Prize Winner's Ice Cream

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Eating comfort.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Squigglebeast

Upon reflection, perhaps the massive quantities of caffeine I consumed all through the day was perhaps not the cleverest idea. While delicious, and was fun staying up until 1am with my wife watching bad/good TV, I didn't really need to shave my head, do the laundry and make ice cream between 2 and 5am.

Edie is beautiful. She's getting more and more interactive with the world, becoming a bit of squigglebeast when it comes to things like staying on the changing table, laying on the couch by my side, or being put down on any surface. She can crawl backwards awkwardly, and when in the crib, she is on all fours, pumping her little booty up in the air, like an engine revving for a quick start.

I had to get rid of my hair -- I have been growing it since Edie was born, but like with Rufus's fur, it's become one of the things she loves to tug on with all her might when she gets close to it. It's easy to put on a shirt to get her away from my chest hair, but head hair is something less manageable. Until now.

BREAKFAST: 9am, toasted pumpernickel bagel with creamcheese and sable, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Hadn't had sable in a while, damn it's good. Should be on a pizza.

LUNCH: 12:30pm, 2 small slices of pizza, Manhattan Special, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 2:30pm, hot chocolate, .5 bowl, hunger 4.5
From Jaques Torres, incredibly rich and on target. Got the "small", which was probably 10oz, or a 1950s extra large.

DINNER: 5:45pm, large green salad, potato chips, chocolate cornflake cluster thingies, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

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

Urge

Not a great eating day for me, pretty good for Edie. She finished up the pear & raspberry puree in the morning, finished up a jar of peas in the afternoon, lots of formula in between. Me, I spent the morning at Wholefoods, munched on potato chips, went to the playdate drop-in and munched on extra fatty chocolate chip cookies, and munched on a mess of cookies in the evening after feeling a strong urge to consume sugar. Perhaps the baked potatoes set it off?

BREAKFAST: 6:30am, toasted egg bagel with cream cheese, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
B bought the last batch of bagels, and now at the bottom all that are left are whole wheat, a cinnamon raisin (!) and this chewy monstrosity. Why can't I have a wife who can choose bagels properly? Waaaaa!

PM SNACK: 12:30pm, potato chips, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Snack of champions.

PM SNACK: 2pm, "chocolate chip brittle", .25 bowl, hunger 4/5
The leader baked these for the playdate drop in. Really just a chocolate chip cookie with extra fat, pushed into a big pan and cut into triangles. Addictive, though.

DINNER: 7pm, large green salad, sauteed curry shrimp with 2 baked potatoes, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

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

Trudge

Laundry in the morning, a trudge to the post office in the afternoon, asleep by 7pm. Maybe I'm fighting a bug?

BREAKFAST: 10am, good yogurt with homemade vanilla extract, agave, raw cashews, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 12:30pm, beef lomein, wonton soup, shrimp toast, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Ordered in Chinese. After doing laundry, a bunch of chores and living the life with Edie, just felt like treating myself to something comforting and easy.

DINNER: 6pm, slice of Earth Mother pizza, slice of Mel Cooley pizza, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
B brought in some 2boots.

Tundra

Woke up to a snowy world, and after being indoors for more than 36 hours straight, had to enter it. Rode the mountain bike through the tundra to Brooklyn, to look after E's cat, then across the wasteland to C's house, where she has a 8 month and 3 week old border residing in her tummy. Then fought the snow beasts a few blocks and had dinner with Y, at a rather lame Italian restaurant. Why does the lasagne taste like nutmeg? Does the octopus have to be this chewy? The temp dropped, the roads froze, and took a train home to the warm welcoming light of B & a sleeping Edles.

BREAKFAST: 9am, 2 frozen mini pizzas, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 1:30pm, 1 slice streetza, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 3pm, diet coke

PM SNACK: 6pm, apple turnover, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 7:15pm, grilled octopus, meat lasagne, tiramisu, bread, water, 1.75 bowl, hunger 4/5

Midnight Hotdog

Today was a snow day, so plans were cancelled, Edie & I got into our union suits (and B resisted and wore a house dress instead, hrumph), and we read the paper, watched a DVD, put Edie on the carpet and watched her skills at crawling backwards, and I spent some time annotating what I ate as soon as I ate it.

