Sugar, welcome back!

Sugarfast ends with a wimper.

BREAKFAST: 8:15am, pumpernickel bagel with cream cheese and sable, 1 bowl, hunger 3/5
Weird, not hungry, as the french bread pizzas still seam to be sitting in my stomach but thinking about the sable I picked up yesterday, wanted to eat, looking forward to eating, enjoying eating, satisfied by eating, but not quite. Sugar kills hunger in a different way than more complex carbs.

AM SNACK: 10:30am, pound cake and mint chip ice cream, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
And it's ovah! Churning the ice cream, a few stray chips found their way into my mouth. Then a taste of the ice cream to test for fluffiness. Then a 2nd. Then realizing I needed to taste the poundcake to see if it was ok and if it went well with the ice cream like I suspected. Oh yes. They are good together.

LUNCH: 12:30pm, pork and chive dumplings, 1 bowl, hunger 2/5
Not hungry, but meeting K at the C&L Dumpling House on Chrystie, so couldn't NOT get dumplings.

DINNER: 5pm, shrimp cocktail, a hotdog, some baguette and random soft cheese, a diet black cherry soda, some mint ice cream and poundcake, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Odd combination of snacky foods at B's family gathering. Ice cream was well received, but kind of wish I made something savory to balance out the shrimp n' dog fest. I blame an imbalance in my sugar intake!

Someone's in the kitchen with Facebook...

My only plan for the day flaked on me, so I kept me n' Edles busy. Woke up early, got the laundry done, then out to food shop by 11. Passing by Donut Plant was a bit hard, wanted a donut but didn't feel a sugar craving -- it was a donut craving! As you can see above, I was looking for inspiration at the market and got it. Kinda wanted to make EVERYTHING suggested (like a homemade hotpocket and make some mac n' cheese and put it in a box) but already had plans to cook two other things -- since tomorrow evening is the end of my week-long sugar-fast, I made lemon pound cake and mint-chocolate chip ice cream today, a riff on the mint lemonade I made a bunch o' times this summer.

After getting home and eating, just spent the time juggling making salad and the 4 dishes with tending to Edie's feeding, diapers, need for snuggles and sleep time. By the time B got home, freshly roasted pumpkin seeds were on the table, soup was ready to go, ice cream custard chilling for churning tomorrow, 3 pound cakes cooling on the windowsill, and the pappardelle about 10 minutes out. It was as much fun as I could have had with Edie in the kitchen -- I can't wait for her to be old enough to help me turn some meals out!

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

LUNCH 1: 11:15am, 6" Subway veggie burger sub, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5
I just don't trust their cheap super-processed lunch meats. Didn't want to be too hungry while food shopping.

LUNCH 2: 2pm, Yonah Shimmel potato knish, Nathan's hotdog on potato roll with kraut and onions, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Freezer-fishing after food shopping and before kicking off an afternoon of cooking. I never paid much attention to the Sabrett's brand "onions in sauce" jar before, but I couldn't help notice how sweet they were. The ingredients list sugar 6th, and the onions themselves were probably chosen for sweetness and are probably cooked to bring that out, so my sugar fast has not been blown. I think this kind of onion relish was designed to be a cheap swap for real caramelized onions...

DINNER: 5:30pm, potato leek soup, pappardelle with pumpkin, chard and pancetta, 1 glass sparkling white wine, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Made the Facebook update on the walk over to Wholefoods, and by the time I got there, the menu was decided. Potato Leek Soup was no problem -- the blender soup method. Saute aromatic veg to soft, cover with stock and water, simmer and soften starchy veg, blend, finish with cream, season. Onion, carrot, celery, parsnips and a whole lotta leeks got softened in olive oil, with a little salt and near the end a few cloves of minced rocambole garlic. Unfroze a quart of homemade chicken stock and poured it in, then added water to cover the solids. Popped in two cubed, peeled waxy potatoes, another 20 minutes of simmering. Blender, a cup of cream, taste, season with a lot of salt, a dash of cayenne, a couple dashes curry powder and a couple dashes chili powder, and it was good.

