Hush Puppies!!

Though my birthday was yesterday, the birthday eating will continue through tomorrow. I visited an old friend on S.I., who has a baby, and we took lunch of the Mall, a place I spent a lot of time at with my parents. In the late afternoon, on a movie date with my wife, I indulged in diet coke -- fast food and diet drinks, two things from the verboten list. I can't really beat myself up too hard about it, it's a special occasion and I'm not likely to repeat soon (though if I find an Arthur Treacher's, I might have to go in and buy a side of hush puppies....)

BREAKFAST: 7:30am, iced mint green tea, whole wheat waffle, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 12:30pm, fast-food fish n' chips with 2 hush puppies, sprite, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
I have not seen an Arthur Treacher's since I was a kid, and when I would visit my grandma with my mom, we'd go to one on 23rd St off 1st ave. It's all deep fried and relatively generic, except for the perfectly round hush puppies. I remember loving these things, and eating one today took me right back, that distinct slightly funky tartar flavor. I gotta find a recipe and recreate these, only healthier...

PM SNACK: 3pm, iced mint green tea
Tired. Need energy.

PM SNACK: 5pm, popcorn, diet coke, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Out on a date with my wife, friends babysitting. Needed the caffeine, and despite it being a verboten diet thing, it's a traditional thing from my past life which I got to share with my wife, so I'm not gonna beat myself up.

DINNER: 7:30pm, chicken burrito, water, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5
It was a wholewheat tortilla, but I would not say this was particularly healthful.

Energized

A good day. Woke up in a sleep-deprived haze to a chirpy B showering me with birthday presents. A few chores done, cooked up a batch of 'special' brownies, without a bit of it touching my lips. Edles & I went to Brooklyn to eat with an old restaurant friend, then home. I got into my gear, and when B got home, got on the bike and did a loop out to Coney Island. After the clif bar, really felt energized on the way home.

AM SNACK: 9am, glass of iced mint green tea, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

BREAKFAST: 11am, toasted pumpernickel bagel with homemade babaganoush and sable, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5
My constitution was just now recovering from last night's gout-fest.

LUNCH: 2:30pm, fennel salad, meatball sandwich, jasmine green tea, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Lunch with a friend at Frankies on Court Street. Should have chosen something else, but I just wanted it.

PM SNACK: 6pm, clif bar, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5
At Coney, on bike.

DINNER: 8:30pm, "pitza", 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Betsy's creation. Whole wheat lavash topped with some tomato sauce and cheese, and a mysterious blend of spices. Actually better than I remember.

Gout

AM SNACK: 8:30am, 8oz glass of iced mint green tea
Made this last night -- 2 cups of sugar, 2 cups of water boiled. Turn off heat, put in the leaves of 2 bunches of mint, let sit for an hour covered. Boiled 8 cups of water, turn off heat, place 4 high quality green-tea bags in for 3 minutes, then removed bags. Put 1 cup of strained syrup into the hot tea, let sit for an hour before refrigerating. This morning, took a sip and....was way too sweet. Added about 1/4 water, still too sweet but better. Next time will do half the amount of syrup. Very tasty, honest green tea vegetal flavor, well complimented by the minty sweetness. My concern like yesterday, is this sweet enough to be considered a dessert?

BREAKFAST: 9:30am, pint of smoothie, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Banana, green grapes, mango, blueberries, cherries, acai juice, the good yogurt, fresh ground flax seeds, homemade vanilla extract, sea salt. The acai juice definitely gives a too-berry flavor to the proceedings, and there added-sugar in it. Hmmmm.

LUNCH: 11:45am, sofrito brown rice & beans with cheddar, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Holy crap, the salty-gooeyness of this high-end sharp Australian cheddar made the rice n' beans pop like crazy, a 1 star dish became 3 stars with that adjustment. Glad I made so much now! Still needs more sofrito and beans in it, though...

EARLY DINNER: 5:30pm, 1/2 baked chicken breast, sauteed fresh spinach, samples of 3 kinds of mac n' cheese, seltzer, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Cooking with the students. The center of the class was sauce, so the mac n' cheese was the star, with three versions -- plain, bacon and mustard, and a jerk & onion. Pretty intense, but my once-a-week pasta...

