Mellow

Took Edie out to various playgrounds in the morning while B slept. Had a bunch of friends over in the afternoon for knishes and salmon, was nice. Mellow day over all.

BREAKFAST: 9:30am, smoothie, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5


LUNCH 1: 1pm, small amount of left over pasta and sauce, nutella with pumpernickel pretzels, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5


LUNCH 2: potato knish, wedge of chocolate cheese knish, 2 slices of home-cured salmon, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 7:45pm, large green salad, singapore mei fun, roti canai, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

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

Love Life

Left out early to the Prospect Park Zoo to meet up with C and her daughter Autumn. After the zoo and some lying about in the park, we walked over to Prospect Heights to a nice homey restaurant, then to an ice cream shop after. It was a nice day out with my daughter with a life-long friend who also has a baby daughter. I love living in NYC at this time in my life.


BREAKFAST: 8:30am, organic chex with organic dead milk, banana, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5


LUNCH: 2:30pm, BLT, small side salad, diet coke, scoop of chocolate ice cream, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 7:30pm, pasta with sauce and grated parm, water, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5


EVENING SNACK: 9:30pm, watermelon, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

Pretty pictures

The highlight of the day was picking out the prettiest knishes and try to get some good pictures of them before Edie inevitably busted into frame and pushed her hand through the chocolate-cheese knish.


BREAKFAST: 8:45am, organic chex with organic dead milk, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5


LUNCH: 12:45pm, breaded shrimp, large green salad, bite of chocolate-cheese knish, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 7:30pm, spaghetti & meatballs, garlic bread, water, 1.5 bowls, hunger 4/5
Didn't feel like cooking after the big cooking days, ordered in a cheap meal from a local pizza & stuff place. I should have known better, it was pretty awful, though a large portion. It annoyed me that I can make meatballs soooo much better, garlic bread soooo much better, sauce soooo much better, even cook dry pasta soooo much better. I guess sometimes you just need someone else to cook for you, and Betsy is NOT that person, he he he. At least not right now, with all she's juggling.

Knish 4.0

Woke up late, as Edie was up in the middle of the night in need of milk and comfort. Lifted weights finally, and then went out to an amazing meal with a friend I haven't seen in about a year. Took care of some shopping on the way home, took a conference call on the bus in regards to the class I'm teaching this fall, and when I got home busted out about 40 individual knishes and one sweet knish loaf.


TODAY'S COOKING
Knishes: Three trays of potato, spinach-potato, broccoli-cheddar-potato, kasha-mushroom and cabbage. Rolling out the dough, shaping the knish, baked at 425 for about 30 minutes seems to fit. Upon tasting the broccoli, made me wonder if baking the potato instead of boiling was a good choice -- the potato seemed a bit lumpy, not as smooth as I'd like. Gotta eat more to make an executive decision.

I also made a chocolate cheese loaf. Winged it, based on a brownie recipe. Melted a stick of butter with about a cup of unsweetened chocolate. Turned off heat, cup of sugar, 16 ounce of farmers cheese, scrapings of 3 vanilla beans, pinch of salt, 4 whisked eggs. Tasted, not chocolaty enough, added about a 1/2 cup of dutched coco, definitely amped up the chocolate. Put in a loaf pan lined with the potato dough, covered totally, brushed with a milk and egg wash. Baked at 375 for about 40 minutes. It expanded a little and cracked the top, will have to account for that if I do this recipe again.


Cured Salmon: Put up a side of fish for brunch this Saturday. About 2.5 pound side, in a dish wrapped in plastic, dill, parsley, cilantro, brown sugar, a lot of salt, creme de cassis, all under about 20 lbs of pressure. Will flip in Friday morning.

