Drinking

Spent the day with B and her fam, we hit up the Jewish History Museum downtown, an eatery on Wall Street. At home in the afternoon, cooked up some ziti before taking Edie out to the park briefly.

In the evening took off and met up E and a few friends to take a boat to a floating bar-barge docked in the harbor by Ellis Island, it was a pleasant diversion. After we strolled over to a nice restaurant in Tribeca for a meal of shared small plates before heading home.

TODAY'S COOKING
Baked Ziti: Pretty much a standard baked ziti, done without a recipe. Two boxes of ziti, boiled to just past crunchy. 8 cups of homemade tomato sauce out of the freezer. Bechemel with nutmeg made. Three things mixed together, put in pans, topped with moz and a little extra sauce, baked at 375 for an hour until a nice crisp crust formed. As it was damn hot out, I let it sit for a few hours and it came together nicely.

BREAKFAST: 9:15am, pumpernickel bagel with cream cheese, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 12:30pm, multi-grain sushi, water, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 5pm, baked ziti, half a chocolaty thing, water, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5


EVENING SNORT: 7:30-9pm, 2.5 beers, diet coke
I haven't drank more than one alcoholic drink at once in quite a while, and cut myself off at 2.5, surprisingly buzzed. I thought my large dinner would have prevented this, but there ya go.


DINNER 2: 10pm, bread & butter, mussels, spatzle, 2 different kinds of wurst, fries, kraut, trout pate, brussel sprouts, water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Friends continued to drink, but I skipped it.

Too Smooth

The pops I set to freeze yesterday remains soft and smooth at this cold temp, hmmmm. I guess the blend of smooth peanut butter, coconut milk, banana, sugar and particular a shot of high-proof vanilla extract and a dash of salt not only inhibited crystallization, it inhibited freezing to a rock, so when you pull the pop out of the form, only the stick comes out! Huh. Tastes good, a tad too sweet, gonna re formulate with less sugar and more fruit next time.

A good friend has come up with an idea for a dinner club, similar to a book club but with dinner parties instead of books. TBD.

TODAY'S COOKING
Cookies n' Creme Ice Cream: It's always satisfying when a churn goes well -- the custard is thick and cold enough to take on air quickly, and it rises to the top of the barrel. When it reaches the top, I poured in the ground up oreos to mix it in properly.

AM SNACK: 9:30am, small amount of coco-peanut-banana "ice cream"

LUNCH: 12:15pm, hot dog, health salad, potato salad, pickle, greeny pasta, large slice of watermelon, 3 oreos, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Almost like a trawl through the fridge to finish things before they went bad.

DINNER: 5:30pm, pizza, homemade ice cream, water, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5 
B ordered in pizzas from Lombardis because her pop and brother were over.

Kookin' in the Kitchen

Dammit, no nips in the supermarket.

Spent the morning chilling, met up with B for a nice lunch near her office, but cookies kept me from being hungry so I just nibbled. Investigated the farmer's market then hit up the supermarket for a big shop, planning a few big dishes for the next week or so.

TODAY'S COOKING
Guacamole: 4 avocados, one whole Valencia onion minced, one head of cilantro minced, juice of 2 limes, large pinch of salt. Very oniony, but purposefully because I wanted an onion presence in the dish this was going into.

Quesidilas: Had to put my ton of rice & beans to use. I bought mini corn tortillas instead of flour, and found that no amount of steaming or microwaving would make them flexible enough to make burritos, so I laid them out, spread on the loose rice n' beans on one, guac on another, and a sprinkling of grated cheddar in the middle.


Vanilla ice cream base: B's family is over tomorrow, and B refuses to allow me to cook, but she let me do some ice cream, and a family favorite is cookies n' cream, so had to make this base now so I can churn and mix ground up oreos into it tomorrow. The usual, pint of cream, pint of milk, heated with 1 cup of sugar, 3 vanilla beans scraped. 12 egg yolks tempered into it, strained into an ice bathe once thick.

