springing, I can just feel it. Felt run down last night. Had some weird-ass dreams. (More on that below for those who care *) Before bed, I watched some TV, including my favorite cooking show, "Good Eats". The show took a left turn, and did an episode on weight loss via nutritional strategy. Usually the show is pretty religious about being about food, the technique and the science behind it. This time it started with a personal message from the host, about realizing that he was porker and set about doing something about it, following the rigor and logic that defines his philosophy. He dropped 50 pounds in 9 months, while producing his show and being a Food Network personality. Makes me pause.

He breaks it down into 4 lists.

• First list is stuff you can eat every day in whatever quantity you want. The usual suspects are here, like fruit, veg, nuts and whole grains.
  
• The second list is stuff that should be eaten a minimum of 3 times a week - oily fish, yogurt, broccoli, sweet potato and avocado.
  
• The third list is stuff allowed only 1 time a week -- unlike the first two lists (more the merrier), this list calls for reduction, not addition - red meat, pasta, dessert, alcohol. Red meat and alcohol no problem, but desert and pasta once a week? Oof.
• The fourth list is forbidden -- fast food, soda pop, processed meals, canned soups and anything "diet", a.k.a. artificially sweetened foods and reduced fat products that always taste crappier than the real thing.
  

I know desert once a week is not a realistic goal for me, but right now I'm hitting dessert 2x a day, the default position for my sweet tooth. It's not an all-or-nothing thing, I think I can adapt Brown's thinking to a workable plan for myself. Cutting dessert to three-times-a-week would probably make a pretty large impact.

Definitely gonna make some of the recipes from this episodes, where he focuses on the nutritional "super foods" that will prop up a diet based on the 4 lists. He roasted some almonds with some funky marinades which I'm quite certain will make B's toes curl (in a good way!) The sardines, I haven't really tried seriously since c-school, and in not very healthful applications, though I think I may have another go. And maybe some fresh mackerel, too...

BREAKFAST: 8:45am, smoothie, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
One of the "ah hah!" moments in the Good Eats episode last night was when Alton advised that making extra breakfast smoothie is recommended as a snack -- simply freeze into pop formation and all the nutrition that is packed into it can be snacked on instead of ice cream at a later point. Duh! I've been tossing a few bits of smoothie out here and there because B doesn't eat berries, and it starts changing colors and getting funky after 30 minutes. I have these bomb-pop molds sitting in the cupboard for years, after freezing some juice and finding them lacking. So today I froze 4 pops using the overrun. Hmmm. Between the banana and the yogurt in this concoction, I wonder if this is the right consistency to make a very healthy ice cream...

LUNCH: 12:30pm, spinach over brown rice, smoothie bomb pop, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Cooked up short grain brown rice in the rice cooker with plenty of chopped dried mushrooms, bay leaves, homemade chicken stock, a little cayenne, a little too much salt, black pepper and butter. Half a bag of frozen chopped spinach sauteed with a little stock, a little olive oil, crushed garlic and a little salt. A meal of whole grains and vegetable -- well within the every-day list. Not low-fat, or low anything, or even vegetarian, but nutritionally powerful...and very tasty.

Tried the frozen smoothie...definitely looses a little sweetness in the freezing, and it grew large crystals, giving it an unpleasant crunch. BUT it was satisfying enough to curb my urge to tuck into the chocolate ice cream in the freezer....

PM SNACK: 2:30pm, three small squares of bar - lemon, cherry jam and brownie

PM SNACK: 5:30pm, handful of pistachios, a few cashews, a handful of popcorn

DINNER: 9:30pm, 2 crab cake sandwiches on whole wheat and whole grain mustard, baby carrots, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
After a Food Coop meeting, hit up the supermarket for some supplies. Trying to put together dinner that met the lists, but would come together fast -- it was getting late. Whole wheat bread, a bag of baby carrots, and some fish cakes out of the fish department. They were ok, but makes me think I should make my own -- it's be a hella lot cheaper, a hella lot more fish and less filler, and probably a lot less salt, and I'll be able to freeze a bunch.

EVENING SNACK: 10:45pm, handful of freshly roasted almonds
Whipped these almonds out, not a big a flavor as I hoped. Smelled good, but missing something.


*I dreamt that Betsy had found some super-8 films of my parents and my family from my youth (which don't exist - my parents did not document anything in the filmic format), and secretly transferred them to DVD. The dream is B presenting them, then I sat down in the living room to watch them. The first footage is early 70s, I'm a baby, my mom has long hair, wearing a 1 piece bathing suit on the beach by the water, wearing garish early 70s makeup. I'm by her feet, looking awfully Edie-like. The second part of the footage is early-mid eighties, mom's hair is short, my hair is afro-like, and she's wearing much more conservative clothing, she's in an office, a little bit heavier.