LUNCH: 12:30pm, prosciutto wrapped cabbage, lobster finger sandwich, shot of tomato broth, assorted rolls with lardo, pork sausage lump with lentils and stewed veg, raw & poached seafood in a spicy tomato water, chocolaty thingy with olive oil gelato, various petite fours, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Went to Del Posto, very very impressed, the most I've been impressed with a restaurant in a long time. I try to avoid being an amateur restaurant critic here, and especially an amateur critic talking about such a known star like Batali, but I gotta say something. The room was beautiful and understated, the main aural component was a live piano player tinkling in the background, the service was attentive but not overbearing. The food was pretty much perfect from the get go. A few nice touches, like lardo (rendered pork fat) along with the butter for the bread was fun. The broth of my entree was achingly perfect -- I sometimes get annoyed with restaurants because I feel I can make the same exact dish for a lot less money at home, or I can do it a lot better, but this broth -- it was the perfect balance of fresh vegetal notes, salt, acid and spice -- any one of those notes would have made this soup taste anywhere from humdrum to just nasty, but this was balanced, perfectly, complex, wonderful. Two other good things -- it was just enough food to feel very satiated but not stuffed, and because it was lunch during the week, all three courses, and all the in between amuse bouches and petite fours, were $29 all in! I really expected it to be closer to double that, and I feel like the combo of food, service and atmosphere justified it. Gottta take my wifey there ASAP.

PM SNACK: 7pm, bite of cabbage knish, small broccoli-cheddar-potato knish, water, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING SNACK: 9pm, small bowl of health salad, potato chips, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5


EVENING SNACK 11pm, pumpernickel pretzels with nutella, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Potato Memories

While cooking today, I had a strong food memory pounce on me, unexpectedly. As an experiment, instead of boiling peeled potatoes, I baked them whole for 2 and half hours, then split them while hot to let out steam before discarding the skins and sending the flesh through the food mill. The smell of the steam coming out of the over-baked potatoes sent me back....

It was in the kitchen of the house I grew up on Staten Island. My mom was making some sort of chicken or lamb chop, along with mashed potatoes. This evening was a little unusual, because my mom had a friend over from work, it was her assistant or secretary, maybe one and the same. My brother was there, too. For some reason, I told my mom that I wanted baked potatoes, not mashed potatoes. I didn't have some big preference for one or the other, but for some reason I insisted that THAT was what I wanted. She took one of the potatoes she was going to peel, boil and mash, and placed it in the oven. Being that dinner was 2 hours out, this was probably the longest that Mom would ever bake a potato. I remember when we sat down at the table, she was just finishing cooking but my potato was the first thing to come out. I cut it in half and a fragrant poof of potato steam came out of the spud, giving a wonderful scent all over the kitchen. Mom's friend said, "That's the potato yeast", and I could see her staring hungrily at my potato. I started eating it immediately, I think I was 4 or 5 and had no great desire to be polite or classy. I did know that I enjoyed my baked potato more than anyone enjoyed the mashed.

I was not a big pain in the ass when it came to food and special meals, but I guess getting my mom to bend to my will in front of one of her professional friends was some how exciting.

TODAY'S COOKING:
Knishes: Prep for potato, sweet potato, cabbage, kasha, spinach, broccoli cheddar and the dough.  Dough needs to rest upwards of a day. Baked 5lbs of potato, caramelized 5 lbs of chopped onion. Found I didn't have enough potato, so got more potato from today's CSA, peeled and boiled them and used them for the broccoli and spinach fillings. Cooked up a cup of kasha, added the sauteed onion as well as garlicky sauteed mushroom. Sauteed 1/4 of a cabbage with a little vinegar, salt and sugar.

Heath Salad: Used 3/4 of a head to make the standard recipe, definitely need more raw veg in me soon.

BREAKFAST: 9:45am, good granola in organic dead milk, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 1:45pm, breaded tilapia, 2 ears of boiled corn, can of grape soda, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 6:30pm, large green salad, potato chips, frozen pizza, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
I was going to have gnocchi for dinner, but for whatever reason, boiling them from frozen turned them into a homogeneous mush. When I boiled them the day I made them, they retained their shape. Oh well.

