Workworkworkwork pt 2

After Monday's holiday crush, most of the day at the restaurant was quiet and relaxed, interupted by the need to look after a few newbie staffers. The 100+ degree heat outside made the restaurant extra pleasant to be in (chillers on full blast at 70) and in the evening, all those not wanting to cook in the heat came out, and ordered delivery.

In the past month, I've been having issues getting to sleep after work. After the buzz of getting into the final homestretch, rushing to close up while still being accurate on a handful of things (accounting for the money, supervising the front of house, supervising the back of house, monitoring the last customers, etc etc) and getting home, the last thing my body wants to do is sleep. It wants to jump up and down and holler.

When I was kitchen manager, before Edie came into our lives, I remember with fondness going for bike rides with fellow employees after work. You start out around 11pm, do a loop around Manhattan, catch dinner at Veselka at 4:30am, go home and collapse. All is right. But with a baby (and a wifey who is crabby if she feels she is not getting the support she deserves with said baby), it's not really an option on a regular basis anymore. My lack of sleep and wired-ness has been really messing with the rest of the week. By the time my sleep is back to normal, it's time to do the two-a-week again. And this coming week it'll now be 3-a-week. Though I intended only to go back to work part time, this is now going to be 40 hours a week smooshed into 3 days.

The NY Times dining section ran an interesting article on the influence of chef culture on some of the more out-there casual food offering a few months ago. It got me thinking. Alcohol messes with my sleep. I've taken sleeping-drugs, usually when I'm sick, and while they work, usually the next night I'm sleepless. Now "herb", there is something. Weed has never made me fall asleep, but what if I was already tired?

Before 35, I was able to count the number of times I had been under the influence of "the other tobacco" on three fingers. I don't smoke anything, and the whole hippy culture is a huge turn off. In recent years, experiments in the kitchen have yielded some interesting results. Because I rarely indulge, I have a bit of a collection of 'special' baked goods in the freezer. As with anyone wary of "drugs", I had only indulged with people, pre-planned, to help make fun things more fun. Basically, the same way alcohol is treated.

But this is different than alcohol, as any legalization advocate will tell you. I decided to eat a piece of special shortbread (very mild) at the end of my shift and try to get to bed before 4am. Ate it at 11, got home around 12, helped B with a minor Edie poop-emergency involving changing sheets, ate a little dinner and was in bed asleep by 12:15.

I was woken around 7:30 by the ladies of the house up and about, and I felt...fine. Not under the influence. Clearheaded, well slept, ready. I was not going to even mention it on these pages if it didn't go well, but I think this experiment is worth replicating. It has the potential to greatly improve the quality of my life while working these hours.

BREAKFAST: 7am, toasted wholewheat bagel with creamcheese and sable, iced green tea, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


LUNCH: 1pm, spinach salad, meatballs, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 5pm, seafood pizza, soda, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING SNACK: 11pm, special shortbread


EVENING MEAL: 12 midnight, 2 hamburgers, fries, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
No comment.

Workworkworkwork

Restaurant was extremely busy on this Monday of a three day holiday weekend. I'd like to think because of my amazing managerial skills and fortitude that everything went without a hitch, but I lucked out with some top-rank coworkers who really showed me how it's done.

It was a 13 hour day that kind of passed by in a blink, featuring an appearance by B & Edie & Yomomma. Food was eaten here and there. I suspect tomorrow will be a different thing.

BREAKFAST: 7am, iced green tea, 1 wholewheat cinnamon pancake, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5


WORK DAZE: 11am-11pm, 3 or so slices of pizza, 2 or 3 sodas, 1 beer, a couple snippets of bread, 1 bowl, hunger ?/5


EVENING WATERING: 1am, a quart

July 4

On this July 4th Sunday, the original plan was to get out of the house around 4am on bike, but I didn't feel right when I woke, and due to the extreme heat I stayed in doors and on the couch. Extreme lazy eating. 

BREAKFAST: 5am, iced green tea, organic whole grain cheerios with organic dead milk, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5


LUNCH: noon, Stouffer's French Bread pizzas, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5


PM SNACK: 5pm, ice cream & cookies, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

Uneven eating day

BREAKFAST: 8am, smoothie, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Forgot to add yogurt, so it came out too sweet and too thin.


AM SNACK: 11am, 2 donuts, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5


AM SNACK: 11:45am, bite of a lobster roll


PM SNACK: 1:30pm, tortilla chips and salsa, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5


PM SNACK: 4pm, chocolate ice cream street cone, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 7pm, chicken enchiladas with ranchero mole, chips and guac, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Ordered from a local Mexican place with surprisingly good moles. Need to order around the menu more.

Pancakes of My Father

A pleasant day on the bike with Edles -- in the morning running chores and visiting the HVS for a nice lunch, in the afternoon riding the new East River Park promenade and hitting the swings and slides with B.

AM SNACK: 7:15am, iced green tea


BREAKFAST: 9:30am, wholewheat banana pancakes, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
I made these from scratch, using about 2/3 whole wheat flour and 1/3 AP. Wish I had buttermilk on hand to kick it up a notch. Edie ate a few little bites of pancake, she seemed to really dig it.

My dad would make pancakes for me and my brother when we were kids, usually on a weekend, usually as my mom stayed in bed (she wouldn't sleep in -- she would lay in bed in her housecoat and smoke cigarettes while watching TV.) The pancakes were from a mix, usually involving having to add oil, milk and eggs. Which is nuts, really -- basically you add all the wet ingredients that you have to mix in a from-scratch effort, while the dry elements are pre-mixed for you, only with lots of chemicals like anti-caking agents, preservatives, artificial flavors (to get that "butter" taste), and so on. I really wish my dad was around to see me feed Edie a little bit of good pancake. Not to compete, or to even show him something, just so he would know that I'm building on the platform that he set for me.

Maybe I need to get a TV in the bedroom, and get Betsy smoking?

SNICKLELUNCH: 1:15pm, vegan Cesar salad, vegan raw falafel & tabouli, vegan raw mint sundae, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 6:30pm, Singapore chow mei fun, wonton soup, shrimp toast, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Restart

230.6 ---> 227.4

In the morning's weigh-in, I'm about three pounds lighter than last month, which is statistically insignificant -- that could be attributed to water weight, how full my lower digestive system is, etc etc. But to be honest, I do feel good, and I attribute it to two things:

My biking season is now pretty much in full season. I did two centuries last month, and they both went well, and I'm going to hopefully do a few in July. The other thing is I'm working two days a week, and I think just psychologically it's doing me good. Despite that it's essentially long grueling hours, kinda dirty (I smell like oregano when I come home) and certainly not what I want to do with the rest of my life, it IS good experience, a stepping stone, I feel useful, it is a large responsibility being the manager of a restaurant, it's probably only for the busy season, it gets me out of the house, Edie is learning to be flexible. And I'm going to start 3 days a week in a few weeks.

I still need to work out how to eat better while at work. I've fallen off the train a little bit, but I'm rededicating myself today to try to cut out sugar & alcohol more than one a week, and amp up the whole grains, fruit and other wholesome foods.

BREAKFAST: 9:15am, toasted bagel with cream cheese and sable, iced green tea, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
The bagel was just onion, but the new bagels from yesterday's shop are whole wheat. This latest batch of tea is a bit weak, but I got the sweetness right -- 3/4 cup of sugar to a gallon, rather than a full cup.


LUNCH: 1:30pm, large green salad, 1 crab cake, watermelon, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
A left over crab cake from yesterday, whose main ingredient other than good quality crab was whole wheat bread crumbs.