The final part of the dream is I'm at the SI Ferry, waiting for my mom to come out of the bathroom. I'm now an adult and she's elderly. Instead of mom, my dad come out, and then I remember that my mom had passed away and I was looking after my dad (though in reality, the opposite happened.) As we did in his retired years, we walked off arm-in-arm. He needed the support, and he didn't like using a cane, and I really enjoyed strolling with him like that, like we were to Middle-Eastern best friends. Anyhoo...

Feelign wobbly

Woke up feeling a little tired, which is not unusual (especially since the baby came), but my energy level never really lifted too far after the morning. Woke at 8:30 with last night's pizza still sitting in the stomach. Got the laundry done, Edie napped and fed, then took off to Union Square to visit the farmer's market and pick up some baby supplies. Got Edie on a swing for a few minutes.

By the time I we got home, I was hungry for lunch, though my appetite seemed to be behind schedule. By 4, Edie was cranky and fell asleep on my stomach, which lulled me to sleep. When B got home around 5, we woke up, and I felt discombobulated. I was supposed to go to a CSA meeting in the neighborhood, as well as do some food coop and restaurant work at home, but just pushed it off.

I weighed myself this morning, last time doing it at the beginning of February. I weight 235.4, about a pound or so heavier. Statistically, a meaningless increase. The HVS's challenge was to put more fruit and veg in the diet, but it's FEBRUARY -- it's literally unnatural to eat more fruit and veg at this time of year. That said, my bike is coming back from the shop soon, and a once to twice a week ride combined with weights at home, maybe a random yoga class and more fruit and veg to push out the heavier stuff is something to focus on now, not next week. A lot of good stuff will be back in season in the next 8 weeks, and come June 1st, I'll be confronted with an interesting challenge that may be the basis for revising this blog: cooking and eating everything I get from the CSA I just signed up for every week....

BREAKFAST: 10:30am, toasted bagel with creamcheese, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 3pm, small green salad, 2 fishsticks, mini cheese raviolis with homemade sauce, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 8pm, 1 French bread pizza, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING SNACK: 10pm, 2 graham crackers with peanut butter and a little bit of chocolate on top, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

Particularly non-desiring

It's the last day of February, and next month Spring will spring. Today was a good day with the wifey and bebe, with special guest spots from a variety of friends.

BREAKFAST: 8:30am, homemade granola with milk, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 11am, mac n' cheese with bacon, bite of biscuit, small cup of ice cream, water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
A disappointing lunch at Tiny Giant -- I don't know why rumors of places like this persist that they are good -- they are twee, pretentious and while the food is pretty, actually doesn't taste like much of anything.

DINNER: 5:30pm, homemade smoked-moz pizza, water, chocolate ice cream, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
HVS came over to Edie-sit, so I plied her with vegan pan pizza and stuff.

EVENING SNORT: 8pm, 1 beer
Out with B and a friend at a concert. Wasn't particularly desiring a beer, but on the rare occasion of going out at night with B & friends without the tether of Lil' Mz Edie, it seemed appropriate.

EVENING SNACK: 11pm, half a cold homemade pizza, grape soda, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Felt hungry and a little buzzy, odd.

A day on the town

The day started with gobbling sweets, out of pure laziness. B took Edie today, and I went off to spend the day in Brooklyn amongst babyless friends. Lunch in a hipster joint in Greenpoint, then swung by the opening day of a fancy ice cream shop. I tried their ice cream, which honestly was good, but my high-yolk-content custard-style ice cream has an edge. My ice cream isn't there yet -- it's not chocolatey enough, but it's on the path.

Caught a movie with D, then we walked down Atlantic to a nondescript Vietnamese sandwich shop. Had my first bahn mi sandwich, which is odd, why haven't I had one sooner? Crunch french baguette, three forms of pork -- roast, pate and crumbles -- pickled cuce and carrot, mayo, it all just came together divinely. Must eat more of these soon.

E gave B a box of Sees chocolates from her recent vacation, and when I got home, E tore them open and started taking little bites out of every single piece. I was both disgusted and enrapturiously in love with my wife at that very moment. Sweet & sour, salty & fatty, chocolate and peanut butter, my wife's eating habits and my wife....

