Stressy

Did not feel well today, not sick but not myself. No hunger until the evening. What is going on? Part of it is the stress of the kitchen -- men working all day to finish it up, and in the end after they're gone a lot of little details bothering me. Some of it can be fixed when they come back to do the final detail work for the final check, but some of it is poor craftsmanship which I suspect will be a fight with the contractor to get him to either do some stuff over or knock something off the bill. And, the thing that was the whole reason for the project, the dishwasher, is not powered. WTF? Urg.

Spent the day on two big walks with Edie, and spent a good part of the evening in the bike room tinkering with my cargo bike, definitely a stress reducer.

On the positive side, brewed up new tea for breakfast tomorrow!!


AM SNACK: 10am, handful of goldfish


PM SNACK: 2pm, slice of swiss cheese, a pickle


DINNER: 8pm, shrimp in black bean sauce with rice, dumplings, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Heebies & Jeebies

Took Edles to a new program, an Early Learning & Literacy class sponsored by the city. Gave me a certain level of heeby-jeebies: it's more structured, the class doing things as a group. Previously, all her "class time" has been unstructured free play punctuated by a group thing. I guess I felt heebied because it reminded me of when I was a little kid, and dealing with the structure of school, how new and fresh and a bit scary it was. Edie was a champ, tuned in for some, tuned out for other bits, but over all I think she will pick it up nicely.


Stomach wasn't sour, but felt off. Didn't eat much until the evening, until my bestie E took me out to a late b-day dinner. Some fine vittles!


BREAKFAST: 9:45am, 2 donuts, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

SCHOOL EATS: 6-7pm, various slices of student pizza, ginger ale, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 9:15pm, pasta in meat sauce, sauteed shrimp, bread, 1 glass wine, water, chocolate tart, vanilla gelato, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

In Search Of: a Usable Kitchen

Mildly busy at the resto, enough to keep me from genting antsy. While I was at work, work resumed in the home kitchen -- when I got home, it was like a tease: it looks together from a distance, but nothing is hooked up and everything needs a lot of details taken care of. Hopefully tomorrow we'll be closer to a usable kitchen.

BREAKFAST: 9am, brown rice crispies with organic dead milk, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
LUNCH: 12:30pm, 3 slices, diet coke, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
PM SNACK: 4:15pm, green salad, water. .75 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 6pm, pasta with shrimp in oil & garlic, bread, water


EVENING SNORT: 9:30pm, 1/2 beer


EVENING SNACK: 11pm, ice cream, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5
No Comment.

Mellow

Weather was off and on rain, killing business at the resto. Mellow.

BREAKFAST: 8am, good yogurt with honey, vanilla and peanuts, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
LUNCH: 12:45pm, 3 slices pizza, Manhattan Special, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
PM SNACK: 4:45pm, green salad, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5
PM SNACK: 6:30pm 1 1/2 slice pizza, pomegranate soda, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 10pm, Singapore Mei Fun, chocolate chips with peanuts & pretzels, water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

Enervated

It was supposed to rain and be warm today, so I got up in my rain suit and pushed my old commuter bike out to Coney Island, then met L in midtown for lunch, followed by a movie. Got home to a happy baby and a mostly-happy wife, and taking advantage of enervated relaxed feeling, did a round of weights.

Just heard the kitchen may be functional by Friday. Let's hope...


BREAKFAST: 9am, brown rice crispies with organic dead milk, cupcake, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


LUNCH: 1:30pm, pork tonkatsu with curry rice, pork gyoza, edemame, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 8pm, sushi, tempura, salad, water, 1 cupcake, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Cake followed by cupcakes

Woke up after about 9 solid hours of sleep, body feels good but sore -- my inner thighs seems to have suffered from pretending to give birth to a large square block in yoga a few days ago, he he. Popped out in the morning to the local diner and to Whole Foods for Edie food, as there is no point in buying groceries for a kitchen I can not cook in.

I indulged in cake and TV while Edie napped, and after she rose and ate lunch, we rode over to the local park so she could run around a bit for an hour, then we pedalled up and down the East River Park. It was nice, with Edie waving at all passersby from the front of the bike.

