Feeling a little better

Betsy & Edles got out of the house around 8:30, and Mil was laid down with me, where I fed him some bottle and he popped off to sleep relatively easily. I woke up at 10, feeling blurry again, but a little better than the blur I experienced after 12 hours of sleep yesterday. Weird sickness. Not sick-sick, but definitely feel round and bulbous, living in a Trout Mask Replica song or something. Did not lift weights this morning, but if I do it tomorrow, it'll still be around on schedule.

Taught the first class of a new section in the afternoon, food shopped on the way home. Edie & Betsy were asleep in our bedroom, so I fitfully bedded down on Edie's bed with Milli in the crib...

BREAKFAST: 10:15am, organic cheerios with organic dead milk, brownie, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


LUNCH: 1:45pm, breaded shrimp, wholewheat pasta with olive oil, garlic & romano, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5


SCHOOL SNACK: 7pm, fruit smoothie, chips & fresh salsa, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 10pm, hotdog, 7oz ginger ale, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

Functional, but thats about it

Slept for about 12 hours, woke up groggy and still feeling off. Made it through the day, teaching a pizza lesson, delivering knishes to the Brooklyn Historical Society and stuck around to shmooze, got home feeling bleah. Got to bed around midnight, felt unrestful.

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


LUNCH: 11:30am, PB&J on whole wheat toast, large green salad, brownie, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


SCHOOL DINNER: 5:45pm, various slices of pizza, sprite, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5


EVENING SNACK: 11pm, pita chips, water, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

Off

Felt off when I woke up, thought it was just from too little sleep. After dinner with B's cooperation I put myself in bed and was out by 7pm. In the morning I was hoping to get a bike ride in, but as the afternoon rolled up I realized I probably should just take it easy.

TODAY'S COOKING
Waffles: Last night I as I tried to get to sleep, thinking of what I could have for breakfast. When I realized I hadn't made waffles in a long time, thought it was kinda bleah to go through the trouble of making waffles without being able to serve them to someone. Realized I hadn't hung with B in a while, who also has a bebe the same age as M, texted him late and he and his two kids came over for some waffling. Standard c-school recipe. 8oz flour, 2oz sugar, .5 oz baking powder, 1 tsp salt on the dry, 12oz milk, 4 yolks, 4oz butter on the wet, and folded in 4 whipped egg whites for lift. Got out the old caste iron pan and cooked it up. Came out nice, crisp and tender. Had a couple left over for the freezer.

AM SNACK: 8am, iced green tea


BREAKFAST: 10:30am, waffle, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5


LUNCH: 1:15pm, falafel in whole wheat, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5


PM SNACK 2:45pm, two lotus leaf wraps, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 6:15pm, grouper, whole wheat pasta with sauce, brownie, 7oz ginger ale, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

Still Rice & Lentils

Mellow day, visiting Brooklyn, cooking up dinner, TV & laundry in the evening.

TODAY'S COOKING
Brown Rice & Lentils: Took a cup of rice mix, which has long grain brown rice, wheat berries and some wild rice, mixed it with half a cup of brown lentils, put it in the rice cooker with water, salt, slivered almonds and some cumin. Betsy went bonkers for it, I guess it was good, but still it was rice & lentils.

AM SNACK: 7:45am, iced green tea

BREAKFAST: 10:15am, smoothie, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Ran out of acai juice, now using 100% pomegranite juice as the liquid.

LUNCH: 12:15pm, 2 hotdogs, tatertots, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Out at Criffdogs in Williamsburg with TL & her bebe.

DINNER: 5:45pm, broiled grouper, brown rice & lentils, sauteed spinach, brownie, water, 7oz Sprite, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


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

Woody Allen Theme

I got to bed at 11 with the intention of getting up at 7 to start knishing, but Milli Mil was up every few hours (and B & Edles were in the other room) so I didn't wake up until late. I took E&E to a birthday party of Edie's classmate, where there was a guy dressed as Woody from Toy Story, a magician with a bunny, and a pinata. (Gotta raise the bar for Edie's party: a giant inflatable knish? A Woody Allen theme?) Spent the afternoon baking off knishes.

TODAY'S COOKING
Knishes: Cooked off 108 full size potato onion knishes for an event at the Brooklyn Historical Society this Wednesday, and with the left over dough and filling, rolled and cut about 90 mini cocktail knishes. These tiny ones will be for give away and the freezer, but I needed to practice the forming, as I have a paid order in early may for cocktail size.

BREAKFAST: 9:30am, brown rice crispies with organic dead milk, 3/4 of a banana, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5


LUNCH: noon, a few chicken nuggets, a few mini hotdogs, a little chicken & rice, a spoonful of weird beet salad stuff, a diet coke, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 4:30pm, potato onion knish, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 7:30pm, large green salad, singapore mei fun, shrimp toast, wonton soup, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Whisky

Edie & I rode the big bike to Greenpoint while Milli & B took a cab, and we met some of B's friends for cawfee and a playground. Ran into a long-lost cousin working in a bookstore, was a very odd experience that lead me to take a slug of whisky after dinner with a friend, that I inherited from my Dad -- before I was born, he was something of a whisky drinker. When I cleared out my parent's apartment, found several books about whisky in his deep collection, all dating from the 50s. I took his last bottle, which also looks like it was from the 50s.

I don't get whisky. It's too "hot" (alcoholic) to enjoy straight, and the "good" stuff tastes like the inside of an old wooden barrel, he he.

TODAY'S COOKING
Knish filling & a few wholewheat knishes: Peeled and boiled 25 lb potatoes, dried them in the oven, split them into two big hotel pans, mixed them with a half gallon of caramelized onions each, 8 eggs each, a fistful of salt and three large blobs of vegetable shortening. Used up the left over wholewheat knish dough from yesterday to rip off a set of six for dinner tonight.

Brownies: Wanted to do something desserty for dinner since we had a guest, used the tried & true fudge brownie recipe as I had all the ingredients in the pantry & fridge.

BREAKFAST: 8:45am, iced green tea, 4 small buttermilk pancakes, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5


AM SNACK: 10:30am, large chocolate & caramel cookie, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5


LUNCH: 12:30pm, 1 slice streetza, 1 slice square streetza, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 12:45pm, 7oz Dr. Pepper

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


DINNER: 6:30pm, fillet of sole, roasted brussel sprouts, wholewheat potato knish, brownie, 2 glasses cava, shallow cup of whisky with an ice cube,  1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Sore

Woke up surprisingly sore from yesterday's afternoon ride to Nyack, an all over soreness which can not be achieved by weights. Spent the morning cooking, the afternoon hanging with TM & her bebe. Ordered in a sandwich and had a nice dinner with fam. Did shopping on my own in the evening, peaceful in the dark on the big bike going to the markets in the hood.

TODAY'S COOKING
Knish Dough and a few samples: Boiled up 10 lbs of potatoes for the potato element of the knish dough. TM & her bebe came over to visit, so I did a microbatch of knishes just for lunch. Experimented with swapping out the white flour with whole wheat flour. Less gluten, but the look and taste were pretty good. Slight grittiness not a bad thing. Next round gonna add some vital wheat gluten to get the stretch to match the snap.

AM SNACK: 7:30am, iced green tea


BREAKFAST: 8:30am, handful of chocolate covered espresso beans, whole grain chex with organic dead milk, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5


LUNCH: 1:30pm, 2 wholewheat knishes, pickle, 7oz Sprite, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


AFTERNOON SNACK: 5:30pm, garlic parsley soft pretzel with a little chevre, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 6:30pm, eggplant hero, small amount of fries, large green salad, 7oz Dr. Pepper, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Race Day

The day felt like a race. Betsy had a rough night, so I took Edie to school on the big bike, then got home and got into hours of chopping onions for some upcoming knishing. Once got through that, made salad, collected laundry, fed myself and when the babysitter arrived, rushed out the door and road the bike to Nyack and back. Once home, got into it with the onions, got the laundry in, ordered in and tried to unwind.

TODAY'S COOKING:
Caramelized onions: Spent the morning, 3.5 hours, dicing 40lbs of onions. A little smaller than the large dice previously, want to make this large batch spread out over the next few rounds of knishes -- and the more surface area there is, the bigger flavor there will be, due to more opportunity to hit the tongue, not just get mashed up by teeth before swallowing... Into the fridge int he morning. The minute I got home from biking, put them in the oven and cranked it to 400. Let that go on until I had to go to bed around midnight, stirring every hour or so.  3 large pans became 1 -- 40 lbs of onions after processing became about 15 lbs of caramelized onions, good for maybe 200 knishes...

BREAKFAST: 7:45am, iced green tea, brown rice crispies with organic dead milk, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5


AM SNACK: 10:30am, Ben & Jerry's ice cream, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5


LUNCH: 1:45pm, whole grain chicken nuggets, whole wheat spag & homemade sauce, pickle, water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

BIKE SNACK: 5pm, 20oz gatorade, bag of fritos, hostess cupcakes, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 9:30pm, large green salad, beef & broccoli, pork fried rice, wonton soup, egg roll, water, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

My Parents, My Tubbiness

Woke up groggy, still a little sore from Monday's weights & ride. Had a good morning with Milli, got some chores done. School flew by, really enjoyed teaching some recipes for the first time, did food shopping after school -- gearing up for some knish making, picked up 40 lbs of onions that need to be caramelized before anything else...

AM SNACK: 7:45am, iced green tea


BREAKFAST: 9am, smoothie, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5
Almost time for a new mix of frozen fruit. Made a double batch, to fill up Edie's mini popsicles...


LUNCH: 12:45pm, sardine & avocado on whole wheat toast, baby carrots, pickle, water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


SCHOOL DINNER: 6:15pm, baked fillet of sole, risotto 3 ways, sprite, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Bacon Leek Risotto, Mushroom Risotto, Garlic Risotto. Not a light meal -- I had one small ladle of each, but it adds up. The kids were impressed with how good the fish was -- they were used to fried fish sandwiches of questionable quality. This was simple, fresh fillet, laid out with nothing but a little butter and salt, and broiled at a high temp for 3 minutes. It was nice to hear how surprised they were at liking it, thinking because it wasn't breaded it probably would be bleah.

