Too Much Cheese Cake

Took Edie to the doc in the morning, has a bug but her fever broke. Spent the early afternoon wandering home in the rain, nap in the afternoon, ate a too-large piece of cheese cake, cooked a little in the eve.

TODAY'S COOKING
Pirogi dough  two fillings: Knocked out a quadruple batch of pirogi dough to chill overnight, and a batch of farmer-cheese filling and a batch of mushroom-kraut filling. I have a bunch of good dried mushrooms (thanks tay-tay!) and got some good fresh ones from the farmer's market, rehydrated the dry in kraut juice, then chopped up all the shrooms in a food processor. Sauteed in a little olive oil, added some grated onion, sauteed for 15 minutes until it stopped steaming, deglazed with a little sherry, then added the pressed kraut and sauteed until it was dry. Tasted very like what I was hoping!


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


LUNCH: noon, chicken burrito, chips, salsa, water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


PM SNACK: 6pm, large piece of cheese cake, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 9:15pm, small green salad, scallion pancake, shrimp dumplings, cold sesame noodles, water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

Yogic Fail

Woke up feeling good but blown out. Spent the day with Edie, first a bike-run to Wholefoods and then in the kitchen. Edie wasn't feeling too great, so pretty much every moment was taken and because I was nibbling here and there to taste stuff as it went to cook, I never ate properly.

So when I showed up for the HVS's class at 6:45, I was running at 25% which would have been enough to muddle through a basics class, but this was a quick-paced open class, and soon found myself sweating, nose running, head cloudy coming to a grinding halt. So I removed myself and sat in the studio's cafe and had a salad, felt much better. Snickling continued after T got out and we saw a movie from THE best seats in the house, due to my good line & time management skills, thankyouverymuch.

TODAY'S COOKING
Peanutbutter Oatmeal Bars: I used this recipe, and stuck to it precisely, but when I tried to depan it when the glass pan was cool enough, it crumbled into an overly sweet, lumpy chocolatey granola-ish mess. Bleah. But B seems to still like it.

Cheesecakes: Going to an Easter thing at E's house, didn't know what to make. Goyim like cheesecake, right? Cheesecake and whiskey?


Granola: My go-to recipe. Just 'cause.

BRUNCH: noon, health salad, brown rice california roll, inari, water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


PM SNACK: 5pm, 4 salted caramels,  a little loose oatmeal bar, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER PT 1: 7:30pm, vegan cesar salad, water, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5


SNICKLEDINNER: 8:45pm, samosa, chickpeas, lentils, rice, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5


EVENING SNACK: 9:45pm, popcorn, diet coke, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

Muskles, geh-geh-geh!

Woke up properly this morning, as Edie slept through the night. I decided to go a little harder on the weights -- my tone has definitely improved, when I push my blubber, the muscles underneath feel firmer, harder. But I don't feel like my strength has particularly increased (and certainly not my muscle-to-fat ratio), so I bumped up each exercise by 1 increment, between 5 and 10 lbs, and I increased the number of push ups and sit ups. I definitely felt the difference, and suspect I'll be a little sore tomorrow, just like I was when I started this new regimen a few months ago.

Restaurant went bezerk due to good weather and holidays, but no servers showed up so it was just me and a busser covering the floor for the first two hours, full house with a line for the 2nd hour. I enjoyed it, but if I had to perform at that level for 10 hours, phew.... I think I would snap after about 4 to 5 hours of that kind of intensity. Great fun, but definitely not my destiny.


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

RESTAURANT DAZE: 12am - 11pm, 2 slices of pizza, half a green salad, 8oz sprite, 1 beer, .5 bowl, hunger ?/5

EVENING SNACK: midnight, donuts, burgers, tatertots, water, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5
No comment.

Hootin', Hollerin'

Edie was up in the middle of the night hootin' & hollerin', I laid with her for a bit but she only wanted momma. I had set my alarm for 7 to give me some time for weights, but when my alarm got off, the only weights I could lift were the feather-light ones in my dreams. I sure hope Edie is sleeping through the night again before we have another bebe.

AM SNACK: 8:30am, iced green tea

LUNCH: noon, 4 slices super thin pizza, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5 

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


PM SNACK: 5pm, 2 sicilian slices, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 10:30pm, lomein, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Swapping gasoline for calories.