LATE DINNER: 8:30pm, this menu plus about 5 inter-course (he he) amuse-bouches , one gin cocktail, 1 glass of wine, 2 bowl, hunger 4/5 at the beginning and 1/5 by the last amuse-bouche
No pasta during the meal, or anything totally forbidden, but suffice to say, there was red meat, there was alcohol, there were 2 dessert courses and 2 dessert amuse-bouches. Though each plate was tiny, over the course of 2.5 hours, it really accumulated in the stomach. All of the dishes were tiny pieces of art, with many foods in either tube, coin or ball shape.

Two thoughts: This was a fantastic present from my friend E, it was easily the highest-end meal I've had since culinary school, and the privilege of taking so much time with each little thoughtful dish really brought to light how much more I taste and understand the contrasts, harmonies and little jokes a high-falutin' chef can make on a plate. Second: More than once a year of a meal like this is guaranteed gout and obesity.

Shades of gray

Thinking more about sugar-cravings today. Can they be rerouted with complex carbs? Had a big portion of sofrito brown rice & beans this evening, but really, is the lack of something proof that it was suppressed by an action I took?

I'm also thinking about the difficulty of looking at a diet in absolutes. I made olive oil granola this evening, and it's full of whole grains (oatmeal) and nuts (pistachios, almonds and, uh, pumpkin seeds) but it also has brown sugar and maple syrup. I used a total of .75 cups of sweetener in what is about 8 cups of food, about 1/2 what the original recipe calls for. It's on the 'sweet' side, but would it count as dessert because it has added sugar? Is it a whole grain or a dessert? Both? I added sugar to the boiling water of the collard greens, but I doubt anyone would think of that for dessert.

BREAKFAST: 8:30am, toasted pumpernickel bagel with babaganoush and sablefish, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 1pm, small green salad, slice of streetza, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 2:30pm, 1 small homemade black & white cookie
At playdate dropin. Resisted a second.

DINNER: 6:30pm, small cube of Swiss cheese, chicken sausage over braised collard greens and sofrito brown rice & black beans, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Took two heads of collards, cut out the spines and chiffonaded, boiled for an hour in water spiked with vinegar, sugar and salt. Made sofrito in the morning -- caramelized onions, then softened red bell peppers and a bit of tomato paste with them. Blended that mixture with a bunch of fresh cilantro and a full bulb of roasted garlic. Put that in the rice cooker with brown rice, chicken stock and black beans.

The collards were surprisingly good, though the rice was underseasoned. I was expecting a much bigger flavor for the effort but it was just ok. Next time, half the amount of rice for the amount of sofrito and beans and more salt.

EVENING SNACK: 9:15pm, small bowl of freshly baked granola, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

The Sweet Tooth Rears It's Head

Last Monday, Friday & Sunday, I was able to go without dessert. Other than the post-ride indulgence on Saturday, the desserts I did eat were relatively conservative. Notable, because there are no 2 non-dessert days in a row. What does that mean? Well, being Monday, start of the new week, I tried to have a fully green-text kind of day. Dinner was lacking in carbs, which I tried to accommodate with some whole-grain corn chips with the salad and a post-dinner big bowl of freshly popped popcorn. I started getting itchy for sweets, and had my last smoothie pop. I was hopefully that it would stop the cravings, but in only primed the pump, and I searched deep into the cupboard to find a small amount of chocolate hazelnut spread, maybe an ounce worth. I was about to wack it on graham crackers when I pulled back, maybe I didn't need THAT much sugar, just a sustaining dose. It worked.

Strategy for next time. Pasta would help with this, but for that reason pasta (like desert) is once a week. I need more & better carbs, but all this whole wheat bread and brown rice is gonna get tired. Carrots should be a fall-back, and I should go get some potatoes. Maybe my sweet-potato aversion should be tested?

BREAKFAST: 9:15pm, organic wholegrain cheerios with dead milk, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 12:30pm, a fuji apple, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Sitting in the dining area of Wholefoods feeding Edie, I felt really hungry but didn't have anything on me other than what I bought at the farmer's market previously -- a pint of spicy kimchi and 3 NY State fuji apples. It took a second to dawn on me -- duh! I can eat an apple!

LUNCH: 2pm, sardines and avocado on wholewheat with a side of kimchi, water, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5
After a long morning out, good to have some fresh stuff to jam in. Sardines this time were skinless and boneless and packed in olive oil. I drained some off, threw in a shot of vinegar and a handful of fresh parsley, mashed it a bit, and it was just fabulous. Definitely not low fat or low calories, but high in all sorts of nutrients and very satisfying. I almost got a big lumpen potato knish on the way home, but the thought of this sandwich got me through.