EVENING SNACK: 8:45pm, Ben & Jerry's ice cream, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
As I'm eating this ice cream, just put away groceries, legs still buzzing from the ride, family groggy and falling to sleep, my mind wanders, wondering -- why am I so enjoying this not-that-great ice cream? My homemade stuff is, by my standards, better tasting and more decadent and does not have an after taste of gums and stabilizers. So what is it? It's the same feeling I had when I would sneak in snacks under my parent's radar, when I was a kid and they were concerned about my tubbiness. I'm enjoying this ice cream because my parents can't stop me from eating it. How messed up is that? Being my parents haven't had much say in my diet in 30+ years, and they've been dead for nearly 7 years now. Something to share with a therapist, I think.

All kinds of sore

Had a weirdly restless sleep -- B says I was talking in my sleep and even said, "I feel weird" when I got up to go to the bathroom, which  I don't remember any of. Woke up all kinds of sore, in a good way, from the newly elongated weight lifting routine in the morning and the 30 mile ride in the evening.

Ate well the first half of the day but.... did not eat enough. By the time I picked up Edie from school, was uncomfortably hungry. I guess calorie deficit from yesterday's ride snuck up on me. Dinner never quite came together, either, as we had guests to entertain in the evening.

AM SNACK: 7:45am, iced green tea

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

LUNCH: noon, whole wheat pasta with sauce & sauteed spinach, baby carrots, a pickle, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


PM SNACK: 3pm, seafood empanada, mini chicken empanada, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5


PM SNACK: 4pm, 7oz sprite

DINNER: 6pm, a few tiny slices of pizza, 3 cupcakes, some multigrain chips, glass of prosecco, water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


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

Dark & Peaceful

Got a good work out in the morning. I remember months ago when I raised the number of pounds I was lifting, I couldn't do more than 5 reps -- now I'm doing 10. Once I stop feeling sore from this, I'll raise the weight again and go back to 5 reps....

Spent the day in Brooklyn with Mil, walking around Cobble Hill and Downtown. Got bad sushi from Trader Joe's. Picked up Edie from school at 3 and we spent a few hours in the playground behind the house. After B got home, I took off on bike and did a round trip to Coney. This is my first night ride in years, felt great and the beach was so dark and peaceful.

AM SNACK: 7:30am, iced green tea


BREAKFAST: 10:30am, hardcore oatmeal, water, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 1pm, brown rice California roll, shrimp summer roll, water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 2:30pm, homemade granola bar, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER 1: 6pm, meat tortellini in tomato sauce, baby carrots, pickle, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER 2: 10:15pm, fried rice, shrimp toast, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Poor eating

Woke up at 5 to give myself some time to have some fun cooking, do a small food shop and get the family out the door at 9:30, so we could make train to Tarrytown for the 2nd birthday of a friend's kid. Took off after we got home in the afternoon to help cook at E's Easter dinner. Definitely not a good eating day.


TODAY'S COOKING:
Tuiles: E was supposed to make ice cream, so rather than bring the 15th uber-heavy dish to the Easter dinner, I thought making these thin, delicate, oh-so-French cookies would be a nice decoration to it. When I got there, E revealed she had not made the ice cream, so they were not served. Oh well.


Too lazy to go dig up the c-school recipe, used the "milk tuile" from this page. Had no stencils, so just spread the batter in a rough circle, then cut it into 8 pie-slices when it came out of the oven. Placed them on a rolling pin as they set to get a nice curve. Definitely not ideal, as the browning remained on the outer edge. Did 4 or 5 rounds, at different temps and times. The last round looked good, but under baked, so after cutting and setting I put them back in the oven for another 3 minutes. They got soft again, but I reshaped them and they came out much crisper than the previous batches.


AM SNACK: 5:30am, iced green tea


BREAKFAST: 6:45am, a whole lot of tuiles, underbaked, overbaked, misshapen, broken, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5


AM SNACK: 9:15am, 2 whole wheat waffles, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5


AM SNACK: 10:45am, sesame bagel with scallion cream cheese, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5


LUNCH: 1:30pm, pigs in blankets, sprite, small hero sandwich, i cup lite beer, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Pretty much nothing healthy at this 2 year old's party, all the soda & meat gave me a weird stomach feeling that I haven't had in quite a while, reminding me how much better it feels to eat in a better style.


DINNER: 8pm, leg of lamb, ham, brussel sprout salad, broccoli casserole, bacon wrapped shrimp, marinated moz and bread, chocolate pie, banana pudding, mildly sweet lemonade, 1 glass cava, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
There was plenty of opportunity to over eat at this Easter dinner, but between the heavy lunch and not wanting to feel sick, I found myself eating a normal portion AND eating less than pretty much everyone at the table. So much food...

Twinge

I woke at 5:15, hoping for a good, long, day-spanning bike ride. I got out, and felt good, though it was a little bit cold. I had to stop after an hour, because what I though was normal lower back discomfort (which goes away after I warm up) started getting sharper, and realized it was my ol' kidney being twingy. Not sure where it was gonna go, I road over to the subway and went home. The discomfort got worse, and by the time I got off the train, was happy with my decision. Took ibuprofin and a litre of water when I got home, and got into bed, eventually napping for a few hours. When I woke up, I felt fine, sad I missed a good riding day, glad I didn't have to take a painkiller that would have knocked me out for the whole weekend.

BREAKFAST: 5:30am, hardcore oatmeal, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5


AM SNACK: 7:15am, green tea donut, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5


LUNCH: 2pm, 2 grilled cheese on whole wheat with Swiss & turkey, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 6pm, green salad, 3 slices pizza, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Gluey

Woke up at 5:45 after feeding the Milli Mil back to sleep. Got a good work out in, raised my number of reps again. Moved as fast as I could to get the babies ready, and took us up via express bus to Grandma's house on the UES. After seeing some family in a playground, walked two sleeping babies down to the boat pond to grab a knish, then subway'd it home. Made for a good, sunny Friday. Edie is still covered in rash, but her fever is gone and her energy is back.

AM SNACK: 6:30am, iced green tea

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


AM SNACK: 10:45am, donut, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5


PM SNACK: 12:30pm, honey roasted almonds, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5


LUNCH: 1:15pm, potato knish, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
The knish from the Knish Nosh outlet in Central Park was surprisingly....gluey, developed too much gluten from the potatoes being manipulated. Weird. Too big, tasted all right, but by the end the glueyness really came to the front.



DINNER: 6pm, Malaysian style string beans with shrimp, brown rice, roti canai, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Ordered in, the string beans were well seasoned but in no sauce, so it turned out to be a much healthier meal than I anticipated. A few little shrimp, but mostly just string beans.



EVENING SNACK: 8pm, whole wheat ritz with nutella, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

Comfort and decompression in food

So Edie woke up with a rash on her front and back, though not feverish. We skipped a playdate in the back of our building with her classmates, as I did not want to spread whatever she has, but it was hard, between her bouncing off the walls and Milli needing attention. At one point, it was a chorus of wails, one under each arm, but that soon lead to a sleeping Milli and Edie watching Yo Gabba Gabba in peace. Still, it was not an easy morning. I needed comfort, and food gave that to me for lunch.

Baby sitter came and got Mil, I put Edie on the big bike and we rode to see the doctor the long way -- instead of going cross town, we circled the tip of Manhattan, and it was just what we needed. I felt my tension release, and Edie sang at the top of her lungs until she fell asleep. The doc says she has roseola (roe-zee-OH-la), a cute name for a mild condition. A few days of fever, followed by 3 days of mild rash. Communicable to other kids until the rash goes away. Mild headache. So Edie is in the last stages, and should be ready to re-debut into society on Saturday. -sigh-

Betsy took Edie home from the doc, and I decompressed with dinner at Dojo and some solo food shopping at Pathmark. Dojo doesn't have the greatest food, but it's relatively healthy and I just needed to be served and sit in silence, no dishes, no cooking, no need for my attention. -phew- Treated myself to a sack o' cookies in front of the TV in the evening.

AM SNACK: 8:30am, iced green tea


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


LUNCH: noon, stouffers French bread pizzas, handful of baby carrots, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 5pm, hijiki tofu sandwich on whole wheat pita, large spinach salad, cold sesame noodles, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5


EVENING SNACK: 7:30pm, package of Milano cookies, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

Wobbly

Fell asleep in front of the TV around 8, crawled into bed an hour later. Got some decent sleep despite waking up 3 or  4 times to take care of Milli. Edie was still feeling off her game. We 3 went for a walk with her push bike close by and ended up at the local diner for an early lunch. Baby sitter came at 1 but I didn't want to leave Edie feeling bleh, so we ended up snoozing on the couch while Mil was looked after in a bedroom. I slept for 2 hours, but Edles ended up sleeping for 4, a sure sign she still has a bug.

Not the greatest eating day, but was able to fit a few nutritionally valid things in. I guess the stress of Edie being sick and off for Spring break has me a little wobbly.

AM SNACK: 7am, iced green tea


BREAKFAST: 8am, good yogurt, honey, vanilla, fistful of almonds, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

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

LUNCH: 11:30am, hamburger, fries, 2 chicken fingers, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5


PM SNACK: 3:15pm, granola bar


DINNER: 6pm, kraft dinner, baby spinach with almonds and a little dressing, 4oz of Sprite, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5


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

High Line

Woke up to pop a bottle in Milli's mouth at 5:30am, couldn't get back to sleep so just got up, despite not getting to bed until 1am. Lack of sleep informed my day, as well as Edie's health. B took the day off and took Edie to the doc in the morning. Doc confirmed Edie has a virus, but so far nothing to freak out about.

B & E got home and E was out for the count, so I strapped Milli Mil on and went out the door, not sure where to head. The weather was nice, I made a left out the house and a right on Grand Street, trying to think of where to go and nothing appealing. A bus pulled up as I walked past the stop, so we spontaneously got on it and took it to the end of the line, the High Line Park.