A nice day. Off for the holiday, Edie had coverage so I took my new cargo bike and pedalled over to Ikea. Edles needs a new crib and kitchen chair, as the current ones are worn out from Edie-shaking and are starting to come apart. I usually hate going to Ikea, but going by myself on a rainy weekday made the store pretty empty, and no one dragging me to bits I had no interest in. B gave me a list, and I got everything on the list. Most fun of all, I managed to load all the pieces on to my bike, with the help of free twine in the loading area. The bike felt very strange, very light in the front. It took 45 minutes to ride there, and only an hour to get back.

In the afternoon, I went uptown to the UES to have a Seder with B & her family. It was very nice, warm, casual, familial. I contributed farfel and a flourless chocolate cake, and the majority of the food was ordered in from the Carnegie Deli. Brisket and turkey was ordered for 12 people, but that's assuming a Carnegie Deli-sized serving portion of about 2 lbs. I think I ate maybe two ounces of turkey and two ounces of brisket. Crazy.

Edie is definitely having early onset terrible-twos, she's starting to have tantrums when she doesn't get what she wants. I guess parenting has to get harder before it gets easier?

BREAKFAST: 9:30am, toasted garlic bagel with cream cheese, iced green tea, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 2:45pm, onion rings, mini hash browns, health salad, 2 pickles, water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


PASSOVER DINNER: 6:30pm, matzoh & haroset, gefilte fish, matzoh ball soup, turkey, brisket, matzoh farfel, gravy, 1 glass wine, 2 coconut macaroons, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

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

Passed over dinner

We rented a car and went deep into the dark heart of New Jersey. As is our tradition, we gave ourselves extra time in case of traffic, and got there 30 minutes early, so we went to the local suburban pizzeria and had a slice, then next door to the suburban dollar store.

Socializing, Edie running around, we didn't sit until close to 7, and we didn't actually get to the main course before Edie got too cranky and we had to split. This is fine, because at my cousin's Seder, there are so many required appetizing dishes that you're usually full by the time the main meal comes, he he. It sucks we had to leave early, but it's the best possible reason to leave early, y'know?

The ride back was silent, peaceful and fast. The ladies both fell asleep in the back seat. Memories of this trip with my parents and my dad, with me in the back seat, kept good company.




AM SNACK: 9am, iced green tea


BREAKFAST: 10:30am, organic chex with organic dead milk, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5


LUNCH: 1pm, 2 fish sticks, health salad, 2 pickles, 2 mini ice cream cones, quart of water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 4:30pm, 1.5 slices streetza

PASSOVER DINNER: 7-8pm, matzoh, haroset, gefilte fish, matzoh ball soup, meatballs with matzoh muffin, potato kugel, salad, grape juice, 1 glass wine, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


EVENING SNACK: 11pm, cheese doodles, cashews & chocolate chips, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

Just like my mom never made.

After waking up at 6 from an 11 hour snooze, got out on the bike and did 60 miles before technical difficulties derailed me in deep dark Staten Island. I lucked out, as it was only 20 minutes to walk to the rail road, and the train came the same minute I got on the platform. I hadn't been on that railroad since I was a child, and my mom was taking me and my brother to Tottenville for a day trip. It was like I remembered it -- NYC subway cars, but the seats are the wrong color, and all the many, many stops are above ground. And you only pay at the ferry, there are no turnstiles or staff at the different stations.

Got home mid afternoon, took Edie out and did chores, cooked up food in the eve, got to bed after some solid TV watching.

TODAY'S COOKING:
Pancakes: Betsy announced she wanted pancakes for dinner, so when I took Edie out, I swung by the market on Essex to pick up the slammin' buttermilk. Unfortunately, I left my kitchen scale at school so had to eye ball the dry ingredients, still came out ok.

Matzoh Farfel: For the two seders I'm attending tomorrow and Tuesday. Basically matzoh stuffing. Fried onion and celery in vegetable lard, made a wondeful mushroom duxelle with a variety of dried mushrooms friends have given me (reconstituted in chicken stock), added the duxelle and fried that too, then added the crumbled matzoh, mushroom-infused stock and a few beaten eggs, mixed it, salt & peppered it, baked it covered for 20 minutes, and viola! Just like my mom never made!