BREAKFAST: 9:30am, BLT on a bagel, home fries, diet coke, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


PM SNACK: noon, chocolate cake, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 5pm, 2 cupcakes, 3 pickles, Ritz crackers, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5 
Unfortunately, I got home with E really hungry and B confronted me with late birthday cupcakes. Without thinking, they went down. I followed cake by cupcakes. Oy.


DINNER: 9:15pm, shrimp parm with spaghetti, green salad, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Bike Sore

Woke up unusually sore -- I had a good weight-lift in the afternoon, and I pushed a little bit harder in yoga than usual yesterday. I woke around 7, and by the time I got out of the house on my bike, I was wondering if I'd make it. By the time I exited Manhattan, my body snapped to, but it was a push getting there.

Had a nice ride to City Island & Orchard Beach. When I hit home around 4, my body seemed to go back to being sore, like someone snapping a spring-loaded curtain. Took an hour bath that didn't do much good, and stayed home and chilled until I passed out around 11.

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


BIKE SNACK: 9am, 2 donuts, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5


BIKE LUNCH: 12:30pm, 32 oz Gatorade, handful of pretzels, turkey & Swiss sandwich, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


PM SNACK: 3:45pm, large bowl of good yogurt with honey, vanilla & cashews, water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 8pm, lo mein, dumplings, salad, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

2 pounds

231.8--->226.0--->228.0

Yes, I did gain 2 pounds in March officially. Being that the drop in February was 6 pounds, the fact that perhaps 4 of those pounds were something other than water or the contents of my expulsiary organs, well, that's pretty good. I'm pretty happy with how my body is starting to change -- starting to feel a bit toned from the regular weight lifting, and biking is on the verge of kicking in.

Lifted weights around noon, then yogacized with the HVS, ended up feeling pretty sore by the evening.

BREAKFAST: 10am, pancakes, potatoes, bacon, diet coke, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Ordered in from around the corner. It was rainy, the laundry was getting done, the kitchen is dissembled.


PM SNACK: 2pm, small amount of ice cream


PM SNACK: 5:15pm, slice of streetza, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5


SNICKLEDINNER: 8pm, sweet potato noodles with veg and curry, dumpling soup, tofu pudding, pumpkin cake, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5


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

Chocolate enlightenment.

Excellent day at school -- this semester's students are just really picking up on what I'm offering, and enjoying the fruits of their labor more than past groups. Class 5 and still have a full contingent of 10 students. One is coming in early next week because he wants to learn how to properly sharpen a knife with a wetstone. We made farro & sausage (because we were cooking different grains) and most actually liked it and took some home for their families. We did a chocolate tasting, 5 different samples between milk and 77% dark, and a handful actually liked the darker ones, and one actually said the milk tasted too little like actual chocolate -- I wanted to jump up and hug him.

Poor eating day. Looks like another weekend without a kitchen, wah.


BREAKFAST: 10am, 2 donuts, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5


LUNCH: 12:30pm, hotdog, 2 pickles, apple tart, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


SCHOOL EATS: 6pm, kasha varnishkes, farro & sausage, tastes of different rice pilafs, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5


PM SNACK: 7:30pm, ice cream & potato chips, quart of water, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Tumbling

Tumbling through the week.

BREAKFAST: 10:15am, vegetarian sandwich, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Excellent sammich from the boulangerie down the street. Whole wheat peasant bread, chevre, marinated veg, of which I picked out the cauliflower.

LUNCH: 2pm, 3 slices Sicilian, pomegranate soda, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
PM SNACK: 5pm, small slice of pizza, cheesecake cup, water, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 8pm, green salad, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 11pm, burgers, fries, cake. 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5
No comment.

Dissembled

Mildly busy in the 'rant, good to be working, get away from my dissembled kitchen. A major step was supposed to happen yesterday, and all of a sudden the contractor is not returning my calls. Typical in a project like this, hopefully things will resolve themselves soon.

