9/11

Went to a 2 year old's party in the morning, fell asleep on the couch in the early afternoon, B's family came over and we ordered in pizza and watched 9/11 anniversary coverage. I remember being stuck at Newark Airport, calling my parents and having a hard time with jammed phone lines. A lot has changed since then, we're all 10 years older. Crappy eating day.

BRUNCH: 10:30am, bagel with cream cheese, half a chocolate muffin, small piece of birthday cake, water, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

LINNER: 4pm, 3 slices of pizza, brownie, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

Mellow

Took Edie out to various playgrounds in the morning while B slept. Had a bunch of friends over in the afternoon for knishes and salmon, was nice. Mellow day over all.

BREAKFAST: 9:30am, smoothie, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5


LUNCH 1: 1pm, small amount of left over pasta and sauce, nutella with pumpernickel pretzels, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5


LUNCH 2: potato knish, wedge of chocolate cheese knish, 2 slices of home-cured salmon, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 7:45pm, large green salad, singapore mei fun, roti canai, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

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

Love Life

Left out early to the Prospect Park Zoo to meet up with C and her daughter Autumn. After the zoo and some lying about in the park, we walked over to Prospect Heights to a nice homey restaurant, then to an ice cream shop after. It was a nice day out with my daughter with a life-long friend who also has a baby daughter. I love living in NYC at this time in my life.


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


LUNCH: 2:30pm, BLT, small side salad, diet coke, scoop of chocolate ice cream, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 7:30pm, pasta with sauce and grated parm, water, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5


EVENING SNACK: 9:30pm, watermelon, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

Pretty pictures

The highlight of the day was picking out the prettiest knishes and try to get some good pictures of them before Edie inevitably busted into frame and pushed her hand through the chocolate-cheese knish.


BREAKFAST: 8:45am, organic chex with organic dead milk, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5


LUNCH: 12:45pm, breaded shrimp, large green salad, bite of chocolate-cheese knish, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 7:30pm, spaghetti & meatballs, garlic bread, water, 1.5 bowls, hunger 4/5
Didn't feel like cooking after the big cooking days, ordered in a cheap meal from a local pizza & stuff place. I should have known better, it was pretty awful, though a large portion. It annoyed me that I can make meatballs soooo much better, garlic bread soooo much better, sauce soooo much better, even cook dry pasta soooo much better. I guess sometimes you just need someone else to cook for you, and Betsy is NOT that person, he he he. At least not right now, with all she's juggling.

Knish 4.0

Woke up late, as Edie was up in the middle of the night in need of milk and comfort. Lifted weights finally, and then went out to an amazing meal with a friend I haven't seen in about a year. Took care of some shopping on the way home, took a conference call on the bus in regards to the class I'm teaching this fall, and when I got home busted out about 40 individual knishes and one sweet knish loaf.


TODAY'S COOKING
Knishes: Three trays of potato, spinach-potato, broccoli-cheddar-potato, kasha-mushroom and cabbage. Rolling out the dough, shaping the knish, baked at 425 for about 30 minutes seems to fit. Upon tasting the broccoli, made me wonder if baking the potato instead of boiling was a good choice -- the potato seemed a bit lumpy, not as smooth as I'd like. Gotta eat more to make an executive decision.

I also made a chocolate cheese loaf. Winged it, based on a brownie recipe. Melted a stick of butter with about a cup of unsweetened chocolate. Turned off heat, cup of sugar, 16 ounce of farmers cheese, scrapings of 3 vanilla beans, pinch of salt, 4 whisked eggs. Tasted, not chocolaty enough, added about a 1/2 cup of dutched coco, definitely amped up the chocolate. Put in a loaf pan lined with the potato dough, covered totally, brushed with a milk and egg wash. Baked at 375 for about 40 minutes. It expanded a little and cracked the top, will have to account for that if I do this recipe again.


Cured Salmon: Put up a side of fish for brunch this Saturday. About 2.5 pound side, in a dish wrapped in plastic, dill, parsley, cilantro, brown sugar, a lot of salt, creme de cassis, all under about 20 lbs of pressure. Will flip in Friday morning.

LUNCH: 12:30pm, prosciutto wrapped cabbage, lobster finger sandwich, shot of tomato broth, assorted rolls with lardo, pork sausage lump with lentils and stewed veg, raw & poached seafood in a spicy tomato water, chocolaty thingy with olive oil gelato, various petite fours, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Went to Del Posto, very very impressed, the most I've been impressed with a restaurant in a long time. I try to avoid being an amateur restaurant critic here, and especially an amateur critic talking about such a known star like Batali, but I gotta say something. The room was beautiful and understated, the main aural component was a live piano player tinkling in the background, the service was attentive but not overbearing. The food was pretty much perfect from the get go. A few nice touches, like lardo (rendered pork fat) along with the butter for the bread was fun. The broth of my entree was achingly perfect -- I sometimes get annoyed with restaurants because I feel I can make the same exact dish for a lot less money at home, or I can do it a lot better, but this broth -- it was the perfect balance of fresh vegetal notes, salt, acid and spice -- any one of those notes would have made this soup taste anywhere from humdrum to just nasty, but this was balanced, perfectly, complex, wonderful. Two other good things -- it was just enough food to feel very satiated but not stuffed, and because it was lunch during the week, all three courses, and all the in between amuse bouches and petite fours, were $29 all in! I really expected it to be closer to double that, and I feel like the combo of food, service and atmosphere justified it. Gottta take my wifey there ASAP.

PM SNACK: 7pm, bite of cabbage knish, small broccoli-cheddar-potato knish, water, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING SNACK: 9pm, small bowl of health salad, potato chips, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5


EVENING SNACK 11pm, pumpernickel pretzels with nutella, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Potato Memories

While cooking today, I had a strong food memory pounce on me, unexpectedly. As an experiment, instead of boiling peeled potatoes, I baked them whole for 2 and half hours, then split them while hot to let out steam before discarding the skins and sending the flesh through the food mill. The smell of the steam coming out of the over-baked potatoes sent me back....

It was in the kitchen of the house I grew up on Staten Island. My mom was making some sort of chicken or lamb chop, along with mashed potatoes. This evening was a little unusual, because my mom had a friend over from work, it was her assistant or secretary, maybe one and the same. My brother was there, too. For some reason, I told my mom that I wanted baked potatoes, not mashed potatoes. I didn't have some big preference for one or the other, but for some reason I insisted that THAT was what I wanted. She took one of the potatoes she was going to peel, boil and mash, and placed it in the oven. Being that dinner was 2 hours out, this was probably the longest that Mom would ever bake a potato. I remember when we sat down at the table, she was just finishing cooking but my potato was the first thing to come out. I cut it in half and a fragrant poof of potato steam came out of the spud, giving a wonderful scent all over the kitchen. Mom's friend said, "That's the potato yeast", and I could see her staring hungrily at my potato. I started eating it immediately, I think I was 4 or 5 and had no great desire to be polite or classy. I did know that I enjoyed my baked potato more than anyone enjoyed the mashed.

I was not a big pain in the ass when it came to food and special meals, but I guess getting my mom to bend to my will in front of one of her professional friends was some how exciting.

TODAY'S COOKING:
Knishes: Prep for potato, sweet potato, cabbage, kasha, spinach, broccoli cheddar and the dough.  Dough needs to rest upwards of a day. Baked 5lbs of potato, caramelized 5 lbs of chopped onion. Found I didn't have enough potato, so got more potato from today's CSA, peeled and boiled them and used them for the broccoli and spinach fillings. Cooked up a cup of kasha, added the sauteed onion as well as garlicky sauteed mushroom. Sauteed 1/4 of a cabbage with a little vinegar, salt and sugar.

Heath Salad: Used 3/4 of a head to make the standard recipe, definitely need more raw veg in me soon.

BREAKFAST: 9:45am, good granola in organic dead milk, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 1:45pm, breaded tilapia, 2 ears of boiled corn, can of grape soda, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 6:30pm, large green salad, potato chips, frozen pizza, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
I was going to have gnocchi for dinner, but for whatever reason, boiling them from frozen turned them into a homogeneous mush. When I boiled them the day I made them, they retained their shape. Oh well.

EVENING SNACK: 9:30pm, chocolate chips & peanuts, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Mainecentric

The weekend was nice, we were in Portland (Maine) for the wedding of a good friend, and stayed in the home of B's cousin, who was out of town. My eating habits were a bit crappy, as options were limited, but the food at the wedding was spectacular, very-Mainecentric: lobster and corn boiled up together, clam chowder, mussels, cornbread, whoopie pies, too much alcohol.

Today, B was off and we had a nanny looking after Edie, so we took a date day -- a vacation away from our vacation. We walked to Union Square for a movie, stopping in on Odessa off of Washington Square for a late breakfast. I was greatly disappointed to find they did not have ANY Polish food on the menu, just a short crappy diner menu. Cheap, but not good at all. After the movie we walked  a bit then took a cab to Chinatown for massages. By the time the massage was over, I was hungrier in a way like I haven't been in a long time. Maybe the massage and high humidity didn't help, but my legs were were rubbery, my head was feeling light, and I needed something immediately. On the walk east, we passed a gelato stand and I scarfed some. We passed a little cart making tiny little egg cakes, and I scarfed a baggie. B had a big snack after the movie, so we went to one of my favorite holes, C&L Dumpling, and I gorged on rice and dumplings. Still felt beat up, but functional.

Went grocery shopping in the evening, looking forward to getting back on a better eating track. Didn't lift weights, woke up too late.