AM SNACK: 7am, iced green tea

BREAKFAST: 7:15am, smoothie, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5


BIKE SNACK: 8am, toasted sesame donut, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5


BIKE SNACK: 11am, 32 oz Gatorade


BIKE LUNCH: 12:30, veggie burger 6" sub, Cheetos, coke, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


LINNER: 3:30pm, sweet & sour shrimp with pork fried rice, egg roll, quart of water, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5


EVENING SNACKING: 5-8pm, a pancake, a mini ice cream cone, a pint of iced tea, quart of water

Cookin' 2: Electric Boogaloo

After eating too much heavy pan-fried crab cakes, I conked out about 7pm due to the fact I was up at all hours calming a blazing Edie. The day was mostly spent in the kitchen and running about with Edles, not a bad way to wile away the hours.

TODAY'S COOKING:
Pumpernickel Bread: Cooked up this recipe in the bread machine. This is strong bread. Manly bread. Bread that says, "Shut up, sit down!" Pretty good. Big flavor. Makes me want to skip the machine and make the ultimate pumpernickel bagel.

Crab Cakes: No recipe, just winged it. 4 eggs beaten with 2 teaspoons of Old Bay seasoning, a container of lump crab meat, half a container of whole wheat panko, a few tablespoons of whole wheat flour, a teaspoon of brown sugar, mixed and left to sit in the fridge for a few hours. Pan fried in bacon fat brought home from the resto, in caste iron. Came out close to what I imagined, the salty celery garlicky aioli was a perfect counterpoint, joined nicely with the manly bread.

BREAKFAST: 10am, toasted bagel with cream cheese


LUNCH 1: 12:30pm, health salad, 2 pickles, potato chips, 2 tofutti cuties, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH 2: 4pm, crab cakes with aioli and pumpernickel, seltzer, flourless chocolate cake with vanilla whipped cream, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Chocolate cake was kinda ridiculously rich, as close to eating straight butter & chocolate as you can get.

Cookin'

Spent the day with Edie and getting stuff done in the kitchen. Took Edie to the doc via bike in the morning, everything is fine, just molar teething, then met up with a friend and his kid in Tompkins Square. Spent the afternoon getting through my list of cooking.

B was out partying all night so fed E and got her bathed and to sleep without any drama. Looking forward to more cooking tomorrow!

TODAY'S COOKING
Superhippy Bread: Came out surprisingly dense, maybe because this time I used a full cup of the 9 grain cereal, should have used half a cup.

Health Salad:Finally some raw veg back in my life! Ate it after only an hour, think it needed another few hours to get really flavorful.
Flourless Chocolate Cake: Made three small ones, one for tomorrow's book club, and two the the two passover Seders I'm attending. Technically not "kosher" as it has butter in it, but it's definitely "kosher style", he he.
Vanilla whipped cream:To go with the cake, simply heavy cream spiked with confectioner's sugar and vanilla bean scraping. Simple and good.
New England Aioli:To go with the crab cakes I'm making tomorrow: One egg and one egg yolk, whipped with 1.5 cups of peanut oil, with a teaspoon of Old Bay Seasoning and a full head of mashed roasted garlic.


AM SNACK: 11:30pm, cheesy poofs


LUNCH: 12:15pm, sprats & avocado on superhippy bread, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

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


DINNER: 6:45pm, school-made buttermilk pancakes and home fries, water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


EVENING SNACKS: 8-10pm, tofutti cuties, potato chips, water, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

Good day

Took Edie to school in the morning, picking up a bagel to munch on the way. Made breakfast with the students in the afternoon, went really well.

BREAKFAST: 10am, bagel, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5


LUNCH: 12pm, rice noodles with fishball, water, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

SCHOOL EATS: 6pm, pancake, frenchtoast, hashbrowns, bacon, freshly made sausage, orange juice, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5


EVENING SNACK: 9pm, chocolate cake, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

Slip away

Another super slow quiet day at work. Tick tock tick tock.

AM SNACK: 8am, iced green tea
BREAKFAST: 9am, brown rice crispies with organic dead milk, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
LUNCH: 12:30pm, 4 superthin slices with sausage, pomegranate soda, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
DINNER: 5pm, vegetarian meatballs with sticky rice, green salad, 1.25 bowl, 8oz sprite, hunger 4/5
EVENING SNACK: 11pm, burgers, onion rings, donuts, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5
No comment.