Walked slowly from end to end, exiting briefly to get lunch. Not many options that weren't sit-down and expensive, and the only nice prepared food place had a line going out the door. So I picked up some Subway, and ate it in the park. It was a nice several hours just holding on to my baby.

My eating wasn't the greatest, but when I'm overtired I always crave junkier foods...

BREAKFAST: 7am, brown rice crispies with organic dead milk, banana, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5


AM SNACK 10am, chocolate chip cookies, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5


LUNCH: 2pm, foot long veggie burger sub, potato chips, diet coke, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 5:30pm, 2 chocolate chip cookies


DINNER 6:30pm, crab cake, baby carrots, pickle, water, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

Crabby Cakes & Crabby Edie

Edie was a bit feverish last night, but seemed good this morning. After B left for work, juggled the kids, got the laundry done, got a weight lifting session in, made smoothies for me n' Edie, did dishes, ate a proper lunch and prepped foods for dinner, had a couple of good friends in town. Basically was running around non-stop until they showed up, then left the house. Edie became a bit tired while out, and lethargic and feverish when we got home. Dinner was great, but it was a bit sad not to have happy Edie bouncing around entertaining everyone. I never realized how happy and full of energy my daughter has become until suddenly she dials it down.


TODAY'S COOKING
Health Salad: Standard recipe, but no white vinegar on hand, substituted apple cider vinegar. A little less sharp, but nice. Apples n' cabbage are a fine combo.

Chocolate Chip Cookies: Rather than use the recipe on the back of the pack of chocolate chips, I used a fussy Cook's Illustrated recipe. It involved browning the butter in a skillet, then whisking it with the sugars and egg, letting it rest then re-whisking it several times, to get a similar leavening-flaky effect as creaming sugar into (solid) butter, but with the much richer, complex flavor of browned butter. Cookies came out surprising great, much more interesting than the standard. Took an extra pan, some careful watching to brown and not burn, and the whisking/resting took and extra 15 minutes, but worth it.

Crab Cakes: Another fussy recipe from this month's Cook's Illustrated. Pretty standard, softened celery & onion, mustard, Old Bay, Tabasco, fried in a coating of toasted panko. The main innovation is to use a moussiline as a binder, something I haven't made since c-school. Instead of eggs as a binder, which makes everything taste like a fried egg, took some raw shrimp and processed it to a mince, then added a small amount of heavy cream and pulsed it to a chunky paste. (Take that with fillers & aromatics, put it in a loaf pan in water and bake it, that's a fancy Frenchy shrimp terrine.) Added it to the flavors and the crab meat -- the shrimp flavor blended seamlessly with the jumbo lump crab meat and everything just tasted crabby, not crabby/shrimpy, or as it used to, crabby/eggy.

AM SNACK: 8:30am, iced green tea


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


AM SNACK: 11:30am, chocolate chip cookie


LUNCH: 1:15pm, large green salad, PBJ on whole wheat toast,  water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Both chillun' up, just finished laundry, prepping dinner, very harried and distracted, but in it all I plopped Mil down in his bumbo seat by my feet, sat Edie next to me in her high chair, and we all paused and ate lunch together. A moment of calm. Edie asked to hold hands. I put my foot out so Mil could grasp my big toe. Despite only having one hand to eat salad and a sandwich, it was quite satisfying.


PM SNACK: 4:30pm, granola bar, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 6pm, crab cakes, roasted brussel sprouts, spinach and sweet potato knishes, health salad, pint of beer, several chocolate chip cookies, 1.75 bowl, hunger 4/5
Probably over-ate a bit, but it was all home cooked and shared with a close friend I don't see nearly enough.

EVENING SNACK: 10pm, 3 cookies, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Ride Through Easter

Woke up at 6 to go bike riding, but B said Edie felt warm, so I erred on the side of family and slept in until 8:30ish. Had some relatives over for a nice visit, then motivated and got on the bike and zipped out to Coney. Sunny Easter Sunday, the boardwalk was jammed. Home and made a simple but heavy dinner. Ran out after to Wholefoods and the drug store for formula.


BREAKFAST: 9am, iced green tea, hardcore oatmeal, banana, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Found some left over oatmeal in the fridge, had it eat it or toss it out...

AM SNACK: 10:45am, handful of almonds, handful of chocolate covered espresso beans
Needed a kick to get the day started...

LUNCH: 12:15pm, knish, pickle, chocolate cookies, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5


BIKE SNACK: 4:30pm, granola bar

DINNER: 6:15pm, 4oz whole wheat spaghetti & tomato sauce with broiled scallops, large green salad, pint of grenadine soda, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING SNACK: 8:30pm,small bag of cookies, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5


EVENING SNACK: 9pm, brown rice crispies with organic dead milk, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5


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

Sederring

Woke up to the baby again at 5:30ish, couldn't get back to sleep, 5 hours of sleep will have to do. Took Edie to a nice Easter Egg hunt with friends, and got a nice deep 2 hour nap with Edie wrapped around me in the afternoon. The evening was a Seder with B's family, which found the kids falling asleep but peaceful!

AM SNACK: 6am, iced green tea

BREAKFAST: 7:30am, organic wholegrain cheerios with organic dead milk, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
My stomach felt queezy, it took a minute to realize that my nausciousness was from hunger and not fullness.


AM SNACK: 10:30am, half a potato knish, half a sweet potato knish, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5


PM SNACK: noon, slice of birthday cake, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5


LUNCH: 1:45am, large green salad, breaded shrimp, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5


PM SNACK: 4:30pm, handful of chocolate covered espresso beans


SEDER DINNER: 7pm, gefilte fish, matzoh ball soup, hillel sandwiches, turkey, half a glass of wine, ice cream, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Passover in My Parents Presence

Woke up early on my own, got the laundry in -- good thing, because Friday morning before the Sabbath AND a major Jewish holiday = crime-scene-like pressure on the laundry room. Got to do a post-knish food shop with Edie, make salad, and have a good lunch. Took a rental car to NJ for a Seder with my cousin & peeps.

This is my dad's side of the family, his older brother's only child, who is about 15 yrs older than me. I took a few years off from this Seder after my parents passed away, glad I started attending again. It's nice to be among people who knew and also loved and appreciated my parents, a few like my cousin actually knew them longer than I. Another was the wife of my dad's younger brother, nice to have my parent's generation present. That both my children bare my parent's name was not lost on this bunch.

The food has changed over the years, more and more of it is prepared outside the home by professionals, but a few dishes remain rock solidly home and hand made (the meatballs in a sweet sauce) and one is even better (the gefilte was cut from a fresh loaf, rather than out of a slimy jar). I contributed passover-style knishes, and everyone was very complimentary, though I wish I was better at taking them, I just had to grit my teeth and say "thank you" with out criticizing them -- they really were not the best I could produce. Who knows, maybe the passover knish will become another tradition. Hopefully someday B's side of the family will do Passover in our home, I'd love to blow the doors of that meal...


BREAKFAST: 7am, 4 small pancakes, water, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

AM SNACK: 9am, cold slice of pizza, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5
It had almost no cheese on it, and was thin, therefore the small measure...

LUNCH: 11:45am, ham & Swiss on wholewheat, fried in butter, large green salad, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Light on the ham and Swiss, lightly buttered the pan, 100% whole wheat bread pressed with a heavy pot. Volume-wise, ate about 4x more salad than sandwich, felt right.


PM SNACK: 1pm, homemade granola bar, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5 


PM SNACK: 4:30pm, one & half slices of streetza, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5


SEDER DINNER: 6:30pm, hillel sandwich, gefilte fish, matzoball soup, meatballs and matzo muffin, a bite of chicken & stuffing, a bite of salad, a few glasses of grape juice, a shot of Slivovitz, a few chocolatey things, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

At least I ate an apple...

Took Edie to school and realized I was really hungry, hungry enough to interfere with weight lifting when I got home. Kitchen is low or out of everything due to knish manufacturing these past few days, and knishes taking up 90% of the fridge space. I thought I'd have a good lifting session due to the sugar, but it actually felt like it slowed me down a little. Mental? Biological? Looking forward to getting the knishes out this weekend...

BREAKFAST: 8:45am, cinnamon roll, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Not a great way to start the day, but the kitchen is jammed with knishes and low on groceries, including tea (gallon jugs take up a lot of real estate!)

AM SNACK: 10:45am, apple


LUNCH: 12:45pm, shoyu ramen, shumai, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 7pm, half a pizza, cesar salad, 15oz of gingerale, 1.75 bowl, hunger 4/5

Cheese tour

Cooked in the morning, taught in the afternoon, cooked in the evening. All this food-centric living is wreaking havoc on my diet, he he. All the good foods in the kitchen are being pushed out by....knishes. Literally.

Had some fun in school, revamped the cheese tasting by using this list as my field guide. The Camembert freaked just about everyone, but was quite good. Used a lot of the cheeses in one of three sheets of mac n' cheese we made, very funky.

TODAY'S COOKING
Spinach & Roasted Garlic Knishes, Sweet Potato & Butternut Squash knish filling: Spent the morning knocking out more knishes, making fillings. After school, spent the evening finishing the baking.


AM SNACK: 8am, iced green tea


LUNCH: 11:45am, PBJ on whole wheat toast, water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

SCHOOL SNACK: 3:30pm, cheese tasting course, a little bread and apple, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

SCHOOL DINNER: 6pm, chimichurri flank steak, mac n' cheese, roasted brussel sprouts, Sprite, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Gotta do the brussels, in past years I did sauteed spinach. This was so much yummier.


EVENING SNACK: 10pm, graham crackers with nutella, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING SNACK: 11pm, 4 pancakes, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

Sugar, urrrg

The doc says my kidney's are 100%, despite the pain I experienced Friday morning, and unless I get a call in regards to the sample I just gave, just go on with my life. -sigh- Still, gonna be more conscious of salt regardless. There was a scary piece about equating sugar with disease and addiction on 60 minutes this past Sunday, make me think about my own compulsive need to indulge a little every night. A harmless indulgence, or something more sinister? My dad had adult-onset diabetes....