The pasta dish was a little trickier, because I never had this specific dish before and just guessed. Butternut squash was swapped out for pumpkin, as I had one on hand and B has been hinting very unsubtly that she wanted me to cook with it. Graham suggested the dish, who I last hung out with when we were about 7, but is now a chef in a corporate kitchen, no joke. I would have preferred to make the pappardelle from scratch, but time was limited, so I bought a nice dried egg pappardelle. While my poundcakes were baking, I dissembled a pumpkin and laid out the flesh and the seeds on a pan, and roasted for a solid 30 minutes. Came out nice and soft, chopped to bite size pieces, and held. Seeds salted and put out on the table to await B's arrival. Deveiled a head of chard, cleaned it, blanched in boiling water for 3 minutes then shocked in ice water, drained and held. Minced a 1/4 pound of pancetta, then into a hot pan with a little olive oil. Once started to brown, tossed in the chard and pumpkin, got the pasta in boiling water. Drained pasta, tossed into the pan with everything. Beat an egg, coated the entire thing with the heat off- the dish was kinda reminding me of a carbonara, so why not? A little more olive oil, a little more salt, tossed in some shredded manchego. Plate into a little pile with tongs, top with more manchego:


EVENING SNACK: 9pm, small plate of the pasta, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING SNACK: 10pm, Stouffers French Bread Pizzas, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Oy. Just stayed hungry after dinner. The good thing about sugar is that it tell my body quickly that eating is over.

The sugar withdrawal abates

I think I'm over the sugar hump, no sugar until Saturday night shouldn't be a big deal. Was only at the restaurant for an hour with Edie, so no pizza and especially no Manhattan Special -- it would of been difficult to turn down if offered, and L would of grilled me about exactly why I was abstaining from sugar this week. I'd blame it all on the HVS -- he's sweet on the HVS.

Edie & I then took a subway to visit E in midtown, and went to PJ O'Rourkes for lunch. A very pubby restaurant, everything is expensive but the midtown lunch crowd can afford it. I wanted something I could eat without getting Edles TOO messy, so a sandwich and fried finger food was the way to go. It was still a bit too messy, but good and filling.

A quick vist from the HVS was totally rad, and Edles seemed to dig her. The evening was chillin' with B.

BREAKFAST: 8am, smoothie, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
The standard: banana, milk, yogurt, grapes, mango, blueberries, cherries, flax. Forgot salt this time, still pretty good, could of been better.

LUNCH: 1pm, crab cake sandwich, fried onions, water, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Quantity wise, maybe 1 bowl but because everything was fried, calorically felt like a lot more.

DINNER: 6:30pm, restaurant green salad, eggplant hero, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Ordered in from the crappiest local pizzeria, a large salad with ice berg lettuce and assorted unchallenging vegetables, and a large hero that tasted less like eggplant and more like breadcrumbs and freezer burn. I need to go grocery shopping ASAP -- gotta prepare for my sugar welcoming feast!

Fourth day of no sugah

Woke up with out first thinking about wanted something sweet. Focused on getting my lesson plan together and playing with a very smiley Edie -- she's so sweet, she was like eating chocolate cake! Last week I was a bit nervous, was nervous today but ate some salad to keep me full. Last time when I got home I snarfed frozen pizza and a pint of ice cream.

Class went by in a blink, again good with the students engaged and interested in the tasks at hand. I was hungry when I got home, picked up some Chinese and downed a lot of water, just thirsty. Not craving sugar until I sit down in front of the TV and the first thing on is a TV commercial for some mass-market chocolate bon bon things, urrrg, I could use some of that right now.

BREAKFAST: 8:30am, toasted bagel with cream cheese, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: noon, large green salad, tortilla chips, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
I made this salad with two nutrient-light lettuces, boston bibb and iceberg. Iceberg was what I grew up on, and is definitely a comfort food now. Not as nutrient-light as, say, SUGAR (it's got water and a small amount of fiber, rather than no water, no fiber and a lot of fast, insulin-pumping calories) but it still gives me the heebies about all the era-specific poor choices my parents made with food. Did we really need to make brownies and cakes from crappy mixes when they were so easy to make from scratch? Mmmmm, brownies n' cake.....

PM TASTINGS: 4-6:30pm, bits of mashed potatoes, swiss chard and carmelized onion, water, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 7:30pm, beef fried rice, shrimp egg roll, lots of water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

No sugar, day 3

Ate a sweet, fruit-filled breakfast but it wasn't quite enough. I visited B's office and was drawn to the gourmet ice cream truck on one corner, the gourmet cup cake truck on the other. There is a new market outside of Madison Square Park which I checked out for lunch, but it seemed the only choices were BBQ from the crappy restaurant I ate at last week, crepes (sugar in the batter), waffles (same) and cider donuts. One artisan chocolatier was giving away samples of truffles....urg! Briefly considered Shake Shack, but their burgers are grotty and the only good thing on the menu is....ice cream shakes!

Went to a baby drop-in at the local community center as I do every Tuesday, and right in the middle of the floor were homemade chocolate oatmeal cookies, baked by the organizer of the class. Aaag! I feel like I should be in a 12 step program for sugar recovery. How did I ever get so readdicted to sugar without even knowing it?