DINNER: 5pm, large green salad with wholegrain corn tortilla chips, shake-n-bake sole, kimchi, large bowl of popcorn, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING SNACK: 7:15pm, smoothiepop, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING SNACK: 9pm, chocolate hazelnut spread on ritz-like crackers, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5
I probably would of eaten a lot more, except there wasn't much left of what I found at the back of the cupboard.

Maybe it's just Spring

End of the 3rd week under the new foodstyle regime, I don't know if I'm losing weight (I'll check at the end of the month), but I definitely have more energy. Maybe it's placebo, maybe it's the biking, maybe it's just Spring, but I ain't complaining.

BREAKFAST: 9am, yogurt with honey, vanilla and mixed roasted nuts, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Kept it small, knew I'd be packing it in at lunch...

LUNCH: noon, dim sum and a beer, 1.75 bowl, hunger 4/5
Me & the fam met up with friends in Chinatown for some traditional dim sum, in a dining room literally as big as two football fields. Good vibes, friendly neighbors at the communal table, and among other things shrimp dumplings, cold gelatinous/crispy pork, sticky rice with Chinese sausage, and on and on, washed down with some water and a refreshing pale beer. Lots of little bits of red meat and pasta involved, but I think this was my first alcoholic drink of the week....

DINNER: 8:30pm, chickpeas and spinach over rice, potato samosa, whole wheat roti, water, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Out of most foods in the kitchen, Sunday is a good day to be a bit indulgent before resetting...

Not very relishable

On a beautiful ride out to Orchard Beach & City Island, I stumbled upon this potato chips at a local bodega. Salty, sweet, vinegary, couldn't taste much pepper, was like salt & vinegar with the sharp stabby notes of the vinegar removed.

Weird packaging, stressing the "all natural" on the front and a list of ingredients to make a bell pepper relish on the back (though no method -- for that you have to go to the website.) Potato chips are freakin' potato chips, they may be all natural but they sure ain't healthful.

Last week's ride I blew out after 20 miles, but I should of eaten. On this ride I had a healthy lunch at mile 28, and didn't blow out until mile 41 or so. I even packed a cliff bar just in case, but it didn't come to that. Will I be ready for 100 in mid May? I think I may have to take more drastic actions...

I listened to a podcast of an NPR interview of Mario Batali, on a book tour promoting a new cook book about simple Italian dishes that are focused on what is made in the homes of Italy, not restaurants. He described how there are no big meat main dishes, and that a typical meal would be a tiny bit of protein (if any), a small amount of starch (like pasta) and mostly vegetables. A 1 lb bag of dried pasta in Italy feeds 5 people, but in the U.S. it feeds 2 people. I weighed my pasta this evening before cooking and....it was indeed 6.4 oz, an ounce and half away from being half a pound! A big batch of pasta is a good recovery meal after a long ride, though.

BREAKFAST: 9am, organic chex with dead milk, banana, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Wanted to save dinner for the evening, but my usual first snack on a long bikeride is the fabulous donuts from my local shop. So in the spirit of doing something friggin' differently, I swapped it out with a super ripe banana, very sweet and satisfying.

LUNCH: 1:15pm, turkey with let, tom, oni and roasted peppers on wholewheat roll, oddly flavored potato chips, 20oz of Gatorade, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5
From a friendly small-town feeling deli on City Island, with which I pedalled over to Orchard Beach to sit on a picnic table by the beach to eat.

DINNER: 6pm, large green salad, mini cheese raviolis with homemade chili, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5
The 50 mile ride blew me out, and took a nice bath. After, I set up the boiling water while ate salad, then cooked the pasta. Pasta and red meat, 2 things only to be eaten once a week. Well, I think I made it to Saturday! Tomorrow is Dim Sum, so rules are suspended for that then...

EVENING SNACK: 7:15pm, half a small chocolate babka, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Indulgent, homemade, felt right.

EVENING SNACK: 8:30pm, wholewheat waffle, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5
I can't believe I was hungry enough for this after that chunk of babka, but I was, and it was good!