Coco-peanut frozen bars: Edie has been going nuts for "ice cream", frozen treats on stick. We have a set of molds and B has been making one-off frozen smoothies with a lot of fruit, and this morning I poured off enough of my own smoothie to make a pop for her. Rather than one offs, I made a set from pantry stuff. 12 oz of coconut milk. 6 ounce of natural-style peanut butter, 4 ounce of cane sugar cooked until comes together and smooth. Into a blender with banana, a large shot of vanilla extract and a large pinch of salt, blend to smooth.  Into 6 molds and into freezer. I calculate that is about 2 tablespoons of sugar per pop -- depending on how they taste, I may cut the sugar in half and consider other fruit to the coconut milk-peanut butter-banana base. Also, I wonder how the consistency will be -- maybe I should try to run it through my ice cream machine to whip air into it and avoid crystallization? Hopefully the salt and extract will help stay soft and relatively smooth in the frozen state.

BREAKFAST: 6am, smoothie, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Milk, good yogurt, banana, frozen blueberries, cherries and mango, flax, a pinch of salt. Very thick.

AM SNACK: 10:30am, 5 cookies, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 12:30, an arancini, an avocado toast, a little moz, a bit of sandwich, a few potato chips, water, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5


PM SNACK 4:30pm, a few failed mini burritos, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 6:15pm, a quesadilla, 3 ears of boiled corn, water, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING SNACK: 8pm, handful of Oreos

Nip

Stayed in doors with Edie to beat the heat in the morning, took an adventure to Staten Island in the afternoon to visit a friend with child. I had a Rolling Rock "nip" with lunch today when we were out, I think it was about 8 oz -- hmmm, just the right amount for having with a nice lunch. I'm going to look for this or better beer in this size bottle in the supermarket, as only every once in a while do I want beer with lunch, and usually in this quantity.

Picked up CSA. New cabbage head gonna be a cabbage knish. Basil, garlic going and a few fresh tomatoes into a baked ziti. Salad greens and a few more tomatoes for green salad. Parsley, not sure what to do. One singular squash blossom given to Edie as a flower. Blueberries & peaches into Edie's maw, cheese into B's maw.

TODAY'S COOKING
Spinach: Bought a huge 5 lb bag of frozen chopped spinach last week to increase my greens intake. Sauteed some garlic in olive oil, threw in the spinach, some onion powder, a little salt, a splash of water then covered it and let it heat up on low until the rest of dinner was ready, about half an hour.


BREAKFAST: 9:30am, 3 small pancakes, water, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH 1: noon, bowl of pasta with CSA veg, 5 cookies, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5
Pasta from freezer, last week's dish. Freshened up with a sprinkle of freshly grated parm and a dash of olive oil.

LUNCH 2: 3pm, pizza, 1 small beer, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
In Staten Island, went to Lee's Tavern for bar-pizza, a midwestern style that is oddly popular on SI. Really enjoyed it, made me feel like I was 1000s of miles away when I was just in NYC's strangest borough.

DINNER: 7:45pm, breaded tilapia, cooked spinach, rice & beans, cookies, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Rice & Beans

Monday blahs, camped out in a movie theater for the first part of the day, went to the supermarket to pick up ingredients for dinner, and spent the rest of the day cooking. Put me in a much better mood.


TODAY'S COOKING
Rice & Beans: An experimental batch, and a large batch. The short grain brown rice says 1 cup of rice to 2.5 cups of water, I used 4 cups of water. For the first time, I took a pound of dry black beans and rehydrated them instead of using canned. In the bean reconstitution process, I threw in half an onion, half a green pepper, bay leaves and salt to give them some base flavor. Made sofrito with 2 onions sauteed to soft, threw in chopped green peppers and softened. Added half a head of minced garlic for a minute, then threw into a blender with a whole bunch of cilantro and blended to smooth. Put beans, rice, water and sofrito into one large pot and simmered about an hour until the rice had absorbed much of the liquid. Salted as I went a long, added a shot of hot pepper sauce and some ground black pepper. Final dish was milder in flavor than I thought it would be, but good. It's currently vegan, but I think a ham bone or something would have done a lot to deepen the flavor.

Chocolate Chip Cookies: After a low-eating day, craved sugar after dinner, so whipped out a bunch of chocolate chip cookies. B bought a mess of Nestle's Morsels a while ago for something I never ended up cooking -- they're hard to eat by themselves because they don't taste that good, chalky, not very chocolately, just fakey, but when put into a cookie with real brown sugar, real butter, real vanilla and real eggs, it kinda saves them.


AM SNACK: 9am, banana


AM SNACK: 11am, wholewheat pretzels, good peanut butter, pickle, water, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5


PM SNACK: 1pm, handful of cashews, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 5pm, health salad, pickle, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 6:30pm, shrimp, rice & beans, cookies, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

A Day of Rest

The challenge I set for myself early this month is going well in some aspects, poorly in others.