BREAKFAST: 9am, organic wholegrain chex with organic dead milk, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
LUNCH: 12:30pm, 3 slices pizza, pomegranate soda, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
PM SNACK: 4:30pm. green salad, small cheesecake cup, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5
A coworker brought in some cheesecake cups, with an oreo buried in the middle. Purdy good. Not very sophisticated, but to the point.

DINNER: 7:15pm, meatball appetizer, 8oz sprite, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
EVENING SNACK: 9:30pm, glass of apple juice

EVENING SNACK: 11pm, chocolate chips & cashews

Too cold

Monday work has been delayed until the end of the month, but I've decided to stick with nanny coverage that has been planned months ago. I tried to do a day of bike riding, but the windchill made it intolerable, and ended up only riding for an hour before having to go home and stay under blankets until I felt normal again. Took myself out for lunch, wandered a bit then did little chores at home until everyone else came in.

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


LUNCH: noon, vegetarian dim sum, tea, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
I ordered 5 dishes, but with the intention of eating reasonably and bringing left overs home.

PM SNACK: 4pm, left over Pepe's pizza, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 7:15pm, 2 beef tamales, ice cream, apple tart, water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Eating prepared foods from Wholefoods. Oh, I need my kitchen back!

Love is a day trip to eat pizza.

The weather was a snap colder than ideal, but other than that, our day trip up to New Haven to visit Pepe's could not have been more perfect. We met up with two other couples with bebes on the train at Grand Central, and the 2 hour ride was easy and calm and friendly. We only waited about 10 minutes for a very child-friendly table all together, and a slow walk through some nice bits of the town got us on an early train home, in good seats without drama. A little cranky baby here and there, but over all the three babies slept well. We were all home by 5pm, glad to have such cool friends in our situation in the 'hood.

I ate a lot of clam pie, but between the lack of cheese, lack of acidy tomato, and the fact that I left "bones" behind (I skipped the crusts), my stomach felt just fine.

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


AM SNACK: 9:30am, large almond cookie, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5


LUNCH: 1pm, lots of white clam pizza, a couple glasses of cheap beer, water, 1.75 bowl, hunger 4/5


PM SNACK: 4pm, cannoli


DINNER: 8pm, left over shrimp saag & rice, a little leftover pizza, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5


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

People really live like this by choice?

Ugg, do people really get by just on ordering in food? This is giving me a new appreciation of what cooking does for me. Hopefully the kitchen will be back in operation late in the week...

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


LUNCH 1: 12:45pm, pumpernickel bagel and cream cheese with 2 pickles, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5


LUNCH 2: 2:30pm, shrimp saag with rice and roti, water, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5


PM SNACK: 5pm, dark chocolate bar, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 7pm, eggplant hero, salad, onion rings, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

40

Happy birthday to me. Forty. The age John Lennon was assassinated. I guess my Beatles days are far behind me, he he. My Yoko sure can be uppity, though, he he.

Being that the kitchen is out of sorts, me n' Edie went to the diner on the block and had a greezy breakfast, reminiscent of my parents. Stayed indoors until workers came, took care of chores on the outside. After B got home, took off to yoga and had the most wonderful time with T -- unfortunately for her, no one else showed but fortunately for me, we had a 1-on-1 birthday yoga session!

Picked up ice cream from Lulu's on the way home and had a nice chill pizza & salad with B before bed. A low-key day.

AM SNACK: 8:30am, iced green tea


BREAKFAST: 9:45am, blt on rye, french fries, diet coke, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


PM SNACK: 1:30pm, buttermilk waffle, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 4:30pm, half a pint of ice cream, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5


SNICKLESNACK: 7:15pm, half a lame vegan cupcake thing


DINNER: 8:30pm, pizza, Cesar salad, vegan mint chip ice cream, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

Takin' Care of Business

Lifted weights early, then took Edie to a playgroup -- on Mondays it's mellow with a few dads, but this was full bore Mommy & Nanny central, maybe 10 other kids. Edie was fine with it, very cool. Chores right after then Edie to nap around noon. Took care of business and went off to school in the early afternoon.