Edie is really taking to solid food mush stuff. Pureed carrots were eagerly gobbled, then a half jar of mushy peas. In the afternoon B tried some pears & raspberries on her, which she screwed up her face at and refused to take.

BREAKFAST: 8:30am, pancakes, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Glorious, fluffy beasts. I made some with bananas and walnuts for B to eat in bed, the rest plain. I happened to have all the ingredients on hand, but a little low on milk, so I replaced 1/3 of the milk with some heavy cream lying around. Wow, it definitely made the the pancakes more toothsome. Made me think about how these are SOOOOO superior to diner pancakes, even superior to someplace like Clinton Street Baking, who are known for their pancakes (their suspected secret: seltzer in the batter). But cost-wise, my pancakes would be very expensive -- heavy cream, organic medium eggs, a real vanilla bean, no oil only butter, etc.

Lying on the couch waiting for the storm to come, lost consciousness from 11-2pm...

PM SNACK: 2pm, 4 pieces chocolate dipped shortbread, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5
Snowing, feeling fuzzy, Edie and I are wearing matching red union suits. She gets cuter every day somehow. B also napped in the bedroom with Edie, good being part of a team/family.

PM SNACK: 5pm, large green salad with a pickle and black sesame crackers, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Had to eat something after a day of the heaviest carbs possible. The current salad is a mix of red leaf lettuce and iceberg. Iceberg is kinda nutritionally void and has no flavor, but has a distinct texture and crunch that I grew up with. I'll never forget in my mom's last few months, I was cooking for her, and I made a salad with romaine. When she asked why I didn't use iceberg, I gave her a nudgy lecture about it's nutrition and plainness, to which she said half-heartedly, "but I like it." I felt horrible, and she had ice berg after that. I know I shouldn't be eating iceberg, but I'm matching it with stronger greens, and, well, I like it.

DINNER: 7:15pm, cheese ravioli, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Some frozen ravioli in the freezer, made a sauce by reducing some old white wine, adding olive oil and cooking some crushed fresh garlic in it for a minute, added Worcestershire, tossing in the ravioli, then topping with grated parm. Needed something, a missing element, ground pepper? Heavy cream? Mushrooms? Nuts?

MIDNIGHT SNACK: hotdog on wholewheat bun, .75 bowl, hunger 3/5
Not so much hungry as looking for something to eat for entertainment. Edie & B went to sleep hours ago, TV and internet is starting to bore, not feeling focused enough to read anything, not quite tired enough for sleep, a horrible limbo.

Housewife

Did laundry and baking the night before, so all there was to do was to temper some chocolate and dip shortbread, watch a crummy DVD and feed the Edie. Went to a play date in the afternoon with a selection of the mommas, and walked home slowly and joined B for a nice night in. A symmetrical, peaceful, domestic day. I feel like a 1950's housewife, in a good way,

BREAKFAST: 9am, 2 small pizzas, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

AM SNACK: 11:30am, 2 chocolate dipped short bread cookies, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 2-6pm, slices of sausage, bread and olive oil, 1 glass wine, 2 glass lemon soda, a few bits of vegetable, 2 ginger cookies, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

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

L.E.S. S.U.V.

Spent the morning at the restaurant, popped around Brooklyn while Edie slept on me, and did a little grocery shopping and chores in the 'hood (see pic) before retiring in to do laundry, bake shortbread for tomorrow's playdate, and snuggle the wifey.

Edie's input and output was better today. She was a bit resistant to a rice cereal/carrot puree/formula mix in the morning, but dug the new apple/apricot mush this afternoon. And the poops, oy, this ain't that kind of blog or I'd tell you all about 'em!

AM SNACK: 8am, swig of gatorade

BREAKFAST: 9:45am, 3 latkes, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

AM SNACK: 10:15am, marzipan donut, chocolate donut, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

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

LUNCH: 12:30pm, 2 small slices pizza, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

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

DINNER: 8pm, shrimp saag, pakora, samosa, naan, 1.75 bowl, hunger 4/5

Focus

Yomomma came over and I took off to school for the final class. B & Edie came out and gave the students a thrill (who wouldn't be thrilled by a giggly baby?). Class may or may not start again in late Feb/early March, but until then, I guess I'll focus on home cooking, and Edie cooking. She's still being a bit resistant to solid food.