Ate salad while Edles was awake, then had dinner after I finally got her down. Am I hungrier without sugar? I feel like I'm eating a little bit heavier to squash any hunger pangs.

BREAKFAST: 8:30am, smoothie, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Banana, organic whole milk, the good yogurt, grapes, mango, blueberries, cherries, ground flax, a dash of salt. Salt makes mildly sweet things taste sweeter. Enjoyed it, but felt hungry for more sweets immediately after.

LUNCH: noon, pastrami on rye, french fries, pickles, water, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Tortured by the sights of sweets everywhere, decided to have a fatty, indulgent meal to satiate my hunger thoroughly -- any cravings after would be purely sugar-related, not because I was hungry or thirsty. Went to Eisenberg's on 5th Ave because it was convenient, would have rather of gone to the 2nd Ave Deli or Katz's.

PM SNACK: 5pm, large green salad, tortilla chips, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 8pm, cheese ravioli, homemade tomato sauce, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

16 POUNDS OF FURY!!!

Edie had her date with the doc today -- 16 lbs, a full 25% bigger than 3 months ago. Fully healthy and happy, though the round of vaccinations she underwent tested the maximum volume of her voice box and lungs. Other than the usual breast milk, I gave Edie a dropperful of infant tylenol to help her with her discomfort. She had some crying jags in the afternoon that would only respond to being held, sung to, and played the smooth, smooth greatest hits of Al Green.

I forgot to eat breakfast this morning, busy with laundry, Edie and getting it together to go food shopping -- I needed to be home early enough to get Edles to her 12:30 doctor's appointment. As I walked out, I told myself I'd just grab a bite on the way then I remembered....

I promised HVS to do a refined sugar-fast this week, until Saturday night. I didn't eat any sweets yesterday, so I guess it started yesterday. The only things available to me were little bodegas and a fine dining restaurant called Broadway East, which had a chalk board out front advertising delicious high-grade muffins at half price. There's no way to make a good muffin without sugar, so I had to pass. I thought of maybe some sticky-rice n' minced pork lotus leaves from the vendor usually at Rutgers, but it was too early.

Wandering through Pathmark with a hungry stomach, stuck close to my list. Read a fantastic recipe for shortbread in Cook's Illustrated on the train up to New Haven, would be ideal to bring to some mother's groups, but it's a SWEET! Gah!

On the walk home from grocery shopping, ran into neighborhood folks J, E and their kids. We had talked brownies a week or two ago, and I recommended a revision to J's recipe. She remade them, she claims they're fudgier like she wanted, and offered me one....I had to explain that I was in cahoots with a friend to not eat sweets this week. That kinda hurt, I really wanted to taste one! I can't walk down the street without people offering me sweets!!

In Union Square after Edie's appointment, walked through the farmer's market. Hot apple cider, that looks like something to have right now....d'oh! That's a cup o' sugar! Shopping for diapers, a case full of colorful cupcakes....d'oh! Where did all these sweets come from?

HVS also wants me to refrain from pizza, but I'm modifying that because I can't let the ingredients go to waste -- no shitty pizza, just for work and home made.

I was a bit restless in the evening, probably due to craving sweets. Surprised how sugar-obsessed I've become today.

BREAKFAST: 11am, pumpernickel bagel with whipped cream cheese, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5
Nothing like a still warm out-of-the oven brown bagel from the greatest bagel bakery in the world which happens to be located down the street.

LUNCH: 1:45pm, falafel on whole wheat, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
At Maoz on Union Square, HVS-approved!

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

PM SNACK: 5pm, school-made fresh salsa and tortilla chips, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Waiting on B to get home to get the pizza in the oven.

DINNER: 5:30pm, homemade pizza, glass of wine, water, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Went heavy on the oregano, put cheese under the sauce, spiked the sauce with vinegar, 2 little pinches of vanilla sugar (not enough to violate the sweets ban) and sea salt. Preheated the oven and stone for an hour, which definitely helped. Wholefoods wholewheat dough, proofed it for an hour to get over the leadedness of whole wheat.

So greeeeeezy

Woke up at 6am with a sore back, which tends to happen nowadays when I sleep extra -- I got 11 hours, don't know why I was so tired. After lazing around, got the troops out to the local bistro to meet friends for a meal, then went our separate ways. Me and E road bikes around, got a pint and a bite, then home, where B's friend L and her brother were enjoying Baby Edles. A good sociable day.