BREAKFAST: 10:30am, pancakes, bacon, homefries, water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


LINNER: 4pm, shrimp fried rice, pork chive dumplings, egg cakes, chocolate gelato, sugary apple juice, 2 bowl, hunger 5/5


EVENING SNACK: 9pm, chocolate chips & peanuts, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5


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

Gnocchi & Really Big Babka

A good day of shopping in the morning, cooking with my friend DJ from Cali in the afternoon, a walk to the swings with Edie after, then more friends over in the evening for a nice mid-week dinner.

Tomorrow, the family & I leave for Portland, Maine, to attend the wedding of the friend who actually introduced us. I guess this time is as good as any to pause and relax. To all 2 of my faithful readers, I'll resume writing on Monday, and weigh-in then, too.


TODAY'S COOKING
Gnocchi: Made gnocchi in c-school, but these were better. The thing is being strict about very little moisture in the dough -- baking the potatoes instead of boiling them, and peeling them and chopping them up when they come out of the oven to let out a lot of steam.  From there, some flour, a little egg, minimal mixing then off to rolling tubes, chopping, indenting & rolling with a fork, boiled for less than 2 minutes. Light, fluffy. I had some problems with my home's plumbing which caused the gas to be shut off for a few hours, and the result was the potatoes were a little underbaked, so there was slight lumpy/grittiness to the gnocchi, but not enough to make it bad -- I'd be disappointed in a restaurant, but a good first try for home cooking.

Babka: Have done this recipe many times now, this time we just did two really big babkas, lowered the temp to 325 from the go, and let them bake for about 90 minutes. Came out pretty good.

BREAKFAST: 9am, watermelon, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5


AM SNACK: 11am, brown rice California roll, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5


AM SNACK: 11:30am, ritz crackers with freshly ground peanut butter, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5


LUNCH: 3:30pm, kraft dinner with sauteed veg, water, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 6:30pm, moz & heirloom tomatoes with olive oil and balsamic, gnocchi with tomato sauce, sauteed spinach, babka & orange sorbet, 2 glasses of wine, water, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5


EVENING SNACK: 10:30pm, small bowl of potato chips, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Unhappy Meal

Needed a day outside. Did not sleep much, but managed to get out with Edie on the bike (with stroller attached) and pedalled over to the Prospect Park Zoo. Felt nicely sore from yesterday's workout, but not out of control like last week. Spent a solid 2 hours before taking a walk into the neighborhood bordering the east side of the park -- yick. Just fastfood.

So I hit up McD's with Edie. I got myself my usual 2 tiny hamburgers with fries, this time with diet coke because I was sleepy. While in there, Edie looked at me and asked, "Pizza?" because I guess the only time I've ever gone for fast food with Edie has been to indie pizza joints! I got her a "happy meal", something I've never bought before. Food wise, it was 4 chicken mcnuggets, a bag of peeled apple slices, 2 packets of corn syrup dressed up like "caramel dip", and 8oz of 1% milk. Packaging wise, it had a toy "twinkle toes" shoe on a key chain that lit up (brought to us by Sketchers, collect them all), stickers advertising the shoes, and a box that on one side had a McD logo, one side had a "I love apples with caramel!" thingy, one side for girls that was basically an ad for Sketcher's Twinkle Toes shoes, and one side for boys with some sort of Nickelodeon cartoon thing. Ick.

By the time we got back to the park, Edie fell asleep, and I corrected the "happy meal". I ate the nuggets, threw away the caramel stuff and all the packaging, and placed the milk on the ice that came with my soda to keep it cold until Edie woke up. Jeez. I read through all the packaging. Despite the diet coke, I ate about 50% of fat and salt for the day, and 40% of my calories. Edie's food would have been about 20% of all of that....FOR AN ADULT. Damn. 20% for a 180 lb adult is like 120% for a 30 lb Edie!


TODAY'S COOKING:
Kraft Dinner with Sauteed Veg: I guess this is my version of that horrible "Semi-Homemade" show. Caramelized a boat load of onions for a few hours, added sliced mushrooms and a couple of peppers from the CSA. Substituted butter and whole milk for margarine and skim in the kraft dinner, and gave the whole mix a solid grind of black pepper and a shot of siracha hot sauce. Really good, though the peppers gave a weird crunchy texture. Unfortunately too spicy for Edie & B, will cut back on that next time.

BREAKFAST: 8:45am, organic whole grain cheerios with organic dead milk, banana, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5


LUNCH: noon, 2 hamburgers, fries, 4 chicken nuggets, diet coke, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5


PM SNACK: 3:30pm, watermelon, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 6pm, kraft dinner with veg, handful of baby carrots, large chocolate chip cookie, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5 
Unsurprisingly, this meal prevented me from desiring sweets in the evening.

Oven back on

Our nanny didn't come today because the subways were still wonky this morning, but I had a good day with Edie. Oven fixed in the morning, went to the local diner while the laundry was in the wash. We road around the 'hood and checked out the fallen tries before nap time. Went out again in the afternoon to the playground by South Street Seaport.


TODAY'S COOKING:
Granola: The oven got fixed in the morning, so gave the refrigerated raw granola the sniff test then baked it for 40 minutes at 300, stirring every 10. Came out nice and golden and smelling like it should. Cut up some dried apple into it at the end.

Utilitarian Spinach: Put a bunch of frozen chopped spinach in the pot, a little water, a shake of powdered onion, a shake of salt, a couple of fresh cloves of minced garlic, a drop of olive oil, heat to low, covered and let cook for about 20 minutes. Pretty good for a no-work spinach.

BREAKFAST: 10:30am, BLT on rye, homefries, diet coke, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 2:30pm, breaded shrimp, cooked spinach, huge piece of watermelon, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Bought this breaded shrimp product as an experiment. 2 lbs for about $15. Unlike the usual freezer section breaded shrimp, this shrimp is raw and the baking both cooks the shrimp and crisps the breading. Precooked reheated shrimp is always tough, and while breading my own shrimp before baking is relatively simple, it involves several moving parts. This is all about convenience without sacrificing TOO much quality. Instructions says 400 for 12 minutes, turning once. It was a bit mushy in the coating, gonna try 450 for 10 minutes next time. If it doesn't improve, it might make sense to just use better quality raw shrimp and process it myself. Gotta think of a simple breading style.

DINNER: 6:45pm, hotdog, potato chips, pickle, water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

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

EVENING SNACK: midnight, orange sorbet, potato chips, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

Bunker Style.

Slothful. The storm started early, around 4am and by the time I woke around 9:30, it was all over, no rain, just a little wind and clouds. Edie slept through the night. We took a walk in the stroller around the hood to see a few downed trees and happy people out, stretching their legs.

Food-wise, still eating in a bunker-style, all carbs and fat and little else. We indulged in ordering in Chinese in the evening to make things easy and help make things feel celebratory. Mind and body definitely feeling the results of it, the same way I feel when travelling abroad for a while and all I want is some fruit and veg and water and little else. I suspect tomorrow, the ship will start to turn back to a better healthier style, though I suspect I'll be on the heavier side for the upcoming weigh-in.

Regardless, the family is healthy, happy and safe.


BREAKFAST: 10am, pancakes, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: noon, potato chips, .5 bowl, hunger 4.5

LUNCH: 1pm, toasted bagel with cream cheese and onion, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 7pm, lomein, shrimp toast, grape soda, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


EVENING SNACK: 9:30pm, veg dumplings, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Rain, Wind

Did not sleep well, got to bed around 4, woke a little after 10. Good thing both B and her mom are here to cater to Edie's wants and needs. Rain started this morning, growing to a light weight storm in the evening, though the hurricane eye is suppose to blow over us around 8am, which should be exciting. I did not leave the house today, though the three ladies took a walk to the corner CVS to bring me cookies (and B snarfed down a pint of ice cream by her self.) Not a good eating day, in fact this past week has been pretty gruesome -- eating poorly due to sickness and soreness rolled right into the stress of thinking of how potential loss of power and running water will effect my ability to keep my beautifully unaware toddler comfortable and happy.

God, it was great to be a kid, it only started sucking when I wanted control of things for myself.


BREAKFAST: 10:30am, pizza, water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


PM SNACK: 12:30pm, chocolate chip cookies, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5


LUNCH: 2:30pm, rustic pasta, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5


PM SNACK: 5:30pm, chocolate chip cookies, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 8pm, falafel balls, hummus, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


EVENING SNACK: 8:30pm, popcorn, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

There is a storm a-brewin'

Plans got cancelled today, as the whole city is gearing up for Hurricane Irene which should be hitting us tomorrow night. My Sunday Northfork Century has been officially postponed. B's mom, who lives far uptown on her own, came down during the day and will be staying with us until Monday or Tuesday. Instead of doing family stuff, I spent a few hours at the local supermarkets picking up some basic stuff, particularly geared torward's Edie's needs. Everything should be fine. The only real bad thing that might happen is that we'll lose electricity, and if that goes on for a while might make it difficult to restock on things by the time we run out mid-week.

TODAY'S COOKING
Rustic Pasta: Had an excess of onion and plum tomatoes from the CSA, so I sweated the onion cut into half moons in olive oil, minced 4 cloves of garlic and rough chopped tomatoes along with chopped CSA basil. Poured an 8 oz bottle of champagne into it and cooked off the liquid. Added dried thyme and oregano, a bit more salt. Simple, but fragrant and happy-tasting.

BREAKFAST: 9am, brown rice crispies with organic dead milk, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 3pm, rustic pasta, emergency pie, water, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 6:30pm, pizza, 1 glass wine, water, orange sorbet, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Better

Still feeling ill, but a bit better. B had a doc appt in the morning, but was able to cover Edie in the afternoon while I glued myself to the couch. Ordered in Chinese for lunch, which also became dinner. Legs still sore, but better -- I guess the Monday work out combined with a bug made recovery very difficult for them.