Lagom

Friday started well -- I did the laundry last night, so it only needed folding this morning, giving me time to get down with the wafflizing. Me n' Edles did a few chores outside, but I just wasn't feeling it, despite it being a beautiful, warm, sunny day. When I hit the couch after dinner around 6:30, I just kinda shut down and was in bed snoozing by 8. Maybe fighting an approaching illness?

BREAKFAST: 9:15am, 2 wholewheat waffles, 2 slices of bacon, water, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5
In today's waffles, I used straight wholewheat flour, not ww pastry, and replaces white sugar with light brown sugar. Whole wheat gives a much more interesting flavor than white in this application, though there is a slight grit that I could imagine turning off a palate that is used to silky smooth white stuff. I held myself to 2 slices of bacon, rather than the usual 5 or 6, so while it's not in the rules, it's a good limit to live by. Two was lagom: Swedish for "enough is as good as a feast", words to live by...

LUNCH: 3pm, green salad, homemade mushroom brown rice, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Thought I could skip lunch because of the heavy breakfast and early dinner, but by 3 realized I was too hungry. Ate around the kitchen, stuck to the good stuff.

DINNER: 5pm, falafel platter, half a veggie burger, half an order of fries, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
With B at Petisco, the local superior diner. B didn't finish her meal, so I vacuumed it up for her.

Good eating vibes today

BREAKFAST: 8:30am, organic wholegrain cheerios with dead milk, banana, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 11:30am, 3/4 of a wholewheat waffle, the good yogurt with roasted salted mixed nuts & a little honey and vanilla, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Thinking of sardine sandwiches, but didn't feel like something fishy, in anticipation of what may be eaten this evening. I bought a bag of salted and roasted mix nuts (walnuts, almonds, macadamias, fiberts, a few others but no peanuts) to up my nut intake, and it really made this yogurt a much more interesting experience than my usual raw cashews.

Which reminded me of the Alton Brown episode that inspired my recent dietary direction. He pretty much dismisses raw foodism as a nutritious way to alter one's diet. While it is true that uncooked food has more nutrients then cooked food, which breaks down and destroys some nutrients, what is also is true is that the nutrients locked in raw food are much harder for the human body to absorb. While the raw state has more nutrients, the cooked state has more nutrients...that can be used by the human body! I'm sure there are exceptions to this rule, but it kinda makes sense within reason.

PM SNACKING: 3-6:30pm, one small wedge of roast beef sandwich, 2 cubes of brownies, a few mouthfuls of shrimp salad, a mouthful of pasta salad, 3 juice drinks, 1 can of seltzer, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Me n' my students cooked for the PTA, so I couldn't just make tofu n' whole wheat everything. Pasta and roast beef is yellow because it's once a week, and I think that was the first time....though I suspect some pasta n' chili will be a nice post-bike ride meal tomorrow...it WAS a small amount...

DINNER: 8pm, 2 slices of streetza, 3 cubes of brownies, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5
B and her mom ordered in a mediocre pizza, but when I got home from an afternoon in a kitchen, didn't feel like cooking. Two slices in a 550 degree oven on a stone for 2 minutes really made then crisp and brown, the only way to make the best of crappy pizza. Still hungry after, so I dipped into some of the brownies that I brought home for B. Didn't feel too bad about it, because I didn't eat too much today anyway...

Pretty well

For a day whose eating was half dictated by professional obligations, it went pretty well. Breakfast and lunch were taken at home, and me and the students made all sorts of things for the PTA conferences tomorrow, but today we finished up vegetable soup and made many sheets of brownies. The mint recipe for the brownies were off, but still edible.

I restrained myself from eating much after class, and I swung by the restaurant in the evening and ate some pizza. I was offered a drink of anything, but it was all either too much sugar or too much caffeine. I'm glad I turned it down -- if anything is gonna change, I gotta change these habits.

BREAKFAST: 9:15am, pumpernickel bagel with cream cheese, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 12:45pm, large green salad with multi-grain tortilla chips, smoothie pop, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 5:45pm, a little vegetable soup, 2 small squares of mint brownies, 2 juice drinks, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 7:45pm, half a medium pizza, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Eatin' with Jude Law & Abba-dude

BREAKFAST: 9am, large piece of banana bread, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5
I'm giving this the green light because of the extra bananas, halving of sugar and the replacement of white flour with whole wheat. Part of me still feels this is a little desserty, but it tastes too healthy.