"Ahshiz!"

Usually let B & Edles wake me up on a work day. but I set the alarm to give me some time for weights. Hopefully I'll be able to maintain lifitng three days a week through the busy season, let's see.

Work is very weather sensitive -- yesterday was as close to a rolling 12 hour party as it comes, today....a ghost town. Cut back the staff, huddled down with some mags and the 'puter, and made sure the kitchen prepped well for the weekend.

Missed Edie like crazy. She's getting to be very interactive, playing aggressive Ring-Around-the-Rosie (a.k.a. "Ashiz!") and becoming more like a tiny person every day. I closed the restaurant early, and it's a good thing, because when I got home Edie was not interested in sleep at all, though B was, so I was able to jump in and have some Edie-time with some book readin', some song-singin', and Edie-tuckin'.

AM SNACK: 7:45am, iced green tea
This new iced tea tastes very different -- I used an expensive loose tea in a metal reusable infuser. I just used half the container (about .75 ounce) for the gallon of water, with 1/3 of a cup of sugar, and steeped for about 4 minutes. Very nutty, very smooth, not sure if I like it more than the previous, though. Maybe too nutty?

BREAKFAST: 9am, brown rice crispies with organic dead milk, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
GRAZING: 11am-1pm, 8oz sprite, handful of chocolate cookies, piece of fresh baked bread, handful of olives
LUNCH: 1:30pm, 2 slices Sicilian, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5
DINNER: 6:45pm, meatball app, pomegranate soda, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5


EVENING SNACK: 10:15pm, cashews & chocolate chips, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Monday Work

Monday at work, finally. It was a really good day, between being busy and having all sorts of friends stop in on me, felt good, never boring. If only every work day could be like this one.

BREAKFAST: 11am, sausage, potatoes, bread, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
LUNCH: 2pm, 3 slices Sicilian, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
PM SNACK: 7pm, large green salad, almond drink, 1 bowl hunger 4/5


DINNER: 10:30pm, pork fried rice, shrimp toast, cashews & chocolate chips, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

6,8,9,3,4,6 and soon 9 again

Tried to wake at 6, ended up rising at 8, got out of the house by 9, bike ride to Nyack, back home by 3, off to a baby party at 4, the HVS come over to chill with the family at 6, it's not yet 9 but will be asleep soon.


AM SNACK: 8:30am, iced green tea


BIKE SNACK: 9am, chocolate donut, .5 bowl, hunger 3/5


BIKE SNACK: noon, pretzels, gatorade, peanut butter cups, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5


LUNCH: 3:15pm, spare ribs, egg roll, scallion pancake, water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


PM SNACKING: 4-5:30pm, 1 slice of pizza, small piece of cake, ginger drink, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5


EVENING SNICKLESNACK: 8pm, pistachio donut, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

Coming back together

Woke up after a good night's sleep, feeling more myself. Cleaning, organizing, running errands -- the kitchen isn't done, but it's reasonable and mostly functional. Probably another week until we dig out and fully organize. Spent the afternoon with a cranky (and then late napping) baby. Spent the evening with a chill baby who got to sleep perfectly fine, then a mostly relaxed wifey who came in just in time to enjoy the fruits of my labor, he he.

AM SNACK: 8:30am, iced green tea
Yay! Finally! Starting to resume my old kitchen habits. Made this batch last night. Used a nice toasted loose tea in my new tea ball, this is a very different tea. Gonna withhold commentary until I have it a few times...

BRUNCH: 11:45am, boiled mixed perogies, water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Running errands, stopped in on Little Poland for some of the food I used to eat all the time in high school when the East Village had a Polish diner on every block...

PM SNACK: 4:45pm, momma style salad, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5
Ahhh, things you can do in a comfortable kitchen. Baby carrots, cucumber, red onion and green pepper, with a little ranch dressing. Starting to unwind a little.

PM SNACK: 5:45pm, chocolate chip cookies, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Out doing chores with Edles. Just got hungry.

DINNER: 8:30pm, breaded fish fillets, pasta with homemade sauce, loaf cake, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Stressy

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

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

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


AM SNACK: 10am, handful of goldfish


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


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

Heebies & Jeebies

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


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


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

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


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

In Search Of: a Usable Kitchen

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

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


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


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


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

Mellow

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

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


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

Enervated

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

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


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


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


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