BREAKFAST: 9am, organic chex with organic dead milk, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5


AM SNACK: 10:45am, 5 falafel balls with hummus


LUNCH: 3pm, sesame beef with white rice, shrimp toast, water. 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 7pm, sesame beef with white rice, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


EVENING SNACK: 9pm, orange sorbet, chocolate chips & peanuts, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

Sickly

Tried to wake at 8:30 to cover Edie until the babysitter came, but felt destroyed and B hung out. Finally woke up at 12:30, feeling tired, sore all over and cloudy in the head. Never been sick like this. Gastric system seems to be fine, don't have a temp, just worn down for no particular reason. Legs very sore.


BREAKFAST: 12:45pm, brown rice crispies with dead organic milk, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5


PM SNACK: 3:45pm, cashews & chocolate chips, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5


LINNER: 5:30pm, 1 2/3 slices of streetza, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


EVENING SNACK: 7pm, watermelon, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

Engagement Liver

Last night, I found out my close friend E got engaged to her steady. About a week ago, we had this email exchange:

From: e gmail.com>
Date: Wed, Aug 17, 2011 at 2:22 PM
Subject: Re: both jewy and waspy
To: Norbert <norbert@gmail.com>

devilved eggs w/ chicken livers http://www.saveur.com/article/Recipes/Toltott-Tojas-Chicken-Liver-Stuffed-Eggs
looks delish!

From: Norbert <norbert@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, Aug 17, 2011 at 3:14 PM
Subject: Re: both jewy and waspy
To: e gmail.com>

U placing an order? :). I'll make em for your engagement party, he he he

Sent from iNorbert

So this afternoon I made them, and brought them over to her house in the evening! Fortunately it just required a saute pan and a food processor because...my oven doesn't work! The burners and broiler works fine, but the oven won't get hot -- probably the element burned out. Have an appointment on Friday, but until then, no baking. I was planning on doing sweet knishes today, hopefully the dough will hold out until then. Additionally, I was about to pop a sheet of granola in the oven when I found it dead. It's sitting raw in the fridge until the oven is back up.

In the evening, started feeling unusually tired and sore in the legs -- usually soreness from a morning work out peaks the next morning when I wake up, but this soreness seemed to be getting worse the following evening...

TODAY'S COOKING:
Orange Vanilla Sorbet: Mixed the ingredients with three more vanilla bean scrapings, ran through the ice cream maker, waiting for it to set. Tasted some of the loose batter, oh my, very vanilla-y.

Chicken Liver Deviled Eggs: I tasted a bit of the mousse for salt, but holy crap do I hate this stuff. Tastes minerally, funky, eggy, yucky!

BREAKFAST: 10am, good yogurt with honey, peanuts and vanilla, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 1pm, falafel balls, hummus, water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 6pm, boxed kraft mac n' cheese, a beer, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5 
Starting to really feel tired and off. Despite making salad from CSA veg, needed something fast, easy and filling.


EVENING SNORT: 7:30pm, 1 beer
In Brooklyn with E&T, celebrating their new engagement. Feeling tired.

EVENING SNACK: 9:30pm, watermelon


EVENING SNACK: 11:30pm, chocolate chips and peanuts, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

My hot greasy balls

I don't know if my weight will be up or down this month, but this is for certain -- I now have small, hard muscles underneath my flabby midsection that never existed before. As I was stretching this morning in preparation for one of my new more intense 2-a-week sessions, I felt a few more muscles I never felt before, and again my first thought is, uh oh, is that a hernia? A bit of my intestine poking out? If it was, I would be in intense pain, and not raising the number of sit ups by a full 1/3...

By evening ends, my shoulders and legs were sore and stiff, usually it takes a night's sleep before that kicks in....



TODAY'S COOKING:
Falafel: I've made this twice in c-school, and twice at home. Once in c-school it failed, and both times at home it failed -- all because the batter was too wet and in the deep frying, it became hollowed-out falafel skins. I followed the recipe again, (20oz onion and 12 garlic cloves processed to liquid, bunch of parsley and bunch of cilantro processed to past with cumin, cayenne, turmeric and salt, then 4 cups of chickpeas processed to pebbly, then all mixed together with flour and baking soda.) THIS TIME I used whole wheat flour, and instead of sticking the recommend 4-6 ounces, I just kept adding until the consistency looked nice and firm, probably about 16 ounces of flour in the end. I refrigerated the mix for an hour or so, then scooped into balls and fried in 400 degree peanut oil.

First did 2-ounce scoops, but they were not cooking in the middle, so ended up doing 1/4 of that (which is a tablespoon, as we all know) which cooked to the center while getting nice and mahogany on the outside. They stayed intact, and while a little bit too spicy for my palate, were just right in terms of chickpeaness, aromatics, seasoning and greasiness. Over all, a success. Glad I went heavy on the whole wheat flour. And they're vegan! Did not need any egg to hold them together.


Sorbet Components: Made meringue again, as well as a quart of the basic sorbet syrup, this time with vanilla sugar in each, and in the syrup I added the husks of a bunch of spent vanilla pods that the vanilla sugar was resting with as well as the zest of a full orange as the mixture came from room temp to rolling boil. I figure building as much flavor into the components will make the final product all the more strong when I toss in the freshly squeezed juice (of orange, with a little lemon for snap.)

BREAKFAST: 10:30am, brown rice crispies with organic dead milk, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5


LUNCH: noon, 1.5 pieces of tomato and moz focaccia, water, one chocolate street cone, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


PM SNACK: 4:15pm, nutella & whole wheat pita chips, water, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 7:15pm, large green salad, 8 or so falafel balls, one ear of boiled corn, 1 beer, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Haven't had beer in the house for casual drinking in the longest time. It's Rolling Rock, a crappy industrial brew, but I drank it a lot in college and it has a very light, sweet taste that is enjoyable with heavy food. Really made the meal special.

EVENING SNACK: 9:30pm, watermelon

A Favorite Underrepresented Food

Baby party in Prospect Heights in the morning, a nice bike ride with Edie there and back. Stayed local with Edie in the parks around the building while B slept the afternoon away.

Ordered in some Malaysian food in the evening as a special treat -- their version of Singapore Mei Fun has little bits of sweet Chinese sausage, which is definitely one of my favorite underrepresented foods. I remember making it in c-school: it's dry sausage that is sweeter than most, but the sweetness is balanced with soy and other dark, rich flavors. Hmmmm, maybe I should attempt to make some, though I don't know if B would be down with me hanging sausage links around the house, waiting for them to get nice and hard. It's not a smell-free process...

BREAKFAST: 8:45am, organic whole grain chex with organic dead milk, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5


BRUNCH: 10:30am, whole wheat bagel with cream cheese, salmon & trout, small chocolate coconut milk, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


LUNCH: 1:30pm, bean burrito, large green salad, pita chips with nutella, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


PM SNACK: 5:30pm, half a kasha knish, a little lime sorbet, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 7:30pm, singapore mei fun, roti canai, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5


EVENING SNACK: 8:30pm, chocolate chips & peanuts, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Laid Back on a Bike

A bunch of friends, some with babies, rode bikes with me up the summerstreets event in the morning, and we picnicked in the playground near the 72nd St. entrance of Central Parks, as the heavy rains yesterday left the grass soaking. Edie babbled through her nap, but I fell fast asleep for a few hours after snarfing some nutella. Edie & I got on the bike again in the afternoon to Prospect Park to hang out with E&T, and a dog named Oreo. By the time we got home I was quite ravenous and made myself an over-sized bowl of pasta. Got to bed around 10. A good laid-back day on a bike with my daughter.

BREAKFAST: 7:15am, brown rice crispies with organic dead milk, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5


BRUNCH: 9:15am, a couple mini knishes, half a ham & cheese sandwich, a donut & a half, a breakfast sausage, water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 2pm, whole grain pita chips with nutella, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 6:30pm, pasta with homemade sauce and freshly sauteed shrimp, water, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

Knish 3.0: Kasha, Broccoli Cheddar

B claims that our favorite brand of Greek yogurt's fat-free version is just as tasty, if not more so, than their full fat version.This flies in the face of human biology, as our bodies are programmed to seek out certain things, sugar, salt and above all fat. It's why these things make food taste good. Remove one, two or three of them, and things just don't taste right. I suspect B's sense of femininity and body image has something to do with fooling herself into this yogurt deception, but what do I know.

I bring this up because I noticed I used plain AP white flour in my knish dough today. Otherwise, I've been eating almost exclusively whole grain breads, whether made at home, at the falafel joint yesterday, the brown rice in my rice n' beans and rice n' lentils, the pita chips I buy for my family, the pretzels, and on and on. I think I became conscious of whole-grain products years ago as a health measure, but I do believe I like the taste of (most) whole grain products more than their refined grain counterparts (one glaring exception -- any grain product from the sweet side of life, from cookies to pancakes, are kinda ick. An exception to that exception - graham crackers) Am I Betsying myself into thinking this actually tastes better? I don't think so. Whole grain is WHOLE, it's not removing fat or sugar or salt, it simply is not removing the bran (fiber) of the bigger grain. This actually does bring some flavor, a certain nuttiness in some grains, a rich leafy undertone in others.

I gotta make another stab at graham crackers, replace the molasses with more brown sugar...

On a side note, not as sore as I hoped from yesterday's upper body weight lifting. Think next week to go from 3 to two times a week full body, with more reps across the board.