LUNCH: noon, several small squares of pizza, water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Went to lunch at Pulino's with a bunch of moms and out babies. This was the second day this joint was open, and among others, saw the dude from Abba, Jude Law and Ed Levine all there chowing. Pizza was good. We ordered three of the 10" pies for 4 of us, and being the polite ladies we are, left over one square of each. Though not the healthiest, points for eating appropriate amount. Very tempted to get a beer because another mom was getting a pint, but the place offers no half pints, so I didn't indulge. Try to aim for my one alcoholic beverage for the end of the week..

PM SNACK: 2:45pm, chocolate chip banana bread, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Made by the leader of the playdate. Very different than my banana bread, very moist, very sweet and overflowing with chocolate. There goes my one desert for the week, he he!

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

DINNER: 8:30pm, chicken sausage with sauteed chard & onions over mushroom rice a la Noah, water, 3 chocolate truffles, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Got home late after Food Coop business, set up rice in the rice cooker before I split. Short grain brown rice, chicken stock, a blob of butter, salt, lots of crumbled up dried porcinis and morels, fresh diced oregano, pinch of cayenne, handful of sliced almonds, dried minced onion, and maybe even something else I don't remember. A big head of chard cooked down into a small fistful, cooked up with some softened onions in olive oil. The sausage from the market was surprisingly flavorful, redolent of red peppers and garlic. It would of been all-good, except that B had some people over and had 3 little chocolate truffles from a local chocolate maker on hand, and they just sat there and taunted me.

Green Letter Day

Never ate lunch OR dessert today, a good start to the week. Undoubtedly it'll be all down hill from here, with social occasions surrounding food taking me off the path....

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

NOON SNACK: noon, grapes, piece of cheddar, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Easily the largest amount of grapes I've ever eaten in one sitting. Really easy to eat.

AFTERNOON SNACK: 1pm, whole grain bread with good peanut butter, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

AFTERNOON SNACK: 3:30pm, mushroom knish, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
On the walk back from the supermarket, I started building dinner in my head, and realized that by the time I got home, cooked what I wanted to cook then sat down to eat, I'd be out of my mind with hunger. This was from a proper knishery, not one of those horrible yellow fried squares. As I was eating, I thought I should of gotten the spinach knish, or for real green text, a sweet potato knish...

PM SNACK: 5pm, baby carrots & ginger roasted almonds, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 9pm, 'zen' pizza, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
I got this nontraditional large slice from Viva Herbal, a spelt crust, no cheese, lots of green-tea infused soy products & vegetables.

Red letter day.

Last day of the week, ended it with an indulgent food delivery and a large portion of homemade ice cream. Tomorrow is a chance to see how long I can stay in the green before going yellow n' red...

BREAKFAST: 10am, piece of wholewheat banana bread, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Is it a dessert? Is it a fruit? Is it a wholegrain?

LUNCH: 12:30, mock frito-pie, smoothie-sicle, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Took the whole grain corn chips, topped it with homemade beef chili and some cheddar, wacked in in a cast-iron skillet and into the oven. Pretty good, though a very different beast than what I sampled last Sunday. Didn't feel ill after one bite!!

DINNER: 6:45pm, small sushi plate, gyoza, shrimp and vegetable tempura, green salad, chocolate ice cream, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

Heeeey Macaron-ah!

A rainy, rainy soaking day in NYC. Ate too well for someone not moving their body. Baked banana bread for the first time in the morning -- extra banana, 1/2 the sugar of the recipe, and replaced white flour with whole wheat flour. Tastes pretty damn good anyway. Then spent the afternoon cooking up macarons, which occurred to me after making that I don't need to eat any, because they are perfect for passover -- no flour in them, just egg, sugar and ground almonds...

BREAKFAST: 9:30am, organic cheerios with organic dead milk, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 12:30pm. two sardine & avocado sandwiches on wholewheat, 2 pickles, small piece of freshly baked banana bread, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 3-6pm, little bits of almond meringue cookie, little bits of chocolate ganache, caramel ganache and vanilla pastry cream
My fried MAP came over and we made macarons together, in three colors and three flavors. They came out better than the first time, but still not bakery-level. A lot of fun, a good way to spend the rainy afternoon while B was out doing girly things in Brooklyn and Edie watched us from her high chair and walker in the doorway.

DINNER: 7pm, homemade wholewheat pizza with onion, mushroom and pepperoni, 1 beer, water, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5
MAP stuck around and helped me caramelize the onions properly while I tiled with the rest of the set up. Pretty good. Drank the beer before even thinking about the rules, whoops. Still, far from being an issue.