DINNER: 6:15pm, shrimp in yellow curry with sticky rice, chicken sate, chive dumpling, vegetable summer roll, water, chocolate babka, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Ordered in Thai with B & Yomomma.

Happy Day

Happy day with my baby! After her nap, we hauled off to Wholefoods on a new bus route that goes straight there (I'm lucky that I'm in one of the few neighborhoods that actually gained a route from the recent MTA cuts.)

Er came over and I made a nice lunch, depending more on skill confidence than a recipe -- and it came out pretty good, which was particularly satisfying.

What is NOT satisfying is the babka I bought to serve to Er was pretty much uncontrollably devoured by my wife in the evening. Are these the habits we're going to demonstrate to Edie? Not eat enough during the day to satisfy our energy needs then gorge on crappy quality calories in the evening? Boooo!

BREAKFAST: 8am, iced green tea, whole grain cheerios with organic dead milk, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 2:15pm, 2 crab cake sandwiches, stirfried sugarsnap peas, chocolate babka, 1 beer, water, 1.75 bowl, hunger 4/5
I don't know if I ever did a crabcake in c-school, but the idea and method is pretty straightforward. 8oz of good jumbo lump crab, 4 eggs, a bunch of wholewheat panko crumbs, a dollop of mayo, a handful of minced onion and celery, mustard powder, Old Bay seasoning and a few drops of tabasco. Mixed up, set in the fridge for about 30 minutes to come together, pan fried in peanut oil. Really tasty, and have ideas how it can be better next time.

PM SNACK: 6pm, "small" cherry icee, 1.5 bowl, hunger 3/5
At the movies with E&D, got a small drink, ended up being about a quart. During the previews there was an ad for a new show called "Huge" about fat people at a fat camp. Too many movie theater snacks, no doubt.

Workin' It

A shift at the restaurant screams by when it's busy, and it feels 3x longer when it's slow: today's 13 hour haul was earth-shatteringly grindingly oppressive.Not that I'm complaining -- gazing at pics and little video clips of Edie being smiley and wonderful really made the day tolerable. So THAT'S why we have babies. I think the only thing more entertaining would be to have little video snippets of all my friends as babies. These are things we think about when working the long haul.

BREAKFAST: 8am, iced green tea, good yogurt with almonds, honey and vanilla, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5
LUNCH: noon, skillet mess, Manhattan Special, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Into the caste iron skillet went fennel sausage, roasted potatoes, mushrooms, onions, peppers, a little bacon, minced olives & garlic, and mushed all about. Filling, and not pizza.

PM SNACK: 4pm, 3 small Sicilian slices, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

POST WORK MEAL: midnight, two small burgers, fries, water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
No comment.

All together reasonable

Woke up after a total of 16 hours sleep, felt pretty good. Went out with B&E to the local cafe for breakfast, stopping by the gourmet donut shop for a snack. Entertained in the late afternoon -- when couples with young babies get together, 4:30 is an all together reasonable dinner time!

Two really heavy meals, no need for a third.

AM SNACK: 2am, half a pint of ice cream, brown rice crispies with organic dead milk, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


BREAKFAST: 8:30am, blueberry pancakes, home fries, bacon, water, donut, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

LINNER: 4:30pm, watermelon-feta salad, cheese & vegetable ravioli in a pistachio-lemon cream sauce, mint-chocolate ganache ice cream, 1 glass of white wine, water, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Went all out to entertain a local couple with a baby, one of which I've worked with on the Food Coop and have hung out with plenty. I used this recipe for the watermelon, and was very happy how it came out. I made a pesto with basil, freshly roasted pistachios, lemon zest, walnut oil and asagio cheese, but I did not like it, so I added cream and more zest, and with salt it was the right balance of nutty/creamy/cheesy/zesty. A heavy but summery sauce.

Water downed

The mega sleep I got this weekend left me all perky and go-go-go for the restaurant today. Edie was a bit cry-y this morning, a whiney cry that is not too common -- I suspect it's teething.

During the day, I made sure to down 2 or three pints of water. Too much access to sugardrinks!

BREAKFAST: 8am, iced green tea, organic cheerios with organic dead milk, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
We now feed Edie cow's milk, so I always have full-pasteurized organic milk on hand. I'd feed her the unhomogenized stuff, but if it sits in her bottle, it separates too fast. I'm afraid she'd drink the cream then reject the skim!

PM SNACK: noon, 2 slices cheeseless seafood pizza, Manhattan Special, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5
PM SNACK: 2:30pm, half portion of meatballs, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
PM SNACK: 5pm, green salad, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5
PM SNACK: 6pm, 2 slices Sicilian pizza, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5
PM SNACK: 7:30pm, fried pepperoni tortilla, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5
The South American fellows in the kitchen cook these up, they bring in tortillas then use toppings out of the pizza bar to fill them, then pan fry them in caste iron in the pizza oven. Tasty, but greezy.

Munchy

Set out to Coney Island with D, and we tested some 'special' shortbread I made a few days ago. By the time we got to Sheepshead Bay for lunch, we were munchy and happy. Then we road the Cyclone roller coaster, rode back to Prospect Park and lazed about the lake for  while, then I went home. I showered, ate some ice cream, then fell asleep around 4pm...woke up at 1:30am for a snack, back down around 3 and up at 8....about 16 hours of sleep. Never quite caught up after the early week restaurant...

BREAKFAST: 8am, iced green tea, multigrain tortilla chips with salsa, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5


AM SNACK: 10am, special shortbread


LUNCH: 11:30am, oysters, shrimp over pasta, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 3pm, half a pint of ice cream

Family Friends

A couple, friends of my parents, came over. My mom met them when I was going to preschool with their sons, and they were characters in their lives for pretty much the rest of their lives, from me and their sons going to each others birthdays and playdates, summering together, up until my dad retired and visiting them where they moved in Michigan. They were in town visiting their son, who moved to Brooklyn.

It was nice seeing them, having Betsy here some stories about my parents and me as a kid. It wasn't depressing at all, it was like my parents were going to arrive any minute, they were walking from their apartment a few blocks away, and I just had to entertain until they got there.


AM SNACK: 8am, iced green tea


BREAKFAST: 10:30am, ricotta pancakes with banana, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 12:45pm, bottle of gatorade


PM SNACK: 3:30pm, ear of grilled corn


DINNER: 5:45pm, assorted slices of homemade pizza, a little fruit salad, scoop of homemade mint chocolate ganache ice cream, water, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

Healthy-ish

A nice day with the Edles. We road the bike to Madison Square Park to hand with some parental friends at a music event, then met El for lunch in the hood. We did some chores via bike then home. Got laundry done, B came home and I went out food shopping. I was hungry, and it's bad to do food shopping hungry, so I indulged in some healthy-ish fast food at Subway.


BREAKFAST: 8am, iced green tea, multigrain tortilla chips with salsa, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5


LUNCH: 12:30pm, grilled octopus, chickpea fritters, pasta with lemon pistachio pesto, chocolate gelato, bread, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 7pm, foot long veggie burger sub, potato chips, soda, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

Special short bread

Mellow day of unwinding after two 13 hour shifts. Took Edie out to swim class in the morning, then T came over and we made summer rolls together. We also made special shortbread, with green food dye to mark it as special, though I'll be waiting for the right occasion to indulge.

B was out late at her book club, and I was lazy and ordered an old vegetarian standby from my less-meaty days. Edie was happy and hungry, and pretty much conked out after burning brightly for a few hours.