TODAY'S COOKING
Knishes: Targeted to make 48 potato knishes with half the filling, ended up making....53. Not bad. Between eating 2, 2 being too small and one hitting the floor, had to pat myself on the back. The matzo-based kosher-for-Passover "cake meal" gives a very distinct flavor (the flavor of MATZO!) and a real lack of stretch, just dry snap. Oh well. The dough was no fun to work with, but I was able to wrestle it into submission.

AM SNACK: 7am, iced green tea, Tylenol

BREAKFAST: 8:30am, hardcore oatmeal, a banana, pint of water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


PM SNACK: noon, several bites of potato knish filling
Had to repeatedly taste to get it right, and a taste had to be a solid tablespoon's worth, testing for fat, salt, onion.

LUNCH: 1:45pm, 2 potato knishes, wholewheat chicken nuggets, a little bit of homemade sauce, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Nice to be prompted for lunch by my hunger because I was too busy to pay attention to my stomach. Needed something quick, and freshly baked knishes was what was in front of me.

DINNER: 7pm, sushi, green salad, tempura, 7oz ginger ale, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

Intergenerational Matza

Lifted weights, strapped on Mil and collected ingredients for kosher for passover-style knishes, which need to go out for delivery on Thursday, and served at the Seders I'm attending Friday and Saturday.

While finishing up the knish dough and caramelized onions, Edie came in from watching TV in the living room into the kitchen and asked for matzo. Not for a yogurt or a juice box or a pretzel or a cookie, but matzo, probably due to it being talked about a lot in school, including a matzo-making activity last week.

I remembered my mom saying you should always have a box of matzoh in your house at all times, it's like the non-religious equivalent of a mazzuzah. So I went to the back of the top of my cupboard, and what do you know, there was a box of matzo....from my mom! I remember one of the last Passovers my parents hosted, my mom had purchased a full crate of matzoh from her place of business, so she made every one take at least one box home with them. Looking at this sealed box, it was made in....2003, yup, sounds right. So I opened it, tasted it just to make sure I was not poisoning my daughter (yup, fine) and gave her a sheet to play with. -sigh- Matzoh, from grandmom to granddaughter, from Edna to Edna.

TODAY'S COOKING
Knish Komponents: Peeled, cut and boiled up 10 lbs of potatoes to make 3 large batches of knish dough, using kosher for passover "cake flour" instead of standard flour. Hope it comes out OK, as I failed to test it in the last few weeks. Also diced and baked 18 lbs of onions at low temp over 6 hours with fat and salt to get the caramelized onions needed for the baking ahead.

AM SNACK: 7:30am, iced green tea
Washed down 2 extra strength tylenol, seems to be managing my minor kidney discomfort pretty well for now.


BREAKFAST: 9:15am, smoothie, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 1:30pm, peanut butter and cherry preserves on whole grain toast, water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

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

DINNER: 6:30pm, beef basil fried rice, Thai salad, water, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5
I wasn't planning on ordering in, but felt a bit beat up with the knish prep and the 2 kids weighing on me, and wanting just dinner to BE there and we can all just sit together and be happy. Period. -sigh-


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

A Sunday, Passed

228.2--->228.0--->231

Took my weight after my AM snack due to the time. Though my weight is up, I suspect that is due to muscle gain. I doubt it's visible to anyone other than myself, but I've notice slight increases in muscle mass in my arms and legs, slight curves and angles developing that I've never had before. I'm lifting heavier and more reps than ever in my entire life. Betsy said I looked "skinny" yesterday, but she'd be my cheer-leader even if I gained 300 lbs, he he.

I intended to wake at 6 this morning to ride bikes, but Milli's urge to feed woke me before 5 and I could not fall back to sleep, due to kidney-related discomfort. In the early AM, I wrote to my specialist, and surprisingly he wrote back within an hour with advice and a moved-up appointment for this coming Tuesday afternoon, instead of the end of the month.

Took a nap after an early lunch around 11:30 and didn't wake until after 5pm, oy. Felt a little better. Got to bed around 1am.


AM SNACK: 5:30am, organic whole grain chex with organic dead milk, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5


LUNCH: 10:45am, Stouffers French Bread Pizzas, a bunch of Sees Chocolates, quart of water, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 8pm, cheese tortelini with 2 small meatballs, a small amount of chocolate, quart of water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

Too Cold & Rainy

Too cold and rainy to ride my bike like I planned, and still feeling unsteady from the stone pain early yesterday morning. Nice breakfast, grandma came over, popped out to visit a friend in Williamsburg, ordered in dinner, TV vegetation in the evening, a good day.

TODAY's COOKING
French Toast: Quart of whole milk, 8 eggs 1/4 cup of vanilla sugar, heavy pinches of salt, fresh nutmeg and ground cinnamon. Sesame challah cut into 10 thick pieces soaked in the batter, nicely almost absorbed the whole bowl, 2 sticks of butter clarified. Fried on low heat about 6-8 minutes per side, nice browning, firm but moist inside. Maybe a tad sweeter wouldn't have hurt, but pretty decadent never the less, appropriate for the friends and kids we were informally hosting. Makes me think I should revise my pancake recipe I use regularly to include some whole grains, he he.

AM SNACK: 8am, iced green tea, blueberry corn muffin, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5


BREAKFAST: 11:15am, french toast, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 3:30pm, handful of chocolate covered espresso beans, small chocolate bunny, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 4:15pm, cup of hot green tea

DINNER: 6:30pm, shrimp over black beans and yellow rice, tortilla chips and guac, several pieces of chocolate, quart of water, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

Stones, again

Ugg. I had a kidney stone incident last night, woke up around 1:15am, pain went from a 2/10 to around a 6/10 by 2am. Took an  oxy and a wave of nausea hit me around 2:30. By 2:45am, stoned and the pain receded. Enjoyed bad TV for a few hours, fell asleep around 5am. I had an appointment with the urologist at 1pm, but when I got there, they informed me the doc was out and I should have been called. So it is rescheduled for....the end of the month! God bless the US health care system. Let's hope nothing bad happens until then.

TODAY'S COOKING:
Blueberry Corn Muffins: Craving something sweet and baked, and had nothing in the house and did not feel like moving....so I moved over to the kitchen and adapted this recipe. Soaked the corn grits in milk for 10 minutes before starting. Swapped canola oil for bacon fat. Upped the eggs to 2 whole and 1 yolk. Added a tbsp of vanilla extract, 1/2 tsp of cayenne pepper, half cup of fresh blueberries. Came out surprisingly perfect-looking, tall and pointy tops, right color. Taste was good, maybe a bit too spicy, maybe the corn grits were stale...

AM SNACK: 8am, iced green tea

BREAKFAST: 9am, hardcore oatmeal, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

AM SNACK: 11am, homemade granola bar, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 1:30pm, apple

LUNCH: 2:30pm, slice of vegan zen pizza, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 6pm, fillet of sole, baked potatoes, brussel sprouts, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5 
It's the edge of the weekend, but I didn't feel like eating poorly, especially after last night's pain. Still, I couldn't help notice how loose I am with the salt, something I may need to restrict to avoid future stones.



EVENING SNACK: 8:30pm, 3 blueberry corn muffins, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

Farty Brain

I had a cooking brain fart today. On a semi-regular basis, I take the taped-up jar I keep my spent vanilla beans soaking in 180 proof vodka and blend it, strain it through cheese clothe and put it back in the jar, cutting it with about 50% water. This is vanilla extract about 5x stronger in vanilla flavor than store-bought stuff, and about 1/10 the price, using essentially kitchen garbage to make something very useful.

For some reason today, I put the slurry into a food processor instead of a blender. Turn it on, VOOSH, a spray of murky booze all over the kitchen, going the the seams of the processor barrel. -sigh- I always use a (water tight) blender, why did I do that?! Ended up wasting about half the batch.

AM SNACK: 7:15am, iced green tea

BREAKFAST: 9:30am, hardcore oatmeal, banana, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


LUNCH: noon, breaded shrimp, 4oz whole wheat pasta with homemade sauce, large green salad, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5


SCHOOL SNACK: 6pm, a couple of brownie squares, can of diet coke, a few pieces of roast beef, prosciutto and shrimp, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 8:45pm, whole grain pretzel rods with homemade french onion dip, 5 small pancakes, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5


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

Belly full of mayo

Woke up early with a sore back, was afraid it was a kidney stone recurrence, but I fell asleep on the couch for an hour and felt fine after. I have a follow up appointment on Friday, hopefully I'll get an all-clear. Taught class in the afternoon, 13 kids, again went surprisingly well, though the bellyful of mayo I had to eat (sample each student's work) left me with a greezy-feeling tummy.

AM SNACK: 7:45am, iced green tea

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


LUNCH: noon, large green salad, sardine & avocado on whole wheat with onion, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 1:15pm, homemade granola bar, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5


SCHOOL SNACK: 6pm, a few spoonfuls of student mayonnaise, a few bites of shrimp


DINNER: 8pm, falafel sandwich, a little lentil salad, 16oz ginger ale, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Stopped by Fatoosh in B's old neighborhood on the way home from school, it seems like just yesterday I was wooing her and spending a lot of time in her 'hood. Where did all the time go? Where did these babies come from?



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

Evening Snack Thoughts

Laundry and Mil in the morning, final class of the section in the afternoon/early eve. I just confirmed another section to start in 2 weeks, so that's cool, I guess this new school likes what they see/taste/smell, he he.

I laid Mil out on a blanket, and he turned over on his stomach, raised his head and propped up on his elbows. Did not crawl yet, but slowly turned in a full circle then fell asleep on his side. Cuteness uncontrolled!

TODAY'S COOKING:
Tomato Sauce: Sauteed too large onions to soft, added 3 grated carrots, a few tablespoons of chopped fresh oregano and thyme, tossed in some dried basil. Crushed in a few cloves of garlic. Two cups of red wine, simmered down to almost dry, then four big cans of freshly milled tomatoes tossed in. In to the pot went 4 rinds of parm and pecorino, removed after an hour of simmering. Big loud flavor, good if you want to only use a little sauce.