EVENING SNACK: 9:30pm, chocolate chips & peanuts, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Mainecentric

The weekend was nice, we were in Portland (Maine) for the wedding of a good friend, and stayed in the home of B's cousin, who was out of town. My eating habits were a bit crappy, as options were limited, but the food at the wedding was spectacular, very-Mainecentric: lobster and corn boiled up together, clam chowder, mussels, cornbread, whoopie pies, too much alcohol.

Today, B was off and we had a nanny looking after Edie, so we took a date day -- a vacation away from our vacation. We walked to Union Square for a movie, stopping in on Odessa off of Washington Square for a late breakfast. I was greatly disappointed to find they did not have ANY Polish food on the menu, just a short crappy diner menu. Cheap, but not good at all. After the movie we walked  a bit then took a cab to Chinatown for massages. By the time the massage was over, I was hungrier in a way like I haven't been in a long time. Maybe the massage and high humidity didn't help, but my legs were were rubbery, my head was feeling light, and I needed something immediately. On the walk east, we passed a gelato stand and I scarfed some. We passed a little cart making tiny little egg cakes, and I scarfed a baggie. B had a big snack after the movie, so we went to one of my favorite holes, C&L Dumpling, and I gorged on rice and dumplings. Still felt beat up, but functional.

Went grocery shopping in the evening, looking forward to getting back on a better eating track. Didn't lift weights, woke up too late.

BREAKFAST: 10:30am, pancakes, bacon, homefries, water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


LINNER: 4pm, shrimp fried rice, pork chive dumplings, egg cakes, chocolate gelato, sugary apple juice, 2 bowl, hunger 5/5


EVENING SNACK: 9pm, chocolate chips & peanuts, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5


EVENING SNACK: 10pm, potato chips, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

Gnocchi & Really Big Babka

A good day of shopping in the morning, cooking with my friend DJ from Cali in the afternoon, a walk to the swings with Edie after, then more friends over in the evening for a nice mid-week dinner.

Tomorrow, the family & I leave for Portland, Maine, to attend the wedding of the friend who actually introduced us. I guess this time is as good as any to pause and relax. To all 2 of my faithful readers, I'll resume writing on Monday, and weigh-in then, too.


TODAY'S COOKING
Gnocchi: Made gnocchi in c-school, but these were better. The thing is being strict about very little moisture in the dough -- baking the potatoes instead of boiling them, and peeling them and chopping them up when they come out of the oven to let out a lot of steam.  From there, some flour, a little egg, minimal mixing then off to rolling tubes, chopping, indenting & rolling with a fork, boiled for less than 2 minutes. Light, fluffy. I had some problems with my home's plumbing which caused the gas to be shut off for a few hours, and the result was the potatoes were a little underbaked, so there was slight lumpy/grittiness to the gnocchi, but not enough to make it bad -- I'd be disappointed in a restaurant, but a good first try for home cooking.

Babka: Have done this recipe many times now, this time we just did two really big babkas, lowered the temp to 325 from the go, and let them bake for about 90 minutes. Came out pretty good.

BREAKFAST: 9am, watermelon, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5


AM SNACK: 11am, brown rice California roll, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5


AM SNACK: 11:30am, ritz crackers with freshly ground peanut butter, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5


LUNCH: 3:30pm, kraft dinner with sauteed veg, water, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 6:30pm, moz & heirloom tomatoes with olive oil and balsamic, gnocchi with tomato sauce, sauteed spinach, babka & orange sorbet, 2 glasses of wine, water, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5


EVENING SNACK: 10:30pm, small bowl of potato chips, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Unhappy Meal

Needed a day outside. Did not sleep much, but managed to get out with Edie on the bike (with stroller attached) and pedalled over to the Prospect Park Zoo. Felt nicely sore from yesterday's workout, but not out of control like last week. Spent a solid 2 hours before taking a walk into the neighborhood bordering the east side of the park -- yick. Just fastfood.