BREAKFAST: 7am, iced green tea, organic wholegrain chex with dead milk, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


LUNCH 1: 11am, sardine & avocado on wholewheat bread, 2 pickles, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


LUNCH 2: 4pm, shrimp summer rolls with lime-nam pla dipping sauce, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5


LUNCH 3: 6pm, more shrimp summer rolls, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 8:30pm, large salad, eggplant parm hero, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

Workworkworkwork pt 2

The 'rant was deadly slow today, which is much harder to deal with than a fast restaurant. A little bit like a counselor at summer camp on a rainy day, I had to work to find stuff to keep the staff occupied, mostly cleaning, sidework, extended lunch breaks and a little bit of looking the other way, but keeping conscious of no lines being crossed.

Started having the guys make off-menu stuff for me, not the healthiest (yet) but it's evolving.

BREAKFAST: 7am, iced green tea, toasted bagel with cream cheese, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5


PM SNACK: noon, potatoes, sausage & vegetables, Manhattan Special.75 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 4pm, shrimp & clam cheeseless pizza, 1.5 meatballs, sprite, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5


PM SNACK: 7pm, chocolate ice cream, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5


EVENING SNACK: 11:30pm, watermelon, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Workworkworkwork

We've extended the hours at the 'rant, so now it's 13 hour shifts. Quite busy for a Monday, fell pretty easily into the haze -- key to making the time fly. I made a point of drinking three pints of water toward the end, which I credit to curbing my desire for Chinese food in the evening.


BREAKFAST: 7:30am, iced green tea, fistful of almonds, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5


RESTAURANT HAZE: 12-11:30pm, meatballs, slices of pizza, small glass of beer, a couple of sodas, a few pints of water, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5


EVENING SNACK: 12:30am, whole grain tortilla chips and salsa, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING SNACK: 2am, watermelon, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Poppa's Day

A mellow father's day. Woke up after a refreshing 9 hours, ran out and did a food shop. C & T and baby Autumn came over for lunch and hanging out. B & Edles & I did a mini bike ride in the hood ending in swings with neighborhood friends. Food delivery and TV before sleep. Tomorrow we start fresh.

BREAKFAST: 8am, iced green tea, organic chex with good milk, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


LUNCH: 2pm, vegetable sticks with a little hummus, homemade pizza, a little ice cream, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 7pm, sushi & shashimi, tempura, shumai, green salad, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Montaukin'

A day on the bike, 100 miles from Babylon to Montauk, an organized ride with 1000 others. Rest stops had food, which I ate from. A lot of carbs and refined sugar, but it got me through. I wonder if I would of moved faster if I stuck with more complex carbs and less simple. Something to experiment next time. But that pie was heavenly. I would of wolfed a third slice, if they didn't run out of apple pie!

Got home quite blown out, but found the energy to whip up some Pasta a la Norbert.


AM SNACK: 3:15am, iced green tea

BIKE SNACK: 4:15am, banana, 2 pieces pound cake, 1 slice wholewheat bread with nutella

BIKE SNACK: 6:30am, 2 pieces pound cake

BIKE SNACK: 8am, Gatorade, a few bites of chocolate


BIKE LUNCH: 10am, watermelon, hummus in wholewheat pita, a few bites of chocolate

BIKE SNACK: noon, 2 slices apple pie, graham crackers with PB&J, Gatorade, bites of chocolate

BIKE SNACK: 2:30pm, burger, pasta, coconut water, water, a few bites of chocolate


DINNER: 8pm, homemade pasta with wine & butter sauce, leftover wonton soup, big bowl of cherries, 2 bowl, hunger 4/5

Ediemorning

Woke up early to get ready for tomorrow's Montauk Century. Let B sleep in, took Edie out for a 5:30am walk, the local diner was still closed so we went to the local playground, we were the only peeps there. Serious quality time -- me & Edie were the only people alive on the Lower East Side! Me and Edie vs. the world!!

Looking back at what I ate today, oy. Next week got to refocus on the color system, and perhaps a big ol' salad.

AM SNACK: 3:15am, iced green tea


BREAKFAST: 6:15am, BLT on rye, homefries, diet coke, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Took Edie out to the greasy spoon around the corner, where I used to go with my parents in later years. I had a diet coke in their honor, with a slice of lemon just like my dad liked. I try not to go on and on about it in this blog, but I miss them every day, though in a happier way, wishing they could see all the neat stuff Edie does and is becoming. Edie was a little resistant to the bottle of milk and wedges of cheese I brought down for her, but she gobbled up the greasy homefries from my fingers like it was the best thing since sliced bread. Ridiculously cute! OH, if only my parents could see!

LUNCH: 2:30pm, half a pork sandwich, fries, water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Out in the West Village via bikes with my family. Heavenly, except for the mediocre sandwich. Travelling by 2 wheels as a family unit brings another layer of depth my my cycling career. Doesn't hurt that B just got a proper bicycle.

DINNER: 6pm, shrimp and broccoli with pork fried rice, egg roll, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Usually wait until AFTER a big ride to eat like this, but was feeling it.

Day of the Shortbread

The shortbread I made yesterday kept on jumping down my throat, bad shortbread!! Good thing it's all gone now, except for a dozen pieces set aside to compete in a bake-off in B's office. Good shortbread!

Took Edie to a play group at the local community center in the morning, we road the bike over the Manhattan Bridge and visted the resto in the afternoon. A short nap made the afternoon a bit cranky and we had to skip E's bday party, hopefully she'll appreciate that my daughter's safety and comfort kinda comes before all else...

BREAKFAST: 7am, iced green tea, organic wholegrain cheerios with the good unhomogenized milk, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


AM SNACK: 8:45am, piece of chocolate coated shortbread


LUNCH: 11:30am, rice noodles with curry sauce and fishballs, 2 lotus leaf wraps with pork, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5


PM SNACK: 1:30pm, piece of chocolate coated shortbread

DINNER: 6:30pm, beef taquitos, shrimp burrito, 3 pieces chocolate coated shortbread, 2 bowl, hunger 4/5
Ordered in from a local Mexican place I've passed many times but never actually ate from. I heard from peeps that it's good, and indeed it was better than the more gringo-friendly places I've had, though I think I ordered wrong, like a gringo. I think I need to explore their menu a bit, get out of the gringo comfort zone...

Raviolios

The nanny may not of fed Edie enough yesterday, as she woke up hollering only an hour after I finally got to bed. It's not the nanny's fault, it just seems Edie becomes more resistant to food when fed by other people. Woke up again at 7, felt tired but energized by the last 2 days. E came over to cook, we knocked out some short bread and raviolis. I used bok choi from my CSA share to turn the dough green, and made a filling of sauteed kale & garlic scapes from the CSA, as well as onion, ricotta and parm, with nutmeg, paprika and cayenne and salt.

When B came home, she was hungry so I whipped up some raviolis for us. I made myself a dish of 10 pieces, and felt very unsatisfied after eating, so ate another ten. Then a heavy (albeit homemade) dessert after.


BREAKFAST: 7:30am, iced green tea, bagel with cream cheese and sable, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 1pm, sardine & avocado on wholewheat multigrain bread, water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 6:15pm, freshly made homemade cheese & chard ravioli in oil and grated cheese, 2 pieces of freshly baked shortbread and triple chocolate ice cream, 1.75 bowl, hunger 4/5

Wooooork

Long day at the 'rant.

AM SNACK: 7:30am, iced green tea


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

AM SNACK: 11:30am, handful of bacon
When freshly cooked bacon comes out of the oven, it's hard not t o test it to make sure it's, you know, suitable for consumption.

PM SNACK: 12:30pm, vanilla soda, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
LUNCH: 4pm, spinach lasagna, cranberry lime soda, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5
The lasagna at the restaurant was sitting around too long, so we served it to the staff. Not particularly good, but filling.