BREAKFAST: 6:30am, good yogurt with honey, vanilla, cashews, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

BRUNCH: noon, blueberry pancakes, bacon, homefries, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

LINNER: 3pm, half portion of fish n' chips, pint of hard cider, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Not hungry enough to eat a full anything, we split a portion of fish and chips at the Telephone Bar and it was STILL a bit much. Just so greeeezy. Tasty, but a bit much.

PM SNACK: 5:30pm, piece of Ethiopian injera, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 7pm, butternut squash soup, whole wheat ritz crackers, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

Up in New Haven for the day

B, E & I trained it up to New Haven to get pizza at Pepe's. Technically this is Edie's second time, as she came up with us in utero last time. Edie slept or cooed through most of the train rides, no drama.

The white clam pizza again was a revelation. The large chunks of garlic, the distribution of oregano-spiked bread crumbs, generous olive oil and lots and lots of fresh clams. Other than the clams, the other star flavor had to be the subtle bitter char of the crust, flavored by the coal of the oven. Really good.

By the time we got home, I was surprisingly tired and hit the bed with Edie around 7pm.

BREAKFAST: 8am, organic chex with organic dead milk, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

AM SNACK: 9:45am, large cookie, water, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5
Pre-train snack at Grand Central.

LUNCH: 12:45pm, clam pizza, water, 2 bowl, hunger 4/5
Considered getting the small white clam pie instead of the medium, but after considering that 4 hours on a train was involved in getting this pizza, might as well get a bigger one and just skip the crusts.

DINNER: 6pm, apple pie, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5
Wasn't planning on eating this, but B left it out on the table and I could not say no. I made this pie a week ago or so and froze it.

Chest hair and a weiner

Got out of the house early to get to the UES to help my momma-in-law out with her computer. Spent the afternoon at a mother's group, 5 women and their babies, again me being the lone dude. Something tells me there is short story growing out of the my experience being the lone dude at these things....unless they kick me out for having chest hair and a weiner!

BREAKFAST: 8:15am, smoothie, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
The standard with the frozen fruit. Good. I think I have this down.

LUNCH: noon, slice of superhippy bread with camembert from school spread on it, large green salad, butternut squash soup, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Now THIS is eatin'! Not to pat myself on the back, but this squash soup is blowing my mind. I wish I measured everything, so I could recreate it. It's the spices I chose to spice it with, it really brings it to another level.

PM SNACK: 2:30pm, rice crispie bar, pumpkin muffin, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

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

DINNER: 7:30pm, mixed BBQ, a little max n' cheese, a little corn pudding, 1 beer, water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Some friends and I went to Hill Country on 26th Street, and I must say the food was mediocre, the service was horrible and the only thing that made the meal fun was the company of my friends. They have this stupid system similar to Katz's, where you get an ornate ticket before you enter, you get food from different stations, eat in a cafeteria setting, and pay before you leave. BUT those fucktards wouldn't let us sit without our whole party....even though the place was half empty. There were other issues I won't get into, but looking back, it seemed like there was a committee designing the concept, and rather than go with a true 'market' concept or a waiter concept, they came up with a hybrid that just does not work or make any sense. I just could not eat this food, and left a 5% tip, it wasn't 0 because I suspect it wasn't really the waiter's fault.

EVENING SNORT: 9pm, 2 pints of Old Speckled Hen, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

Vibrant and happy squash

A good day, though tired from the lack of sleep brought on by a late night pint of ice cream. Spent the morning making soup, then took a walk in the 'hood with Edles, which included laying down on a picnic table by the river with her strapped to my belly in sleep mode. Saw D&E in the evening for a movie.

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

LUNCH: 12:30pm, large green salad, fresh butternut squash soup, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Oh my, sometimes something comes out better than expected. Took a small early-season butternut squash, fabricated it, put some drops of molasses and salt on it and roasted for 30 minutes. While cooking, sauteed onion, celery and carrot in olive oil, added garlic at end then covered in chicken stock and brought to simmer. Everything in the blender, then started playing with cinnamon, chili powder, curry powder and salt. Added a cup of heavy cream, retasted for seasoning. Wow! A very flavorful heat, though not too spicy. Squash tastes vibrant and happy.

PM SNACK: 3:30pm, slice of streetza, piece of chocolate ruggelah, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 6:30pm, pasta with homemade sauce and spinach mixture, a large piece of chocolate ruggelah, water, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Had to finish the spinach before it went bad, ech. Tasted great. Betsy was devouring a good half loaf of rugellah when she came into the living room where I was eating and commanded me to hide the last of it. So I hid it....IN MAH MOUF!!

