Cookin' for fun

Woke up at 4 after 6 hours of sleep and couldn't get back to sleep. Got a lot done before lunch, a few recipes, laundry, Rufus to the vet and other chores. When B & E went down for a nap, I found myself failing and fell asleep too. I woke up to find them gone. I tried to watch TV but felt restless, so I went into the kitchen and cooked some more, just because it was fun. A bad movie on tv then to bed early, not a bad day.


TODAY'S COOKING
Tomato Sauce: A little too much balsamic forced me to balance it out with a bit of sugar, which resulted in a big flavor. Hmmm.
Lame Potato Salad: B made me make this, pretty run of the mill. Replaced dried tarragon with fresh, quartered the potatoes after boiling, eh.
Goldfish crackers: Used this recipe, came out pretty good. Used all whole wheat flour, and didn't have any onion powder. Used a sharp, sharp Australian cheddar that gave these some character, The commercial stuff has relatively few ingredients, too, though they use a blend of vegetable oil instead of butter, and their cheddar is so....generic. These had some oomf.
Pumpernickel loaf: Threw everything in the bread machine. Good thing I didn't go out, because the dough looked too dry, so I was able to slip in a half cup of water while kneading and it came out ok.
Granola bar crumble: Gotta apply the binder while it's still hot and press it quick -- the brown sugar recrystallizes and is an important factor in helping bind -- I let come to room temp and had to shatter it out of the pan and into another, silly.

AM SNACK: 5am, iced green tea


BREAKFAST: 6:30am, fruit smoothie, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


LUNCH: 11:15am, 1 fish stick, health salad, potato salad, 1 ice cream square, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5


PM SNACKING: 3-6pm, goldfish crackers, watermelon, an ice cream square, granola, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 8:30pm, small bowl of ziti with sauce, a pickle, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

Afternoon Reverie

Up and out to class with Edie in the morning, a healthy lunch, then the nanny came and I took the afternoon up in Central Park, reading the paper and listening to music in the Sheep's Meadow. Ahhhhh!

TODAY'S COOKING
Iced green tea: This batch is a sencha with toasted rice in it, should be different.
Health Salad: Between eating green salads at work and B not being in the mood for vegetable salad, made a batch of this cabbage slaw to help up my veg content at home.


AM SNACK: 8:30am, half a pint of iced green tea


LUNCH: 12:30pm, sardine & avocado on oatmeal bread, 2 ice cream bars, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 6pm, a little tortellini & gnocchi, potato tater tots, ginger ale, water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING SNACK: 9pm, small apple pie, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

Expected

228--->230.2--->227.4

The weigh in this morning brought expected news: my weight has not significantly changed the last month. My weight regimen continues to see results, with various muscles feeling harder and stronger, and dare I say it, slightly bigger. Not enough for people to notice yet, but if I keep on this track, maybe within a year... Think I'm going to increase the weights to the next increment, as I'm not getting particularly sore from the lifting lately.


AM SNACK: 7:30am, iced green tea


BREAKFAST: 8:45am, good yogurt with vanilla, honey and almonds, a few bites of watermelon .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Cut up a bunch of watermelon for Edles -- not quite in season yet, but didn't stop Edie from wolfing down a ridiculous amount.


LUNCH: 12:45pm, 2 slices pizza with sausage and onion, 8oz sprite, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


LUNCH 2: 3pm, 2 slices sicilian, 8oz sprite, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
B stopped by the resto by surprise, and the pizza jumped down my throat.


PM SNACK: 6pm, 1 meatball


PM SNACK: 8pm, green salad, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 11pm, brown rice California roll, pork tamales, chocolate cheesecake, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
A nice end-of-work-week meal from the Wholefoods shopping.

Work

Restaurant wasn't too busy, but it was rode hard and put away wet the day before, so it was a bit of work to bring it back to organizational and cleanly standards.

AM SNACK: 7:45am, iced green tea


BREAKFAST: 9:45am, organic cheerios with organic dead milk, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5


LUNCH: noon, 2 slices white pizza, Manhattan Special, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH 2: 4:15pm, 1 slice Sicilian, large green salad, 8oz sprite, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 6pm, 8oz diet coke

DINNER: 7:30pm, meatballs, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING SNACK: 11pm, ice cream square, small apple pie, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

Memorial

I weighed in this morning out of curiosity, as a lot came out the last few days but little went in. I weighed 224 this morning, I wonder how much I'll be on the 1st when my system is closer to normal.