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

AM SNACK: 10:30am, brownie, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 1:30pm, buttermilk biscuits with sausage gravy, water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 2:30pm, chocolate ice cream with caramel sauce, .25 bowl, hunger 3/5

DINNER: 7:30pm, bahn mi sandwich, summer roll, water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING SNACK: 9pm, bites of random chocolates, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Chili & Waffles

The day started with a snowstorm. B stayed home and took over Edie-duties, while I made a morning appointment with the tax accountant, then a rare Edie-free trip to Wholefoods. I was a bit jealous, as it seemed of the few customers in the store, more than half had their babies with them.

The second batch of chili was vastly superior -- we boiled the beef in stock instead of browning it, added a couple of teaspoons of salt and a few glugs of molasses. Most righteous. Next time I make it I want to double the stock, boil the beef twice as long, uncovered, to reduce and strengthen the stock.

Food was central to the day, but no greenery -- it's February, there is a snowstorm -- that calls for chili and waffles, not lettuce and squash!

BREAKFAST: 10am, orange donut, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 1:30pm, instant ramen with vegetable dumplings, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
"Oriental" flavor, he he.

DINNER: 6:30pm, chili over waffles, apple crumble with chocolate ice cream, glass of dark beer, seltzer, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5
My friend M came over and we cooked chili from scratch (including grinding a single piece of beef), the crumble and then the waffles. D came over, and it was a good time.

Salmon fneh

Went out to Bed-Stuy to visit C and her 6-week old baby. We ordered in sandwiches from a local joint, and I had salmon, a fish I rarely bother with because it is literally "chicken of the sea" -- tastes like nothing much, questionable in it's healthfulness due to farming practices. After this sandwich, my opinion is not changed much.

Busy evening working on some food coop stuff, doing laundry, etc.

BREAKFAST: 8:30am, smoothie, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Used a frozen banana this time, made a MUCH thicker smoothie, had to add extra milk which thinned it to the right thickness but flattened the flavor out. Hmmmm. Mango, grapes, blueberries, cherries, banana, milk, good yogurt, vanilla, a dash of salt, freshly ground flax.

LUNCH: 1pm, hoison salmon sandwich with a small salad and a small quantity of fries, half a soda, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 7:15pm, large green salad, Stouffer's Frenchbread pizzas, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

Bop de boop de zaaah!

Woke up feeling bleah, from being up around 2am to help Edie get back to bed. Hunger overtook me, and the novelty of having freshly fried bacon was a concept to strong to resist. Must get healthier breakfast tomorrow.

Momma-in-law came over and took on the Edie, and I road the bike over to Red Hook to interview my new batch of students -- class starts one week from today, and I'm really looking forward to it. It's like a new recipe. The first time you do it, you follow the instructions and you don't make any changes other than common sense things, like adjusting seasoning. So the SECOND time you make the recipe, you know what was good and what was lacking, and you can take out your culinary trumpet and start blowing new harmonies, runs, leit motifs and make the recipe, if not better, at least your own. This 2nd run at teaching the culinary program is gonna be jazz, yo.

After, I visited the restaurant and helped L interview another publicist over some pizza. It was nice coming home to a peaceful momma-in-law and a sleeping baby. Since getting back from Detroit, Edie's sleeping patterns have shifted. She now takes two naps a day instead of one, and goes to bed much later, like 10:30pm. Being the B likes to be in bed before 9, it's more Edie time for me. Gotta watch the snacking that this may cause.

My chili was better this evening, hit it with a little salt, but I think I'm going to make it again soon. This time, a) double the beef stock, b) boil the ground beef in it for a few hours to liquefy it and reduce the stock, instead of browning in oil, c) add salt to the spice mix and d) adjust the spice mix with more cinnamon and baking chocolate. Bee bop boop boop!!

BREAKFAST: 10:15am, toasted bagel with creamcheese, 4 slices of bacon, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

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

DINNER: 6pm, large green salad, pasta with homemade chili, small piece of chocolate tarte, water, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

Stander

In the morning while Edie slept, I made some fresh spaghetti from some pasta dough I've had in the freezer for a while, and in the afternoon I ground a piece of chuck at home to make this chili. Came out well, but needed salt.

Edie fell asleep in the high chair around 4:30, before I could feed her properly. B woke her up around 6:30, and we did the whole routine, but Lil' E didn't go down until 10:45. I ended up indulging in another dessert while observed. Edie has been standing a lot, against various pieces of furniture. It's only a short time until she starts toddling everywhere, Gawd help us all....