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

LUNCH: 12:45pm, 3 latke, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 2:30pm, a handful of chocolate cookies, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 6:30pm, pork shao mai, a few bits of fried calamari, chicken asparagus risotto, flourless chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream and raspberry sauce, seltzer, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING WATERING: 8:30pm, a quart o' watta

Cupcake Day

Spent a hunk of the day out talking about a food coop with a planner, then to the mother's group. Today was National Cupcake Day, so had one at the coffee shop I was meeting at.

Edie has started getting a little resistant to solid food, and a little backed up as well. I fed her a diluted prune juice solution in the evening, which did the trick, but I'm concerned about her nutrition.

BREAKFAST: 9am, organic chex with organic dead milk, swig of cider, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: noon, cupcake, cup of tea, .25 bowl, hunger 3/5

PM SNACK: 2pm, 2 chocochip cookies, 1 small wrap, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

LINNER: 4:30pm, fresh pasta with olive oil, parm, cherry tomatoes, and 3 meatballs,cider, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

DUNCH: 8:30pm, large green salad, pickles, sesame crackers, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

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

Chores

A day of chores. Laundry and feeding Edie all sorts of things out of the fridge -- mushy peas, oatmeal and formula concoction, broccoli and pear puree. We made a 12:30 pediatrician appointment, where Edie got a series of scheduled immunizations and had all her stats taken (she's growing up fabulously, thank you!) then we hit up stores in and around Union Square. We walked back home, stopping by Wholefoods.

By that time, I needed to feed Edie again, and though I intended to make salad and cook dinner, when B came through the door both Edie & I were passed out on the couch in each other's arms. So much for a nice home cooked meal!

BREAKFAST: 10:15am, 3 cold latkes, a pickle spear, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 2pm, tomato moz focaccia, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 3:45pm, apple cider, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 6:30pm, pork pad thai, chicken shrimp dumplings, water, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

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

Ain't No Party Like a Latke Party

Today we had a number of mothers, mostly with their babies, and a smattering of spouses come over for a Hanukkah playdate. B put a lot of effort in getting the house as clean as possible, from dry cleaning the couch covers last week to having our cleaning guy come in the day before. B made little gelt & dreidel baggies, set up the menorah and generally was the kind of host money can't buy. We made cookie and apple sauce yesterday, and an hour before guests arrived I started frying off latkes, which I finished about an hour after they arrived.

Got a lot of compliments on the latkes and adult applesauce, the cookies not so much. But I did put out the choco/peanutbutter/rice crispie things in small squares, on an iced plate with toothpicks and they were a big hit with the mommas.

People rolled in between 1:30 and 2 and the last popped out by 5. We have a restocked wine rack and B feels more plugged in to the neighborhood mommas. If only all holiday things were so pleasant!

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

ALL DAY SNACKING: noon-5pm, several latkes, bits of sugar cookies, peanutbutter chocolate crispie bites, 1 cup run punch, 1 cup wine, a bit of apple sauce, a snippet of cheese, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 8pm, curry shrimp with brown rice, wonton soup, 1/4 of a can of pepsi, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5
Ordered in Chinese not so much for hunger, but the relaxing familiar quantities. It was the food my parents and I enjoyed together to the end, in the comfort of their kitchen.

Cookie Exchange

Spent the morning mising & prepping for some mothers and their babies of the 'hood come over for some Hannukah action. In the afternoon I took off with half of the batch of sugar cookies I made (only instead of dreidles and Jewish stars we ground out all day, made some that were...less Jewish!) to a friend's place in Jackson Heights for a cookie exchange. Everyone baked 30 cookies, and everyone got to take home a selection of 24. Suffice to say, there was not a lot of alcohol being consumed, but plenty of sweets.

After, a few of us ventured into the neighborhood for Philippino food -- cheap, delicious and different. Can't wait for Edie to be a bit older, she needs to be exposed to pork adobo and taro greens!