So I hit up McD's with Edie. I got myself my usual 2 tiny hamburgers with fries, this time with diet coke because I was sleepy. While in there, Edie looked at me and asked, "Pizza?" because I guess the only time I've ever gone for fast food with Edie has been to indie pizza joints! I got her a "happy meal", something I've never bought before. Food wise, it was 4 chicken mcnuggets, a bag of peeled apple slices, 2 packets of corn syrup dressed up like "caramel dip", and 8oz of 1% milk. Packaging wise, it had a toy "twinkle toes" shoe on a key chain that lit up (brought to us by Sketchers, collect them all), stickers advertising the shoes, and a box that on one side had a McD logo, one side had a "I love apples with caramel!" thingy, one side for girls that was basically an ad for Sketcher's Twinkle Toes shoes, and one side for boys with some sort of Nickelodeon cartoon thing. Ick.

By the time we got back to the park, Edie fell asleep, and I corrected the "happy meal". I ate the nuggets, threw away the caramel stuff and all the packaging, and placed the milk on the ice that came with my soda to keep it cold until Edie woke up. Jeez. I read through all the packaging. Despite the diet coke, I ate about 50% of fat and salt for the day, and 40% of my calories. Edie's food would have been about 20% of all of that....FOR AN ADULT. Damn. 20% for a 180 lb adult is like 120% for a 30 lb Edie!


TODAY'S COOKING:
Kraft Dinner with Sauteed Veg: I guess this is my version of that horrible "Semi-Homemade" show. Caramelized a boat load of onions for a few hours, added sliced mushrooms and a couple of peppers from the CSA. Substituted butter and whole milk for margarine and skim in the kraft dinner, and gave the whole mix a solid grind of black pepper and a shot of siracha hot sauce. Really good, though the peppers gave a weird crunchy texture. Unfortunately too spicy for Edie & B, will cut back on that next time.

BREAKFAST: 8:45am, organic whole grain cheerios with organic dead milk, banana, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5


LUNCH: noon, 2 hamburgers, fries, 4 chicken nuggets, diet coke, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5


PM SNACK: 3:30pm, watermelon, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 6pm, kraft dinner with veg, handful of baby carrots, large chocolate chip cookie, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5 
Unsurprisingly, this meal prevented me from desiring sweets in the evening.

Oven back on

Our nanny didn't come today because the subways were still wonky this morning, but I had a good day with Edie. Oven fixed in the morning, went to the local diner while the laundry was in the wash. We road around the 'hood and checked out the fallen tries before nap time. Went out again in the afternoon to the playground by South Street Seaport.


TODAY'S COOKING:
Granola: The oven got fixed in the morning, so gave the refrigerated raw granola the sniff test then baked it for 40 minutes at 300, stirring every 10. Came out nice and golden and smelling like it should. Cut up some dried apple into it at the end.

Utilitarian Spinach: Put a bunch of frozen chopped spinach in the pot, a little water, a shake of powdered onion, a shake of salt, a couple of fresh cloves of minced garlic, a drop of olive oil, heat to low, covered and let cook for about 20 minutes. Pretty good for a no-work spinach.

BREAKFAST: 10:30am, BLT on rye, homefries, diet coke, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 2:30pm, breaded shrimp, cooked spinach, huge piece of watermelon, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Bought this breaded shrimp product as an experiment. 2 lbs for about $15. Unlike the usual freezer section breaded shrimp, this shrimp is raw and the baking both cooks the shrimp and crisps the breading. Precooked reheated shrimp is always tough, and while breading my own shrimp before baking is relatively simple, it involves several moving parts. This is all about convenience without sacrificing TOO much quality. Instructions says 400 for 12 minutes, turning once. It was a bit mushy in the coating, gonna try 450 for 10 minutes next time. If it doesn't improve, it might make sense to just use better quality raw shrimp and process it myself. Gotta think of a simple breading style.