PM SNACK: 5:30pm, Manhattan Special, .5 bowl, hunger 3/5


EVENING SNACK: 9:30pm, ginger ale

Contemplating work meals

Busy enough at the restaurant to get into a haze, but not busy enough to be stressful. Being I don't get breaks, maybe I should either bring food or prepare my own food while there? This may evolve over the summer, I predict. The restaurant only has a 550 degree oven to cook in, may have work around that...

BREAKFAST: 8am, organic whole grain chex with industrial milk, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5


RESTAURANT HAZE: 11am-10pm, including 4 pieces of pizza, a few spoonfuls of potatoes, 1 Manhattan Special, 1 sprite, a green salad, some water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 11pm, beef lomein, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Starving by the time I got home. Fortunately, I didn't get to bed until 1am, which means my digestive system was almost done with this by the time I went down.

My girls like to party all the time

I pooped out around 8:30pm yesterday, due to the 3:30am wake up and the bike ride, then the task of hand rolling over 150 summerrolls. I woke up around 8, definitely got enough sleep. I mixed three gallons of Arnold Palmers (half mint green tea, half lemon aide, then spiked each gallon with 2 cups of simple syrup, 1.5 cups of limoncello and 1 cup of gin -- surprisingly delicious!)

After going out for a few bags of ice, it was all action -- setting up in the park behind our building, then greeting our guests. We had positive RSVPS for about 60 adults and 20 babies, and maybe 3/4 showed up, which was still a lot of people. Weather reports shouted rain, but like on our wedding, lucked out with perfect weather -- sun with clouds, high 70s, and no rain for the time everyone was congregating. I thought I might of made too much food, but all 3 gallons of cocktails went, only 1 dinky avocado summer roll remained, and the triple chocolate ice cream I made was vanquished.

The party started at 12, and was full on by 12:30. It started to wind down around 2, and packed up and went indoors around 3, just as the clouds seem to gather. All in all, a wonderful and perfect party. It would of been better if the HVS was there (the avocado rolls and peanut dipping sauce was vegan), but I guess perfection will have to wait.

BREAKFAST: 8:30am, pumpernickel bagel with cream cheese and sable, 1 bowl


PARTY EATS: 11:30am-3pm, a few cups of Arnold Palmers, summer rolls, a couple of cupcakes, a few chocolate chip cookies, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 6pm, shrimp curry with rice, samosa, naan, water, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

Early Ride

Rode early, so I could have a good part of the day to prep for Edie's party. Unfortunately, the bike had technical issues and got home early.


BREAKFAST: 4am, cake, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5


BIKE SNACK: 7am, gatorade, shrimp chips


BIKE SNACK: 8:30am, watermelon


LUNCH: 1pm, burger, fries, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5


PM SNACK: 3-4pm, a few summer rolls


DINNER: 6pm, large green salad, cupcake, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Surprise surprise

Errands during the day, hosting a surprise party for Betsy in the evening.

AM SNACK: 8:15am, iced mint green tea


LUNCH: 11:15am, kipper & avocado and oatmeal bread, large green salad, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 4:30pm, cubes of cheddar, a few crackers, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 6:30pm, bass with potato, pork ribs, 1 beer, 1 slice of cake, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Happy Birthday, Edie!

It was a year ago today that Edie was born. What a year! She's PERFECT!! I never would of thought a baby would just be so mackin'-ass cool, but she is. Started the day with a birthday cupcake, pulled back with a smoothie, went out to midtown to visit L and had mediocre Indian food, then lost it again with some left-over ice cream from a birthday last week. Finished the day with some comfort, and watching TV with B. A good day.


AM SNACK 1: 6:45am, chocolate cupcake


AM SNACK 2: 8am, iced mint green tea


BREAKFAST: 10am, smoothie, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Banana, grapes, mango, blueberries, cherries, acai juice, the good yogurt, vanilla, salt, ground flax.

LUNCH: 12:45pm, chicken tikka masala, saag paneer, rice, naan, water, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5


PM SNACK: 5:30pm, chocolate-mess ice cream, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 10pm, Stouffers Frenchbread pizzas, small green salad, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

Cooking & Catching Up

Spent the morning at the supermarket with Edie, then MAP came over and we made summerrolls together. Once she left, I made a couple dozen chocolate cupcakes, substituting milk for cream. They came out very tender and moist, much better than I thought they would. I made a simple buttercream frosting, which also came out really well, and before I knew it, I had three cupcakes for dinner instead of the salad I made in the morning.

I put myself to bed around 9, finally catching up on the sleep I missed the past two nights.

AM SNACK: 7:30am, iced mint green tea


BREAKFAST: 10am, pumpernickel bagel with cream cheese and smoked sable, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


LUNCH: 1pm, shrimp summerrolls with lime fishsauce dipping sauce, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 4pm, 4 more summer rolls, .5 bowl

PM SNACK: 5:30pm, 3 chocolate cupcakes with buttercream frosting, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

Workworkworkwork pt 2

Slower day at the restaurant, though I was a bit tired through out. As the head person at the job, I don't get a break, so am limited to what is available to eat in the restaurant,. For lunch I had a cook make me a pizza off the menu, which if up to me would be on the menu: from the bottom, crust, olive oil, chopped clams and garlic, pecorino romano, shrimp, oregano. Pretty good.

BREAKFAST: 7am, mint green iced tea, pumpernickel bagel with cream cheese, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


AM SNACK: 11:30am,  Manhattan Special, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5


LUNCH: 3pm, 2 slices cheeseless seafood pizza, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 10pm, 3 slices square pizza, soda, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Workworkworkwork

We thought the first official Monday of the restaurant would be a bit sleepy, but between a lot of business and being a little understaffed, I found myself "managing", which really means "serving-bussing-hosting-bartending-cashiering-etc" in a situation like that. A lot of fun, but didn't have time to really eat.  Tomorrow the 2nd half of my work week.

BREAKFAST: 8am, iced mint green tea, organic cheerios with organic dead milk, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


WORK HAZE: 10:30am-11:30pm, 2 slices of pizza, 1 soda, 1 Manhattan Special, 1 beer, 1 big beer, water, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4.5

Ride Day

Rode the bike 85 miles, to Seaside Heights, NJ, via a ferry that dropped me off in Sandy Hook. Hot & humid, no rain. The lunch options were limited, as Seaside Heights is a low-rent amusement boardwalk kind of town.


BREAKFAST: 7am, whole wheat waffle. mint iced green tea, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


BIKE SNACK: 10am, Entemann's apple pie, corn chips, Gatorade, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5


LUNCH: 1:30pm, meatball hero, diet coke. 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5


BIKE SNACK: 5:15pm, cliff bar


BIKE SNACK: 6pm, 2 small bags of potato chips

DINNER: 9pm, shrimp fried rice, shrimp toast, bbq spareribs, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Sippin' on Syrup

Spent the morning making obscene chocolate ice cream -- ice cream spiked with espresso, then mixed in chunks of fresh brownies, ganache and a stripe of chocolate syrup. The three of us biked over to Tompkins Square Park, for the birthday party of a friend's 1 yr old, then spent the rest of the day trying to relax at home.

AM SNACK: 9-11pm, bits of chocolate brownie, chocolate ganache, chocolate ice cream, chocolate syrup


LUNCH: 12:30, 3 slices of pizza, water


PM SNACK: 3:30pm, iced mint green tea


DINNER: 7:30pm, sushi, tempura, shumai, water, glass of chocolate milk, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Chocolate syrup is super easy to make, just make simple syrup, then add 50% cocoa, a tablespoon of corn syrup, a teaspoon of vanilla and a pinch of salt. Whisk and bottle. Much better than chemical-tasting bottled stuff.