Finally, no dessert!!

A nice day, maybe not the best eating day, BUT writing it up this morning, realized that no desserts slipped down my neck! After an early dinner, felt tired from walking with 20 lbs of Edie strapped to my front all day and hit the hay around 10pm

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

PM SNACK: 1pm, small amount of green tea
Met up with K uptown for lunch, but work was too busy for her so we just slipped into a Starbucks for 20 minutes so we could amuse ourselves with the cuteness that is Edie. I ordered green tea, which is on the every-day list, but all they had was "orange blossom green tea", where tangerine rind and ghoji berries overwhelmed any honest green tea flavor. It tasted like unsweetened Sunny-D-Lite. Gross. I picked up a pack of good green tea last week, I think I'll make a pitcher of lightly-sweetened brewed ice tea this week with it.

LUNCH: 2:45pm, Ethiopian combo plate, 1.75 bowl, hunger 4/5
Not sure where this falls. There was no obvious forbidden or once-a-week elements, and I think the injira is made with a whole grain (teff).

DINNER: 6pm, shrimp saag, a little naan, a little rice, 1 onion bahji, 1/2 a vegetable samosa, lentil crackers, water, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5
Lunch came a little late, dinner came a little early due to social obligations. Didn't eat most of my food.

Improved Freezer Fishing

Despite me not purposefully eating multiple sweets a day, when I look back at the color codes this week, I'm going to find a sea of red, all from bits of deserts flying down my throat. On the positive side, most is home made or on the way to homemade, but still, it causes one pause. On the other hand, I don't know if it's psychosomatic, but I definitely feel more energy and a little bit lighter on my feet...

BREAKFAST: 9am, organic wholegrain chex with organic dead milk, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 1:45pm, fillet of sole, whole wheat waffle, large green salad, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
I gotta get some frozen fillets of oily fish. Still, cooking fillets from raw is a whole lot better then nasty fried breaded fish sticks out of the freezer. Some whole wheat waffles I made last week also came out and crisped up nicely on the pizza stone.

PM TASTING: 2:30pm, a bit of chocolate ganache
Filling the macaron cookies I made earlier in the week, to bring to a casual dinner party this evening. Unfortunately B ate a bunch of the cookies AND a hunk of the chocolate I had on hand to make the ganache, so this batch ended up only being 5 measly macarons!

DINNER: 6pm, small green salad, a few olives, mushroom ravioli in red sauce, 1 piece of bread, 1 whiskey cocktail, one chocolate macaron, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Beets, brought to you by Hershey's

Watched an episode of Good Eats this morning all about....beets. Roasted, pickled, as a salad. Fneh! And the show was sponsored by....Hershey's.

This morning instead of baby food, I fed Edie bits of very ripe banana and a few spoonfuls of full-flavor Fage yogurt. Fruit is nature's baby-food.

My eating day was dictated by professional obligations -- first the after-school culinary class I teach, then at the restaurant I consult at afterwards. It's fine, but it underscores the fact that I need to control the habits I keep outside of these times.

BREAKFAST: 9am, smoothie, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
I replaced milk with aica juice this time, which lead to a much sweeter taste. All the other usual suspects in tact: fage yogurt, fresh ground flax, banana, grape, cherries, blueberries, mango, splash of vanilla, pinch of salt. The aica juice straight tasted too sweet, generic berry flavor.

LUNCH: 11:30am, demi-hippy bread with good peanut butter, small bowl of tabbouleh, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER pt 1: 6pm, small panko-crusted chicken cutlet, small portion of swiss chard & onion, whipped potatoes, small fruit punch, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER pt 2: 7:30pm, 2 small slices of pizza, water, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING WATERING: 9:30pm, 2 liters

EVENING SNACKS: 10:30pm, handful of ginger roaster almonds, a large bowl of freshly popped organic popcorn in grapeseed oil, lightly salted, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Got uncomfortably hungry, ranged around the kitchen looking for snacks that would be nutritionally acceptable. Almonds were a no brainer, but wondering about the popcorn -- technically, isn't it a whole grain? I dunno, must do some research..

Ashy bagels of yore

A busy day, capped with B coming home early so I could get on the bike and ride out to Coney Island. Was great, but I definitely feel the early-season weakness. I almost bonked 2/3 of the way in and had to stop to eat. Next time I'll be more prepared.