TODAY'S COOKING:
Knishes: As I went along, I kept thinking about how to do this x10. That's a lot of potatoes to peel and chop and boil, that's a lot of onions to cry over while dicing and slowly caramelizing. Made double batch of dough, used half of it, the other half for some sort of sweet knishes later in the week. Cranked the oven to 425 this time (recipe calls for 375) and checked occasionally -- 28 minutes gave some nice browning to the tops. I think I may even go hotter next time. Potato knishes came out good, I'm happy with the potato-onion balance, and dough has a nice thinness to it. Needed a little more salt and a healthy dose of freshly ground black pepper would help, too. The kasha was good, cooked with water, a little butter and salt, a little pepper, and sauteed fresh mushrooms with a little garlic. Needed a little more salt. After it cooked, I mixed in two eggs, which helped firm up the mix in the final knish -- it had a little bit of firmness when bitten, instead of just crumbling. I also made a handful of broc-cheddar knishes. A cup of broccoli quick-steamed, chopped, and mixed with equal amounts potato mixture and shredded mild cheddar (left over from burrito making.) They came out rather attractive, and the cheese gave a nice saltiness to it.

BREAKFAST: 8:45am, toasted pumpernickel bagel with cream cheese, onion and tomato, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 12:30pm, breaded tilapia, 2 bean burritos, pickle, large green salad, watermelon, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5 

DINNER 1: 5:30pm, broccoli cheddar knish, kasha knish, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5 
Broc-ched knish better than expected. It is very American, and has a sheen of health to it, I think this could be popular.



DINNER 2: 7:15pm, hot dog, a little lime sorbet, peanuts & chocolate chips, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING SNACK: 9pm, watermelon, whole wheat pita chips, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Testicles

Had dinner with friends at M. Wells this evening, a fine-dining diner in LIC that's been getting a lot of press, first for their menu, now because they lost their lease after 1 year and must close. The food was good, if a little precious (the duck testicles in the casoulet were barely distinguishable from the white beans) and I really did not enjoy the shabby railroad-style diner while paying fancy-pants prices. But it was nice to get out.

Lifted weights on the upper body today -- did 25 push-ups, a new personal lifetime record. However, I tried to double the reps and found because I wasn't pausing my normal half to full second between actions, 10 reps felt a lot harder, he he. Instead of increasing weight on on some of this weight-lifting, going to focus on uninterupted motion and increasing reps.


TODAY'S COOKING
Burritos: Had a big container of black beans and brown rice I cooked a while ago. Bought a 24 whole wheat tortillas, shredded 3/4 of a pound of mild cheddar, and made a simple guac in the food processor (2 onions to liquidy, then two heads of cilantro, juice of two limes, a little salt, a little olive oil and the flesh of 5 avocados, all pulsed until relatively smooth -- came out more like an avocado mousse than what I was hoping for, oh well). Upon eating them, I found the soft smoothness of the cheese and guac, agains the overly-soft beans and rice (I think I didn't cook it down far enough) made for a very soft burrito lacking texture. I suspect Edie & B will dig them, though.

BREAKFAST: 9:30am, good yogurt with honey, vanilla and peanuts, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5


LUNCH: 12:30pm, large green salad, 2 bean burritos, watermelon, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 4:45pm, falafel sandwich on whole wheat, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 8pm, duck-testicle casoulet, escargot & marrow, cesar salad, rib-eye steak, mackerel with spatzle and ratatouille, banana cream pie, angel food cake with whipped cream and blueberries, maple pie, ice cream, 1 beer, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Staten Island Ur-Ride

Took a loop around Staten Island on the bike. Changed up the route a little, so the last leg was my "ur-ride" -- the first long ride I ever took. When I was 9 or 10, I got on my blue Ross no-speed and rode to the SI Mall for a McDonalds chocolate shake, then home -- as it turns out, that's 14 miles round trip for my little self!

Did a little food shop at Wholefoods after, picked up a Chinese brick in honor of my parents on the way home. Thought I was gonna do some cooking, but just conked out. Still pleasantly sore from Monday's workout, looking forward to pushing it on the upper parts tomorrow morning.

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


BIKE SNACK: 11:30am, Gatorade, coffee cake, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

BIKE LUNCH: 2pm, 6" veggie burger sub, a few corn chips, cherry coke, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 6:30pm, curry chicken with pork fried rice, egg roll, slice of cheese cake, water, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING SNACK: 8:30pm, lime sorbet, .5 bowl hunger 4/5

Thinking of more sorbet

Chill Tuesday with the Ediegirl. Playground in the morning, a visit to Y at her new office in the afternoon followed by a nice playdate with a mom friend after. Picked up some nice CSA stuff on the way home, food shopping in the evening.

Pleasantly sore from the lower work out on Monday, nice to be sore again.

TODAY'S COOKING:
Lime Sorbet: Mixed the three components together in the work bowl of the kitchen aid (1.5 quarts of slightly gelatinized simple syrup, 4 oz of cooked stiff meringue, a pint of lime juice), strain out the remaining lumps of meringue and fed into the ice cream maker. Incredibly smooth and supple, very sweet. Basically the best lime Italian ice you'll ever have, gotta do this again with freshly squeeze orange juice and a jigger of vanilla!

AM SNACK: 9am, bite of banana


LUNCH: noon, sardine & avocado on homemade whole wheat bread, a few whole wheat pretzels, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


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


DINNER: 8pm, mashed potatoes with sauteed chili vegetables, lime sorbet, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING SNACK: 10pm, nutella with whole grain pretzels, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

Easing into Monday

Spent part of the day in the movie theater, another part at home cooking up some random things. I think I need to cook some knishes and other savory things ASAP, the fridge is looking bare...

Changed up the weight regimen this morning, did only muscle groups below the chest, and doubled the reps -- the exercises I could complete the reps, I'm going to up the weight, the ones where I can't, the weight will remain for now. Thursday I will do the same for chest/arms/shoulders. Probably take a month to cycle through the whole routine, and will probably up my soreness, but the 1-time-a-week on each group instead of three should ease with recovery.

TODAY'S COOKING:
Lime Sorbet Components: Had all these extra limes that B picked up, so I busted out a c-school recipe. Three components: Pint of freshly squeeze lime juice, 2 ounces of cooked meringue (1 egg white, 2 oz sugar, whipped in a double boiler until very hot then finished in the kitchen aide until doubled in volume), and 5 cups of sorbet basic syrup (quart of water, pound and a half of sugar, 6 oz of corn syrup and 2 oz of gelatin brought to a rolling boil then refrigerated). Once chilled, the three components will be thoroughly mixed then sent through the ice cream maker.

Graham Crackers: Found graham flour in the supermarket randomly, so I indulged myself in the afternoon with this recipe. Came out very very molassesy, but I love the gritty texture-- usually grit is nasty, but something about graham grit that is actually quite nice. Might either adjust molasses down and increase brown sugar, or find a different recipe all together.

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


LUNCH: 12:30pm, good peanut butter on homemade whole wheat multigrain bread, potato chips, 2 pickles, water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Probably the healthiest lunch in the entire theater, once again.



PM SNACK: 5:45pm, large green salad, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 6:30pm, pasta with sauce, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5


EVENING SNACK: 8pm, popcorn, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5


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

Sunday Rain & Work

Rainy Sunday. B & E went uptown to visit grandma while I hunkered in and popped out a large but hearty presentation for a LS all about her knish life, for a lecture she's giving in a week. It was nice to do that kind of work again, it made 5 hours fly by like it was nothing.

Got out of the house in the late afternoon and picked up some Subway -- yes it's fast food, but at least I didn't have it delivered, he he.

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


LUNCH: 1pm, mashed potato with chili veg, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 3pm, peanuts and chocolate chips, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 6:15pm, foot long veggie burger sub, potato chips, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Definitely Indulgent

Due to B's sore throat and Edie's multiple poos yesterday, our overnight trip to CT was cancelled (along with my plans to ride my bike there today and home tomorrow.) I woke late, then packed Edie on the bike and we road the Summerstreets event to Union Square for a little shopping in the Farmer's Market.

In the afternoon, we three made it to the Hester Street Fair and spent a fair amount of time in a playground. We did some food shopping on the way home for the evening's dinner, and got to bed before 10pm.

TODAY'S COOKING:
Mashed Potato with Chili Veg: Made potatoes with the technique I learned in C-school: Boiled the peeled, cut up spuds until soft, baked them for 5 minutes to make them totally dry, ran through a food mill, a small amount of hot heavy cream, melted butter and salt, folded in minimally and poof, perfect mashed potatoes. Softened onions in peanut oil, added bell pepper and mushrooms, added a few tablespoons of chili powder then half a head of crushed garlic, a bit of salt. It was a nice dinner.


BREAKFAST: 10am, toasted bagel & cream cheese, water, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 1:45pm, breaded tilapia, brown rice & lentils, 2 ears boiled corn, large green salad, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 4pm, bite of a Mexican ice pop


DINNER: 6:15pm, sauteed mushroom, peppers and onions in chili sauce, mashed potatoes, cookies, water, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Bought a box of shmancy cookies to share with B while watching TV, definitely indulgent.

Good morning, bleah day

I was planning to ride this morning, but when I woke up at 6, I just felt like hanging out with Edie more, and Saturday and Sunday had riding plans anyway which would minimize my Edie time. So I fired up my old cast iron waffle iron and was in mid-waffling when Edie woke. I was able to whisk her into the kitchen for fresh waffles whilst Lady B slept away. Once waffling was done, Edie & I spent a nice couple of hours outside around the building, in the garden, in the playground.

Unfortunately, that was the high point of the day. Both Edie and B seemed to be a little ill in the afternoon, plans cancelled. I felt grumpy and did a fry-up for lunch. A lot of sugary snacking in the afternoon, culminating in a lazy order-in in the evening.

TODAY'S COOKING:
Waffles: The c-school recipe, doubled, with three vanilla beans scrapings. The main challenge is working with the 1918 campfire waffle iron, an old caste iron beast that is very temperamental, but fun because you never quite know what your gonna get. I end up eating the burnt ones on the spot, so the 7 or 8 that get to go in the freezer look reasonable.