AM SNACK: 7:45am, iced green tea


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

LUNCH: noon, small potato knish, small kasha knish, large green salad, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


SCHOOL DINNER: 6:45pm, empanadas, lasagna, string beans, flourless chocolate cake, pepsi, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


EVENING SNACK: 9:45pm, green olives & almonds, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Huh, interesting. I had a craving for a snack, but not for sweets. I had assumed what is driving this evening snack is sugar, but it's not, it's something more...emotional? I guess if I have to snack, making it something small and nutritionally packed isn't the worst I could do to myself.

PBJ

After this weekend's eating, definitely need to come correct this week. Started off well with strong weight lifting and a fruit smoothie, and pretty much stayed on the path all day. I snacked a bit in the afternoon,  because I knew I'd be food shopping after B got home, and dinner would be late. Sugar cravings were kept in check with 7oz cans of Sprite at lunch and with an afternoon snack, and I tried to leave the chocolate alone in the evening, but I just...needed it. I think there is something more complicated than just sugar cravings, when it comes to that last sweet snack of the day.

PB&J with baby carrots is a new weekly lunch for my, me thinks... Maybe swap in almond butter, too...


AM SNACK: 7:45am, iced green tea


BREAKFAST: 9:30am, smoothie, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: noon, PB&J on whole grain bread, baby carrots, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Had peanut butter and cherry preserves on a sandwich yesterday, liked it so much I had it again today. Funnily enough, baby carrots are a perfect side to it, the moist crunch goes well to unsticked the peanut butter from the mouth.

PM SNACK: 3pm, spinach & tofu empanada, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5


PM SNACK: 4:30pm, green olives, almonds, 7oz Sprite, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 8pm, sauteed shrimp, cooked spinach & multi grain brown rice, large green salad, 7oz  Sprite, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

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

Party Down

Woke up to a happy family, birthday wishes and nice presents. Despite some stresses, B let me cook all morning and afternoon -- got a lot of precooking prep & mise en place for the multi dish dinner party this evening: a retro TV dinner from scratch, for watching the season premiere of Mad Men. Got martini glasses from Ikea ($3 for 6!), compartmentalized Styrofoam trays from school (served with tin foil over the top, with the pudding exposed....

TODAY'S COOKING:
Pancakes: Woke up, leveraged my birthday into permission to go pancake crazy on top of the other cooking today. Used the usual recipe, through in a pint of the creme fraiche developing on the counter top since Friday. One thing I should keep in mind -- the more fat I put into the pancake, the more it's going to retard gluten development, hence a tenderer pancake. The flour was a bit lumpy, and I lost a few to dry clumps -- being so fatty, I could have beaten the batter a little harder and not worry about toughness.

"French Onion Dip": Took a cup of caramelized onions used in my knish cooking, sauteed it for another hour to make them browner and smaller. Tossed in a tablespoon of curry powder, cooled, chopped finely. Tossed in to a pint of freshly made creme fraiche, seasoned with a teaspoon of salt and a teaspoons of MSG (y'know, for that authentic soup mix taste!) Tossed in a little onion powder for that authentic taste.

Pita Chips: 8 whole wheat pitas, split and cut into wedges of 6. Half cup of cold olive oil and 4 crushed garlic cloves put on the fire. When started to sizzle, turned off heat and tossed in chopped heat of cilantro. Sat for 10 minutes, strained. Bread tossed with oil, baked at 350 for 10 minutes. Nice and crispy, no salt as to be a good match for the salty dip.


Salisbury Steak: Followed this recipe, replaced bread crumbs with panko, canned mushrooms with fresh, water with boxed beef stock, beef bullion with a teaspoon of MSG. Too out the caste iron skillets to brown the meat patties in Crisco, then made a simple pan sauce with the listed ingredients, though I swapped out flour for cornstarch for a more satisfying thickness. Tasted a bit too ketchupy to me, but the guests seemed to dig it.


Mashed Potatoes, Roasted Brussels, Lemon String Beans: The three vegetable dishes to go with the meat. The potatoes were simple, 5 lbs of boiled then baked (to dry) potatoes, run through a mill, a pint of hot cream, a cup of hot milk, a stick of melted butter, mixed lightly and salted. Brussels were cut in half, dressed in a little olive oil, salt & pepper, roasted for 20 at 450. String beans boiled for 5 minutes, shocked, cake back to room temp and dressed in olive oil, lemon juice and a little salt.

AM SNACK: 8:45am, iced green tea


BREAKFAST: 10am, handful of pancakes, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


AM SNACK: 11am, dip and chips to taste


LUNCH: 1:30pm, PB&J on wholegrain toast, a spoonful of chocolate pudding, quart of water, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5


PM SNACK: 3:30pm, slice of Sicilian pizza, a few mini black & white cookies, small piece of cake, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
At a 3 yr old's birthday party with Edie. Thought I was gonna drink beer, ended up just eating.


DINNER: 8pm, half a martini, Salisbury steak & gravy with potato, brussel sprouts and string beans, pudding & whipped cream, 7oz can of Sprite, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Glad my guests gobbled up all the meat and all the pudding and ice cream!

Pudding.

Not a good eating day, it was a bit bumbling, but hey, it's the weekend. Indulging myself.


TODAY'S COOKING
Chocolate Pudding: I tossed out last night's pastry cream and started over with this recipe as the base. Upped sugar by a cup. Turned cornstarch into a slurry with a 1/2 cup of cream before adding it. The last time I made this, it never thickened enough -- this time I let it come to a boil while I vigorously whisked, and poof! it thickened perfectly. I still noticed little bits in it, I wonder if that is from bringing the temp too high too fast.

AM SNACK: 7:45am, iced green tea

AM SNACK: 9am, spoonful of ice cream


AM SNACK: 11:15am, slice of streetza
Didn't intend to skip breakfast, but it turned out that way. Picked up this slice from a place I previously adored as one of the better slices in the hood, but since the last time I was there, they turned into a $1-a-slice joint. The slice was significantly smaller and the crust had snap but almost no chew, typical of a discount slice. Fneh.



BRUNCH: 11:30am, BLT on rye, fries, diet coke, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 5:45pm, half a pastrami sandwich, pea soup, fries, pickles, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
At Katz's with B's family. It could have been worse, I suppose. Even 1/2 a sandwich is a little bit much. 



EVENING SNACK: 8pm, spoonful of pudding, spoonful of pastry cream, spoonful of ice cream, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Not Pudding

Got a sitter so I could ride this morning, a little b-day gift to myself -- the weather was too nice not too, and the weekend is not going to be as good. Had a scan of my kidney in the afternoon, did some food shopping for the Mad Men dinner party I'm hosting on Sunday....

TODAY'S COOKING
Ice Cream batter: Making cookies n' cream ice cream for visiting inlaws tomorrow. Funny how I don't need to refer to a recipe, of all things, -sigh-. Pint of cream, pint of milk, cup of sugar, combine & scald. Temper in a dozen egg yolks. Add vanilla. Whisk until thickened, pour through sieve into ice bath. Chill, run through ice cream machine. I'll do that last step tomorrow, and toss in a package of Newman-Os that have been pulsed in the food processor.


Chocolate Pastry Cream: UGG. I'm serving chocolate pudding as part of the retro-TV dinner tomorrow eve. Rather than use the recipe I've been using, I used my c-school recipe for pastry cream. I remember making this at school, thinking, "Oh, this is kinda like pudding!" Key: LIKE pudding, NOT pudding. After making a load of this, I realised it's a LOT thicker and pastier than pudding, and not that sweet comparatively, so it can accommodate sweeter things on a tart. Probably will hold this, and remake pudding tomorrow.


BREAKFAST: 7:30am, iced green tea, corn chex and organic dead milk, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5


BIKE SNACK: 10:45am, 16oz gatorade, 10oz Manhattan Special, baggie of "potato stix", small Hostess apple pie, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


LUNCH: 2:15pm, breaded tilapia, 2oz whole wheat spag with tomato sauce, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5
Weird hungry feeling I get after a bike ride -- my stomach feels tight, feels full, but I still feel hungry.



DINNER: 6pm, beef lomein, egg roll, a few veg dumplings, can of Sprite, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5


EVENING SNACK: 9pm, more beef lomein, a few more veg dumplings, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

Convenience

Got some weights in, then Milli Mil & I dropped in on DUMBO to visit a colleague in the resto biz. Took Edie & Mil on to and adventure at the garden on 6th between B&C, then spent a long evening running around at home, as  B came home around 9pm. I intended to make something healthier for dinner, but needed something convenient that did not take away my focus from the two rugrats.

AM SNACK: 7:15am, iced green tea

BREAKFAST: 9:15am, hardcore oatmeal, a banana, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5


LUNCH: 11:45am, whole wheat bagel with cream cheese, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5


PM SNACK: 4:30pm, homemade granola bar, pint of seltzer, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 5:30pm, Stouffer's French Bread Deluxe pizza, baby spinach salad, pickle, quart of water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5


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

Chilli Chilling & Milli Milling

A good day chilli chilling and Milli Milling in the morning, teaching in the afternoon. Really good, enthusiastic group. Had them taste pure MSG and the majority said, "SOUP!" Ugh, they've all grown up on cheap bouillon, a cheap swap out for real stock.


AM SNACK: 8am, iced green tea, small piece of banana bread
Something was wrong with the banana bread, something in it gave an overwhelming biter taste. Something to do with the espresso powder? I threw it out.


BREAKFAST: 9:15am, homemade granola bar, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: noon, sardine & avocado on whole wheat toast, baby spinach salad, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


SCHOOL SNACK: 6pm, sauteed chicken, mashed potatoes, sprite, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 8pm, singapore chow mei fun, baby carrots, 10oz sprite, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Picked up a sane amount of Chinese take out on the way home, mostly rice noodle, thinking it would nip my appetite in the bud, but I found myself hungry soon after.



EVENING SNACK: 9pm, almonds and chocolate chips, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5


EVENING SNACK: 10pm, handful of whole grain pretzels

Ankly

Chores & babies in the morning, teachin' in the afternoon. Pleasantly sore from weight lifting yesterday, though my left ankle is acting up from wearing a different, rarely worn pare of shoes that may have to be retired.