BREAKFAST: 8:15am, pumpernickel bagel with cream cheese and sable, water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5 "Pumpernickel" is the whole-grain equivalent of rye bread, and while historically it has had a dark color due to the ash-content of the grain, nowadays it is mixed with other flours and dark coloring via molasses, cocoa or other means gives it back it's shade. I don't know if this is a 100% whole grain bagel, but it is soooo delicious. Sable is my favorite appetizing fish, and wikipedia confirmed it is an oily fellow, which made this a rather Brown's Rules-approved breakfast!

AM SNACK: 11am, 2 freshly baked macaron cookies
I'm running through a half batch of the cookies for the French macaron cookie sandwiches me and my friend MAP will be baking on Thursday. They're a little tricky, and I took notes on what to try differently then. I had to taste to test -- good, but Thursday will be better.

LUNCH: noon, bowl of tabbouleh, 1 piece of demi-hippy bread, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Good, but the tabbouleh tastes a little flat. Salt? Unsatisfying.

PM SNACK: 2:30pm, 1 oatmeal cookie, 1 chocolate chip cookie
At the mutha's group, 2nd sweet of the day.

LUNCH 2: 3:45pm, large green salad, handful of "whole grain" tortilla chips, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 7pm, slice of streetza, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5
Didn't want to, but out on my first proper ride of the season, 30 miles to and from Coney Island. My body was about to shut down if I didn't eat something. Next time, will bring a clif bar...

DINNER: 8:15pm, tofu & broccoli in brown sauce, pork fried rice, pork egg roll, smoothie pop, water, 1.75 bowl, hunger 4/5
Needed a Chinese brick, but damn, pizza and Chinese food? Regardless of the ride, if I'm going to lose any weight, this won't do. But I was frazzled, it was comforting to go to the same take out spot me and my dad would go to, to take food out, and I think I made a selection that could of been a lot worse.

Code Green, hopefully

In the side bar to the left, I've color coded the lists: dark green for every day, light green for 3x a week, yellowy orange for 1x a week, and red for never. I'm going to color the text of meals for a while, so I can see if I'm in a sea of green or flailing around in a world of yellow and red.

I spent the day doing laundry in the early morning, shopping for food in the late morning, and cooking in the afternoon. I assembled a bag of Russ & Daughters goodies for my brother-in-law for his birthday, so I was inspired to cook off a bunch of chocolate babkas. It's a lengthy process involving 2 rises, and 2 parts (dough and chocolate filling), but the result is fantastic. During the 4 hour ordeal, I made salad for the week and a large bowl of tabouli. I didn't use a recipe, I just looked at some ingredient lists on line and free-balled it. Got bulgar wheat from the bulk section, soaked it in hot water for 15 minutes. Added chopped tomato, onion, scallion, garlic, red pepper, parsley, mint, a little olive oil, a drop of balsamic vinegar, the juice of one lemon and a dash of salt. At first it tasted a bit weak but as it sat and came together, I'm glad I left it alone. It's mild, but you can really taste the wheat and it has that tabouli flavah.

I wasn't planning to eat desert today, but life had other plans for me. After spending 4 hours knocking out the babka (and the vegetables and the baby and the clean up) when B got home, she made short order of one of the babkas. Once she started one, I had to have a small piece to see if it was good. (The dough was really wet, but I decided to see what would happen instead of adding more flour -- it became MUCH more tender than last time, really good.) I stopped at a 1" piece, but B made her way through the ENTIRE 8" pan!! Hrumph!

A few hours later, I was really desiring sugar, broke down and had another desert, officially breaking B's rules of no more than one a week. I know tomorrow there will be a sweet snack at the playdate drop in, and I'm baking macarons and going to a dinner party on Thursday, which will be another sweet spot. And no weekend is complete without desert. If I make it through the week with only 5 deserts, I guess it'll still be an improvement....for now

BREAKFAST: 8:30am, organic cheerios with organic dead milk, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Woke up pretty hungry, but I wonder how much of that is due to only 4.5 hours of sleep. I know lack of sleep is a potential cause of obesity, due to messing with blood sugar levels...