Mellow Memorial Day. Took Edie out in the morning to the local parks, and by the time we got back for a nap, B went out to the movies with friends. After nap and a small lunch, we hopped on the bike and explored playgrounds a little farther from home. Spent most of the eve on the couch, still not 100% from illness, but close.

AM SNACK: 9am, iced green tea


AM SNACK: 10:30am, a few pieces of ruggelah


LUNCH: 2pm, cheese steak, water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 7:30pm, egg roll, cold sesame noodles, ribs, 1 can coke, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


EVENING SNACK: 11pm, 5 squares of dark chocolate

Illin'

Oy. So I woke up sometime in the morning and my body evacuated quite thoroughly -- I was feeling a bit sick to my tummy all night and was relieved to get rid of some of the pressure. I had 0 appetite, a dry mouth, and between a lack of energy and a soreness from the previous day's ride, I could not do much other than lie on the couch or lie in the bed. Good thing B had Edie covered or I would have suffered a lot more.

I slept on and off all day, and forced myself to eat a few pieced of ruggelah in the afternoon. My appetite came back late, and a full tummy helped me get to sleep.

PM SNACK: 3pm, 5 pieces of ruggelah


EVENING SNACK: 1am, tortellini with olive oil and parm, a few pretzels, a lime ice pop, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

Ride then ill (and waffle shame)

A great day, a bike ride up to Nyack with a few friends, about 70 miles all told. Slow, leisurely, a long lunch at Nyack. Usually avoid alcohol on rides but being that it was so leisurely, I had a pint of cider with ice in it, and drank it slow. Really hit the spot.

Once back in Manhattan, rode around the rip of Manhattan and took the free Ikea ferry to Red Hook and ate at the soccer fields. When I got home, I was not hungry but thirsty, and the water made me feel...oddly full. I started to feel a vaguely acidy feeling in my tumm, and a tightening. I thought it would go away, and I conked out at around 11pm. I woke up at 3am feeling less full but...still tight, a burning feeling, and nauseous. I'd be waking up again and again all night. I took a gulp of Mylanta anti-acid stuff to help.

BREAKFAST: 7:45am, pumpernickel bagel with cream cheese and sable, iced green tea, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


BIKE SNACK: 10:30am, small donut


BIKE SNACK: noon, 2 donuts, gatorade


BIKE LUNCH: 2:30pm, onion rings, pint of cider with ice, water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


BIKE SNACK: 5:30pm, 2 waffles with nutella, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Holy crap. Everyone took the subway from uptown to the Ikea ferry, I chose to ride. I got hungry and found a Wafles & Dinges cart in the park without a line. I ordered two waffles, never having them before -- they put my waffles to SHAME! Thicker, heavier, crisper, more flavorful, just better in every way. I gotta reformulate. It's a good thing I was in serious calorie deficit/burning mode, or two waffles would have knocked me off the bike. In this case, it rejuvinated me and I rode with speed the rest of the way.



DINNER: 7:15pm, large shrimp taco, tamarind drink, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

Noga

 A busy day. Woke up at 6 so I could ride to Brooklyn to have blood taken. I was exposed to measles while visiting T in the emergency room, so I got a call from the DOH saying I was potentially an outbreak starter. I was quite certain I was immunized as a baby, but not 100%, and if I wasn't, it could be a big problem for my family. I came out clear.

After, I did some food shopping and got home and started cooking, as a friend and her baby daddy came over for brunch -- it was the only time we all could get together before they left the country for who knows how long.

Got Edie and her pushbike loaded up and went to ER Park for a picnic with a few other parents and their mini-mes, was a good time. It went a little late and by the time I got home and got the laundry in, it was time for yoga. Unfortunately, about 20 minutes into the practice my body and brain were screaming, "STOP! EAT!" so I did. Met T after and I portaged her back home where we ordered in food and hung out with B. Other than what T referred to as "noga", it was a pretty good day.


TODAY'S COOKING
Waffles, bacon: My kitchen scale died, and had to eyeball the dry ingredients -- came out more flippity floppity that I like.