A lot

I ate a lot today, and I suspect part of it is due to my poor sleep patterns this past week. I have to focus on that this week. That, and knocking some more red out.


AM SNACK: 8am, iced mint green tea


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


AM SNACK: 9:30am, 2 donuts, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 12:30pm, 12 oz of grape apple juice


LUNCH: 2pm, sardines & avocado on oatmeal wholewheat bread, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


PM SNACK: 7pm, California rolls & kimchi pancakes, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5


PM SNACK: 7:45pm, popcorn & sprite, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 10:30pm, katsu curry rice, 1 beer, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

I forgot breakfast, bad me!

A tired day, but wonderful because Edie was strapped to me for a lot of it. Visited the South Bronx food coop, did a bunch of chores in the neighborhood, and went out for some deeply mediocre pizza on the UES with a friend in the evening. Got laundry done just before passing out.

AM SNACK: 6:30am, iced mint green tea
This latest batch of tea is using actual mint-green tea bags, which has dried mint leaves IN the  leaf mix. VERY minty. Not sure if I like it or not yet. And makes me think I should try brewing with fresh mint leaves instead of making mint simple syrup...



LUNCH: 11:45pm, street falafel, grape soda, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
The South Bronx has some pretty horrible food options. I got this from a large food truck, and it was surprisingly bad.



PM SNACK: 4:30pm, large piece of watermelon

PM SNACK: 6pm, large green salad, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5


PM SNACK: 7:30pm, multigrain tortilla chips & salsa, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 9:15pm, pizza, 1 beer, shrimp scampi, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

Ooo! I'm a parent!

Not enough sleep last night after winding down from the restaurant, but Edie is a good motivation to cut through the haze. Got a lot done in the morning, picked up a late CSA package of veg, prepped for class, fed Edie and got her down, fixed a flat on the commuter bike, dealt with a little food coop issue. Was planning to lift some weights, but I closed my eyes for a minute while Edie z'd and all of a sudden an hour was gone -- my first "ooo I'm a working parent!" moment.

Last class of the semester with the kids, rocked out a good meal for about 25 mouths, went really well, good vibes. Not the healthiest food by my standards, but certainly healthier by theirs.


BREAKFAST: 8:45pm, iced mint green tea, organic wholegrain cheerios with banana, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

AM SNACK: 11:30am, small block of dark chocolate


PM NIBBLES: 2pm-6pm, bits of tastes of everything leading up to dinner


DINNER: 6:15pm, sausage lasagna, lemon string beans, shrimp pesto & sausage marinara and 3 cheese pizzettes, banana pudding cup, triple chocolate mousse cake, sweet tea, water, 1.5 bowl, hunger 45


EVENING SNORT: 8pm, small cup of beer

Weigh-in

After getting to bed around 12, I woke at 4 and could not get back to sleep -- running myself ragged for about 12 hours at the restaurant was a charge, but it's also like a natural caffeine. I imagine I'll crash tonight after I get home.

I weighed in at 230.6, about a pound heavier than last month. Surprised, but not disappointed. I FEEL stronger, people say I look thinner, my weight training is increasing, my clothes fit a little looser -- I assume I've lost some fat, but gained some denser muscle.

Today was hard, under slept and in a slow restaurant. More sweets went down than I would of liked, but needed it to keep some sharpness.

BREAKFAST 1: 5am, large glass of iced mint green tea, whole wheat waffle

BREAKFAST 2: 8:15am, quinoa & chickpea salad, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 2pm, pizza, Manhattan Special, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 5pm, cranberry lime soda


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


EVENING SNACK: 11pm, slice of friendship bread, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Haze

At the restaurant on Memorial Day, we were slammed and I was helping behind the bar. No time to eat or even think about eating. My monthly weigh-in is tomorrow, this may skew it a little...


AM SNACK: 8am, iced mint green tea


BREAKFAST: 8:30am, organic whole grain cheerios with organic dead milk, banana, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

RESTAURANT HAZE: 10:30-10:30, including small wedge of pizza, small serving of pasta, ear of corn, 1 soda, water, apple juice, ? bowl, ? hunger

EVENING SNACK: 11pm, small shrimp fried rice, water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

Family Day

Carred it up to Peekskill to visit my parents, hang out with my brother and his many many offspring and have a hike to a reservoir. Home by 5:30, a calm evening prepping for class on Wednesday and other chores.

AM SNACK: 8am, mint iced green tea

BREAKFAST: 9:30am, latkes, pork sausage, blueberry cinnamon muffins, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


LUNCH: 12:30, half a turkey sandwich, potato chips, chocolate chip cookies, seltzer, 1 bowl, hunger 45
From the local grocery store. The turkey just tasted industrial, tossed the other half into the woods.

PM SNACK: 5:30pm, Earth mother pizza, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Whole wheat crust, no cheese, a pile of vegetables and greens.

DINNER: 8:15pm, pad thai, shrimp rolls, big green salad, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Poughkeepsie

A simple day. Woke up at 3:45am. Got on the bike at 5am. Got to Bear Mountain around 10am, Cold Spring around noon, and Poughkeepsie at 2:30.  Cold Spring welcomed me with a farmer's market, which seemed very active, but a) everyone there had arrived by car and b) other than tamales, there was just bread and vegetables to be purchased. So I had tamales, and they were wonderful.

Got home, felt blown out and happy, ate a whole mess of food, and was soon asleep.


AM SNACK: 4am, large glass of mint iced green tea


BIKE SNACK: 7:30am, caffeinated clif bar


BIKE SNACK: 9am, corn chips & Gatorade


BIKE SNACK: 10am, more corn chips


BIKE LUNCH: 12pm, 2 beef tamales, watermelon salsa, brownie, Gatorade


BIKE SNACK: 4pm, clif bar


DINNER: 6:30pm, large green salad, Chinese brick featuring shrimp with broccoli, pork fried rice, egg roll, steamed vegetable dumplings, chocolate ice cream, water, 2.5 bowls, hunger 4/5

Return of the Wafflizer

Woke up at 4, decided to stay up to assist in getting out of the house on the bike tomorrow morning. After about an hour of chilling in front of the TV, made salad, mango coleslaw, quinoa salad with chickpeas and caramelized onions and wholewheat waffles.

I only ate one waffle, so by the time me and the gals went out to meet people for lunch, I was so hungry I had to get some donuts at my local gourmet donut spot.  Dinner was made up of some left over meat from class that would of been a shame to go to waste, on hearty bread with some of the morning's quinoa. balanced with some home made ice cream. Green n' red!

AM SNACK: 4am, iced mint green tea

BREAKFAST: 7:30am, wholewheat waffle, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

AM SNACK: 10:45am, 2 donuts, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 11:15, pizza, asparagus, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 5:30pm, large green salad, steak sandwich on whole wheat oatmeal bread, quinoa salad, chocolate ice cream, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Around

Good day. Went to a playdate drop in for older babies and youngest kids with Edie, and she just loved it. Hung out with Y in Brooklyn, and got laundry and food shopping done in the early afternoon and evening.

The leader of the playdate said that I look skinnier than the last time she saw me, about a month ago. Makes me look forward to the weigh-in coming this week...

AM SNACK: 8am, large iced mint green tea

BREAKFAST: 8:45am, good yogurt with honey, vanilla and mixed roasted nuts, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH pt 1: 11:30am, fishball & rice noodle, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Hungry after playdate drop in. On walk to East Broadway subway, picked this up at my Chinese cart. I meant to get the small but ordered the medium, and got a pint of food.