• Well -- I've cut down on restaurant food and delivery drastically, increased my consumption of home-prepared food equally, and definitely feel my diet has increased for the better. Also, I'd say 90% of the CSA food is being put to good use. 
• Poorly -- restricting sweets. Still hitting up sweets once or even twice a day, though maybe in smaller quantities and usually matched with something healthy-ish to make it seem like it's more than it is.

Around 7:30pm last night, I ate the remainder of the pork loin despite eating a lot of meat earlier in the day -- I was worried that my body would not recover fast enough from the day's ride to be ready for the next. I was asleep by 8pm, and when I woke up at 4am, my fears were confirmed -- assorted muscles felt beat up and tired, but most importantly my legs and thighs were sore. I intended on riding around 50 miles yesterday, but due to fun-related things, ended up doing about 75 in some relatively hilly Connecticut terrain.

I got up, ate a bowl of cereal, sprayed on sunblock (the opposite of a spray tan, I assume) and started to put on my cycling gear. Bike was ready in the hall, day bag already packed. As I lifted my legs to put them into the spandex, I was thinking about the day ahead -- on one hand, it was to be perfect weather, the route I had not seen since a year ago, and the food at the rest stops should be good. Psychologically, I was good, and 8 hours of sleep helped. On the other hand, my legs hurt, my body shouted for rest despite 8 hours sleep, and if I were to embark on this trip then quit early (or worse, given my lowered sharpness), it would be very depressing. So despite being on schedule and 90% ready to go, I paused, stripped out of my stuff and hopped back into bed with B. I woke up at 9:30am -- 13.5 hours of sleep, badly needed.

Legs hurt at 4am, but now they are just pleasantly sore, recovery in full effect. Sad I didn't do the Hudson Valley Century, but I made the right choice. Took the morning to lay on the couch and read the paper, in the afternoon wandered over to the local playground with the family to take in the neighborhood at it's most social. Spent the evening on the couch with the TV. A good day.

BREAKFAST: 4am, organic chex with organic dead milk, .25 bowl, hunger 3/5


BRUNCH: 10am, kraft dinner with sauteed veg, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 1pm, health salad, pickle, handful of multigrain pretzels, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Made the health salad on Friday from a CSA cabbage -- added CSA scallion because I had to do something with it. Don't like it, the onion-ness of the scallion doesn't play well with the tangy-sweet dressing and the more vegetal ingredients.


PM SNACK: 2:45pm, slice of cheese knish, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Despite B wolfing down most of this baked item I made last week, a small sliver was found tucked away in the freezer. Recipe definitely needs work.


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


PM SNACK: 6:15pm, half a slice of streetza, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 7:15pm, breaded tilapia, kraft dinner with sauteed veg, water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


EVENING SNACK: 9:30pm, a few squares of chocolate, a few multigrain pretzels

Kraft Dinner Sukks

Woke up at 4am to get on the bike so I could meet my family at the train station in Westport, CT at 10am. Ate some high energy stuff when I woke, a big breakfast half way there in Mamaroneck, and had a big lunch at the inlaw's place, grilled burgers n' stuff. A nice summer day away, with Edie freaking out with joy in a pool.

Ended up doing about 70 miles all in, including a ride with some of the younger bits of the family.

TODAY'S COOKING
Kraft Dinner w/ Sauteed Vegetables: On the train ride home, had a hankering for this dish I haven't made since the years immediately following my college time. I used to make a ton of kraft "mac n' cheese", and sautee keilbasa and vegetables in the sausage fat then mix it all in together, a really heady brew. This time, I eliminated the meat because I ate a ton today already, and sauteed the onion and mushrooms properly -- I used to cram them into a pan and defacto steam them, now I know ya gotta use a big pan. Roasted green peppers on the flame and let them finish cooking in a sealed bowl before rubbing and chopping. Added a lot of fresh pepper to the mix and... it still tasted kinda pheh. I used to like this stuff, now it just tastes tame and anemic. I think Alton Brown has a recipe to make kraft dinner from scratch, I think I may have to try that.