Granola bars: Made a batch of olive oil granola, then in a pan heated almond butter, a bit of brown sugar, some agave, a little corn syrup and a shot of water to loosen it. Mixed it all up and pressed it into a pan and refrigerated it. Came out nice and solid, but pleasantly chewy, sweet but not ridiculously so.

AM SNACK: 6:15am, iced green tea, handful of chocolate covered coffee beans


BRUNCH: 11am, waffles, bacon, sable, water, a piece of ruggelah, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 1pm, 4 small chocolate caramels


PM SNACKS: 2:30-4:30pm, granola bar, chocolate cupcake, lentil crackers, a few pieced of melon, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5


PM SNACK: 6pm, a couple pieces of ruggelah


DINNER 1: 7:30pm, vegan cesar salad, seiten with blackbeans and quinoa, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER 2: 9:30pm, veg samosa, odd fish-like proteins and veg with a little rice, water, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

Fun at class

A good day -- Edie's class was in the local library. My class was the next to last -- we were cooking food that will be served to about 40 peeps next week, and on top of that baking pies to be sold by the slice at a festival in Red Hook the day after. So we made about 200 mini empanadas of two different kinds, and 16 sweet potato pies from scratch (not to mention 4 gallons of lemon iced tea, a half gallon of pique dipping sauce, and a gallon of chimichurri marinade) Class went late, until 7:30, very good vibes.

AM SNACK: 8:45am, iced green tea


LUNCH: 12:15pm, 2 lotus lead wraps, fishball and rice noodle, water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


SCHOOL EATS: 6:30-7:30, mini empanadas, a pork dumpling, sprite, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5


EVENING SNACK: 8:30pm, a few squares of chocolate, water

Nice to be challenged

Tried to wake up to lift, but the apple pie I inhaled last night made me feel leaden, so I slept in. Not a good habit to get into!

Work was a bit nuts, as my main cook quit by just not showing up, and I was short handed when we got a bit of a rush in the evening. Had to work a few stations in the back and stay late to get the prep done, but over all it went smooth and it was a good vibe. Nice to be challenged.

Got a strange call from the health department, probably nothing, but bothering me -- will talk more about it as soon as I know more.

AM SNACK: 9am, iced green tea

LUNCH: 1pm, 2 slices pizza, 8oz sprite, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5


PM SNACK: 5pm, 3 meatballs, pomegranate soda, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 10pm, 2 slices pizza, sprite, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 12am, multigrain sushi, a few squares of chocolate, water, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

Spring, you were all too brief

Woke up to Edie crawling onto my bed, chanting "papa papa papa" and sticking her smiling face right into mine. Pretty awesome.

Another mellow day at work. Hard to believe Memorial Day is this weekend. What happened to Spring? A winter that lasts 7 months, a spring that sticks around for a week?!

Restaurant got a little busy in the evening and I didn't eat, and ended up eating too much when I got home. Oy.

AM SNACK: 8:30am, iced green tea

BREAKFAST:  9:45am, organic cornflakes with organic dead milk, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5


LUNCH: 1pm, 2 slices Sicilian, 8oz Sprite, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


PM SNACK: 5pm, green salad, 1 small slice pizza, half a glass of apple juice, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 10pm, cheese steak, apple pie, 2 bowl, hunger 4/5

Ache

Edie has come subsumed a bit with her wooden pushbike, which she is still too small for. Ohhh, I ache for us to ride together!

Today, woke up to lift, Edie was in her crib standing, doing the stations of "Wheels on the Bus" to the music I was playing, was incredibly cute. Slow day at the restaurant, really grinding on me. Thinking big thoughts, next moves, career decisions, scheduling Edie's school life for the next few years, wishing my parents were around to bounce ideas off of, missing my wife and Lil' E...

AM SNACK: 7:30am, iced green tea


LUNCH: 1pm, 2 slices pizza, 8 oz coke, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 5:30pm, 2 slices pizza, 8 oz coke, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 10:30pm, singapore mei fun, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Mellow

Woke up to shuttle out to Brooklyn to visit some friends with a baby. An afternoon nap followed by chores to pick up diapers. There was an event in the public park next door to our building, I got to sing karaoke to B while she and Edie napped. Mellow evening with order-in food and TV.