LUNCH: 2pm, two sardine sandwiches, 2 pickles, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
I was nervous about this, but Brown hyped up the nutritional power AND deliciousness of this sandwich, but I had never really done sardines. Once I opened the can, two things soothed me -- first the heads, tails, fins, scales, bones and guts were all removed, leaving just little round fillets surrounded by skin. Second, the smell -- it smelled like a mild tuna fish! Ah hah! This isn't some scary little eyeball-and-gut crunchy thing, this is just sustainable, healthier tuna! I tossed them with a little cider vinegar and fresh parsley, and smeared some ripe avocado on the toasted whole wheat bread. They went down lickety split, I can't believe I haven't been eating sardines all along.

I always associated those tins with anchovies (funky salt!) and old people like my parents, though even my parents were all about the chunk tuna -- the sardines were THEIR parent's thing. Justine Timberlake can have his sexy, I need to bring sardines back.

DINNER: 7pm, large green salad with chili shrimp, a few spoonfuls of homemade tabouli, water, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING SNACK: 8pm, small slice of freshly baked babka, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING SNACK: 10pm, 3 graham crackers with chocolate and peanut butter, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

For the love of pork.

A good Sunday. After cooking up a healthy significant breakfast, helped B clean up the house bit before some cousins and friends came over to kick off the bike season with a small tour around the tip of Manhattan. An afternoon jaunt to Greenpoint for some authentic Polish food, small in quantity, topped off with sprint down to Red Hook for a drink in a salty bar. A good edge-of-Spring day. Didn't stick to Brown's rules (which are now in the left hand column of this blog) strictly, but getting better. Next week will be improved. Let's say the week starts on Monday...

BREAKFAST: 8:45am, 2.5 wholewheat waffles, 3 slices of bacon, 1.75 bowl, hunger 4/5
Hungry for a real big breakfast, and didn't want to give up control to a restaurant. Made my waffles, replacing white flower with whole wheat pastry flour. I also left the eggs out over night to bring them to room temp, and zapped the milk to make it slightly warm. The melted butter did not seize, and the egg whites became much more solid, making for a lighter waffle. The taste of the whole wheat was very mild, in a pleasant nutty way. Definitely the new standard. Gonna experiment with brown sugar and AP whole wheat next...

Brown's rules permits red meat but once a week, which at the outset I imagined as cow. Does red meat also mean pork, lamb, buffalo and bear? Isn't pork the other white meat?! -sigh- I guess it is, I just love pork so much. On the negative side, I ate red meat for breakfast. On the positive side, it was well below an 8 oz serving and half of my usual breakfast bacon intake...

PM SNACK: 2:15pm, bite of bagel with creamcheese, bite of pizza, half bite of dry ruggelah
Riding around with cousins and friends, doing a bit of the tour thing. Didn't want to eat, but ya gotta take a bite to be a participant.

LUNCH: 4pm, 6 mixed perogies, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Two potato/cheese, two kraut and two meat. Again, went against Brown's rules and had another bite of ride meat, but much less than a serving, maybe an ounce. How do they make this meat in the perogie? I suspect it's been ground then boiled to make stock, then tossed with a few spices, and stuffed.

PM SNACK: 5:30pm, 1 pint of beer, 1 bite of frito pie, a small quiver of french fries, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
D, E, K and I popped over to Red Hook for a drink. E ordered a horrible looking frito pie -- a crock full of fritos, topped with a very generous portion of all-beef no-bean chili, and a layer of what must of been cheese-wiz. I didn't want to taste it, but when I refused, E asked me if I was a food snob. Urg! I'll eat anything!! It was as gross as I expected, but makes me want to make some at home. I'll use my "whole grain" tortilla chips, my home-ground skyline chili, and a good quality raw milk sharp cheddar. Red meat IS allowed once a week....

DINNER: 8pm, baked sole with herbes de Provance, kale and brown rice, chocolate ice cream, small amount of dark chocolate and 3 graham crackers, water, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Three small fillets of sole (6 oz) baked with some herbs and a little pat of butter, small delicate flavor, needed a little salt. I reheated the mushroom brown rice from earlier in the week, and cut up a full head of fresh kale into it. Threw in some chicken stock, and let that cook the kale down a little and revive the rice. Still a little too salty, but a good save.

After a second portion of kale and rice, realized I had ridden about 20 miles today and was a bit undercalorized. Rather than wait until 10 to lose my mind, I powered through a delicious desert, full on. B berated me for risking my sleep tonight, but hopefully the bike ride will counter it.