BREAKFAST: 9:30am, organic cheerios with organic dead milk, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

AM SNACK: 11:30am, sugar cookies, .25 bowl hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 2pm, BLT with homefries, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 4:30pm, lots of cookies, 1 glass champagne, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 7:30pm, pork adobo, deep fried pork belly chunks with pepper dipping sauce, chopped pork liver, taro leaves in coconut curry, meaty stick appetizer things, white rice, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Brownie

Woke up after only 3 hours sleep. Laundry in the morning, food shopping midday, stopped by Katz's for a dog on the way back from the market. Once we got home, turned around and went to a playdate in the East Village, then dropped Edie home with B and went to the movies with D.

Ate an old special brownie that has been in the freezer since the summer and....I'm glad I didn't discover this in high school or I may of made a lot of silly decisions. Once a season is more than enough.

AM SNACK: 6:30am, gatorade, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

BREAKFAST: 9:15am, toasted pumpernickel bagel with creamcheese, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 1pm, hotdog, fries, pickles, water, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 3pm, a few sweet little things, two cups of mulled wine, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 6pm, magical brownie

DINNER: 8pm, shrimp burritto, pork taco, rice & beans, chips & salsa, a frozen margarita, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING SNACK: 9pm, kit kat, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Clean bill

Not a lot of sleep. Edie was much better in the morning, no fever, GI distress mostly passed. Still, it was a night of a new feeling: parental worry. I guess I really am an adult now. Edles & I hit up the pediatrician (I just wrote "pedo", but it just looked wrong) at 9am, and Edie got a clean bill of health.

However, upon review of her diet, the doc recommended adding some non-binding foods in there. We've been doing the rice cereal, mashed banana, carrot, sweet potato and that's about it other than formula -- she hasn't taken to apple, pear, and a few others. So we're going to add a wee bit of prune juice, stewed prunes and....I'm going to go to Wholefoods and pick up a selection of baby foods. I've come to the conclusion that making small quantities of fresh baby food is good in concept, but between the time it takes to make and the packing of the food and the washing of the dishes it creates, I need to find a non-creepy baby food at the market.

Looking at what I ate today, jeeze, I was tired. And unfortunately, the Manhattan Specials kept me up until 3am...

BREAKFAST: 8am, newman-os, gatorade, .25 bowl, hunger 2/5

AM SNACK: 10:30am, brown rice shrimp maki rolls, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: noon, left over fresh pasta, water, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 1:30pm, a little taste of different chocolates & peanut butter

PM SNACK: 3pm, manhattan special, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

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

PM SNACK: 6pm, manhattan special, .t bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 7pm, scraps of peanut butter & dark chocolate ganache rice crispie thingies, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 7:45pm, Stouffers Frenchbread pizza, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Pizza & Edie

Easy morning, busy afternoon, stressful evening. Just chilled with the Bird until A showed up to look after her. Prepared some fresh pasta and meatballs for her as a thank you, before hiding off to school weighed down with 2 pizza stones.

Class went well, 5 hours rarely zip by so fast. On the way home, B informed me Edie had some GI distress, and later in the evening she was running a low grade fever. But Edie still had her smiley disposition despite sleeping less than usual, and I was able to get some sleep by 3am. B woke me at 7:30 so she could take a shower and Edie's fever had gone. Doc gave the all-clear this morning.

BREAKFAST: 9am, a handful of chocolate chips, a few newman-o cookies, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 12:30pm, meatballs with fresh pasta and doctored pizza sauce, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

CLASS EATING: 3-7pm, various bites of pizza, 2 cans soda, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING SNACK: 8pm, 1 beer, funyons, newman-os, water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

Cutting Boards

My dad had a thick butcher block cutting board. It never looked great -- he used it a lot, it always looked a bit beat up, and my mom complained about it a lot. My dad never got rid of it, it was too expensive to replace.

In their senior years, my parents loved going up to the crafts fair at Lincoln Center once a year. I went with them a few times, but the stuff there never really did anything for me. In the early part of this decade, one evening a few days after this crafts fair, my parents told me they got something expensive....something expensive for ME....something expensive that will be my wedding present....and this is years before I even met my wife.