BREAKFAST: 8:30am, organic cheerios with the good milk, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

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

PM SNACK: 1:15pm, 1 slice streetza, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 2pm, 3 chocolate chip cookies, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER pt 1: 5:15pm, large green salad, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER pt 2: 6pm, fresh pasta with chili and cheddar, brownie, water, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING SNACK: 9pm, slice of chocolate tart, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

Waffling

Well, that was a hell of a weekend. Due to a confluence of being near so much bad food, being around people who were down with the bad food and a pressurized situation surrounding it all, I perhaps ate the worst I ever have since starting writing about what I eat. When we got into the rental car, the first thing the driver did was....beeline for McDonald's drive-through. I couldn't wrap my mind around the toxic "beef product" that the NY Time so explicitly depicted a month ago...so I got the $1.99 10-piece chicken nuggets. The weekend's culinary exploits kind of went south from there.

We ate at the hotel the first night, and I think it was the salad bar that did me in. It reminded me of the small handful of tepid salad bars I experienced on my bike trip across the west. Usually limited to 9 or 10 items, half of those being processed food stuffs like crackers, breadcrumbs and heavy dressings. The other half would be vaguely wilted stuff out of a plastic bag, cleaned and cut at some factory in another state, after being harvested in a 3rd state. My stomach didn't feel right Friday night, and Saturday morning my innards seized up on me, and I ended up staying in the hotel room with Edie the whole day, dining out of the complimentary snack bar, until B & her brother returned....to take us to a chain establishment called "Macaroni Grill".

I'm sorry, dear reader, I swore I wouldn't record the nightmarish eating habits from the weekend. Like a weekend bender full of whores and cocaine, it's better to let it sit in the past, unrecorded and forgotten except as a warning to the future -- remember how bad you felt after you let it all hang out?

One thing I missed over the weekend were the liters of tap water I drink at home, 1 or 2 a day. The water in Ann Arbor tasted....vaguely soapy, minerally, a certain mouth feel that coated the mouth in an unpleasant way. We all noticed the distinct uptick in the number of fat people around us, I wonder if the quality of the tap water has anything to do with it. Makes me appreciate the high quality of water we have in NYC. With what I read about oil-drilling the shale in upstate NY potentially messing with the water table, I hope I won't be some old man ranting to his grandkids one day, "I remember when you could open a tap and water just as good as bottled specialty water would come out! We'd wash dishes with it! Flush toilets with it! And on top of that, you didn't have to pay for it! Taxes covered it, no fees, no nuthin'!"

I feel doughy and weak. The lack of exercise, specifically bicycling, is definitely starting to extract a toll on my mood and outlook. I think making arrangements with B for me to getaway several times a week to hit it hard on a bicycle is coming soon. March is the time.

BREAKFAST: 9:15am, homemade granola with the good milk, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

AM SNACK: 11:45am, a spoonful of brownie batter
Spontaneously got off the couch while Edie was asleep and decided to bake something. Had all the ingredients for fudge brownies, and realized I haven't made brownies for home consumption in a long time.

LUNCH: 1:30pm, 2 large pieces of demi-super-hippy bread with good peanut butter, water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
All fresh veg in the house is either gone or spoiled, due to our 3 days away.

PM SNACK: 4:30pm, a bite of brownie
Cutting up the cooled brownie, a few crumbs found their way to my mouf.

DINNER: 6:45pm, large green salad with sauteed shrimp, 2 homemade waffles, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Making waffles on a caste iron waffleiron is hard, but fun.

EVENING SNACK: 7:45pm, brownie, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Be Back Monday

I'll be taking a break from recording every thing I eat from Friday through Sunday, due to the fam & I travelling to Michigan to see my father-in-law. The eating will not be healthy, and I suspect a minimum of vegetables will be involved. However, when I get back, I'll rededicate to 3+ cups of vegetable matter a day.

BREAKFAST: 8:30am, homemade granola with the good milk, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 2pm, 2oz of dark chocolate hot chocolate, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 4pm, 2 slices of Sicilian, root beer, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 8pm, gumbo & rice, chocolate covered graham crackers, water, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

Underpowered

Didn't leave the house today, just felt underpowered. Got to bed by 10:30 last night, but 9.5 hours of sleep just didn't do it. When Edie went down for a nap around 10, I did too. Ordered in a crappy lunch, and just boiled up noodles for dinner. In the afternoon, I whipped out a tray of granola and started seasoning an old caste iron waffle iron that was given to me. And that's about it.

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

LUNCH: 1:30pm, small green salad, piece of Italian bread, eggplant parm, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 7:45pm, ramen noodles, diet gatorade, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING SNACK: 10pm, slice of chocolate tart, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

Tuesday, as Fat as any other

Woke up at 8 to look after the baby, but I easily could of slept until noon -- that chocolate tart last night kept me up, and Edie getting a lil' cranky around midnight didn't help either. Stayed in and moved as little as possible until 1pm, then went to the weekly playdate drop in. Only two other mothers showed up because of the weather. From there, collected the chocolate pecan pie I baked the other day and went to a Mardi Gras themed playdate in the East Village. Edie super-dug the bouncy jumper thing, but I dunno if we need another hunk of plastic in our apartment.