AM SNACK: 8:45am, iced green tea


BREAKFAST: 9:45am, hardcore oatmeal,.75 bowl, hunger 4/5


LUNCH: 1pm, baby carrots with a little tahini dressing, whole wheat spaghetti in sauce with meatballs, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

SCHOOL SNACK: 6:45pm, 4 mini cheese and meat empanadas with pique sauce, 1 small cheesecake brownie, water, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5 

DINNER: 9pm, homemade salsa with wholegrain tortilla chips, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING SNACK: 10:15pm, small chocolate pudding

Shame on Subway

Had a hard time falling asleep, but got to bed around 1am. Lifted weights in the morning, felt strong, happy Mil slept through most of it. A small shop at Wholefoods with Mil, then a few hours in the local playground with Edie in the glorious weather.


TODAY'S COOKING:
Granola Bars: Wallop of almond butter, wallop of maple syrup, a fistful of flax and spirulina, simmered then 3 eggs added. Tossed with yesterdays granola, pressed into a lined pan, 300 for 25 minutes. Looks good.

Tahini Dressing: Used this recipe randomly, which as to my suspicion uses carrot and tahini interchangebly in this Japanese style ginger dressing. I doubled it, as it is a lot of work for ONE serving of dressing. Tasting it, too mustardy, perhaps because all I had was stuff from the pickle guys. Aftr storing, came out surprisingly thick, and the flavor was a bit too strong. In the next iteration, halve the mustard, maybe up the tahini by 50%, and perhaps add some water to thin it out and lower the volume of the flavor.

Salsa Fresca: Diced a bunch of tomatos, one full sweet white onion, minced three cloves of garlic & most of a bunch of cilantro. Tossed in the cup of tomato juice made yesterday, salt, red wine vinegar and a few dashes of tabasco to make up for the jalapeno missing. I sipped the cold tomato juice -- WOW! I never liked V8, it tastes like aluminum and acid, but this was bright, fresh, tomatoey in the right way, and surprisingly redolent of celery (probably due to the call to cook the leaves as well as the stalks)

AM SNACK: 8:30am, iced green tea


BREAKFAST: 10:30am, smoothie, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
The new fruit mix with less pinapple and nit-berries (black and red) definitely makes for a better smoothie, but I'm getting a note of sulfer, not sure where it's coming from. Still, good.

LUNCH: 1pm, veggie burger sub on "9 grain honey oat" bread, diet coke, a few sunchips, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
While eating, I tried to find the ingredient list on line on my phone for the bread to see how healthy it really is. Couldn't find it, but googled around and found this:

9-GRAIN WHEAT Enriched wheat flour (wheat flour, barley malt, niacin, iron, thiamin mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), water, yeast, high fructose corn syrup, whole wheat flour, wheat gluten, contains 2% or less of the following: oat fiber, soybean oil, salt, wheat bran, rolled wheat, rye nuggets, dough conditioners (DATEM, sodium stearoyl lactylate), yeast nutrients (calcium sulfate, ammonium sulfate), degermed yellow corn meal, rolled oats, rye flakes, caramel color, triticale flakes, parboiled brown rice, refinery syrup, honey, barley flakes, flaxseed, millet, sorghum flour. Contains wheat.

Jeebsus! This is just Italian bread with a tiny bit of "healthy stuff" thrown in for shits n' giggles. It's mostly just plain white flour -- there is more YEAST than whole wheat flour in it! Ther is more HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP that whole wheat flour in it! Looking at all the bread options, there are NO real healthy bread options there. The take the sheen of healthy eating, but bread-wise, they are committing fraud.

DINNER: 6:45pm, broiled sole with butter & old bay, roasted brussel sprouts, baked potato, baby spinach salad with slivered almonds and tahini ginger dressing, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

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


EVENING SNACK: 9:30pm, leftover masaman veg curry & white rice, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

High Suburban Style

Food shopping with Edie in the morning, a car trip with Uncle A and the fam to the wilds of Montclair, NJ to visit A's friend and family. Definitely high-suburban life style out there, with a 20 minute drive from midtown. Definitely not my speed. A & B were craving Doritos-shelled tacos from Taco Bell, thank goodness that didn't happen!

TODAY'S COOKING
Tomato Juice: Gonna make salsa this week, but the recipe calls for tomato juice. Tomatoes were on sale, vine ripened 99 cents per pound, so I experimented with this recipe. What is tomato juice, other than tomato sauce with a thinner texture? I halved it, sent it through a food mill, where it pretty much looked like smooth sauce, so I sent it through a wire mesh strainer. Out came a cloudy pink cup of liquid,  maybe 1/4 the original mass. More like what a fancy restaurant would call tomato broth or tomato water. Big flavor, should go nice in my salsa in a few days.


Granola: Ready for another batch of bars. 5 cups rolled outs, 4 cups of raw cashews, slivered almonds, pepitas and sunflower seeds, 1/2 cup olive oil, 1/4 cup maple syrup, 1/4 cup dark brown sugar, 1 tsp cinnamon, 1 tsp cardamom, 1 tsp salt, a heavy dash of vanilla extract. 325 degrees for 45 minutes, stirred every 10 minutes. 1/2 cup of chopped dried cherries tossed in after baking. Ready for bars later in the week!


BREAKFAST: 8am, banana bread, iced green tea, .25 bowl, hunger 3/5

LUNCH: 12:15pm, breaded shrimp, leftover roasted broccoli, 2 pickles, pudding & whipped cream, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5


PM SNACK: 2:30pm, bits of donuts, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 6:45pm, pad thai with tofu, chive pancake, thai salad, water, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING SNACK: 9pm, chocolate pudding with whipped cream, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

First Ride of the Season

Woke up at 8 after 12 hours of pretty good sleep. B&E in healthy and happy moods, felt good when I split to ride around 9am. Did 45 miles around Queens, in the 50s and mostly sunny, a good opener to the '12 bike season!


TODAY'S COOKING
Banana Bread: Had to get rid of some bananas. Into the stand mixer's bowl: 5 overripe bananas, a cup of dark brown sugar. Turned it on medium, then added: 1 stick melted butter, 1/4 cup full fat Fage Greek yogurt, 3 eggs, a teaspoon of salt, a tablespoon of instant espresso powder. Turned off, added 1 1/2 cups of whole wheat pastry flour, 1 tsp of baking powder, 2 teaspoon of baking soda, put in 2 small tin loaf pans, 350 degrees for 1 hour.

Pleasantly dense, maybe a tad too sweet. 

French toast: 3 cups of milk, 1 cup of heavy cream, 8 eggs, 1/3 cup of sugar, heavy shot of cinnamon and nutmeg, a large dose of vanilla extract, big pinch of salt in the custard. 2 sticks of butter clarified for frying. One loaf of challah sliced into 1" thick pieces. Fry over medium low-flame about 5 minutes on each side until it looks right.


BREAKFAST: 8:30am, iced green tea, good yogurt with vanilla, honey & peanuts, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5


BIKE SNACK: 11:45am, 20oz gatorade, fritos corn chips, a crappy slice of chocolate pound cake, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5


PM SNACK: 3pm, green salad, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 6:30pm, 3 1/2 pieces french toast, chocolate pudding & whipped cream, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Not a light meal, both parts involving a lot of milk, cream and eggs. But the ride definitely gave me an appetite for the heaviness.

EVENING SNACK: 10pm, 3 meatballs in homemade sauce, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Even though my stomach felt full-ish, I still had a roaring appetite, definitely a sign of a good bike ride....

Stressy, Rainy

What an oddly stressy day. Edie didn't have school due to a "staff development" day, and it was raining. We three suited up and went to the supermarket to get a few ingredients for dinner, then met with the accountant to take care of the annual taxes. Home again for lunch, then suited up and took the subway up to the museum of Natural History to meet C & her little one Autumn, but they were running late. We three sat in Central Park for about 30 minutes -- they were both sleeping, and it had stopped raining, a nice 30 minutes of just....peace. We spent an hour in the museum than had a fantastic walk across Central Park to the F train. Got home around 5, Mil was not feeling well and I could not calm him. Fortunately Momma B came home and things calmed down. While dealing with Mil, I did not notice that Edles fell asleep in front of the TV around 5. We put her to bed and she slept through the night, which was nice. Even nicer was after dinner, I packed it in and put myself to bed at 8pm and didn't get woken up the whole night!

TODAY'S COOKING:
Iced Green Tea: New batch, cut the sugar back to 1/4 cup per gallon (from 1/2). Used sencha this time, I don't keep track of kinds of green tea, but I think this is my least favorite. Gotta remember to not buy it again.


AM SNACK: 7:30am, iced green tea


BREAKFAST: 9:30am, homemade pumpernickel bagel with a little cream cheese, water, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
I still have 8 of the dozen left. They're just so leaden and blunt tasting, kinda like how vegetarian cooking was in the 70s. I think in the next few weeks, I'm gonna take a stab at making these a bit more puffy, add vital wheat gluten, maybe more yeast. And definitely some flavorants, like a little espresso -- a caffeine kick in a breakfast bagel is not such a bad thing.

LUNCH: noon, ham and Swiss on a whole wheat slice of bread, large green salad, water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Rushing, Edie having ham and Swiss, so I just made myself some for efficiency. The meal was 1/4 sandwich, 3/4 salad anyway.

PM SNACK: 1:45pm, homemade granola bar, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 6:15pm, whole wheat spaghetti & meatballs, chocolate pudding & whipped cream, pint of grenadine soda, 1.75 bowl, hunger 4/5

Meaty urge

Weather is still fantastic, makes me nervous that it'll change and be more of a typical miserable cold March any moment...

TODAY'S COOKING:
Chocolate Pudding: Made this pudding again in advance of dinner tomorrow. Went a full cup of sugar this time, never got as thick in the pot as before. Maybe it'll thicken when it cools? If not, it'll still taste good, I'll just have to call it pot de creme or something, he he...