AM SNACK: 9am, iced green tea


BREAKFAST: 11am, 2 wholewheat muffins, half a donut, pickle, water, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5


LUNCH: 3pm, falafel sandwich, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 8pm, scallion pancake, sesame noodles, chicken sate, tempura shrimp, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Ride & popcorn

Rode out to the Rockaways with a few friends and friends of friends, some of which the ride was quite a distance for. Ate at a hipster taco place, then took the train back -- part of me wanted to continue to ride, but more of me wanted to be sociable and get back to my family quicker.

Took a nap when I got home, then watched a movie with B with popcorn. Nice day, but my appetite is diminished for whatever reason.

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


PM SNACK: 12:30pm, small amount of cheese fries, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5


LUNCH: 3pm, fish taco, corn on the cob, 1 beer, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5


EVENING SNACK: 8:30pm, popcorn


DINNER: 11:15pm, cheese tortellini in homemade sauce, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

Friday Friday

Ran around with Edie in the morning getting chores done, went out with a friend and his baby to C's house in the afternoon. Good day.

BREAKFAST: 9am, iced green tea, fruit smoothie, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5


LUNCH: 12:30pm, sardine & avocado on sourdough, cheesy poofs, 2 ice cream sandwichs, water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 6:30pm, cheesesteak sandwich, homemade sauerkraut perogies, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Heero heero heero!!

Woke up around 9, totally wiped out from the pleasantly-ending snickleemergency last night. Determined, got Edie & myself to pre-preschool on time and Edie had a great time. Didn't have time to nap while she napped because I got nothing done in the morning, and got to teaching on time.

Despite my lack of energy, teaching was great, students were focused and the food came out well. I did cancel a dinner with a work friend and her babydaddy, small price to pay for being a proper human being. Watched some horrible TV and got to bed early.

AM SNACK: 9:15am, iced green tea


LUNCH: 12:15pm, 2 lotus leaf wraps, lomein, water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Ordered the "lo mein" from the cat I usually get the fishball and rice noodles. It was only $1.25 for a big container, and very different than what I'd get in an Americanized Chinese take out joint. The noodles themselves were the same, but they were dry, not greasy and wet, and they had a lot of flavor, like they were rehydrated in a soy concoction. There was no meat and no veg except soft shredded cabbage, probably steamed or boiled and tasting pleasantly mild. 


SCHOOL EATS: 6:15pm, gyro sandwich, sausage baked ziti, chocolate layer cake, ginger ale, 1.25 bowl,  hunger 4/5 
This was student's choice day, and I edited it down from 5 red meat dishes and 3 desserts and no vegetables to two non-beef red meat dishes and one dessert. The ziti was a repeat, but with the addition of Italian pork sausage that we made outselves, toasting and grinding fennel for it. The gyro was fun, something I never made, found the Alton's recipe here. It was surprisingly accurate in replicating diner gyro meat, but after slicing, I would have sauteed at high heat to give it a bit of color. The cake came out pretty great, we threw in espresso into both the cake and the frosting, which deepened an otherwise reedy chocolate flavor.


EVENING SNACK: 9pm, 2 ice cream sandwiches, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

Slow

I attempted to make a fruit smoothie after lifting this morning, but that wife o' mine forgot to add papa yogurt to the list I shopped last night, stopping me in my tracks. Hrumph!

Rainy day at the resto, breaking in some new staff, chilling. Looking forward to tomorrow morning with Edie and tomorrow afternoon cooking with the students.

Got a call late that a friend was at an emergency room and went out to keep company. Everything turned out fine, but I didn't get to bed close to 4.

AM SNACK: 7:30am, iced green tea

LUNCH: 1pm, 3 slices superthin pizza, Manhattan Special, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5


PM SNACK: 5pm, green salad, .75 bowl, hungr 4/5

PM SNACK: 8pm, a couple of bites of cookie, a couple bites of pizza, a few tortilla chips, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 10pm, chicken empanadas, brown rice California roll, Mississippi mud cake, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING SNACK: 2:30am, hamburger, fries, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

I save it for my wife.

Got a decent night of sleep, ended with Edie doing a rather strong belly flop onto my unexpected belly, knocking the wind out of me and waking me up quite abruptly. If it weren't for her bright smile, partially naughty/partially joyous/partially purely innocent peels of giggles and shouts, I would might of been grumpy (I save that for my wife!)