Corn Tortilla Chips: A pack of corn tortillas cut into 6 wedges each, fried in peanut oil around 400 degrees. I let them go a little too brown, I found that when I took them out of the oil they continue to brown a little - lesson learned. I forgot to tell B, but the only way to make these cost effective is to strain the oil and keep it in the freezer until the next fry-up. Oh well.

BREAKFAST: 7am, 3 waffles, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


LUNCH: 12:30pm, corn tortilla chips, health salad, pickle, water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


PM SNACK: 3:45pm, peanuts & chocolate chips, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5


PM SNACK: 5pm, bites of assorted donuts, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 9pm, roti canai, Malasian style shrimp and stringbeans with white rice, chocolate donut, water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

Streetza for Dinner

Had a hard time falling asleep last night, life on my mind. Got through it with just a snack of watermelon, so that's not too bad!

Seriously reconsidering my weight regimen -- may go from three times a week to two times a week, but greatly increase a combination of weight and reps -- maybe even split it so one day is from the abdominals down, one day is from the chest up.

TODAY'S COOKING
Rice & Lentils: An experimental batch, to be adjusted then made later in larger quantities to live off for a week. One cup of long grain brown rice, one half cup of green lentils, simmered in 3 1/2 cups of water, a dash of salt, a drop of olive oil, some freshly chopped up dried porcini's from Tay-Tay's stash, a little dried taragon. Simmered about 40 minutes until the moisture was absorbed. Tasted ok, tenderness right, probably could have used twice the amount of all add-ins.

BREAKFAST: 9:15am, brown rice crispies with organic dead milk

LUNCH: 12:45pm, shrimp, rice & lentils, health salad, pickle, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 5:15pm, large green salad, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 6:15pm, 2 slices streetza, water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


EVENING SNACK: 7:30pm, chocolate chips & peanuts, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Papa Corn?!

Had a check in with a dermatologist in the morning (all is well), a meeting at the high school about the coming 2 semesters of the culinary class I'll be teaching. Though I served Edie pasta for dinner, which she likes, when she saw my corn, her eyes lit up and basically started pointing and chanted, "Papa corn?!" over and over again until I got up and cut off a third of an ear and put it on her plate. She finished that, maybe another 1/4 of another ear, all her pasta, and almost an entire "ice cream" (smoothie) frozen pop. Ahhhh, I love her so much, she's a good eater.


TODAY'S COOKING
Hamburgers: Got 1/2 pound of organic, 85% lean local beef from WF, wanted to grind my own but the chuck I saw didn't look very fresh. Mixed in one grated onion, a shot of Worcestershire, a small shot of Tabasco and a pinch of salt. According to FDA, you need to bring ground meat to 160, which I did in my caste iron pan with a electronic thermometer. Got a nice seared crust on the the burgers, sauteed in butter. I found it a bit overcooked -- 160 is definitely well done. I really gotta grind it myself, so I can more comfortably eat it at a medium temp.

BREAKFAST: 8:15am, smoothie, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


LUNCH: 12:30pm, 1 plain slice, 1 square slice, diet coke, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


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


DINNER: 5:30pm, 2 hamburgers, 2 ears of corn, water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


EVENING SNACK: 7:30pm, dark chocolate chips & peanuts, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

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

Sweet attack

Tried to go without sweets, and it just made me feel urgggg and I ran out to the corner shop to pick up some sweets. Part of it was the meal prior -- pasta has a high glycemic index, the other part was since I didn't have anything sweet on hand where I could have had a small amount and cut it with nuts or peanut butter, instead I ate a lot more sweets. I need to keep chips or the like on hand, but keep them hidden from my ravenous wife! Unfortunately, all she has to do is read this blog if she wants to know if there are sweets in the house. Hrumph.

TODAY'S COOKING:
Tomato Sauce: Experimented a little on this batch. While cooking my aromatics -- onion, carrot, thyme, roasted garlic -- I added a tiny can of tomato paste and cooked that, too, before adding the whole canned tomatoes through a mill. Seasoned with salt, a little Tabasco, a little Worcestershire.

When making beef stock in culinary school, some tomato paste would be added and roasted on the bones to add richness. Even my dad would always add tomato paste to his sauce. Here in this sauce, I could taste it....and I don't like it. Yes, it gives a certain richness, a certain umami  edge to the sauce, but it also gives a more cooked, almost canned flavor to the sauce that is counter to the bright freshness that I like about making a homemade sauce -- it should taste like it's proud not be from a jar, not just a better version of a jarred sauce, if that makes any sense.


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


PM SNACK: 12:30pm, large piece of watermelon, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


LUNCH: 2:30pm, breaded tilapia, health salad, water,  .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 5:15pm, handful of sunchips 

DINNER: 6pm, pasta with sauce, water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


EVENING SNACK: 8:30pm, 2 cheap ice cream cones, small pack of chocolate chip cookies, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

Kraft Fail n' Cheese

Spent the day in chore-mode, shopping for food, diapers and the like. In the evening, I attended a test run of a knish lecture for a conference in California, it was a small, informal group of friends of the lecturer, writers, food-mavens and the like. For some odd reason she chose to serve pizza, which was all very nice but not a knish!


TODAY'S COOKING
Homemade Kraft Dinner-style Mac n' Cheese: Used this recipe. Came out...disgusting. I did eat a bowl, but trashed the rest -- I'm not a fan of throwing out edible food, but this stuff was just wrong. The main problem was the cheese: I used a low-quality sharp cheddar and it's off-notes were amplified by this recipe. There was too much mustard in it. And when it slightly cooled, the cheese sauce started coagulating at room temp into a very unappetizing paste. Oh well.

BREAKFAST: 8am, brown rice crispies with organic dead milk


AM SNACK: 11am, slice of homemade ww bread with freshly ground peanut butter, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5


LUNCH:1:30pm, mac n' cheese with mushroom & onion, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 5:30pm, watermelon

PM SNACK: 7:45pm, 1 slice of streetza, 1 pint of beer, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 10:30pm, shrimp toast, shrimp fried rice, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

On the couch

Woke up feeling tired, soon discovered I was a little off, and spent most of the day on the couch in and out of consciousness. Thank goodness for B to cover Edie, it would have been a nightmare if I had to rouse myself. Started to feel better by the evening and was able to get to sleep at a normal time.

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


LUNCH: 12:30pm, leftover shrimp vindaloo with rice, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 6:30pm, breaded tilapia, spinach knish, health salad, sun chips, small amount of chocolate ice cream, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

A compliment to me or an insult to pizza

Took Edie up and down the Summerstreets event. Swung by the Knish Knosh outpost by the 72nd Street boat basin around 10am, and those bastards told me they don't have knishes until 11am! What kind of knish vendor opens at 7am but doesn't serve knishes until 11? They had a lot of bagged chips, bottles and cans, sandwiches, and hot dogs....bleah, I guess they're there to serve the tourist community just as much as they're there to serve the knish.

Ended up with B and some f amily from out of town at H&H bagels before heading back home. Lazy afternoon taking Edie out. B went out with friends in the eve, so I pretended like I was single in my 20s after Edie went to bed and ordered in food and watched TV, he he.

Made Edie an English muffin with cheddar, melted nicely under the oven's broiler. She immediately called it "pizza!", which is either a compliment to me or an insult to pizza...


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


BRUNCH: 10:30am, onion bagel with cream cheese, LT&onion, diet sprite, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5
I hate how bagel places always put too much cream cheese on the bagel, there must be a balance. I always give a small press, and all the cheese that shoots into the middle hole and around the edges gets collected in a paper napkin. What a waste.

LUNCH: 1:30pm, small amount of pork tenderloin, small potato knish, small spinach knish, health salad, pickle, water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

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

PM SNACK: 7pm, roll of Chipsahoy cookies, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 8:45pm, shrimp vindaloo with rice, nan, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Jeez, I miss English Indian food -- this stuff ordered from my local Indian is horrible, and for some reason every time I order from them, I'm surprised. The shrimp was overcooked, the vindaloo was overly vinegary and oddly bland.



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

Morning vs Evening cravings

Rode out to Coney Island in the morning, lifted weights right after while still warm in the body. Ate small when my body cooled down and tried to avoid eating until meeting people for veg dim sum, but started feeling a bit light headed and groggy by 3pm, so had a snack.

Again, sweets cravings got the best of me in the evening. Hunger in the evening and sweets cravings seem to go hand in hand -- hunger in the morning isn't so sweets-focused. Hmmm.


BREAKFAST: 7:45am, toasted bagel with cream cheese, water, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5


BIKE SNACK: 10:30am, Gatorade


LUNCH: 12:45pm, large green salad, 1 small potato knish, water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


PM SNACK: 3:15pm, slice of whole wheat bread with hummus, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 4:30PM, assorted vegetarian dim sum, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5


EVENING SNACK: 7pm, 2 ice cream cones, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5


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

Sweets again

Woke up slightly sore from yesterday's morning weights -- I think I may have hit it a little harder because I knew I'd be sitting around all day. Went to a nice surprise party in the early evening with the family, ate a little bit of everything, but was craving sweets when I got home.

TODAY'S COOKING
Mint Ice Cream: I slightly overcooked the custard and had to strain out a little bit of some scrambled eggs. Tasting it this morning, for some reason this batch tasted eggier than usual. The fresh CSA mint tasted really nice, but the eggs seemed to really stand up to the mint and the vanilla for some reason.