AM SNACK: 4:30am, banana, handful of chocolate covered espresso beans, water


BREAKFAST: 7:30am, bagel and cream cheese, whole wheat pretzels, 32 oz gatorade, 3 chocolate chip cookies, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5


AM SNACK: 11:30am, clif bar


LUNCH: 1pm, 1 hamburger, 2 hot dogs, lemonade, potato chips, watermelon, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 6pm, kraft dinner w/ sauteed vegetables, ginger ale, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Puppet Show & Left Overs

Woke up at 5, got a ride in to Coney Island with peaceful traffic, lifted weights while my body was warm again. Took Edie to Brooklyn Bridge Park in Dumbo in the morning for a puppet show, took a big nap in the afternoon, and got to bed around 9 so I could wake up for a longer bike ride tomorrow.

No cooking, but eating well with intended left overs. Pork loin on point.

BREAKFAST 1: 5:30am, banana, brown rice crispies with organic dead milk, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

BREAKFAST 2: 9:15am, toasted sesame bagel with cream cheese, pint of lime rickey, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 12:15pm, sliced pork loin, salty brown rice & stir fried veg, water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5 

PM SNACK: 2:30pm, chocolate chips & cashews, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5


PM SNACK: 5:15pm, small potato knish, health salad, pickle, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 7:30pm, pasta in sauce, watermelon, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Knish 2: Electric Boogaloo

After getting up at 4 in the morning, had no problem conking out by 11, but woke up late, close to 9 when B was leaving. Certain upper body muscles are sore, a good thing, I was warmed up for the weights after riding 40 miles yesterday. Took the morning easy, put Edie in the backpack and brought in my road bike to the local shop for a few tweaks. After an hour or so in the playground, Edie had no problem getting to nap while I enjoyed myself in the kitchen.

Kitchen enjoyment rolled on into the evening. As Edie was eating pasta and I was cooking rice and a simple vegetable stir fry, just kinda fell into knish-making, like I didn't have enough going on already. It's nice sometimes to do 5 things at once, and all of them -- dinner, knishes, baby -- all seem to come out well.

TODAY'S COOKING
Pork Loin: Heated up the grill pan, opened the window and gave it 2 minutes on each side, twice, and stuck it with an instant read to be assured of the doneness. Let it go to 135 before putting it in a foil pouch with some held marinade for 10 minutes. Came out pretty perfect, very slightly pink in the middle, juicy as all git-out. One of the rare meals I've made for myself that I'd be happy to pay $25 (plus another $5 for dessert) in a restaurant. Food cost about $12 for this serving, so at 50% food cost that is kinda bad (you should have a 25% food cost or less to really be OK) but I was also paying retail for my inventory...

I wonder if Edie will dig it. Gonna slice it thin for her.

Brown rice & stir fry veg: Added salt to the brown rice in the cooker straight from the box, something I would yell at my students for doing. Came out WAY too salty. Picked up a zucchini, onion and scallion from the local farmers market to add to my CSA Swiss Chard. Despite the salt, ate it and have enough for one more meal. Kinda want to toss it, we'll see how I feel tomorrow.

Cheese knish: While stir frying and cooking rice, saw the lump of knish dough that had to be used or thrown out. B has farmer's cheese, so I looked up a recipe for a basic cheese filling in the Encyclopedia of Jewish Cooking. Very simple, just farmers cheese, cream cheese, egg yolks, vanilla and salt. Lined a loaf pan with the dough and slapped the filling in, covered it up and baked under golden. Innards are a little too moist for my comfort but still pretty good, a good starting point for improvement.

BREAKFAST: 9:15am, 4 tiny pancakes
 I think I need to make some iced tea soon.

PM SNACK: 12pm, health salad, pickle, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 1pm, pork loin, 2 small knishes, sauteed spinach, chocolate ice cream, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 7:15pm, brown rice with stir fried veg, slice of cheese knish, water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

Filling up the Larder

Woke up at 4 and was out and on the bike by 5, but technical difficulties that lead to a rough-handling bike made me cut my ride short to 40 miles. It was nice to by home by 9 and be able to lift weights and do some knish research before getting into the chores of the day. Went to the 2nd part of the knish lecture in the evening, and swung by Whole Foods after before heading home to a sleepy household.


TODAY'S COOKING:
Red Sauce: Wanted to use the nice basil and garlic bulb from the CSA -- sauteed onion well, then added 2 grated carrots, a bunch of fresh thyme. 3 big cans of freshly milled tomatoes, then the diced basil, the roasted mashed head of garlic, and two Parmesan cheese rinds I was saving for the occasion which was fished out when the hour simmer was over. Salt, a dash of molasses, and done, pretty good.