Teachin'

Today went by in a flash. Woke up to a good fishy breakfast (though I think a 1/4 pound of fish would be better for two bagel breakfasts in the future, not one piled high.) I spent the morning writing my first lesson plan and revising two recipes to fit the content of what I was teaching. By the time Yomomma-in-law came around 12:30, I was getting nervous.

I shoved down a piece of rugellah then rode the bike through 50mph winds to Red Hook -- reminded me of the day in my cross-country trip riding through Kansas which also had winds like this, except they were steady across a plain, and I had to ride 50 miles through it, not 3.

The class went by in a quick fashion -- I had piled a little too much into our agenda, which meant constant activity....which, based on the feedback from the kids at the end of the class, was probably their favorite part of the whole thing. We started with a lecture about food and kitchen safety, then I demoed a smoothie -- just like the ones I make at home, minus the flax seed and sugar, plus a scraped vanilla bean. I had them all taste the smoothie before salt and after salt, and right there I saw I blew most of their minds. I think I won their trust at that point. All the kids used different combos of fruit, so they all came out different.

After a bit of fiddle faddle tasting each other's smoothies, I went over knife safety -- how to hold, how to pass, how to carry, how to cut, then demo'd a simple salsa cruda. By then we only had an hour left, so I put the hammer down. Two kids to dice tomatoes, 2 kids to dice onions, 2 kids to mince jalapenos, 2 kids to mince garlic, one kid to mine cilantro. I went around and corrected each as they went, and approved each batch before being put into the communal bowl. I added tomato juice, red wine vinegar, salt and poof! Two gallons of fresh salsa.

After cleaning, I got the kids out into the dining room for chips n' salsa, as well as a cheese plate of 10 different cheeses, everything from Parmesan and moz and cheddar to morbier, camembert and tallegio. Had them eat it both with french bread and a crisp, sweet apple. A few of the kid's minds were blown once again. Got a lot of compliments from both the kids and the supervisor, who popped in from time to time to see what was happening. Good times.

Rode home at 7pm feeling good about how things went, and hungry. Needed calories! Unfortunately, I mindlessly swallowed 3/4 of a pint of very rich ice cream -- I fell asleep at 10:30, woke at 12:30 and couldn't get back to bed until 5am. Fneh!

BREAKFAST: 8:30am, toasted bagel with cream cheese, sable and tomato, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 1pm, slice of chocolate rugellah, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACKING: 3-6:30pm, cup of smoothie, a few bites of salsa & chips, a few bites of random cheeses, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 7:45pm, Stouffers Frenchbread pizzas, 3/4 pint of chocolate ice cream, quart of water, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

Rich Chocolatey Jewiness

Spent the morning out at Wholefoods, then went to the local infant drop in at the local community center. I don't know how much longer I'm going to continue with this -- I don't mind that I'm the only dude (if you don't include dude infants), but the hormones and the crying of women who are upset for very general baby reasons are a bit much to take -- I get enough from B, I don't need it from a rotating cast!

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

AM SNACK: 11:45am, vegetable samosa, pakora, cube of polenta, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
From the hotbar of Wholefoods, snacked on as me n' Edles walked home. How can a fried pakora taste so incredibly dry? Bleah!

NOON SNACK: 12 noon, a few small cubes of chocolate babka
In Russ & Daughters to buy some sable for breakfast tomorrow, the call of free samples of rich chocolatey Jewiness could not be resisted.

PM SNACK: 12:15pm, slice of streetza, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5
From the slice shop on Rivington off Clinton. Surprisingly, the slice was on the edge of being overdone, a rarity in individually sold slices. Cooked on a screen, the underskirt was all brown with stripes of black -- some of which tasted well done, a little of which was on the burnt side. Still, very crisp and thoroughly enjoyable.

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

PM SNACK: 5:15pm, chocolate babka, chocolate ice cream, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Once B reads this entry, the sweets will be gone before the dawn...

DINNER: 7pm, bread, hummus & babaganoush, 1 beer, pasta in meat sauce, 1.25 bowl, hunger 3/5
Out at a local restaurant with B&E and friends A&M.

Vegetarian day

Me n' Edles did the laundry first thing, then tripped out to Court Street, Brooklyn to the Dept. of Ed to have finger prints taken. We sat in a warren of windowless cubicles with other fingerprintees and rather unpleasant low level bureaucrats for a solid hour, but Edie was happy as a clam in the babybjorn, cooing, smiling, kicking and just chillin'. Still, her immense cuteness wasn't enough to make those bureaucrats even slightly pleasant.

BREAKFAST: 8am, smoothie, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
I measured my ingredients as I went, as my class will do this recipe in class on Wednesday. 1 banana, 6 oz of mixed frozen fruit, 1/4 cup of Greek yogurt, 1/2 cup of milk, 1/4 teaspoon of salt. Blend until smooth. Ohhhhh yeah!