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

AM SNACK: 9:30am, a few spoonfuls of mint ice cream

LUNCH: 12:15pm, breaded tilapia, small potato knish, small spinach knish, health salad, pickle, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5 

DINNER: 5:30pm, bacon wrapped olives, stinky cheese on crackers, 1 beer, handful of carrots, cucumber and peppers, handful of nuts, a couple of chicken fingers, a snippet of steak, , .75 bowl, hunger 4/5 


EVENING SNACK: 7:30pm, homemade mint ice cream, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5


EVENING SNACK: 10pm, large wedge of watermelon

Sweets Will Not Be Ignored

Had a good eating day more or less, despite spending a good portion of the day hiding in a movie theater. I probably had the nicest meal of anyone sneaking food in! Knocked out some cooking when I got home.


TODAY'S COOKING:
Mint Ice Cream Custard: Had a huge bunch of mint from the CSA, simmered it's leaves in a quart of half and half and a cup of sugar for about an hour. Three vanilla beans and a dozen egg yolks thickened it up nice.
Health Salad: Had a head of cabbage from the CSA that had to go somewhere.
Roasted Fingerling Potatoes: CSA potatoes, halved and dressed in olive oil and spices with chunks of CSA garlic and onion. Threw in some random spices, cumin, coriander, chili powder, came out nice.

BREAKFAST: 9am, smoothie, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5
Frozen bananas are a bitch to blend.

LUNCH: noon, sliced roast pork tenderloin, 3 small knishes, 2 pickles, water, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5


PM SNACK: 2pm, granola, small bite of chocolate, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 7pm, large green salad, roasted fingerling potatoes, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING SNACK: 8pm, large piece of watermelon, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5 


EVENING SNACK: 10pm, peanuts & chocolate chips, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5
I really hoped the watermelon would dampen my sugar cravings, but....it didn't.

Snatch

Good day, food shopping in the morning, out with Edie to Ikea via ferry in the afternoon, cooked a bit during nap time.

TODAY'S COOKING
Papa Salad: A proper chopped salad with red leaf, ice berg, carrot, pepper, cucumber, scallion and onion. Just like my dad used to make.
Pork Tenderloin: Did this recipe again, made a few little adjustments, came out damn near perfect. I gotta make this for people

Multigrain Wholewheat bread: In the bread machine, which hasn't seen the light of day in a while, but it sure is cheap, fresher and lacking in chemical ingredients that I'd get elsewhere.

BREAKFAST: 8:45am, 4 mini pancakes, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5


LUNCH: 1:15pm, pork tenderloin, whole wheat bread, 2 pickles, water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 5pm, large green salad, singapore mai fun, chocolate ice cream, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5 
Skipped meatballs at Ikea due to the porky lunch, but I've been kinda craving Chinese since last week's bike ride, so rather than call-in a brick, I picked up a pint on the way home and matched it with something healthy. Unfortunately, B requested ice cream and ended up eating it up after snatching it from her.

Umami Dinner

227.4--->221.0--->221.0

My weight has remained the same for the past month, but I didn't eat much yesterday, so I suspect I might be a little heavier. Still, it's good that I've maintained despite the increase in sweets and heavy foods I've run to this past month. July is a time for summer foods, but with the upset I had in June with the leaving of the job, the refocusing on the home cooking and finding myself making stuff like baked ziti and rice & beans, it's almost surprising I haven't gained more weight.

The good: ate a lot less restaurant and take out food, replaced it with home cooking, using upwards of 90% of each CSA delivery each week, consistently hitting the weights 3x a week, getting in 50-100 miles a week on the bike.

The bad: my sweets consumption has pretty much increased to daily, my vegetable, fruit and greens intake are too low.

So to be honest, eating less restaurant/take out and and more home cooking is not really a challenge -- it is my new reality until I find myself in a new position at a restaurant or somewhere else. The challenge to focus on this month is to, say, restrict sweets consumption to three days a week, and increase my intake of dark greens and/or fruit and/or raw vegetables to one a day. I guess I should start making vegetable salads again, and lean on that big bag of frozen spinach.

Lifted weights in the morning, nice 30 mile ride in the afternoon. Should of eaten more on the earlier end.

TODAY'S COOKING:
Pasta a la Papa: Very happy how this off-the-cuff pasta came out, worth making again. Sauteed 2 large diced onions in olive oil & salt, added sliced container of baby bella mushrooms. In the last 4 minutes, sprinkled with dried oregano and thyme. Last minute, crushed 4 cloves of garlic into it. Drained 1 lb of tri-color rotelle into hot pot, added sauteed veg, a healthy shot of Worcestershire, about a cup of freshly grated Parmesan cheese. Finished with a large pat of butter swished around until melted, and a few healthy turns of a pepper mill.

Writing this down, I see why it's so good. There are 3 big sources of umami - the cheese, the mushrooms, and the Worcestershire. (Doesn't hurt that I was really hungry from a day on the bike!)

BREAKFAST: 10:15am, pumpernickel bagel with cream cheese, water, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

BIKE LUNCH: 2:30pm, street pretzel, Gatorade, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 6:30pm, rotelle pasta with mushroom, onion & parm, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5


EVENING SNACK: 8:30pm, dark chocolate & cashews, brown rice crispies & organic dead milk, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5


EVENING SNACK: midnight, good peanut butter and nutella, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Anniversary

Didn't get much sleep, probably the effects of the meager 1.5 beers I had before late dinner last night. B,E & I went out for brunch this morning at Bubby's in DUMBO, where we got married and next to the park we had out first date/where I proposed. Today was our 6th anniversary, though for some reason until she told me, I thought it was our 5th.

Our six years can be divided neatly into three eras:

• First 2 years: Meet n' greet
• Second 2 years: Married n' harried
• Third 2 years: Edie indeedy!

I guess the fourth 2 years will be all about juggling 2 bebes and stuff. I'm very lucky to have snookered such a great gal to marry me, and even luckier to have such a wunder-bebe with her.

And so endeth July. I weigh in tomorrow, I suspect I'm a few pounds heavier, but physically I still feel good, muscles more toned than they've ever been, core-strength has increased a little, arms and shoulders feel slightly beefier. Working out three days a week on weights to the point of soreness the next day is something I should have started doing years ago. I have some thoughts about my eating patterns of late, I guess I'll go into that and the challenges tomorow.

Fell asleep at the tv around 7, a few hours later picked myself up and put myself to bed.

AM SNACK: 8:45am, handful of chocolate covered espresso beans

BRUNCH: 10:45am, pancakes, potatoes, sausage, pie, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

LINNER: 4:45pm, hotdog, knish, water, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

Fuddy

Spent the day with Edie in the hood, B was feeling a bit under. A quick stop at Hester St. Fair had some meh corn, a utilitarian lunch, and a nice night out in Brooklyn with friends for drinks and dinner. 1.5 beers on a stomach ready for dinner really makes me buzzed, I haven't been such a light-weight since high school.

BREAKFAST: 8am, 3.5 pancakes, water, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5


AM SNACK: 11:15am, cob of Mexican corn, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5


LUNCH: 1:30pm, fish sticks, spinach, cabbage and potato knishes, water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 4:30pm, watermelon


DINNER: 9pm, 1.5 beers, a little bologna sandwich, quarter of a deviled egg, a little catfish, shrimp and grits, a little fried chicken, a little brownie & ice cream, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Went to Seersucker on Smith Street, a modern spin on Southern cooking. Nice to go out to a nice room with good service and good food, though I would have been just as happy to be at a friend's house for a dinner party with the exact same crew. Does that make me a fuddy duddy?

She's no fool!

Mellow day in the morning with Edie, afternoon with Edie & D in from out of town. Out for dinner, home early, a good day. Baked round 2.5 of the Knish Experiments during Edie's nap.


TODAY'S COOKING:
Knishes: With the left over dough, made another round. Baked at 350 instead of 375 for 25 minutes instead of 20 -- even less color, tougher skin, not the way to go. Potato better with more onion (5lb p to 3lb cooked o). Spinach, not sure, upped the potato content and it might appeal to what people understand a spinach knish to be, but I think I might like it less. Cabbage is good, I upped the vinegar and it tastes more like kraut, in a good way -- a sweet spot between plain cooked cabbage and pickled vinegary kraut is what I'm looking for. With a few extra squares of dough, made a baked ziti knish (fail) and a chocolate knish (a lump of semisweet chocolate chips, good but needs work, different dough, different ratio, maybe some sort of element in the chocolate to make it more of a pastry cream.)

Edie Ice Cream Pops: Edie has pretty much been demanding "ice cream" after every single meal, breakfast, lunch and dinner ("SHE'S NO FOOL!!", I hear some of you shout.) I made a round of frozen treats last week, and supplemented the supply with some smoothie here and there, frozen to please. Today's round is identical to last time, but 1/2 the sugar. One can of coconut milk, half jar of 1-ingredient smooth peanut butter, 1 ripe banana, a healthy shot of vanilla extract, a dash of salt, and 1/4 cup of simple syrup (1/4 cup sugar and 1/4 cup water, boiled until all sugar dissolved) -- all blended for a few minutes then put in 6 pop molds plus two 5-ounce Dixie cups.

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

LUNCH pt 1: 12 noon, Mediterranean salad, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5
Made this yesterday, only tasted it to make sure it had enough salt (it did from the feta). I REALLY don't like this dish. The white beans are mealy, the feta is salty/crumbly in a fneh way, the red pepper adds too much moisture (should have done roasted veg), the dill is overpowering and plain, not challenged by any big secondary flavors. 

LUNCH pt 2: 1:15pm, potato, spinach, cabbage, ziti and chocolate knishes, water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 7pm, weiner shnitzel, German potato salad, cucumber salad, 1 beer, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Out to dinner with one of my oldest & best friends in from out of town to a local German joint.



EVENING SNACK: 9:15pm, whole wheat pretzels with nutella, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Pancake desire

Did not lift weights this morning, I was considering it because I skipped it to bike ride yesterday, but I feel pleasantly sore/achy this morning, so might as well enjoy the recovery part. I chose to ride up a hillier route on the ride, and I'm happy to feel it this morning. Spent a nice mellow day with Edie, got some cooking done through out the day.