LUNCH pt 2: 1:45pm, chicken salad on croissant with greens, cup of chicken vegetable soup, small chocolate cupcake, lemonade, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 7pm, hotdog, fries, pickles, water, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5
On the way to WF for a foodshop in the rain while B got Edles to sleep. Spur of the moment, not healthy, but flavorful and very NY. Lots of fat tourists.

Recharged

When I woke up at 8 after 6 hours of sleep, I thought I'd be drained but I soon felt pretty good -- yesterday at the restaurant was exhausting, but good & fun. The first week we were slammed and it was too busy and almost out of control, last week in rained and was deathly boring, but yesterday it was rolling busy, a few empty spots but mostly just challenging enough.

So when I woke up this morning, I fit in the second round of weights this week, then took Edie to the pool for some fun splashing about, then hung out with another neighborhood dad and his baby. Lunch, shower, yomomma came to take care of the Edles, then off to school to teach. Steak n' greens, a little sweets, not perfectly healthy but not bad.

AM SNACK: 8:30am, large glass of iced mint green tea

AM SNACK: 9:15am, banana

BRUNCH: 11:15am, large green salad, French onion soup, half a bagel with cream cheese and home-cured salmon, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Beefy French Onion soup just gotta be green -- in the fridge, the soup turned to jelly without any fat on top -- meaning it's all good protein collagen, and no fat, saturated or otherwise. Plus the wholewheat croutes don't hurt. I gotta make another batch of beef stock, this is was just too good.

DINNER: 6pm, chimichurri flank steak and collard greens, a hunk of chocolate, a few spoonfuls of vanilla-rum pudding, a glass of lemonade, seltzer, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Pizza world

Spent the day at the restaurant. Gotta eat more before getting locked into pizza world...

AM SNACK: 8:30am, large glass of iced mint green tea

BRUNCH: noon, 3 pieces of Sicilian pizza, Manhatan Special, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

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

DINNER: 8pm, 2 slices of pizza, small soda, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING WATERING: 11pm, quart of water

Fruity

This day flew by, odd for a day where I had "nothing" planned. MAP was supposed to come over to cook, but had to pull out due to work obligations. Between making a proper breakfast and lunch and dinner for 3, handling the Edles with feedings, naps and a walk-about, taking care of a few work-related things, there really was no down-time until after dinner.

Avoided alcohol & sweets today, though between the smoothie in the morning, cherries in the afternoon and watermelon in the evening, that definitely did something to cut my cravings.

AM SNACK: 8:15am, glass of iced mint green tea

BREAKFAST: 10:15am, smoothie, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Acai juice, Greek yogurt, banana, frozen mango, blueberry and cherries, freshly ground flax, pimch of salt, pinch of vanilla. Tart but good.

AM SNACK: 11:45am, one shrimp summer roll with peanut sauce
Testing. Sauce needs to be sweeter.

PM SNACK: 12:30pm, one vegetable summer toll with peanut sauce
Testing. Sauce is now sweet enough.

LUNCH: 1:15pm, French onion soup, large green salad, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
An epic home lunch. Caramelized onions last night while B watched Lawzt. Heated in pan, deglazed with a little red wine, through in the 2 cups of beef stock I made for Boof Borgeenon a month or so ago, simmered for an hour. Fried whole wheat oat bread in butter, laid gruyere on top when flipped. Salted soup. Cut croutes into triangles and topped. Goooood.

PM SNACK: 3:15pm, bowl of cherries, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Funny how cherries don't really taste anything like "cherry" flavoring. Maybe a distant relation, cousin three times removed.

SNICKLEDINNER: 5:45pm, shrimp summer rolls with mango coleslaw, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING SNACK: 10pm, mulitgrain cornchips with salsa, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Drunk single people love babies and beer in the afternoon.

Woke up pleasantly sore from yesterday's ride, in the upper thighs and lower abdomen, probably from climbing up part of Storm King. A cousin and his family came over, who I don't see often enough, and a 2nd cousin I never met before but we discovered each other on Facebook. I cured some fish, but went lazy and bought bagels, took the muffins outta the freezer and presented my ice tea like it was made for them. I was surprised how much they dug it, lots of compliments and suggestions of trying to market it.

This latest batch of ice cream came out much better, smooth and chocolaty though very much a "milk chocolate" flavor. The custard itself was frustratingly thick, like pudding, and getting aerated in the barrel was a bit difficult. When I make it again with mix-ins, it's gonna be some kitchen drama up in here!

Some residual hunger from yesterday. Between the emotional impact of seeing relatives from my side of my nuclear family to getting out for a walk with Edie into a bar for a beer with drunken friends (drunk single people LOVE babies in the afternoon), it was all a bit much. And the month is quickly coming to an end, gotta get back into the green starting tomorrow.

AM SNACK: 8:30am, large glass of iced mint green tea

BREAKFAST: 10am, pumpernickel bagel with cream cheese and home-cured salmon, pickle, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

AM SNACK: 11am, about a scoop of homemade chocolate ice cream, .25 bowl, hunger 3/5

PM DRINK: 3:30pm, pint of beer

LUNCH: 4pm, slice of 'zen' pizza, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Though pizza is usually neutral or red, this vegan spelt-crust thing full of green tea-infused tofu and vegetables is designed to be in the green zone.

EVENING SNACK: 7:15pm, large slice of watermelon, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING SNACK: 10pm, breakfast sausage patties, mini latkes, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING SNACK: 11:30pm, handful of minimuffins, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

BIke day

Woke up at 4, road 80 miles, some serious hill climbing. Got home by 4:30, ate lots, asleep by midnight.

AM SNACK: 4am, large glass of iced mint green tea

BREAKFAST: 4:45am, pork sausage patties, mini latkes, mini blueberry muffins, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

BIKE SNACK: 7:30am, caffeinated cliff bar

BIKE SNACK: 8:30am, gatorade, corn chips

BIKE SNACK: 11:45am, gatorade, funyons

BIKE LUNCH: 12:45pm, turkey & swiss on whole wheat bagel, sun chips, chocolate donut, water

DINNER 1: 4:45pm, 2 slices left over pizza, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 6pm, large piece of watermelon, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER 2: 7pm, whole wheat matzo farfel, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

Daddy-Thing

I love my daughter every day, but somehow I loved her more than usual today. I guess because we did a lot together, and it was nothin' but fun. She went down for a nap early, around 8:45 right after B left, and gave me time to do my thing. I got her up about 10:20 and we took public transportation up to Grand Central, and took a train up intoWestchester to visit J and her new baby. On the train, by a big window overlooking the Hudson, Edie dined on avocados , pineapple and water, and ate from my fingers enthusiastically and without drama. She napped on my lap at J's house, and entertained herself with formula and the window on theway back.

B took a night for herself finally (hallelujah!) and me n' Edie had dinner together (she -- butternut squash bisque, more avocado, a little formula, 2 mum mums) and I gave her a nice long bath before letting her crawl everywhere, but she seemed to only want to crawl in whatever room I was in. Around 7:45, it was allwaaah waaah and I put her down with a hug and more than one kiss. Closed the door behind me, 3 minutes of loud cries, 3 minutes of muffled cries, and out. I then prepped for tomorrow's big bike ride, then pooped out around 10. A good Edie-filled day. I think I'm starting to get a hang of this daddy-thing.

I'm not eating spectacularly well, but one thing I'm finding myself doing is eating smaller, more often. Theoretically, that's a good thing, but my sweet tooth is getting the best of me. I think a week of no sweets is coming up soon.