Potato Salad: To use the CSA dill, boiled and shocked left over cubed potato from the knishes yesterday. Made a quick dressing of a cup of mayo, the minced dill, some mustard powder, a little onion powder and a little Old Bay Seasoning. Pretty good, if standard.

Pancakes: Oddly, I went to Essex Market to pick up the good buttermilk and was told they will not have any until Fall, due to the fact the farmer will not be making butter again until then. Snooches! Made straight ahead pancakes with whole milk, came out fine, good freezer food to feed to Edie over the next few weeks.

Pork Loin: Made this recipe in the evening when I got home from the market, just the marinade, trimming silverskin and getting it into the fridge to sit over night. Will cook it up tomorrow for lunch. Suspect it will be too limey, but adjusting is for 2nd and 3rd tries, not 1sts (usually, unless the recipe is clearly stoopid.)

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

AM SNACK: 7am, banana

BRUNCH: 11am, pumpernickel bagel with hummus, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 3pm, a few pancakes, watermelon, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5
Had to eat the burnies & the funny shapes while cooking the pancakes, otherwise there would be too much waste!

PM SNACK: 6pm, a little pasta and sauce, half a ginger ale, a few bites of potato salad, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

KNISH TASTING: 8pm, assorted kinds, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING SNACK: 10:15pm, half a pint of Ben & Jerries, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
I'll be surprised if this is still there if Betsy wakes up before me...

Knish me, dahlinks!

Took Edie out in the morning to Pier 17 for a runaround, then back home before it got too hot. Spent the afternoon making knishes and grenadine, and had a few parents and kids over in the afternoon for a combination playdate/tasting.


TODAY'S COOKING
Knishes: Followed this recipe on the recommendation of last week's knish lecture. It was OK, I guess the compromises it makes (modern chemical leavener vs traditional yeast, volume measures instead of weight, lack of certain descriptives, etc), is to appeal to the general public, not someone hungry for the authentic, true knish with a culinarily precise, repeatable product. But it came out ok -- the dough was a little more brittle than I like on a knish, but over all it was solid. I departed with the recipe on a few small things, like:

1. a 2 hour slow caramelization on the onions in much more oil than what they recommend, which all ended in the potato mixture, 
2. and I let the dough rest for a solid hour to make rolling and cutting easier. 
3. Also, the recipe describes an assembly that would result in a bagel-shaped knish, which I dispensed with and did a simple square dough, lump in the middle, then folded up the sides to make a kind of giant open-faced dumpling, aka Shao Mai.
4. I also used white pepper for black, which gave a distinctive sharp note which I like, and I think it looks nicer in the finished product.

Grenadine Syrup: The lecturer presented lime rickeys as a drink that was served at Ms. Stahls, which I don't have a memory of, but sounds great. She did it with some store bought grenadine, a splash of lime and seltzer. After googling a few recipes, it was an easy do: 1 part 100% pomegranite juice, 1 part 100% tart cherry juice, 2 parts powdered sugar, brought to a simmer then cooled. In a 12 oz glass, 4 oz of syrup, one wedge of lime, squeezed, and fill to the top with extra bubbly seltzer. Stir and serve with a little ice.

BREAKFAST: 8:30am, good yogurt with peanuts, honey and vanilla, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5


PM SNACK: noon, small glass of lime rickey


LUNCH: 1:15pm, hamburger, knish, health salad, pickle, lime rickey, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5


PM SNACK: 6pm, knish, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5


PM SNACKS: 7:30-9pm, multigrain pretzels with nutella, chocolate squares, popcorn, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

Hamburglin'

After lifting weights, I aimed to ride the bike to Coney, but caught a flat on the Manhattan Bridge and walked back, showered, then brought the wheel to my main bike shop on the East Side. It was an easy fix, but if I knew I was only gonna ride 8 or so miles and not 30 I wouldn't have indulged in the donuts. Oh well.

TODAY'S COOKING:
Hamburgers: Spontaneously made burgers this evening for dinner, as momma-in-law was over. Haven't tried it since c-school, and I've always said the best way to eat chop meat is to grind it yourself, but rarely actually do it. Got a piece of chuck at the market and some whole wheat buns. Ground the meat with some butter, added some salt, pepper and grated raw onion. Fried in a pan with a little peanut oil, got a nice browning going. Topped with tomato, onion and some Worcestershire, as I actually don't have ketchup in the house (Perhaps I should make some from scratch, as the industrial stuff is blech.) I'd do two things different next time: get fattier meat and go with a bigger grind. It was juicy, but a little bit dry and crumbly at the same time.