Spent the evening at a Food Coop meeting, it's still early but should be cool when we get there.

BREAKFAST: 9:30am, 1 cheddar-bacon-biscuit, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

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

PM SNACK: 2:15pm, cherry jam bar thing

LINNER: 4:30pm, gumbo & rice, muffalata sandwich, cornbread, buttermilk pie, 2 rum drinks, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Chill

A chill President's day. I woke up late, left B behind with Lil' Edles and hung out with D. I was going to have more vegetable matter with dinner, but B decided to overcook a selection of the veg in the crisper drawer in the steamer, so I passed.

BREAKFAST: 9:30am, bagel & creamcheese, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 2:30pm, tonkatsu ramen, half an order of gyoza, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 6pm, large green salad and potato chips, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING SNACK: 9:45pm, homemade chocolate tart, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

Mum-Mum

Edie has been wonderful. She's now 8 months old, and more interactive and interesting than ever. She's been sleeping a good 12 hours a night, with only 1 or 2 brief wake-ups in the earlier part. She doesn't have teeth to speak of yet, so has been eating mushed veg, mushed fruit and blended grains. We recently introduced "mum mums", something I've seen other moms give their babies -- basically starchy wafers of rice flour and potato starch that is dry and crisp, but when wet with saliva turns to a loose paste. Edie seems to dig it, though I think she'll be more into it when she starts teething properly.

This morning I went out and did some chores while B did the baby thing, then we went out to lunch with peeps, followed by an impromptu play date. Back home, baked up some dinner and we vegged in front of a movie. Pretty good day.

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

LUNCH: 2pm, burger & fries, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Me n' B were going to meet with some friends at Vegetarian Dim Sum, but we were unaware that today was Chinese New Years as well as Valentine's, so we shuffled off that crowded part of the city back to our hood to go to Broadway East. We haven't been back since they changed menus, and this menu was pretty standard New American. I had a burger (well done) to test them, and they muffed it. I knew the burger would be dry and unappealing, but the bun was nothing special, the vegetables wilted, the fries a little too cool and greasy.

PM SNACK: 3:30pm, lemonade & whiskey, 1 slice chocolate tart, a few bites of shrimp, a chocolate truffle, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
We were invited to a last minute play date, and I brought over one of the tarts I baked off last night. Edie got to chill with a few other babies, B got to chill with a few other muthahs, I got to chill with a nice food spread, he he.

DINNER: 7pm, pepperoni pizza, chocolate pecan pie, water, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Made pizza upon B's request for V-day. I also baked up a few chocolate pecan pies for a Mardi Gras-themed playdate this Tuesday, had to try some -- pretty good, kinda like a white-trash souffle.

Lunkfast in full effect

B went off to do her girlie hair thing, and I took Edie out to hang with E & D, some chores then home. Woke up late, and didn't feel like breakfast.

LUNKFAST: 10:30am, Stouffer's Frenchbread pizzas, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 12:30pm, cup of tomato bisque, water, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 4pm, demihippy bread with a little smoked mozzerella, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5
My superhippy bakers at the farmers market were out of the 8 grain bread I like, so I got some multi-grain wholewheat from a competitor. This demihippy bread was 1/2 the price, but a little bit lighter and fluffier, like a sop to the non-hippies.

DINNER: 7pm, large green salad, pasta with chili, a little espresso ice cream, water, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

Unquiet

Yomomma came over in the morning, and I rode out to the school in Brooklyn to start recruiting for the class I'll be teaching in March. It was a good vibe. Then I pedalled over to the restaurant, hung out with L, then we popped over to Katz's for lunch. Got home and relieved Yomomma, then got an email to come over to a local momma's house for soup, so off Edie & I went. Back home after 5, me n' Yomomma fed and bathed Edles, then got her to bed.

BREAKFAST: 9:15am, homemade brownie, snippet of cheddar biscuit, a little diet gatorade, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Breakfast of champions! Cutting up a batch of brownies for school, the first one disintegrated getting depanned and went straight to the mouth. Yomomma came over to look after Edles so I heated up some biscuits for her, and washed it down with the gatorade. The fruit punch tastes distinctly different than the normal -- kinda like liquid jello, in a not-good way.