AM SNACK: 11:15am, large green apple, small piece of cheese, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Because of all the rain we had in the spring and summer, the fall's apples are huge.

PM SNACK: 1pm, sesame noodles, seaweed salad, 2 dumpling, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Outside of Brooklyn Burough hall waiting for an office to open. Hungry, but already had plans for lunch in a few hours. This kosher vegan snack box hit the spot.

LUNCH: 3:15pm, super vegetarian burrito, brownie, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Lunch in Soho with Y.

DINNER: 7pm, mac n'cheese, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

Pizzeria Flavored

Two interesting articles in today's NYT -- one about the evils of ground beef and the other about the importance of eating dinner with your kids. As for beef, I imagine for some readers there will be no separation between the value of beef in general and the value extracted from beef when run through the deregulated for-profit industrial food supply chain. Makes me want to buy a piece of grass-fed chuck from a small farm selling at the farmers market and grinding it myself at home, and feeding that proudly to my family. McNorberts!

The other article made me remember some miserable times at home with my parents -- my mom insisted on the four of us sitting at a kitchen table and eating dinner together pretty much 5 to 6 nights a week -- the seventh would be out at a restaurant, or eating leftovers in front of the TV, or my brother out with friends. She wouldn't let my brother read at the table, even if we weren't talkin'. Looking back, it was a symptom of how fiercely and strongly my mom loved us, but at the time it was such a drag -- her cooking was such crap and it never occurred to her to encourage me or my brother to cook with her. Edie is gonna cook with me. And we're going to eat together. I imagine if she's dating some horrible boy, or comes out as a lesbian, or announces that she's decided to become vegan (noooo! he he), it'll happen around the diner table.

BREAKFAST: 8:15am, peanut m&m's,.5 bowl, hunger 4/5
When I wander blearily into the kitchen when I wake up and there are sweets on the table in front if me, whether it's cider donuts or cupcakes or m&m's, THEY WILL BE EATEN POST HASTE. Without discrimination. Nary a thought. Not a good way to start a day, but it was fun to eat.

AM BIKE SNACK: 11:30am, slice of streetza, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5
A random place in a beautiful street in Woodhaven, Queens.

PM BIKE SNACK: 1:30pm, Manhattan Special, pack of combos, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5
In a park in Middle Village, couldn't resist the call of the caffeine of a Special, and looking for something to snack on, couldn't resist a product whose flavor is "Pizzeria" -- not "Pizza" mind you, but "Pizzeria"....it tasted of oregano and fake cheddar cheese, with overtones of tomato paste. All wrapped up in a pretzel. Nasty.

LUNCH: 3pm, small portion of mac n' cheese, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5
Good, but not great. I spiked the sauce with Worcestershire sauce, I think next time gonna go heavier to get a fuller taste.

DINNER: 6:15pm, rotelle with homemade tomato sauce and spinach, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Equal parts tomato sauce and cooked spinach/mushroom mixture makes for a good pasta coating, neither saucy or dry.

PM SNACK: 7:30pm, a few little cookies

EVENING SNACK: 8:45pm, ice cream sandwich, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

Babies, Fingers

Woke up late after a restless night, around the time I was hoping to be in yoga -sigh-. Popped out for a couple of donuts to drown out my feeling crappy, took a long bath, then got to work making a few trays of top-flight mac n' cheese, one for a house warming me and the Wildman Army of Ladies were attending in the afternoon.

A lot of couples and ladies with babies at this shindig, at some points it got to loud to hear what people were saying, but most of what people were saying were related to babies, so the level of conversation never got so gripping -- babies are cool, but enough is enough, people! I felt a bit silly for bringing a big tray of mac n' cheese as all the food there was finger food, but once the hosts got around to providing utensils, it actually got eaten, with a lot of compliments, which was nice. Baby party, finger foods -- I'll remember that for next time.

Felt worn down even though I didn't do much, fell asleep by 8:30pm...

BREAKFAST: 10:30am, 2 donuts, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 12:30pm, pretzel thins, water, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACKING: 4pm-5:30pm, a few bites of brownie, a piece of bread and ricotta, caramel nut thing, a few sips of wine, a small wedge of odd cheeseless pizza, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 6:30pm, pork fried rice, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
I ordered a SMALL pork fried rice from the place closest to home, but what I got was a large clamshell container nearly full. This is small?