AM SNACK: 8am, iced green tea


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


LUNCH: 2pm, sauteed chopped spinach, spicy brown rice, water, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 6:45pm, 2 burgers, 1 corn on the cob, water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING SNACK: 8pm, multigrain pretzels with nutella, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Hello Mudder, Hello Fadder

Rented a car and visited my parent's grave site. Edie had a great time running around in the sunshine. met up with my brother, sister-in-law and their 6 offspring, ranging from 12 years to 4 months. Oy. We picked up some quick food from a local deli before having an informal picnic in the woods and a hike to a reservoir.

On the bike ride home from the car rental place, stopped by a supermarket to pick up some frozen spinach and a few baking potatoes to mix it up for dinner a bit. My first thought was to order in, but after eating out of a deli in the afternoon, some home cooking seemed like the way to go.

AM SNACK: 8:15am, iced green tea


LUNCH: 12:30pm, turkey & Swiss on roll, potato chips, Gatorade, chocolate chip cookies, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


PM SNACK: 6pm, health salad, pickle, water, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 7:30pm, breaded tilapia, baked potato, cooked spinach, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING SNACK: 9pm, 4oz homemade ice cream, small ramekin of cashews and chocolate chips, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

I gotta do me, you do you.

Today was a big day for me n' Edles -- we went to the Bronx Zoo. We met up with a few friends with babies Edie's age, took a series of trains that ended up in a shuttle bus situation that was probably more stressful for the adults than the kids. Zoo was nice, but it ain't cheap to get in, and they nickle and dime you on everything possible, from charging extra for certain permanent exhibits to $3.25 for a bottle of soda that would be $1.75 off the grounds.

We went to the main commissary for lunch, and I ate food I brought, the CSA veg-infused pasta and a pickle, while Edie chowed down on my pasta and pickle, watermelon, blueberries, whole wheat goldfish, a little cheese and a whole mess of unsalted peanuts. The two other kids were fed breaded chicken fingers and french fries, which I understand -- it's easy, the kids like it and peace reigns in the valley. But it ain't cheap, and more than once in a blue moon can be kinda destructive. I felt  bad, a little bit snobby for feeding my child such holier-than-thou food, but I gotta do me, you do you, knowwhatamsayin'?

While we walked back slowly down Fordham Road in the heat and concrete, someone suggested slurpies at 7-11, and damn if 20oz of frozen corn syrup, phosphoric & citric acids, artificial flavor and color didn't hit the spot. In a theater, this drink would have been $6, but here it was $1.62 -- yep, I never had a slurpie at a 7-11 before. I guess I just got a little less snobby, he he.


BREAKFAST: 8am, iced green tea, 1/2 a bagel with cream cheese, .5 bowl, hunger 4/ a5


LUNCH: 2pm, greenie pasta, pickle, water, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5


PM SNACK: 3:30pm cherry slurpie, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


PM SNACK: 5:30pm, peanut butter, a few cashews, a few whole wheat pretzels, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 6pm, 4 mini burritos, brown rice, water, watermelon, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
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EVENING SNACK: 9pm, 8oz chocolate ice cream, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

Grenadine Ick

Woke up late, too hot to go out with Edie in the morning, just stayed in and prepped for the evening's dinner. Took Edles to our friend MAP's office in the afternoon followed by some playground int he rain. A nice evening indoors with another family from the 'hood


TODAY'S COOKING
Grenadine syrup: 2 cups pomegranate juice, 2 cups cherry juice, 4 cups sugar. I made the mistake of walking away and candied it, making a big sticky lump that hardens when hit with cold seltzer, not dissolve.  Will try again and be more careful. (I'm making this to add to seltzer and some lime juice to make an old fashioned Lime Rickey, inspired by the knish lecture I took in this past week.)
Pizza: -sigh-. First time cooking pizza since leaving the restaurant. Watching my hands stretch the (whole wheat Wholefoods) dough, topping the pies as I've seen done 1000s of times. Made margarita, a pepperoni, a white pie with a medley of vegetables I roasted earlier, a nutella pie decorated with jelly beans contributed by a 2 year old guest. It was fun to make pizzas, but it's starting to feel like something from the past already.