Roasted Broccoli: Used this recipe for ingredients and time & temp, but didn't measure anything, just through it together. Replaced panko with whole wheat panko, used asagio for the cheese, and tossed in some sauteed mushrooms into the mix.

AM SNACK: 9:30am, iced green tea

BREAKFAST: 11am, hardcore oatmeal, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 1pm, vegetable patty, jerk chicken patty, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5
Out and about with Mil, looking for something fast, cheap and relatively healthy. Wandered into a Golden Krust on 14th Street, Jamaican street food. The vegetable patty was remarkably good, a wholewheaty crust, and the vegetable filling was cooked to mushy in the same way the beef filling is, and spiced perfectly. The jerked chicken patty was good, but the crust was white flour and the chicken filling had a very slight, very mild ammonia note. I would have been perfectly happy with another vegetarian patty...


PM SNACK: 5pm, a bit of hot chocolate pudding, a spoonful of freshly made whipped cream, 2oz of dark chocolate, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Didn't intend this snack, but when I get cooking, things get thrown in my mouth. recipe called for 5 oz of dark chocolate, and I had 7 on hand. I took a nibble to see how good it was (the crappy supermarket only had Cadbury on hand), it wasn't so good, but rather than the trash (or Betsy), it went into me.

DINNER: 7pm, roasted broccoli with tabouli, 10oz Sprite, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


EVENING SNACK: 9pm, whole grain chips with fresh salsa and fresh guac, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5


EVENING SNACK: 11pm, 2 meatballs, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Huh, tried to minimize my meat consumption today, but the urge grabbed me.

Teaching Style

Woke up pleasantly sore from yesterday's weights -- it means I'm not wasting my efforts. Managed to keep it healthy all day, no sweets, but I think that contributed to insomnia, which lead to a heavy (but sweets-free) late snack.

Taught the first class of a new cycle, with 14 students -- the largest class I've taught yet. Fortunately, three were repeaters, who I were able to let go on do a recipe on their own with minimal supervision, and I just stepped up the running around to give individual attention. I was barkier and sterner than usual, as to keep control and safety in line with a bunch of noobs, and oddly enough, easily got the biggest positive reaction in the debrief with the students after the lesson as we ate. Why is it that the bigger the pushy overbearing task master I am in these classes, more the students seem to respond and enjoy it? I think my teaching style is starting to gel.

AM SNACK: 7:30am, iced green tea


BREAKFAST: 9am, smoothie, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Finished the frozen fruit mix I made, looking forward to making a new batch without raspy raspberries, half the pineapple, and up the peach. The Acai-Pomegranate juice is more bitter than I thought it would be, hmmmm.

LUNCH: noon, breaded tilapia, small amount of mushroom risotto, baby carrots with a little ranch dressing, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Surprised how good the week-old risotto was. The rice absorbed more moisture, making it softer, the surrounding sauce thickened and got richer. Haven't had the frozen tilapia in a while, was better than I remembered, still doesn't hold a candle to fresh stuff from the fishmonger.

PM SNACK: 1:30pm, homemade granola bar, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

SCHOOL SNACK: 6:30pm, fresh salsa, fresh guacemole, a few chips, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER; 8pm, 2 slices of streetza, large green salad, 20oz sprite, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5


EARLY MORNING SNACK: 1:30am, multigrain corn chips with fresh salsa and guac, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

Bikey Thoughts

Upped the reps from 5 to 8 on the weights this morning, upped the sit ups and push ups, and it felt good. Still can't do a pull up, but I'm starting to move a few inches north, which is the right direction.

Taught Italian at school today, though in reality it was "Italian American". Funny thing, the only plates we had to eat from were tiny 5" dessert plates -- so even though I loaded up the plate with pasta, sauce, 2 (2 oz) meatballs and some broccoli and grated parm, it was a reasonable portion that felt like too much, overflowing the plate. I noticed the kids first dai the plates were too small, to which I responded, well, finish your plate and if you want more, feel free to eat more. Everyone filled up there plates, and only a few of them were able to finish it, no one went for seconds. Hmmm.

NYC is experiencing unseasonably warm weather, it's been in the high 60s/low 70s since Sunday. I hoped to ride last Saturday, but it was in the low/mid 40s. Predictions for Sunday call for the high 50s this coming Sunday. I wonder if I can ride the calorie deficit I go into after a good ride with healthier, less dense food to encourage weight loss -- I haven't been losing weight of late, but my muscles feel stronger than ever (evidenced by my mid-February ride where though my stamina wasn't there, my core felt very comfy hunched over the saddle....)

AM SNACK: 8am, iced green tea


BREAKFAST: 10:15am, a banana

LUNCH: 11:30am, sardine & avocado on whole wheat toast, large poppa salad, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

SCHOOL DINNER: 6:30pm, fresh spaghetti with sauce & meatballs, a little broccoli, grape soda, water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Brought home a large number of left over meatballs -- not anxious to get more chopped red meat in my diet, but they were made with a good recipe, based on the one from the restaurant I last worked in. At the least, they'll last a long time and will be a good monthly addition to Edie's meals.  The meatballs are about 50% chopped beef, the other half is romano cheese, mashed up italian bread, lots of fresh parsley, onion, a bit of salt and pepper. Baked hot at 550 for 15 minutes, they burned a little, but that just gave them a bigger, more complex flavor.


EVENING SNACK:  9:30pm, whole wheat ritz crackers with nutella, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5


EVENING SNACK: 10:30pm, 3 meatballs, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

Poppa Day

The day started off to a rollicking roil with Edie a bit too feverish to go to school. Instead of weights, I rallied the troops to come do the laundry with me, and I'll lift hopefully tomorrow when Edles is back in school.

Baby sitter came last minute, and I took Edles to see the doc, then off to Two Boots on A for lunch. We locked up the bike and strolled over to Tompkins to play in the playground for 30 minutes, then off for food shopping. What could have been a horrible day turned into a nice time and some quality one-on-one time with my daughter. It was a good day to be a poppa.

TODAY'S COOKING
Tabouli: B wanted me to pick some up from the market, but why get stuff that's twice the price and half as good as homemade? 3/4 cup red bulgar soaked in 2.25 cups of hot water with salt. Mixed with chopped deseeded cucumber, deseeded tomato, juice of 1 lemon, 1 clove garlic crushed, 1 chopped roasted red pepper, 1/4 of a sweet white onion chopped, a few tablespoons of minced mint and parsley, 3 tbsp of olive oil, a teaspoon of salt, a half teaspoon of cumin. Mixed up and left in the fridge to set up and meld and mellow.


Poppa Salad: Getting a bit bored of the Spinach, so bringing this out of retirement this week. Chopped salad, lettuce-based. Red leaf & iceberg lettuces, English cucumber, shredded carrot, red bell pepper, scallion, red onion.

AM SNACK: 8:30am, iced green tea

BREAKFAST: 9:15am, hardcore oatmeal, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 12:45pm, 1 slice of vegan whole wheat pizza, 2 slices of normal pizza, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Two Boots after Edie's doc. I was going to only eat the vegetable-laden cheeseless whole grain "Earth Mother" slice and a slice with sausage and peppers, but Edie was not feeling her plain slice, so I ended up eating most of that, too. She did, however, greatly enjoy eating an apple. -sigh- Who is showing who how to eat well? Maybe Edie'll publish a "Toddler Diet" book.

DINNER: 7pm, poppa salad, tabouli with sauteed curried shrimp, 10oz Sprite, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5


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

Out-out

Must have gotten the sluggish bug going around, after getting up at 9 (which was 8 just the day before), had to go back to bed after eating and sleep another few hours. Got out to Williamsburg for lunch, which was nice, then a foodie event. Felt like the first time going out-out with out kids in a long time.

AM SNACK: 9am, iced green tea


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

PM SNACK: 1pm,  multigrain tortilla chips, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

BRUNCH: 2:45pm, chicken sandwich, french fries, pint of beer, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Gave half my sandwich and fries up to my co-brunchers, just to make it a normal-ass portion.

PM SNACK: 6:30pm, a slurp of borscht, a nibble of gefilte fish, a gulp of kvass
Out at a gefilte event, modern Jewish soul food, like my knishes. Met some nice people, tasted some nice nibbles.

DINNER: 8:45pm, a few baby carrots, angel hair pasta with homemade sauce and romano, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Not whole wheat, but need to eat through the remaining stuff in the cupboard. Slurped down about 6oz of the stuff, 3x the box recommendation. Hey, it's the weekend!

Toast, Frenched

Woke up, entertained the tots while making some nice breakfast, then got them wrapped up and strapped into the double stroller for a nice cold journey to the East River. Betsy & Edie were a little feverish, so I stayed in for the rest of the day.


TODAY'S COOKING
French Toast: 2 cups of whole milk, 4 eggs, 2oz vanilla sugar, big pinches of cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Splash of vanilla extract. Clarified a stick of butter for frying. Cut last night's challah into 1" pieces. Fried on low heat to get a nice golden color and firm the centers.

AM SNACK: 7:45am, iced green tea

BREAKFAST: 8:45am, french toast, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Edie wasn't sure what to make of the french toast, wanted pancakes. :( I cut her small piece into quarters and she hesitantly nibbled a piece. She looked at me with the sweetest, questioning, innocent look, then looked away at the TV and took another bite. "So, Edie, did you like it?" Pause. "Yeah." I looooove her soooo much!

LUNCH: 12:45pm, 2 hotdogs with caramelized onions & mustard, pickles, 7oz ginger ale, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
I intended to have 1 hotdog and baby spinach salad, but after dressing the last of the spinach with carrots dressing, the first bite revealed that the dressing started to turn. So I threw it out, and said, hey, it's a Tom Cruisian weekend, shouldn't beat myself up.