School was the sauce class, highlighted by the beschamel needed for mac n' cheese. This is the 4th time I'm teaching, and I gotta say, this group is definitely the best yet -- they're actually PAYING ATTENTION to my lecture portion, and seem to be investing themselves in the food we're cooking. It's surprisingly gratifying. It makes me wish my dad was around, who was a college professor most of his career, to bounce that off him.

AM SNACK: 8am, iced green tea


LUNCH: 12pm, 6" veggie burger sub on wholewheat, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5
Went for a Subway sub for lunch, as the kitchen is not operational. Could have done worse I suppose.

SCHOOL FOOD: 6pm, a couple small pieces of chimichuri flank steak, some mac n' cheese, a little spinach, a small cup of coca cola, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 8pm, brown rice California roll, seaweed salad, chocolate cake, water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


EVENING SNACK: 10pm, small ramekin of goldfish

Nutz

C, who looks after Edles on some days, brought me some roasted mixed nuts that impressed her -- buttered, fresh rosemary, spicy cayenne kick, nice selection of cashews, pecans, walnuts, almonds. Reminded me how good and how easy something like this is to make, as long as you start off with raw nuts -- double roasting a nut will make it chalky and bitter.

AM SNACK: 9am, iced green tea

AM SNACK: 11am roasted mixed nuts

LUNCH: 12:30pm, 4 slices superthin pizza 8oz sprite, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 6pm, shrimp with coconut curry, a little chicken with satay sauce, sticky rice, water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Tired of the same pizza. Ordered in from Rice, food was pretty meh.

EVENING SNACK: 11pm, burgers, fries, donuts, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5
No Comment.

Tuesday (Work)

Moderately busy day at work, glad to be out of a house under construction.

BREAKFAST: 9am, iced green tea, banana walnut muffin, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5


LUNCH: 12:15pm, 3 slices superthin pizza with onion and garlic, 8oz sprite, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


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


DINNER: 6pm, meatballs & bread, 1 slice salad pizza, cranberry lime soda, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING SNACK: 11pm, house special mei fun, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Munday

Monday work postponed due to poor weather. Being that Edie was covered but too miserable out to ride, I reverted back to college and planted myself in a theater for two movies, followed by a cheapo meal.


BREAKFAST: 8:45am, iced green tea, wholewheat banana walnut muffin, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

BRUNCH: 11:30am, 3 veg samosas with chickpeas and spinach, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


LINNER: 4:15pm,  hijiki soy patty, large spinach salad with carrot dressing, cold sesame noodles, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


PM SNACK: 4:45pm, 1 short bread cookie, 1 chocolate madeline

PM SNACK: 7pm, chocolate chips, sesame crackers & peanuts, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5


PM SNACK: 9pm, hot dog, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

Spring Sprung

Can't wait for the house to be put back together, better than before, but in reality that won't be for another two weeks or so. Took Edie out for a nice walk in the morning, and in the afternoon we hopped on bike and met up with some non-baby friends in Brooklyn for some hanging out. Partially reassembled the bedroom when I got home, already looks better than before despite the dust and clutter.

Today is the first day of Spring, and boy I can't wait to officially begin spring cleaning!

TODAY'S COOKING:
Banana Walnut Muffins: Double batch, as there will be no cooking for the next 5-10 days, depending on how the kitchen work goes. As before, adjusted this recipe with 100% whole wheat flour, an extra 2 eggs, creamed the butter and sugar, then added the bananas, eggs and real vanilla bean. Upped salt by 1/3, chopped walnut to large pebbles. Topped each with a crumble of brown sugar right before hitting the oven. Came out pretty good, will help me be a little healthy through the week, if they last that long!

BREAKFAST: 4:30am, a couple of freshly baked banana walnut muffins, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5


AM SNACK: 9am, small piece of semi sweet chocolate


LUNCH: noon, pasta with sauce and parm, glass of grape juice, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5
I don't keep grape juice in the house, but we got a bunch of Purim bags from the religious neighbors dropped on our door (Edie-fans), so there it was.


PM SNACK: 6pm, 2 banana walnut muffins, .5 bowl, hunger 4/ 5

DINNER: 7pm, eggplant hero, green salad, water, 1.25 bow, hunger 4/5