PM SNACK: 1pm, Manhattan Special, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 2:30pm, half a pastrami sandwich, half an order of fries, pickles, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Louis and I shared a single meal at Katz's, which is more than enough for two people.

PM SNACK: 3:30pm, matzoball soup, 1 glass of wine, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5
Got invited to a neighborhood momma's house for homemade soup, was very chill and friendly.

DINNER: 7pm, chicken dumplings, Pad See Eiu, half a beer, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
My original plan was for a big salad and string beans, but Yomomma stuck around so we ordered in...

Quiet

A quiet day after the Snowmageddon playdate. Lazed around with Edles in the morning, took a trip to Pathmark to pick up some supplies and salad stuff, went home and made salad. B was a little late coming home from work, so I didn't meet the challenge of some yoga today, but met up with the HVS after for some serious snickling, which was nice and too long in coming.

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

LUNCH: 1pm, roast pork tenderloin on white bread, a little pasta in chili, diet gatorade, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 6pm, large green salad, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 7pm, water crackers, cheese, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

SNICKLEDINNER: 8:30pm, olives, margarita pizza, 1 beer, 1 vegan cupcake top, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Snowmageddon Playdate

When the city decided to cancel school the day before, I was annoyed that my plans to go out to the school I teach at once a week got squashed, and had a lonely long day of being cooped up indoors with a baby that needs stimulation. So I rocked out an email to the moms I know in the area and set up a playdate at my house. This morning, B found that her office was basically shut down and stayed in too, helping me set up. About 12 babies and maybe 15 adults came over for warm cider rum punch and some sprawl space in the living room for the babies. It was a good vibe, and B got to see some peeps she hasn't seen in too long. We live in a good neighborhood.

It was also good I recently made double batches of cheddar bacon biscuits and chocolate pistachio short bread, they went down a storm.

BREAKFAST: 9am, fruit smoothie, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 12:30pm, sliced pork tenderloin on white toast with whole grain mustard, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACKING 1-4pm, cheddar bacon chive biscuits, a bit of chocolate and espresso ice cream, a beer, a few pieces of pistachio short bread, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 7pm, large green salad, pasta with chili, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING SNACK: 10pm, potato chips, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Not what I should be eating if I hope to lose weight by the end of the month, but Edie was being cranky and not getting back to sleep, it was definitely a stress-reliever. Potato chips are a step above heroine, I suppose.

Impending Snowgeddon

Spent the morning making ice cream, went to play group, then went around and did some food shopping. Due to heavy weather tomorrow, decided to invite other parents and their rugrats over for a Snowgeddon playdate.

In the evening, joined a couple of friends for the opera at the Met, assisted by half of the last of my batch of special brownies. It was pretty mild, but was sure hungry when I got home.

BREAKFAST: 8:30am, toasted bagel with cream cheese and sable, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

AM SNACK: 9:30am, 6 pieces of chocolate dipped pistachio shortbread, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 2pm, banana bread, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 5:30pm, pork tenderloin, last night's broccoli, large green salad, a little chocolate ice cream, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING SNACK: 7:30pm, half a 'special' brownie

EVENING SNACK: 10pm, half a salmon sandwich, cup of orange soda, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING SNACK: 1:30am, frozen pizza, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Edie in a cookie

B has a friend who just came upon a big personal misfortune, so on B's suggestion, I went about baking something special for her. After laundry and during Edie's feeding, I whipped out a double batch of shortbread, this time with some chopped up pistachios in it, and tomorrow I'll dip them in chocolate. Seriously good, guess I'll spread 'em around to bring some good cheer. Like Edie in a cookie!

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

LUNCH: 1pm, large green salad, small quantity of potato chips, 2 freshly baked pistachio shortbread cookies, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 3pm, potato knish, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 6:45pm, beef chili and steamed broccoli over cheddar-chive-bacon biscuits, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Bought some pre-made chili at WF, thinking hmmm, that might be something I may want to try making at home. With the cooked bacon I had in the freezer, I cooked off a double batch of these biscuits, and damn if they weren't good. Considered the heavy heavy elements of the meal, and in the spirit of eating more veg, I steamed a head of broccoli florets and finished with a little drawn butter, a nice compliment.

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

Up to Albany

Spent the day driving up to Albany to visit my brother and has brood. Perhaps the best thing about a small house that 5 little kids live in is that when you bring your baby to it, it's pretty certain that most things are already baby-proofed. Not a good eating day, but it was what it was. Tomorrow is the beginning of a new week, a new chance to get more vegetables in and maybe even some exercise.