PM SNACK: 3pm, 2 chocolate pudding ramekins with whipped cream, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 7:45pm, baby carrots with a little ranch dressing, Singapore noodles, roti canai, water, a few alphabet cookies, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5


EVENING SNACK: 10pm, a few whole wheat pretzel sticks, a piece of dried sausage, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Feeling Chocolate Pudding

A day in constant motion. Woke up, got the laundry together, took Edie down to the laundry to get it in, took Edie to school, got home, ran out for some infant Tylenol for a slightly feverish Mil (due to the vaccines he received yesterday), got the laundry in the dryer, say goodbye to Betsy, lift weights, make smoothie, get laundry & put it away, go to Wholefoods for supplies, make chocolate pudding and whipped cream, out to Union Square for follow up about my kidney stones, home cooking labor intensive risotto, entertain a Sabbath dinner with friends, dance party with toddlers, clean up, watch a bad movie, sleep.

Urologist didn't give me any new info, asked if I drank pots of coffee a day. -sigh-. I have another scan and a follow up later in the month, hopefully it'll be more conclusive.

TODAY'S COOKING
Chocolate Pudding & Whipped Cream: Used this recipe, though ignored the technique, just wanted proportions. (I did double the sugar, it seemed too low and I was right -- this is still not a very sweet pudding) Tossed everything in a pot except the cold butter, turned heat up low, and whisked until it thickened. Turned off heat, put the pot in an ice bath while continued to whisk, and hit it with the butter to get a nice glossy sheen. Once it seemed reasonably cool, spooned into ramekins, covered with plastic and into the fridge. 3/4 of a pint of heavy cream into the stand mixer, about 1/2 cup of powdered sugar and scrapings of 2 vanilla beans. Whipped until stiff peaks.

Mil was at my feet distracting me, and I found that the pudding was not perfectly smooth - it had a few tiny little lumps in it. This was probably from getting the pudding too hot, too fast -- a feel thing. If I make it again, I'll probably get it right.


Filet of Sole, Roasted Brussels & Mushroom Risotto: Betsy wanted this meal again, so why not. Nice white fillets on a sheet pan with pats of butter and Old Bay, broiled for about 8 minutes. (The next morning, looking through my c-school recipes looking for french toast, found several recipes for fillet of sole, I regret not using them -- this simple broiling method is my mom's style, what I grew up with. I should of dredged in flour and spices, pan sauteed, finished with a little pan sauce or supremes of lemon!) Brussels halved and coated with olive oil, salt and pepper, roasted at 425 for 20 minutes until soft in the middle and charred outside. The risotto was the same as last week, except swapped out parm for asagio, went a little heavier on the sherry to compete with the cheese's funk.

AM SNACK: 7:30am, iced green tea

BREAKFAST: 10am, smoothie

AM SNACK: 11:30am, spinach empanadas, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 3:45pm, Sicilian slice, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER:  6:45pm, filet of sole, mushroom risotto, brussels, 2 small pots of chocolate pudding and whipped cream, half glass of wine, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING SNACK: 9pm, small amount of sesame whole wheat pretzels

Springing

A beautiful day out. After Mil's 4 month check up, brought him out to Roosevelt Island, where he rolled over by himself for the first time on the grass on the north end of the Island. Picked up Edie, spent an hour in the local park with lots of other friends and families. Spring is on the edge of, umm, springing!

BREAKFAST: 8:45am, homemade pumpernickel bagel with cream cheese, iced green tea, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

AM SNACK: 11:45am, homemade granola bar, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5


LUNCH: 2:30pm, shrimp fried rice, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5
At a hole in the wall dumpling place in Chinatown, $5 got a big tray of fried rice, maybe 2 lbs worth. I used to really like the large amount for few $, but now it seemed clownishly large. So I ate half, but ate all the shrimp in it. I noticed two things as the cook made the dish in the open kitchen -- he took a bunch of raw shrimp and cooked it in boiled water before adding to the stir fry, and he added a white powder to the cooking. The shrimp is always wonderfully tender and freshly cooked here, and the rice is yummy because that white powder is what I know to be MSG. Not too much like a Dorito, but enough to make the food memorablely different than the typical Chinese take out that trumpets proudly, "NO MSG".

DINNER: 6:15pm, grilled cheese on whole wheat, baby spinach with slivered almonds and carrots dressing, a fistful of Purim cake and chocolate, water, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Had a variety of cheeses left over from a school tasting. Put Ementaller and Gruyere on mine, with a shmear of caramelized onion, buttered the bread. Fried in grill pan, with a heavy copper pot pressing it. Oh my, I understand why these can be addicting -- crunchy, oozy, salty, fatty. I stopped at one, thank goodness. I could definitely make myself sick on these. The whole wheat bread is definitely on  a fig leaf on it's unhealthiness, though it did give a nice nutty note.

Several packages of sweet stuff showed up on our door from the religious neighbors, so rather than wait and get hungry for another sammich, I slammed some coffee cake and some milk chocolate down and I was right as rain. Threw out the balance of the sweets, didn't feel bad about it, either.

Pill Pop

Around 9am, my kidney started hurting, similar to last week. I managed to stick to my schedule and go out with Mil and do a few chores. By 11am, the pain went from a 2/10 to around 6/10 and realized even though it was slower than the attack last week, I didn't know how bad it would get. So I cancelled class, popped the pain pills and when the baby sitter came at 1, I napped until 4pmish. Woke up groggy but free of pain -- I guess it was only a slight return, not a full on event.

Funny, the warm nice feeling the pill gave me also made my hunger return and had a decent lunch. To groggy and out of sorts to cook, so I ordered in dinner -- looks like I'll be cooking for guests Friday instead of ordering in anyway, so it's balanced. Betsy and her mom don't like fish or Japanese food, so it's a rare privilege nowadays.

AM SNACK: 7:45am, iced green tea

PILL POP: 11am, oxycodone, ibuprofin

LUNCH: 12:30pm, 4oz whole wheat spagetti with sauce & grated parm, baby carrots, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Still amazed that 4oz of dry pasta is 2x the serving size, 4x the FDA serving size.

DINNER: 7pm, sushi, tempura, small green salad, 7oz ginger ale, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5


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


EVENING SNACK: 10pm, whole wheat pretzel rods, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Veggie Burger Horror

Woke up pleasantly sore from weights. Healthy lunch, but going to Red Hook to teach threw off my eating, though it was fun. I need to remember to eat a proper meal when I get home from teaching, rather than letting it build.


AM SNACK: 7:30am, iced green tea


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

LUNCH: 11:45am, sardine & avocado on whole grain toast, baby spinach with carrot dressing, 7oz ginger ale, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 4pm, grape soda, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

SCHOOL SNACK: 6:30pm, a few small slices of poorly made pizza, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING SNACK: 9pm, whole wheat pretzel rods with nutella, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING SNACK: 10:30pm, veggie burger on whole grain bun, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
My god, Betsy likes these Dr. Praeger California-Style veggie burgers, but they are D-gust-ING. Mushy potato patty with corn and cut green beans studding it for a thoroughly un-burger-like experience. I finished it because I didn't want to be wasteful, but I should start looking at veggie burger labels, and see if any of the more burger-like ones are acceptably healthy.

Fish Fail

Reps are going a little on weight routine, look forward to doubling the original amount so I can cut them back and increase the weight.

TODAY'S COOKING:
Scrod with Chorizo: I was going to cook up a frozen breaded tilapia in the freezer, but the more I thought about how it tastes versus the fresh scrod I picked up the other week, the thought of the freezer fish seemed much less appealing. So Edie & Milli Mil & I swung by the market on the way home from picking Edie up from school. Last time, I prepared it simply, butter and Old Bay, and broiled it for 5 minutes.

This time, I cut up my half-link of chorizo into thin slices, quartered the slices and scattered them on top of the fillet. Added a few pats of butter, and roasted at 400 for 10 minutes (unlike last week, this was a thicker piece). I thought the chorizo's salty/smokey/fatty make up would give the fish a big taste, but it wasn't nearly as salty, smokey or fatty as I thought and the fish was quite underwhelming. I imagine the technique used in the fish I've eaten in high-end restaurants that involve little bits of sausage are a little bit more sophisticated than what I did. Next time I attempt to flavor a roasted fish with a sausage, gonna refer to a recipe for technique first.

AM SNACK: 7:30am, iced green tea


BREAKFAST: 10am, hardcore granola, an apple, water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 12:30pm, left over whole wheat rotini with mushroom, spinach and onion, a pickle, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
This had to be twice the suggested serving, but it didn't seem excessive. For pasta 3 or 4 days old, tasted surprisingly spritely and fresh. I think the siraccha kick it has somehow helped preserve it.

PM SNACK: 4:30pm, granola bar, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 6pm,  Baked Scrod with chorizo, roasted brussel sprouts, brown rice mix, 7 oz ginger ale, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


EVENING SNACK: 7pm, 7oz ginger ale

EVENING SNACK: 8pm, graham crackers with nutella, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5


EVENING SNACK: 9pm, whole wheat pretzel rods, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Crowded out

A good Sunday -- got to read the paper in the morning, took the train uptown with Edie for some time in Central Park and a kiddie orchestra concert with a friend & her kid in the afternoon. Got some time alone in the late afternoon doing the week's food shopping.

Not a good eating day, but it was my "day off", and despite a horrible (but very much appreciated) indulgent dinner of unhealthiness, I'm looking at this list and seeing how very healthy stuff on hand is crowding out lesser choices. Whole grain home made bagels, home made granola bars, green tea, carrots, competing with the McD's and the frozen pizza.

AM SNACK: 8:30am, iced green tea


BREAKFAST: 9:15am, homemade pumpernickel bagel with a little marscapone, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
My bagel is not as bad as I original feared, look forward to making a much improved 2nd batch. 100% whole grain, and vegan to boot!


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

PM SNACK: noon, honey-roasted almonds, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Strolling near the Poet's Walk in Central Park, seemed like the healthiest option. Very sweet and crunchy, definitely not light on the sugar. Almond flavor was very muted against the sugar.

LUNCH: 2:30pm, filet-o-fish sandwich, fries, diet coke, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
First Ave in below 72nd St. I just needed the  convenience of an uncrowded, simple experience that Edie would be comfortable and chill in. McD's got my number, I'm an unwonderful parent. :(

DINNER: 7:45pm, Stouffer's Frenchbread pizzas, baby carrots, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5


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