Porkalicious

Woke at 5 and couldn't get back to sleep. Banged together a planter box for the garden before mommainlaw came over. Rocketed over to the restaurant to take care of business, then to the school to talk to students, organize the kitchen, and sign contracts. After relieving momma, had a few hours with Edie before B came home and took over. Spent the evening out with D and a few of his friends at a movie and a drink after.

BREAKFAST 1: 6:15am, toasted bagel and cream cheese, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Couldn't fall back to sleep so just started the day.

BREAKFAST 2: 9am, organic cheerios with organic dead milk, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

AM SNACK: 11:30am, freshly baked bread with a piece of smoked salmon, roasted red pepper, red onion & olive oil, half a Manhattan Special, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Swung by the restaurant to follow up on business, L forced a few snacks on me before I ran out, like a good Jewish mother should.

PM SNACK: 2:15pm, 2 small squares of 3 Muskateers
Had a meeting with the principal and director of the high school I'll be teaching starting next week, she ended the meeting with giving me a little chocolate. I guess that's what she does with all the kids who get sent to her office, he he!

LUNCH: 3:30pm: large green salad, pork & leek fried dumplings, water, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Starving when I got home. Picked up some super cheap fried dumplings in Chinatown ($2.50 for 10 porkalicious meatballs surrounded by chewy/crispy/salty/greasy dough, but when I got home, I thought....oy, do I really want to write that this is what I had for lunch, when I know I'm going out to dinner? So a big ol' homemade salad balanced it nicely.

EVENING SNACK: 7pm, small amount of popcorn, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING SNACK: 9:45pm, small portion of French fries, 1 beer, 1 bowl, hunger 3/5

Tromping around

Spent the morning at the restaurant, then the afternoon in Staten Island with an old friend, who has a 2 year old. Me n' Edles walked to DUMBO, then walked back to the ferry. I've switched over from sling to babybjorn, and from messenger bag to backpack -- now all the weight is on both shoulders, not just one. Walking with 30+ pounds is good exercise, I guess, but I think I see yoga in my weekend's future...

BREAKFAST: 8:15am, smoothie, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Had the full regime of frozen fruit and banana. No sugar, half the salt -- salt still did the trick. Huh.

LUNCH: 11:30am, 2 slices tex mex pizza, half a Manhattan Special, half a root beer, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5 At the restaurant. L is fixated on this pizza, it's good but....it's kinda unpizza like. I guess that's why he likes it.

PM SNACK: 3pm, 2 small chocolate chip cookies, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5 At D's house in S.I. Baked in home, but from a store-bought frozen dough. Fresh, but still industrial.

DINNER: 5:30pm, 4 small slices of pizza, glass of coke, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5 D ordered in a pizza for a quick meal. Staten Island pizza is good, but this one was slightly undercooked, despite her specifically saying, "well done" on the phone. Stupid Staten Islanders!

EVENING SNACK: 9pm, 2 latkes, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
I just couldn't bring myself to eating a salad this late at night....

Macho

Got out to the farmer's market after spending the morning doing laundry, visited a friend at work. Picked up some lumber to make an elevated bed in the coop garden. Got some funny looks while I walked down Delancey Street, Edie strapped to my front legs and arms akimbo, and a large pack of planks balanced on my right shoulder. I guess this is the most macho I've looked since I once had a mustache for a few days....

BREAKFAST: 10am, toasted bagel with cream cheese and smoked sable, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Delayed by the laundry, but looking forward to eating this. I picked up a little fish at Russ & Daughters on the way home from food shopping yesterday. My dad tended to go for this fish because it's cheaper than sturgeon, but I much prefer it regardless of price. When he passed away, people sent a few huge platters over from R&D, and I gorged on this stuff for a few days -- every one else ate the salmon and sturgeon, but this is where it was at.

LUNCH: 1pm, falafel salad box, grape soda, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
On the town with Edles, felt nippy but wanted something on the healthier side. A lot of people are insecure about meat -- they'll eat it when out, but live a faux vegetarian lifestyle to cover for their dearth of cooking skills. I guess I'm starting to flip that -- a lot of cheap meat gussied up is served in this town, but if I buy the meat unprocessed myself, I'll know I'm not eating the ass-end, so to speak.

This salad box was very unsatisfying - $8 for a very small container, and after my 1st serving, just wanted to get out of there. Had to go find a Boylan's grape soda right after to settle me.

DINNER: 4:45pm, sliced pork on superhippy bread, large green salad, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Sliced yesterday's pork chop thin and reheated in a little butter, really good. Wasn't intending to eat this early, but was feeling off.