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

AM SNACK: 10:30am, a few snippets of donuts

LUNCH: 1pm, 2 bagels with cream cheese & humus, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 6pm, diet coke, some fries, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Dropped into a McD's on the highway for some caffeine, B wanted hot greezy fries.

DINNER: 8pm, pint of chicken fried rice, water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Road my bike home from the car rental, took the opportunity to pick up a small quantity of Chinese -- if you order delivery, the minimum is a lot of food for one person. I ordered chicken instead of pork, simply because I never ordered it before and...pork is so much tastier.

Doze

One of those days. Woke up tired, had full intentions of going out to yoga and fell asleep minutes before getting ready, then ditched a social thing with some of B's friends so I could doze in and out all day on the couch. Fell asleep around 8pm and slept deeply, with interruptions of Edie crying and B mothering.

BREAKFAST: 9am, toasted bagel with creamcheese, sable & red onion, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

AM SNACK: 11am, cupcake, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 2pm, large green salad, Stouffer's french bread pizzas, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

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

DINNER: 6:30pm, pasta with string beans in butter & wine sauce, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Unmuffed

Attempted to make bacon-brownies by topping freshly baked brownies and topping it with bacon powder, but my bacon powdered failed, ending in a bacon-fat slurry that would not of been good eats on top of a brownie. I do have a large amount of cooked bacon in the freezer, awaiting it's use in a bacon-biscuit situation.

BREAKFAST: 9am, smoothie, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Banana was pretty ripe, smoothie much better.

PM SNACK: 1pm, fistful of brownies, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Freshly baked, cutting them up, filled up 2 containers and had an odd fistful left over that made a run for it and scrammed down my throat.

PM SNORT: 2pm, bud light, .5 bowl, hunger 3/5
The only beer available at the playdate. Tastes like an ale mixed with seltzer. People really like this as "beer"?

PM SNACK: 5pm, large green salad, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Met the veg challenge for the day, finally.

PM SNACK: 5:30pm, cupcake, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5
B came home with a box of cupcakes, so of course I had to snarf one. Really didn't need it.

DINNER: 7:30pm, onoin bahji, vegetable samosa, tandori prawns, lamb saag, chicken biriyani, naan, rice, 1 beer, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Dinner out with E, D & P. Ate lightly.

EVENING SNORT: 9pm, 1 fruity cocktail, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Muffed again

Edie had an uproarious evening, and took her to the doc this morning just to make sure everything was copacetic (it is, just a bad night due to nothing ominous). Still the stress got us out and about early, with no time to eat. By the time I got off the subway, felt a bit ill in the "gotta eat NOW" way. The pastries from the cart looked very unappealing, so just ate one.

BREAKFAST 1: 9:15am, street donut, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Felt a bit strung out and nauseous from not having had anything to eat.

BREAKFAST 2: 11:30am, fresh garlic bagel with cream cheese, sable and red onion, water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Just back from all the shopping, the bagel could not be fresher.

PM SNACK: 1:30pm, small amount of espresso-hot chocolate
Met M for hot chocolate at City Bakery, where they have a special flavor every day this month. It was shockingly bad, with gritty coffee grinds suspended in it. Good thing we only got 2 oz shots.

LUNCH: 4pm, pork burrito, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Wandering downtown, waiting for 5pm to meet up with B, realized I was hungry. On 4th Ave right below 14th, there is a new California-style burrito joint that is shockingly much better than all other burrito options in NYC right now. The tortilla, cheese, beans, rice, salsa and guac were all spot on. The only thing I wasn't 100% about was the pulled pork -- next time definitely gonna get the vegetarian.

DINNER: 7pm, baked potato with butter, ice cream, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Even though I got a lot of veg and salad ingredients today, no energy to deal with it. Nuked a potato and finished my home made ice cream.

Muffed

Totally muffed the challenge today, between being out most of the day, a fancy dinner out in the evening, and being low on groceries at home. Will rectify tomorrow, and maybe even get in my first exercise of the week. Then again, I pedalled up to and back from West 53rd street, I guess by snickle standards that was exercise (about 60 minutes on the bike)

BREAKFAST: 8:15am, good yogurt with honey, vanilla, cashews, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 12 noon, turkey & ham sandwich, Manhattan Special, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
At the resto, freshly baked bread, mustard, apple slices, all the veg out of the salad station.

PM SNACK: 4:15pm, slice of streetza, butterfly cookie, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 4:45pm, dark chocolate corn flake clusters, hunger 4/5
A little bite with B, I brought her home some Jaques Torres.