AM SNACK: 8am, small cup of iced mint green tea

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

LUNCH pt 1: 11am, jerk chicken patty, marble cookie, water, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5
A snack before getting on the train at Grand Central. Reminded me of when I used to dine there on a regular basis for work lunches.

PM SNACK: 12:45pm, B&J ice cream bar, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Not my idea, I was visiting new mom J and she wanted ice cream, so I ate ice cream to be socially friendly.

LUNCH pt 2: 4:15pm, falafel sandwich, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Way back through Grand Central.

DINNER: 8:15pm, big green salad, handful of breakfast sausage patties, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Had some left over sausage meat from last Saturday's brunch, decided to fry it up and see what happened -- as I suspected, my sausages came out so dry & mealy because I over cooked them -- is it a Jewish thing to cook pork sausage until it's inedible?!

Roll!

A good day. I was supposed to go to a playdate drop in but after Edle's limited sleep, I let her stay home and nap so we missed it. Thank goodness I went food shopping the night before, allowing me today to dwaddle in the kitchen and make salad and shrimp summer rolls while Edie slept.

For the longest time I've been buying summer rolls on the fly, thinking, "damn, I bet these would be cheaper and better if I made these myself!" So when I saw this recipe on line, I knew what I had to do. A few specialty ingredients, a little practice, and poof, it was pretty damn good. Need a better dipping sauce recipe, but it's almost there.

Ate a big bowl of cherries as a snack, every third one was sweet, but mostly a little flavorless. Maybe they'll get better as the season heightens...

AM SNACK: 8:15am, large glass of iced mint green tea

BREAKFAST: 9:45am, smoothie, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
The banana & grapes were not quite ripe, so I eliminated the tart yogurt and replaced with a little milk. Plus frozen cherries, blueberries & mango, vanilla, fresh ground flax, acai juice. Not bad, not great.

LUNCH: 1pm, six shrimp summer rolls with dipping sauce, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 3pm, fishballs with rice noodle, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
In the park by Canal and East Broadway. Haven't gotten these from the cart since Edie was tiny, when it was warm out before the winter. Time flies. This time I got a small instead of a medium, definitely enough.

PM SNACK: 4pm, large green salad with whole wheat lavash crackers, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 4:15pm, bowl o' cherries, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 5:30pm, half a pint of B&Js ice cream mess, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 9:30pm, pizza, 1 beer, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

Oh Cherry Baby

I went food shopping in the evening after getting home from teaching. Being that Edie was home, I was able to relax a little and focus on the task at hand. When I was being advised by a nutritionist, one of my repeating assignments was to go to market and look at the produce -- find something new that called to me, and buy it. I didn't quite get this -- I understood, but the stuff I chose was on a more intellectual basis, not on a 'can ya feel me, dawg?!' kind a way.

Well, a big bag of fresh red ripe cherries winked at me, hitched up it's skirt and said, "hey there. Come here often?" I haven't really eaten fresh cherries, though I put frozen in my smoothies. When I saw the display of cherries, these thoughts went into my head, in about this order:

1. Mmmmm yum!
2. My dad loved fresh cherries, would eat them like candy. Maybe it's genetic?
3. Hey! Fruit! That's a green mark on my diet!
4. Is Betsy gonna eat these too? Will I be able to finish it myself?
5. Bow chicka WOW wow!
   

Anyway. Unfortunately I woke/was woken too late to take Edie to swim class, and by the evening we were paying for it with a very energetic, lively baby who wanted to watch American Idol and crawl quickly across the apartment from 10pm to almost 1am.

Lifted weights in the morning, after only getting one session in last week. Felt good, and it really entertains Edie. If it wasn't for the fact that Edie follows my every motion from her crib when I'm doing the push ups, sit ups and weight things, I probably would be less motivated.

Food today centered around school, where we cooked Italian, specifically some recipes out of Mario Batali's book. Good, but not light. The wine-infused sauteed broccoli was kinda kick-ass, gotta make that at home.

AM SNACK: 9am, large glass of iced mint green tea

AM SNACK: 10:30am, a handful of mini latkes, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 12:30pm, wholewheat lavash with the good peanut butter, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

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

DINNER: 6pm, baked ziti, broccoli, fried shrimp, seltzer, 3 cookies, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING SNACK: 10:30pm, multigrain tortilla chips with salsa, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING SNACK: 11pm, organic wholegrain chex with organic dead milk, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING SNACK: 11:30pm, five Amish cinnamon blueberries minimuffins, water, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Work

Spent the day at the restaurant. Raining, slow, kinda boring. Gave me too much time to miss Edie and B!

AM SNACK: 8:30am, large glass of iced mint green tea
Not as sweet as the last batch, but also not particularly minty. My syrup again kinda congealed in the container in the fridge. Gotta review syrup making and consider brewing mint leaves WITH the tea instead of into the syrup...

AM SNACK: 11pm, Manhattan Special, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Wow this is sweet. And made me jittery on an empty stomach...

LUNCH: 1:30pm, Sicilian pizza, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 6pm, green house salad, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 10pm, shrimp fried rice, 1 bowl hunger 4/5

Recovery

This past weekend was full of extremes. I woke up at 12:30am on Saturday and got cooking, baking a double batch of muffins using a sour-dough starter, breakfast pork sausage from scratch and a few other show-offy things for a brunch with another babied couple that morning. In the afternoon I brought some of my muffins to a pot-luck birthday picnic in a park, and nibbled other people's food but didn't have much of an appetite due to the heavy breakfast and lack of sleep.

Sunday I woke at 3am and rode the Montauk Century, gobbling food the whole way. I felt full when I got home around 9pm, but by 10:15 I ordered in a brick of Chinese and gobbled it down, a little fearful of what it might do to me. I fell asleep soon after and low and behold, I was starving to the point of feeling sick when I woke...

MAP came over and we cooked lunch, we had bigger plans for cooking but both of us were a bit moody and off our games. I was supposed to attend Taste of the Nation in the evening on a free pass from a friend working the event, but events out of my control conspired to keep me home with the baby. I guess it's for the best, if I went my dinner would be a role-call of delicious but sinful food, in large quantities!

AM SNACK: 9am, 5 mini muffins, .25 bowl, hunger 5/5
I was trying to get some chores done while Edie was mellow, and I suddenly felt queasy and nauseous -- I realized I was so hungry that I felt like puking. So I went into the freezer and grabbed some of the sour dough started cinnamon blueberry muffins I made Saturday morning and nuked them quick. Once I gobbled them down, I felt much better.

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

LUNCH: 2pm, sardine & avocado sandwich on whole wheat, sauteed spinach, pommes maxim, 1 glass wine, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Cookin' with MAP. The potato dish was out of the c-school cannon, involving making potatoes in cylinders, then thin slicing, placing ring molds in the pan then frying in clarified butter into crispy beautiful potato rings.

PM SNACK: 3:45pm, chocolate ice cream, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
After a short nap, just had a huge desire for sugar.

DINNER: 7:30pm, half a large pizza, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

A healthy cupboard

Didn't really leave the house today, feeling mellow and making sure Edie is 100% (she is). Didn't want to order in food, so ate around the cupboard pretty well until it was time to meet up with B at a restaurant.

Going to go quiet this weekend. Tomorrow I'm waking early and cooking an ornate brunch of french toast, home fries, sourdough muffins, chocolate ice cream and pork sausage from scratch, then attending a pot-luck birthday picnic for a friend in the afternoon. Sunday is a 100 mile ride out to Montauk, where my eating will be subsumed by my need to power a ride. Regular broadcasts (and a weekend recap) on Monday. See ya!