TODAY'S COOKING:
Mediterranean salad: CSA feta, onion, carrot and dill, can of white beans, 8oz cooked orzo, olive oil, a dash of red wine vinegar. Hmmm. Feta supplies enough salt, but it needs something. Maybe a squeeze of lemon? Let it sit for a day, we'll see. With a cold salad, it won't be too crazy to add an ingredient a little later.

Knish filling: Round 2.5, as I only used half the dough on the first round the day before last. Cooked another 5lbs of potatoes and caramelized 3 lbs of onions. Mixed more potato into the spinach left overs. Cooked up the other half of the cabbage, a little heavier on the vinegar, tastes more like a traditional quick kraut, nice.

Pancakes: Used industrial buttermilk, went a little too heavy on the salt, threw in some cinnamon to mix it up a little.

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

LUNCH: 12:15pm, potato knish, cabbage knish, water, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5
Really in love with this dough. Microwaved from refrigerator 1 minute, not bad, not ideal, but not bad.

DINNER: 5:30pm, pancakes, 2 ears of boiled corn, water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Bought the corn on the way home from the Grand Street farmer's market, looked really good. Was considering chard and zucchini for dinner, but it just didn't appeal to me in the moment, and thought it would be good to have pancakes on hand for the Edles.


EVENING SNACK: 7:45pm, watermelon

EVENING SNACK: 10pm, wholewheat pretzels with nutella, some baked ziti, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5 
Hoped to avoid snacks with the watermelon, but I just got hungry. Residual from the previous day's bike ride, I assume.

Donut Betrayal

Woke up around 6:45am, got a few minutes with B&E, got out of the house around 7:45am and rode the bike up to Garrison. Took the train home, met B on the street as she was coming home, and found myself conked out by 10pm, it was a good day.

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


BIKE SNACK: 8am, 2 cake donuts, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
From Donut Plant. They've introduced new flavors since opening up more locations. The Salty Peanut Butter was pretty great, but the chocolate chip cookie donut was subpar -- the donut itself had brown sugar in it, which interfered with it's softness, and the cookie crumbs that coated the outside just gave an unpleasant mouth feel. For the first time ever, I actually didn't eat about 1/4 of the donut when I realized I really wasn't enjoying it!



BIKE SNACK: noon, 32 oz gatorade, small corn ships, small chocolate chip cookies, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5


BIKE SNACK: 2pm, ice cream sandwich
There are no shops open in Bear Mountain State Park, and the grocery by the train station closed last year. So this from a vending machine at Bear Mountain was pretty much my only option in the last 15 miles of the ride, if I didn't want to take a detour.



BIKE SNACK: 3:30pm, homemade granola, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Snacked on this on the train home. It's almost over-roasted, right at the edge, but really good.  The HVS is gonna go bonkers for this!



DINNER: 6:15pm, breaded tilapia, small spinach, cabbage and potato knishes, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Resisted the call of the after-ride Chinese.

Go Mediterranean

On my day with Edie, we took the big bike and did a full food shop in the morning, got cooking on some knish experiments through her nap, and hung out with a parent friend in the afternoon before B got home.

CSA haul: carrots, Swiss chard, zucchini, dill, onion, garlic, feta cheese, peaches. Everything except the chard and fruit can go into a Mediterranean salad with orzo pasta and white beans, I guess.

TODAY'S COOKING
Granola: Used the olive oil recipe as a base, used 2 cups of mixed cashews & slivered almonds on top of the pepitas. 1/2 cup of brown sugar, 1/2 cup of agave for sweeteners. Came out a little over roasted but pretty good.

Knishes: The knish experiments continue. Three fillings, all using onion cut into large dice and sauteed with vegetable shortening for a period of a few hours, a nice caramelized sheen. Boiled 5 lbs of peeled chopped eastern potatoes to tender, ran them through a food mill, a bit of salt. Four cups of it went into a new dough recipe, which also had shortening, eggs, salt and flour. Sauteed half a head of shredded cabbage with a little sugar, vinegar and salt. When slightly soft, mixed in some onions and a little mashed potato. Simmered a pot of chopped spinach to soft, added salt and a lump of potatoes. After letting the dough rest in the fridge for three or four hours, rolled out half of it to make about 16 smallish hand-sized knishes.

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


LUNCH: 12:15pm, sardine & avocado on 12-grain toast, 2 ears of boiled corn with butter & salt, water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 6:15pm, 3 homemade burritos with homemade tortilla chips, cookies & creme ice cream, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

In the Mood

Spent part of the day with my father-in-law and stuff, and on the way home picked up a few things for dinner. Didn't get to eat much during the day, and was in the mood for a big unhealthy comforting meal. So I made it myself. Considered making fries, but had tortillas taking up space in the freezer, so I chipafied them -- both Edie & B went nuts for 'em.

TODAY'S COOKING
Hamburgers: Found local grass fed preground meat at WF, added half a minced onion, salt and a healthy dash of Worcestershire. Seared well in butter, on toasted whole wheat bun, tomato, onion and ketchup. Pretty good, though my natural inclination is to cook to well done, it's a little crumbly, gotta pull back to medium-well next time.

Tortilla Chips: Cut my extra corn tortillas into 6ths, fried in peanut oil at about 400 and sprinkled with salt. Addictively good.


BREAKFAST: 10:30am, smoothie, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


AM SNACK: 11:45am, 3 pork & chive dumplings


PM SNACK: 3pm, 1 slice of whole wheat bread with peanut butter, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 5:30pm, 2 hamburgers, tortilla chips, water, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING SNACK: 7:30pm, cookies & cream ice cream, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Another Ride Undone

Up at 5am, out the door at 5:30 all set to meet a group on a bus to do miles out in the Harlem Valley. However, by the time I got to 6th Street & A, the oppressive heat & humidity had my mind racing for excuses not to do the ride. After semi-plausible excuse #20 or so, I realized I just wanted to go home and cool off, and weather reports didn't predict rains and a break in the heat until late afternoon, when the ride would be over. The heat did me in.

Spent a nice hour out with B&E in the morning, since we were all up earlier than usual. While Edie napped, B took off for the day and playgrounds and trundling toddlers in backpacks was the order of the day. When B got home with my dinner, I pretty much tuned out to Sunday night television, the dawn of another week upon us.


BREAKFAST: 7:15am, organic cornflakes with organic dead milk, banana, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5


LUNCH: 1pm, breaded tilapia, spinach, baked ziti, cookies & creme ice cream, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 4pm, pint of grenadine & soda
Still have grenadine syrup, 1 cup of syrup, 4 cups of over-carbonated tap water from our machine. No lime on hand, still very refreshing after trudging in the soupy heat with Edie in a darn back pack (HER idea, not mine)

DINNER: 6:15pm, grilled lamb, potato, rice, bread, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
B brought me home left-overs from a Turkish joint she went to her with her fam.

Rollin'

Just rollin' with B's family. Asleep by 10 to wake up early for a bike ride.

BREAKFAST: 10:30am, mini dutch pancakes, half a shrimp roll, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Spent the morning at the Hester St. Fair with my fatherinlaw. The "poffertjes" were almost exactly like the Chinese egg cakes sold on street corners, small round things, golden brown, eggy and puffy. These were dressed in powdered sugar and butter. Fneh. The shrimp roll was from the same peeps who make the lobster rolls, pretty good.

LUNCH: 2:45pm, 1 quesedilla, baked ziti, ginger ale, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
B's poppa and bro in the house, I was going to offer just quesedillas, but the ziti was so popular from yesterday they demanded a repeat performa...uh, left-overs. Needed sugar, so had half of one of B's ginger ales.

PM SNACK: 5:45pm, watermelon
After 2 hours in the heat with Edie, getting her some run around time at a playground where she would not get interested in the water portion at all, this large slice of cold watermelon was pretty much love in edible form.

DINNER: 8pm, sweet & sour shrimp with pork fried rice, egg roll, wonton soup, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Drinking

Spent the day with B and her fam, we hit up the Jewish History Museum downtown, an eatery on Wall Street. At home in the afternoon, cooked up some ziti before taking Edie out to the park briefly.

In the evening took off and met up E and a few friends to take a boat to a floating bar-barge docked in the harbor by Ellis Island, it was a pleasant diversion. After we strolled over to a nice restaurant in Tribeca for a meal of shared small plates before heading home.

TODAY'S COOKING
Baked Ziti: Pretty much a standard baked ziti, done without a recipe. Two boxes of ziti, boiled to just past crunchy. 8 cups of homemade tomato sauce out of the freezer. Bechemel with nutmeg made. Three things mixed together, put in pans, topped with moz and a little extra sauce, baked at 375 for an hour until a nice crisp crust formed. As it was damn hot out, I let it sit for a few hours and it came together nicely.

BREAKFAST: 9:15am, pumpernickel bagel with cream cheese, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 12:30pm, multi-grain sushi, water, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 5pm, baked ziti, half a chocolaty thing, water, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5


EVENING SNORT: 7:30-9pm, 2.5 beers, diet coke
I haven't drank more than one alcoholic drink at once in quite a while, and cut myself off at 2.5, surprisingly buzzed. I thought my large dinner would have prevented this, but there ya go.


DINNER 2: 10pm, bread & butter, mussels, spatzle, 2 different kinds of wurst, fries, kraut, trout pate, brussel sprouts, water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Friends continued to drink, but I skipped it.

Too Smooth

The pops I set to freeze yesterday remains soft and smooth at this cold temp, hmmmm. I guess the blend of smooth peanut butter, coconut milk, banana, sugar and particular a shot of high-proof vanilla extract and a dash of salt not only inhibited crystallization, it inhibited freezing to a rock, so when you pull the pop out of the form, only the stick comes out! Huh. Tastes good, a tad too sweet, gonna re formulate with less sugar and more fruit next time.