DINNER: 9pm, tart flambe, small piece of duck breast, small piece of sweet breads, Alsatian sausage with kraut, chocolate tart, 1 beer, water, couple pieces of bread, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Dinner at the Modern with E, for restaurant week. Pretty groovy, very tasty, beautiful presentations.

It's nuts

Woke up after 12 hours sleep to a cranky wife and a happy baby. Fneh. Just barely squeaked by on the challenge. Can't take my day off until Sunday, when I'm travelling and it'll be very inconvenient to aim for three cups of nutritionally relevant vegetable matter....

BREAKFAST: 8:15am, toasted sesame bagel with cream cheese, diet Gatorade, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
I read that Gatorade was abandoning corn-syrup in favor of cane sugar due to public pressure, so when I was in the supermarket I was curious to pick some up, but instead found their new "G2" low-calorie brand. When I was cycling, I quite enjoyed this stuff, but for all intents and purposes it's soda, and a very easy way to take in way too many calories. This new product still has sugar as it's main sweetener, but low on it's ingredients list it also has an artificial sweetener. It has 2/5 the calories of the normal stuff, and to my palate I couldn't taste a difference, which surprised me.

A low-calorie sports drink, it's nuts. But it'll get me through until me n' Edie can get on a bike.

AM SNACK: 10:45am, pop chips, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 12:30, lentil & red bean curry over yesterday's rice and chard n' onions, diet gatorade, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
I had this sachet of shelf-stable lentil curry from Trader Joes that I thought might be a nice change up from fish sticks. The "curry" kinda tasted like the tomato sauce that comes in a can of Spagetti-o's and really clashed with the vinegary goodness of the rice. So after eating about 1/3 of it, I did the rare thing of tossing the rest out -- the bad curry just ruined the rest of the food.

PM SNACK: 2:15pm, 3 chocolate meringue cookies, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Good cookies from the playgroup leader.

PM SNACK: 6pm, momma style salad, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 9pm, roti canai, singapore chow mei fun, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Ordered in from a Malaysian place, the noodles were nothing like I ever had from a Chinese take out.

Bamalama Rice

Blarg. HVS is ranting about a month-long snickle-challenge, involving three cups of veg a day (no big deal, I was doing that already this past week), exercise for 20 minutes at least twice a week (I wish this was easier, as I'm locked down with an Edie too young to be attached to a bike and crappy cold weather, but I think I may break out my weights out of the clost), weigh in at the beginning and end of the month (233.4 this morning, bleah, that's my fatso weight), and permission to take a day off from the challenge once a week.

HVS, it's winter in the North East, so much good stuff is not in season and the imported stuff doesn't taste as good! Waaaah! I guess I'll muddle through.

I fell asleep around 7 this evening -- I was up until 3 in the morning the night before on a babka-high. Which is all fine and good, except when you have a baby and it leaves your partner responsible for the child all night. I'm sorry, B!

BREAKFAST: 8:45am, smoothie, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
This smoothie was incredibly thick, almost too thick, and oddly unsweet. After having a near perfect smoothie only a few days ago to go to this begs the question: what was different. I'm fairly certain the key to a top notch smoothie is a half-black, over-ripe mushy banana. That's what went in then, while today I used a stiff, partially green banana that definitely added an ice-cream like thickness to the proceedings, but flavor-wise was totally flat.

LUNCH: 12:45pm, 2 fish sticks, chard with caramelized onion, white rice, water, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Very satisfying American-style lunch. The fish sticks from WF were all-organic, made with whole fillet of cod. The amazing thing is the fish actually tasted fishy, something you usually don't get in a product like that, and not greasy at all. I made some white sushi rice in the rice cooker, crumbled up some dried morrels, used chicken stock, a little salt, a little olive oil and a shot of rice wine vinegar that made all the difference -- the vinegar made the rice just jump up and shout, "BAMALAMA!" Though next time I go shopping, gonna get brown sushi rice.

PM SNACK: 4:30pm, momma-style salad, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5
Hunks of carrot, cucumber, red pepper and red onion, lightly salted and dipped in homemade babaganoush. About 2 cups of vegetable matter.

DINNER: 6pm, Stouffer's Frenchbread pizzas, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5
I bought my usual 'deluxe' (pepperoni, sausage, mushroom, peppers) but also picked up a "grilled vegetable" version for B (zucchini, onion, peppers). I noticed that the later had about 1/3 less fat, and took 5 minutes longer to cook. B only ate one, so I ate one of each, and the difference was startling. The meat toppings gave a certain spiciness, sure, but the fat made ALL the difference. The deluxe crust was crispy/tender and pretty much makes this product amazing, while the grilled vegetable crust was dry, a little saw-dusty and crumbled when you bit into it.

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