AM SNACK: 5am, large glass of iced mint green tea

BREAKAST: 8:45am, organic whole grain cheerios with organic dead milk, banana, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: noon, sardines and avocado and multigrain wholewheat bread, multigrain tortilla chips and salsa, a pickle, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 5:45pm, fried fish sandwich with fries, bread with yogurt dipping sauce, 1 beer, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Met up with B and a mom friend at a local dining establishment, good vibes if not the healthiest meal.

A momentary lapse of veganism

Edie is doing better, but she's used to eating just formula all day, so spending more time with her as she sits with solid food is a focus. We went out on foot today for a solid 4 hours and she was totally back to normal, food excepted.

AM SNACK: 8:30am, large glass of iced mint green tea

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

LUNCH pt 1: 11:30am, large green salad, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH pt 2: 1:30pm, slice of 'zen' pizza, small cup of vegan chocolate 'ice cream', 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
A big ol' vegan lunch in honor of the HVS. Went to Viva Herbal to have the spelt-crusted green tea-infused soy mush and other stuff thing. Walking down the street, felt the urge for sweets but didn't want to go too far into the red, so stopped in at Stogo, for their so-called "ice cream", but what I ate was kinda gritty, bland and bitter punctuated by dry, pasty chunks of "brownie". Ick.

PM SNACK: 2:30pm, bottle of unsweetened green jasmine tea
Thirsty after a short Wholefoods shop, I picked up a bottle of Tea's Tea unsweetened green jasmine tea, the same kind of tea I've used in my last batch of ice tea. I wanted to taste green jasmine in unsweetened form, and it surprised me -- the jasmine flower flavoring gives a depth of flavor that is kinda like sweet without the sweetness. No wonder my iced tea tastes so sweet, the jasmine perfume is amplifying it.

DINNER: 7:30pm, roti cannai with curry dipping sauce, spicy shrimp & vegetables over brown rice, chocolate experiment, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
I plan to make the MOST DECADENT OVER THE TOP RE-GOT-DAMM-DICULOUS chocolate ice cream for Edie's birthday, so for Saturday's brunch, I'm going to serve experimental chocolate ice cream, a winged-recipe based on a creme Anglais base. I put one ramekin of the custard in the freezer just to taste it for sweetness when cold -- it was good. The balance ain't there yet (less instant espresso, a different technique to get the chocolate less gritty needed) but it's a good start.

A Spare Cheesecake.

Chilled out with the Edles in the morning, she seems to be doing a whole lot better. Her eating hasn't quite come back yet, but her crawling, her sunny disposition and energy has.

I should of eaten a proper lunch, because when I got to school I was too hungry, and the only thing around was....a spare cheesecake. Woe to the hungry person trying to be healthy confronted with a spare cheesecake.

We made breakfast in class, and we made the breakfast sausage in tiny 1-bite patties to aid with cooking, which unfortunately made them very easy to pop in the mouth...

AM SNACK: 9:15am, large glass of iced mint green tea

BREAKFAST: 11am, smoothie, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
A big helping of fruit -- banana, grapes, cherries, mango, blueberries and acai juice, with greek yogurt, a pinch of salt and vanilla. Forgot flax this time. Delicious. Remind me again why I don't drink these more often?

PM SNACK: 12:30pm, multigrain tortilla chips & salsa, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 2:30pm, cheesecake, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

LINNER: 6pm, french toast, pancake, too much freshly ground breakfast sausage, seltzer, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING SNACK: 10pm, whole wheat lavash crackers

Scary

A rough night of Edie crying and tension, a trying test of our teamwork and parenting, but I think we made it OK. B decided to stay home from work with Edie and the nanny while I spent my first day as supervisor of the restaurant from 10:30 until 10pm. Even though I was intimate with the place and the boss, it was all a bit new, being out of it for almost a year and in a new position with a staff I have only socialized with a bit, not worked with. Like war, it was a lot of boredom punctuated with moments of fear and violence (well, not violence, but hot pizza, surly customers and rushing).

The action part was assisting the front of house staff and eye-balling the kitchen, not the same athleticism that I was performing while working in the kitchen. So while I was too busy to worry about food, I didn't burn ridiculous calories either. Louis was around and served me lunch, and after the rush I treated myself to a house salad -- pizza and pasta is not light food. By my bike ride home, I needed a treat and picked up some non-bricky Chinese.

B seemed to have a good day, and the worst of it for Edie seems to have passed. A good end to a big, slightly scary day.

AM SNACK: 8:45am, large glass of iced mint green tea

LUNCH: 1:45pm, spinach & meat lasagna, 2 slices of Sicilian pizza, half a vanilla soda, water, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 9pm, green house salad, water, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 10:15pm, shrimp fried rice, shrimp roll, ramekin of dark chocolate, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

The Ediepie

The morning started rocky with B waking me up late, only to tell me I need to get Edles to the doctor. She's been running a slight fever for a few days, and pretty much refuses all food except formula and water. (No worries, the doc says she's fighting a virus, everything is normal, should clear up in a few days by itself.) We went food shopping straight after, and I realized I was crazy hungry. The breakfast bar is full of all sorts of nutritionally suspicious stuff like old french toast, greasy hash browns, sausages of indiscriminate nature. So I picked up a few sushi items, and made sure to get some brown rice in there to try to keep the day in the green as much as possible.

Spent a mellow afternoon doing chores and lifting weights, and Edie slept through a good deal of it. By the time I left for a bike ride, Edie felt cool to the touch, but 10 miles in, B called me that Edie was shivering and had a pallor and was taking her to an ER. So I ditched my ride, took the subway home and checked in with her every time I got signal on the cell phone. Everything was under control, so I went home and awaited news. I couldn't just sit, I needed to use my hands and keep my mind from spinning out in stress, so I made dinner -- keep the hands (and mouth) busy. A big greens salad while preheating the oven and stretching some left-over Wholefoods dough. Brushed it with olive oil, scattered a helping of raw chopped clams, fresh raw garlic, grated parm, pieces of thin sliced prosciutto and a few grinds of black pepper. I was surprised how good this pie was, almost comparable to Pepe's. While the meat got nice and crispy, it did not supply the salt the pie needed -- the only thing it could of used was a sprinkle of salt, and maybe some melted butter mixed in with the olive oil...

The stress of waiting for my family to come home was still upon me, and while I heard everything was good, I still needed some chocolate. I was hoping for a full-on green day, but considering the situation, I decided to be kind to myself in the moment. The idea of my daughter being in discomfort is such a horrendous feeling.

AM SNACK: 8:15am, large glass of iced mint green tea

BRUNCH: 11:15am, brown rice California roll, shrimp summer roll, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 2:30pm, sardine & avocado sandwich, bite of kimchi, a handful of multi grain tortilla chips with salsa, swig of mint green iced tea, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 8pm, large green salad, clam and prosciutto pizza, ramekin of chocolate chips, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Aspire to Greatness

Mother's day. Woke up after too much sleep, allergies in effect. We trudged out to Brooklyn via trains and shuttle buses, and I fell asleep for a few hours in the afternoon. Found myself hungry after not eating much all day, and packed in some Indian delivery. Rice AND bread, how the traditionalists must sneer at us tubby Americans!

Nothing too awful today, but nothing too great. Need to refocus on my diet. It's not good enough to just not eat anything too awful, I must eat some nutritionally great things, too!

AM SNACK: 7:30am, large glass of mint iced green tea

AM SNACK: 8:30am, spoonful of white chocolate peanut butter

LUNCH: 12:30pm, bagel with cream cheese and salmon, a little salad, a bite of cheese cake, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 6:30pm, shrimp saag with rice & naan, vegetable pakora, water, 2 bowl, hunger 4/5