BREAKFAST: 10:15am, smoothie, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Milk, banana, good yogurt, CSA blueberries, frozen cherries & mango, ground flax, vanilla extract, salt. Pretty good, not very sweet but still balanced. Edie demanded some, sat next to me with a cup of it, and proceeded to get equal amounts in her mouth, smeared on her nude body, and the bench and walls.


LUNCH: 1:15pm, apple pork sausage, green pasta, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 6pm, assorted slices of homemade pizza, 3 small ice cream sandwiches, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Sugar Lust

Woke up early to a very energetic and very happy little girl jumping up and down on me. Legs and joints felt much better, lifted weights in the morning, took Edie out to some swings, then grocery shopping before getting her down for a nap and lunch.

Felt cravings for sugar in the afternoon, and ate some ice cream. I picked up some cherries and a zucchini from a new local farmer's market, and made a nice very green dinner. It was a bit too green, it tasted green. For whatever reason, my cravings for sugar went off the charts right after the meal, I haven't had this kind of lust in quite a while. I hoped the cherries would have dampened it, but I guess that and the pasta just primed the pump.

I think I have proper supportive mandels in my closet somewhere. Time to bust 'em out.

TODAY'S COOKING:
Pasta with CSA veg: A pound of mini wagon wheels met a cup of homemade sauce. In the woke, I stir fried some broccoli and sugar snap peas, through in the scallion and zucchini, then added the chopped swiss chard I just par-boiled. A little peanut oil and salt. Looked very healthy. Finished the dish with CSA parsley, which B informed me she finds repulsive after the fact. Oh well, off to the freezer this dish goes then.

AM SNACK: 7:30am, iced green tea


LUNCH: 12:45pm, breaded tilapia fillet, corn on the cob, health salad, pickle, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 5pm, fresh cherries, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 6:30pm, pasta with CSA veg & a little homemade sauce, pretzels with nutella, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


EVENING SNACK: 9pm, 5 oz of ice cream, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Knish!

Woke up with sore feet, ankles and legs. I was wearing flip flops all day yesterday, and the walk from Grand Central to home did a number on my joints, much worse than any bike ride. So though I planned to bliss-out on an 80 mile bike ride today, instead I packed up some snacks and trundled off to a well air-conditioned multiplex to catch 3 movies in a row on a single matinee ticket.

While there, my wifey found a little knish lecture at a small community outpost out in Carrol Gardens, and asked me to do it. So I did, a talk from a knish-crazed lady to about 10 random people from all over the city. It was pretty inspirational, and this week I'm gonna knock out some knishes -- can't be too hard to pass the low bar that Yonah Shimmel has been producing these days...

AM SNACK: 8:45am, a small handful of chocolate covered coffee beans


BREAKFAST: 9:45am, banana, good yogurt with honey, vanilla & peanuts, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5


AM SNACK: 11:45am, pumpernickel pretzels, water, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 4:45pm, eggplant hero, green salad, water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


PM SNACK: 8pm, a few squares of various knishes, lime rickey, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5


EVENING SNACKS: 10pm 1 mini burrito, small ramekin of cashews and chocolate chips, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Adventures With Edie

Woke up early and Edie & I hauled butt up to Grand Central for a train to Tarrytown, where we met up for breakfast with my old friend J and her baby. Visited a water park, then took the train back in the early afternoon while Edie slept. Walked slowly from Grand Central to home, stopping in various parks along the way for Edie's eating, Edie's playing, Edie's walking, Edie's exploring, it was pretty much an intense meeting of Edie-love and City-love.

Picked up a nice selection at the CSA - snap peas and a little lettuce and scallions again, kale, some Swiss chard, a little broccoli, blueberries and cheese.

The potatoes I cooked yesterday were good, but there was too little stuff to too many potatoes, and I could have seasoned it a bit more aggressively. I think this pound of snap peas is gonna meet a pound of potatoes later this week....

AM SNACK: 7:15am, iced green tea


BREAKFAST: 10am, pancakes, sausage, diet coke, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5


PM SNACK: 2pm, 20oz Gatorade


PM SNACK: 3:30pm, 4 cabbage & pork dumplings, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5
On the epic walk home, stopped in on the new Clinton St dollar dumpling place. Good, but not really different than the chive & pork dumplings.