EVENING SNACKS: 9-10pm, ritz crackers n' peanut butter, pistachios, shrimp chips, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Fell asleep after dinner, woke up to get into bed but couldn't fall back to sleep. Felt off, thought some munching could settle me. This new bag of shrimp chips were disgusting, mad from tapioca starch and tasted like the inside of a shipping container from China.

Good day, bad night

After sleeping on and off all day yesterday, woke up feeling very achey -- my back needs to live! Got out of the house by 9 with Edie and went to Wholefoods to stock up. Unloaded, got out to vote then to Chinatown to meet K for vegetarian dim sum. Stopped in to the mom's group thing at the local community center, met a new mom in my building whose a bit freaked out by her 3 week old, turns out she also has a plot in the coops garden club, made a friend.

After our adventures, me and Edles headed home, I strapped her to my chest and I got to work o making salad, a big pot of pasta sauce with a big flavor (contemplating a rich baked ziti to bring to home warming this weekend, this is half the battle), then a nice entree with 2 sides (Betsy only ate the sides, and grudgingly, since the spinach was full o' chicken stock and chicken fat....but it tasted so gooooood!)

Looking at what I've been eating, is it a big surprise that I felt poopy? I much better today, with fruit and veg in every meal, and no sweets, though it's 8pm right now and craving cookies...

....it's now the next morning, feeling a bit guilty for powering through a crappy industrial ice cream cone AND a full bag of Pepperidge Farm Milanos. Thing was, I ate half and put them down, but literally felt a little hungry/desirous for sugar an hour later. I guess I didn't eat enough during the day.

BREAKFAST: 8:15am, blandie, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
I guess this wa my own kind of cleanse. Out of bananas, only frozen fruit, I made a smoothie with the organic dead mik, good yogurt, frozen cherries, mango and blueberries, freshly ground flax...and thats it. No sugar, no salt, no banana. It came out ok, the consistency was missing a certain thickness/binding that the banana gives, and while I enjoyed the mild sweetness vs the yogurt's tartness, the fruit flavors were muted. Sugar, out, vanilla and salt, way in.

LUNCH: 12pm, veg dim sum, water, tea, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Sticky rice, mashed taro treasure box, shark fin dumpling, sweet n' salty dumpling, golden mushroom fried thingy and kale in rice paper. Yeah, a bitter green! Healthy or what!

DINNER: 7pm, sauteed pork loin in pan sauce, spinach and mushroom, pasta with freshly made sauce, large green salad, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Made salad then pasta sauce when I got home. Went without a recipe, thought of my dad. In addition to the sweated onion and carrot, I added celery, diced Italian pepper and portobello -- my dad would through through this stuff in AFTER the tomatoes, which is a mistake -- you end up just boiling this tasty stuff. By sauteing it to soft, you capture it's aromatic essentials in the olive oil. Added dried herbs to the hot mire poix+, then ground the tomatoes right into the pot. After 30 minutes of simmering, dropped a bound head of basil in to steep for a few hours.

So for dinner, I forgot about the left over risotto and boiled a little pasta. Cooked onion and mushroom in chicken fat, then added a bag of chopped spinach, garlic and chicken stock and cooked to dry. I browned the large pork chop in chicken fat on both sides, then finished in the oven. Took it out to rest, and made a nice pan sauce with shallot, sake (my only booze on hand), chicken stock and a dash of salt. The pork chop was thick cut, about a pound and 2 inches thick. I cooked it to rareish/medium rare -- nice and pink in the middle in about half of it, a little too pink in the other half. I ate half, the rest will make a good sandwich tomorrow...

EVENING SNACK: 9pm, crappy freezer case ice cream cone, half bag of cookies, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING SNACK: 10pm, the other half of the cookies, .5 bowl, hunger 3/5

Feeling fneh.

Started feeling low energy and listless on Sunday. Went to the movies and dinner with E, but felt more like staying in. Monday woke up, got on bike gear and ate, but had to admit to myself my energy level was on 0 and packed it in, staying on the couch all day and trying not to move a muscle. B&E went uptown to eat with her family, with the pie and ice cream I made these past few days, hope it went well. B is back to work tomorrow, I gotta get my baby-game on!

SUNDAY

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

AM SNACK: 11am, a few spoonfuls of freshly made vanilla ice cream
Churning it now for tomorrow's break fast with B's family.

LUNCH: 2pm, stouffer's french bread pizzas, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 8pm, kimchi tofu beef stirfry, rice, kimchi pancake, a large bottle of beer, a bite of cake, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

MONDAY

BREAKFAST: 8:30am, organic cheerios with milk, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 1pm, ritz crackers with peanut butter, pastina cooked in double-strength stock, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACKINGS: 5-8pm, m&ms, pistachios, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5