My girls like to party all the time

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

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

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

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


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


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

Early Ride

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


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


BIKE SNACK: 7am, gatorade, shrimp chips


BIKE SNACK: 8:30am, watermelon


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


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


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

Surprise surprise

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

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


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

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


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

Happy Birthday, Edie!

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


AM SNACK 1: 6:45am, chocolate cupcake


AM SNACK 2: 8am, iced mint green tea


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

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


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


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

Cooking & Catching Up

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

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

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


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


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

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

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

Workworkworkwork pt 2

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

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


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


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


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

Workworkworkwork

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

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


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

Ride Day

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


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


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


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


BIKE SNACK: 5:15pm, cliff bar


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

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

Sippin' on Syrup

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

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


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


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


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

A lot

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


AM SNACK: 8am, iced mint green tea


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


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

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


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


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


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


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

I forgot breakfast, bad me!

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

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



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



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

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


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


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

Ooo! I'm a parent!

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

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


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

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


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


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


EVENING SNORT: 8pm, small cup of beer

Weigh-in

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

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

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

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

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

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

PM SNACK: 5pm, cranberry lime soda


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


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

Haze

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


AM SNACK: 8am, iced mint green tea


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

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

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

Family Day

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

AM SNACK: 8am, mint iced green tea

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


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

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

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

Poughkeepsie

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

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


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


BIKE SNACK: 7:30am, caffeinated clif bar


BIKE SNACK: 9am, corn chips & Gatorade


BIKE SNACK: 10am, more corn chips


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


BIKE SNACK: 4pm, clif bar


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

Return of the Wafflizer

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

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

AM SNACK: 4am, iced mint green tea

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

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

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

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

Around

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

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

AM SNACK: 8am, large iced mint green tea

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

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

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

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

Recharged

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

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

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

AM SNACK: 9:15am, banana

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

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

Pizza world

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

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

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

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

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

EVENING WATERING: 11pm, quart of water