Slow day in the resto. The delivery driver brought in mussels from Chinatown, we cooked them up with wine and a little tomato. I remember eating these properly for the first time in c-school, and was shocked how good they were.

AM SNACK: 8am, iced green tea
This new batch of tea is pretty good, the kind is "Dragon Health" or something, it's not particularly remarkable, less woody than the straight sencha. But the 1/4 cup of sugar for the gallon really does well with knocking out a bitter tone without making it particularly sweet. That's a little less than a level teaspoon of sugar per pint.

BREAKFAST: 9:30am, waffle, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Reheats really nicely in the toaster, nice balance of tender to crip. Makes me think I need a 2nd caste iron waffle iron to make them in quantity.


LUNCH: 1pm, 3 slices pizza, 8oz Sprite, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 4pm, 1 slice of shrimp calzone, water, .5 bowl, hunger 3/5

PM SNACK: 5:45pm, handful of mussels

PM SNACK: 6pm, large chocolate chip cookie, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 9pm, half a large chocolate chip cookie, .25 bowl, hunger 45


EVENING SNACK: 11pm, small amount of cheesy poofs, small bowl of organic cornflakes and organic dead milk, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

Slightly stronger

Woke up at 7 so I could lift. Felt good, and soothed my guilt over not riding to Montauk in the rain yesterday. Feel 95% better today, should be back to normal in no time.

Read an interesting article that says that muscle burns many, many more calories than fat is a myth. Rather than 50x more, it's more like 2 to 3 times more, but you have to account for the calorie burning power of the fat your losing, so in reality if you lose 40 lbs of fat and gain 20 lbs of muscle, your metabolism only speeds up enough at a resting rate to eat, say, 1 singular Oreo a day.

Still, I'm happy with how my body is slowly and subtly changing. I doubt anyone can see a difference, but just walking and riding, I feel a slightly stronger stance, a slightly stronger core.

AM SNACK: 7:15am, iced green tea

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


LUNCH: 12:30pm, 2 meatballs with sauce and bread, 8oz sprite, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5


PM SNACK: 3:30pm, slice of meatball stromboli, half a pomegranate soda, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 4pm, 3 small slices pizza, .75 bowl hunger 4/5


PM SNACK: 7:15pm, green salad, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 10:15pm, house special fried rice, 1 ice cream sandwich, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

Momma Chicken

I briefly woke at 3:30, felt my sore throat, felt my sleep-unrelated wooziness, decided to skip riding out to Montauk in the rain, and went back to bed. Woke at 8, after 10.5 hours of sleep considerably refreshed, and the sound of heavy rain made me feel a bit better about my decision. No doubt if I had bit the bullet and woken up and ridden, I would probably be sick for the rest of the week. And I wouldn't have made this video of Edie dancing!

Spent the morning on spring cleaning chores, interrupted by a dual healthy/unhealthy lunch. Took time off from life by going to a horrible movie, then rushed back home to cook dinner for the fam & momma in law. An easy, lazy evening on the couch.

TODAY'S COOKING
Waffles: Used the c-school recipe for a double batch, heated the iron high and gave it one minute per side. Pretty good.
Spinach: Just took a bag of chopped frozen spinach and through it into a hot sauce pan with about a half cup of vegetable stock, through in some salt, some cayenne, some smoked paprika and a little dried minced onion. Came out OK, nothing special.

BREAKFAST: 8:45am, iced green tea, handful of chocolate covered coffee beans


LUNCH: 11am, large green salad, onion rings, 2 ice cream sandwiches, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 6:30pm, chicken & waffles, spinach, water, 1.5 bowls, hunger 4/5
On the way home picked up eggs to make the waffles. My first thought was "Chili & Waffles"! but I couldn't find any chili. My second thought was "Chicken & Waffles!" and picked up a rotisserie chicken. My mom would bring these home all the damn time, they were never anything special. Same with this one. One thing I did find was after taking a few hacks at it with a knife, I started just picking it apart with my fingers, which was EXACTLY what my mom would do. He. Sometimes momma overrules culinary training.

EVENING SNACK: 9pm, 2 ice cream sandwiches, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5