PM SNACK: 4pm, large wedge of watermelon, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 7:15pm, sauteed curry shrimp, roasted potato & snap peas, health salad, water, 1.75 bowl, hunger 4/5 

EVENING SNACK: 9:30pm, 4oz ice cream, small ramekin of chocolate chips & cashews, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5 
Sugar hunger got a hold on me. This challenge is gonna take some easing into.

4th of July Challenge

The HVS and I spoke of a new challenge for the month, it's been evolving in my head for more than a week now. Though officially it's a one-month weight-loss challenge, I think this month may be for an ongoing basis:

• Limit restaurant meals to one a week and delivery meals to one a week. 
• Limit desserts to three a week total, including sweet snacks.
• Eat 75% or more of all the produce we get from our CSA on Tuesdays during the week.
• Devise at least one dish each week to be made in quantity to last beyond the week via freezer and fridge, that is both Edie-friendly and B-friendly.

I'm open to suggetions on the last one. I would love 10 recipes that I could rotate. Currently, I have two warhorses in my cannon:

1. Pasta with homemade tomato sauce.
2. Mini burritos, whole wheat tortilla filled with slow-cooked black beans, guac, cheese and sometimes rice

I'm thinking 7 or 8 recipes needs to be vegetarian, 2 or 3 can be meaty or all meat. I think making meatballs from scratch (including grinding the meat myself) is a good one. Homemade breaded fish sticks or chicken fingers might be a good one. Bread maybe, or is that more of a side utility food? Pesto? Hummus? Gnocci? Rice & beans? Rice & lentil? Falafel?

TODAY'S COOKING:
Corn on the cob: Boiled it for a spare 4 minutes, slathered on some butter and salt (olive oil for the HVS), came out perfect -- sweet, firm but not too firm, toothsome. My parents used to boil the hell out of corn, but I suppose it was genetically different back then,

AM SNACK: 9am, iced green tea

BRUNCH: 11:45pm, 2 small burritos, small amount of pasta, small cup of ice cream, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

SNICKLELUNCH:  2:30pm, rice & lentils, healthsalad, corn on the cob, pickle, water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


SNICKLEDINNER: 7pm, roasted potato & snap peas with breaded tilapia, mango sorbet, lime seltzer, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5


EVENING SNACK: 10:30pm, 2 ice cream sandwiches

Truffle conundrum

Got to bed around 11, woke around 9 -- I ate kinda poorly the 2nd half of the day, I wonder if that was directly responsible for my utter lack of energy after 7 or so.

B grabbed an ice cream sandwich this morning while I was churning custard, and Edie was on her lap and insisted on sharing the "papa cake". Edie later woke up cranky from her nap, and only uncrankified after her pasta lunch when given some watermelon....which instead of just eating, she would lick a bunch of times like it was ice cream before eating it properly. I wonder if the sugar of the ice cream made her cranky. I think we may need to keep letting her eat anything and everything she wants EXCEPT sweets, and we'll have to limit our own intake when around her. Learning to feed, indeed.

TODAY'S COOKING
Vanilla Ice Cream: I made this custard on Friday but forgot to freeze the barrel, so I churned this morning. The custard was in the back of the fridge, on top, and about 1/3 of it froze. Frozen custard is NOT ice cream, as it freezes while stationary rather than being constantly scraped off a cold surface. So instead of having air whipped in and crystals being so tiny as to be smooth, instead you get an icey block with long, sharp crystals. I broke it up and stirred it the best I could, but the final result still has a little bit of icy crunch to it, boooo.

AM SNACK: 9:15am, iced green tea

BREAKFAST: 10:30am, toasted bagel with cream cheese, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

AM SNACK: 10:15am, spoonful of vanilla ice cream

LUNCH: 1:45pm, one vanilla ice cream sandwich, a few whole wheat farmer's market pretzels, a small bowl of health salad, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Putting together ice cream novelties, one ended up in my mouth. A little grazing in the kitchen before heading off to a July 4 gathering in Jersey, where I suspect there will be food.

DINNER: 6pm, creamy pasta, pizza with marscapone & prosciutto, 1 beer, 1 glass prosecco, 1.5 ice cream sandwiches, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
For a 4th of July meal, this could have been a lot worse! The pizza-thing our hosts made was redolent in truffle oil, which makes me think....hmmm, not sure whether I love or loathe truffle oil. Truffles, I love (other than the price), but truffle oil, I dunno. Something weird about it, rings a wrong note, but it does remind me of truffles.


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