A good friend has come up with an idea for a dinner club, similar to a book club but with dinner parties instead of books. TBD.

TODAY'S COOKING
Cookies n' Creme Ice Cream: It's always satisfying when a churn goes well -- the custard is thick and cold enough to take on air quickly, and it rises to the top of the barrel. When it reaches the top, I poured in the ground up oreos to mix it in properly.

AM SNACK: 9:30am, small amount of coco-peanut-banana "ice cream"

LUNCH: 12:15pm, hot dog, health salad, potato salad, pickle, greeny pasta, large slice of watermelon, 3 oreos, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Almost like a trawl through the fridge to finish things before they went bad.

DINNER: 5:30pm, pizza, homemade ice cream, water, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5 
B ordered in pizzas from Lombardis because her pop and brother were over.

Kookin' in the Kitchen

Dammit, no nips in the supermarket.

Spent the morning chilling, met up with B for a nice lunch near her office, but cookies kept me from being hungry so I just nibbled. Investigated the farmer's market then hit up the supermarket for a big shop, planning a few big dishes for the next week or so.

TODAY'S COOKING
Guacamole: 4 avocados, one whole Valencia onion minced, one head of cilantro minced, juice of 2 limes, large pinch of salt. Very oniony, but purposefully because I wanted an onion presence in the dish this was going into.

Quesidilas: Had to put my ton of rice & beans to use. I bought mini corn tortillas instead of flour, and found that no amount of steaming or microwaving would make them flexible enough to make burritos, so I laid them out, spread on the loose rice n' beans on one, guac on another, and a sprinkling of grated cheddar in the middle.


Vanilla ice cream base: B's family is over tomorrow, and B refuses to allow me to cook, but she let me do some ice cream, and a family favorite is cookies n' cream, so had to make this base now so I can churn and mix ground up oreos into it tomorrow. The usual, pint of cream, pint of milk, heated with 1 cup of sugar, 3 vanilla beans scraped. 12 egg yolks tempered into it, strained into an ice bathe once thick.

Coco-peanut frozen bars: Edie has been going nuts for "ice cream", frozen treats on stick. We have a set of molds and B has been making one-off frozen smoothies with a lot of fruit, and this morning I poured off enough of my own smoothie to make a pop for her. Rather than one offs, I made a set from pantry stuff. 12 oz of coconut milk. 6 ounce of natural-style peanut butter, 4 ounce of cane sugar cooked until comes together and smooth. Into a blender with banana, a large shot of vanilla extract and a large pinch of salt, blend to smooth.  Into 6 molds and into freezer. I calculate that is about 2 tablespoons of sugar per pop -- depending on how they taste, I may cut the sugar in half and consider other fruit to the coconut milk-peanut butter-banana base. Also, I wonder how the consistency will be -- maybe I should try to run it through my ice cream machine to whip air into it and avoid crystallization? Hopefully the salt and extract will help stay soft and relatively smooth in the frozen state.

BREAKFAST: 6am, smoothie, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Milk, good yogurt, banana, frozen blueberries, cherries and mango, flax, a pinch of salt. Very thick.

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

PM SNACK: 12:30, an arancini, an avocado toast, a little moz, a bit of sandwich, a few potato chips, water, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5


PM SNACK 4:30pm, a few failed mini burritos, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 6:15pm, a quesadilla, 3 ears of boiled corn, water, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING SNACK: 8pm, handful of Oreos

Nip

Stayed in doors with Edie to beat the heat in the morning, took an adventure to Staten Island in the afternoon to visit a friend with child. I had a Rolling Rock "nip" with lunch today when we were out, I think it was about 8 oz -- hmmm, just the right amount for having with a nice lunch. I'm going to look for this or better beer in this size bottle in the supermarket, as only every once in a while do I want beer with lunch, and usually in this quantity.

Picked up CSA. New cabbage head gonna be a cabbage knish. Basil, garlic going and a few fresh tomatoes into a baked ziti. Salad greens and a few more tomatoes for green salad. Parsley, not sure what to do. One singular squash blossom given to Edie as a flower. Blueberries & peaches into Edie's maw, cheese into B's maw.

TODAY'S COOKING
Spinach: Bought a huge 5 lb bag of frozen chopped spinach last week to increase my greens intake. Sauteed some garlic in olive oil, threw in the spinach, some onion powder, a little salt, a splash of water then covered it and let it heat up on low until the rest of dinner was ready, about half an hour.


BREAKFAST: 9:30am, 3 small pancakes, water, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH 1: noon, bowl of pasta with CSA veg, 5 cookies, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5
Pasta from freezer, last week's dish. Freshened up with a sprinkle of freshly grated parm and a dash of olive oil.

LUNCH 2: 3pm, pizza, 1 small beer, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
In Staten Island, went to Lee's Tavern for bar-pizza, a midwestern style that is oddly popular on SI. Really enjoyed it, made me feel like I was 1000s of miles away when I was just in NYC's strangest borough.

DINNER: 7:45pm, breaded tilapia, cooked spinach, rice & beans, cookies, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Rice & Beans

Monday blahs, camped out in a movie theater for the first part of the day, went to the supermarket to pick up ingredients for dinner, and spent the rest of the day cooking. Put me in a much better mood.


TODAY'S COOKING
Rice & Beans: An experimental batch, and a large batch. The short grain brown rice says 1 cup of rice to 2.5 cups of water, I used 4 cups of water. For the first time, I took a pound of dry black beans and rehydrated them instead of using canned. In the bean reconstitution process, I threw in half an onion, half a green pepper, bay leaves and salt to give them some base flavor. Made sofrito with 2 onions sauteed to soft, threw in chopped green peppers and softened. Added half a head of minced garlic for a minute, then threw into a blender with a whole bunch of cilantro and blended to smooth. Put beans, rice, water and sofrito into one large pot and simmered about an hour until the rice had absorbed much of the liquid. Salted as I went a long, added a shot of hot pepper sauce and some ground black pepper. Final dish was milder in flavor than I thought it would be, but good. It's currently vegan, but I think a ham bone or something would have done a lot to deepen the flavor.

Chocolate Chip Cookies: After a low-eating day, craved sugar after dinner, so whipped out a bunch of chocolate chip cookies. B bought a mess of Nestle's Morsels a while ago for something I never ended up cooking -- they're hard to eat by themselves because they don't taste that good, chalky, not very chocolately, just fakey, but when put into a cookie with real brown sugar, real butter, real vanilla and real eggs, it kinda saves them.


AM SNACK: 9am, banana


AM SNACK: 11am, wholewheat pretzels, good peanut butter, pickle, water, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5


PM SNACK: 1pm, handful of cashews, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 5pm, health salad, pickle, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 6:30pm, shrimp, rice & beans, cookies, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

A Day of Rest

The challenge I set for myself early this month is going well in some aspects, poorly in others.

• Well -- I've cut down on restaurant food and delivery drastically, increased my consumption of home-prepared food equally, and definitely feel my diet has increased for the better. Also, I'd say 90% of the CSA food is being put to good use. 
• Poorly -- restricting sweets. Still hitting up sweets once or even twice a day, though maybe in smaller quantities and usually matched with something healthy-ish to make it seem like it's more than it is.

Around 7:30pm last night, I ate the remainder of the pork loin despite eating a lot of meat earlier in the day -- I was worried that my body would not recover fast enough from the day's ride to be ready for the next. I was asleep by 8pm, and when I woke up at 4am, my fears were confirmed -- assorted muscles felt beat up and tired, but most importantly my legs and thighs were sore. I intended on riding around 50 miles yesterday, but due to fun-related things, ended up doing about 75 in some relatively hilly Connecticut terrain.

I got up, ate a bowl of cereal, sprayed on sunblock (the opposite of a spray tan, I assume) and started to put on my cycling gear. Bike was ready in the hall, day bag already packed. As I lifted my legs to put them into the spandex, I was thinking about the day ahead -- on one hand, it was to be perfect weather, the route I had not seen since a year ago, and the food at the rest stops should be good. Psychologically, I was good, and 8 hours of sleep helped. On the other hand, my legs hurt, my body shouted for rest despite 8 hours sleep, and if I were to embark on this trip then quit early (or worse, given my lowered sharpness), it would be very depressing. So despite being on schedule and 90% ready to go, I paused, stripped out of my stuff and hopped back into bed with B. I woke up at 9:30am -- 13.5 hours of sleep, badly needed.

Legs hurt at 4am, but now they are just pleasantly sore, recovery in full effect. Sad I didn't do the Hudson Valley Century, but I made the right choice. Took the morning to lay on the couch and read the paper, in the afternoon wandered over to the local playground with the family to take in the neighborhood at it's most social. Spent the evening on the couch with the TV. A good day.

BREAKFAST: 4am, organic chex with organic dead milk, .25 bowl, hunger 3/5


BRUNCH: 10am, kraft dinner with sauteed veg, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 1pm, health salad, pickle, handful of multigrain pretzels, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Made the health salad on Friday from a CSA cabbage -- added CSA scallion because I had to do something with it. Don't like it, the onion-ness of the scallion doesn't play well with the tangy-sweet dressing and the more vegetal ingredients.


PM SNACK: 2:45pm, slice of cheese knish, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Despite B wolfing down most of this baked item I made last week, a small sliver was found tucked away in the freezer. Recipe definitely needs work.


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


PM SNACK: 6:15pm, half a slice of streetza, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 7:15pm, breaded tilapia, kraft dinner with sauteed veg, water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


EVENING SNACK: 9:30pm, a few squares of chocolate, a few multigrain pretzels