When B moved in, she put my father's dank cutting board under the sink and replaced it with her own, a rather thin board, but wider and fresher. Recently, due to sitting in a small pool of water, the board finally split in half. B has been on my case for a while now to get a new board. When hers bit the dust, out came my dad's old warhorse.

Yesterday, after trudging to the Church St post office to get Edie's application in for a passport, we worked our way up to Sur La Table and found a good hardwood butcher block -- $68, but I got 10% discount with my culinary-school ID, which would have made my father very, very happy. It's pretty much a new version of my dad's old board.

B wanted to bury dad's board in the small plot we have in the community garden, but I want it to go back under the sink to pop up in times of need. My dad's wife couldn't rid us of this board, my wife will not rid us of this board, and hopefully Edie's college apartment will be graced by this board.

After mom and dad passed away, it was up to me to clean out their apartment, a rather frighteningly charged task. In the back of one of the hallway closets, on a high shelf, wrapped in four or five plastic grocery bags, was something stashed away that I did not recognize. Everything else in the house, from the furniture to the books to the clothes to the nick-knacks to the kitchen supplies to the picture frames, everything had some point of reference to some point in the life I shared with my parents. Just looking at a box in the closet, I could tell you what was in it and when it was from. Old plastic utility box with green top, that's all string, cords and power lines from the basement on Staten Island. Cardboard box with torn top, that was dad's school papers.

This bag, however, didn't fit. My parents were not big on secrets, so I instantly knew that this had to be the wedding gift. I opened it up, and in it was a cutting board. It was made up of multi-colored bands of wood, and had rounded corners on one side, and rubber bumpers on the other. A variety of emotions ran through -- my god, what a horrible wedding gift! Relief, my parents would never know how I didn't like their gift. Sadness, my parents never got to see me get married and present it. Amusement, is this their way of trying to prevent me and my spouse from having the same aggro they had in their marriage? And damn, how expensive could a cutting board be?!

I think when it comes time for Edie to furnish her first apartment, I'm going to try to pawn off my dad's board on her, and B will put her foot down and give her the new, multi-colored board that I could never bring myself to use, it's just too precious to use myself.

BREAKFAST: 8:30am, good yogurt with agave and cashews, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 12:30pm, mac n' cheese, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 5:45pm, large green salad, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Hungry right before going out -- it was this or cookies, and I didn't want to report cookies on this blog!

DINNER: 7pm, roasted mushrooms, sausage n' polenta, water, 1.5 cupcakes, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5
B, E & I went out to visit the jewelery designer who did our wedding bands who just opened up a shop in our hood, then out to dinner at Frankies, where we held our rehearsal dinner for our wedding. Then around the corner to Sugar Sweet Sunshine for cupcakes! A few rough nights lately with not enough sleep, a nice date-like night out with a sleepy baby was just what the doctor ordered.

Ache

A dorky, dorky day. Woke up late, wiped out from my mountain adventure yesterday. Got the laundry done by noon, made it to the passport agency but have to go back tomorrow to complete Edie's paperwork as the bureaucrats are very sloppy. Ate lunch at a businessman's spot on Fulton, then took the ferry to Ikea. Didn't get most of what was on my list, and on the way home went to Pathmark for produce. With Edie on my front and all the groceries on my back, my feet were aching by the time I got home.

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

LUNCH: 1:15pm, roast pork in a sweet and sour sauce over white rice, shrimp empanada, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 7pm, large green salad, 2 slices of streetza, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING SNACK: 8pm, 6 newman-o cookies, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Up a mountain

Spent the day with K, we took a train up to Beacon and just walked around in the sunny crisp air all day. It crescendoed with an attempt to walk up Mt. Beacon, but the slushy snow, long shadows and steep paths only got us 2/3 of the way up.

It did make me hungry, though. We ate lunch at a deli right at the base of the park of the mountain -- it was kinda crappy, but it was all that was available and was fuel in the truest sense. When I got home, I had the kind of hunger that emerges after an all-day bike ride. And I slept like a log.

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

AM SNACK: 9:45am, chocolate chip cookie, water, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 1:30pm, turkey and swiss on a roll, corn chips, gatorade, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 6pm, large green salad, mac n' cheese, mint ice cream, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING SNACK: 9pm, funyons, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5