DINNER: 6:45pm, hotdog, potato chips, pickle, water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING SNACK: 8pm, peanuts and chocolate chips, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5 

EVENING SNACK: midnight, orange sorbet, potato chips, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

Bunker Style.

Slothful. The storm started early, around 4am and by the time I woke around 9:30, it was all over, no rain, just a little wind and clouds. Edie slept through the night. We took a walk in the stroller around the hood to see a few downed trees and happy people out, stretching their legs.

Food-wise, still eating in a bunker-style, all carbs and fat and little else. We indulged in ordering in Chinese in the evening to make things easy and help make things feel celebratory. Mind and body definitely feeling the results of it, the same way I feel when travelling abroad for a while and all I want is some fruit and veg and water and little else. I suspect tomorrow, the ship will start to turn back to a better healthier style, though I suspect I'll be on the heavier side for the upcoming weigh-in.

Regardless, the family is healthy, happy and safe.


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

PM SNACK: noon, potato chips, .5 bowl, hunger 4.5

LUNCH: 1pm, toasted bagel with cream cheese and onion, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 7pm, lomein, shrimp toast, grape soda, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


EVENING SNACK: 9:30pm, veg dumplings, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Rain, Wind

Did not sleep well, got to bed around 4, woke a little after 10. Good thing both B and her mom are here to cater to Edie's wants and needs. Rain started this morning, growing to a light weight storm in the evening, though the hurricane eye is suppose to blow over us around 8am, which should be exciting. I did not leave the house today, though the three ladies took a walk to the corner CVS to bring me cookies (and B snarfed down a pint of ice cream by her self.) Not a good eating day, in fact this past week has been pretty gruesome -- eating poorly due to sickness and soreness rolled right into the stress of thinking of how potential loss of power and running water will effect my ability to keep my beautifully unaware toddler comfortable and happy.

God, it was great to be a kid, it only started sucking when I wanted control of things for myself.


BREAKFAST: 10:30am, pizza, water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


PM SNACK: 12:30pm, chocolate chip cookies, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5


LUNCH: 2:30pm, rustic pasta, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5


PM SNACK: 5:30pm, chocolate chip cookies, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 8pm, falafel balls, hummus, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


EVENING SNACK: 8:30pm, popcorn, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

There is a storm a-brewin'

Plans got cancelled today, as the whole city is gearing up for Hurricane Irene which should be hitting us tomorrow night. My Sunday Northfork Century has been officially postponed. B's mom, who lives far uptown on her own, came down during the day and will be staying with us until Monday or Tuesday. Instead of doing family stuff, I spent a few hours at the local supermarkets picking up some basic stuff, particularly geared torward's Edie's needs. Everything should be fine. The only real bad thing that might happen is that we'll lose electricity, and if that goes on for a while might make it difficult to restock on things by the time we run out mid-week.

TODAY'S COOKING
Rustic Pasta: Had an excess of onion and plum tomatoes from the CSA, so I sweated the onion cut into half moons in olive oil, minced 4 cloves of garlic and rough chopped tomatoes along with chopped CSA basil. Poured an 8 oz bottle of champagne into it and cooked off the liquid. Added dried thyme and oregano, a bit more salt. Simple, but fragrant and happy-tasting.

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

LUNCH: 3pm, rustic pasta, emergency pie, water, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 6:30pm, pizza, 1 glass wine, water, orange sorbet, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Better

Still feeling ill, but a bit better. B had a doc appt in the morning, but was able to cover Edie in the afternoon while I glued myself to the couch. Ordered in Chinese for lunch, which also became dinner. Legs still sore, but better -- I guess the Monday work out combined with a bug made recovery very difficult for them.

BREAKFAST: 9am, organic chex with organic dead milk, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5


AM SNACK: 10:45am, 5 falafel balls with hummus


LUNCH: 3pm, sesame beef with white rice, shrimp toast, water. 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 7pm, sesame beef with white rice, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


EVENING SNACK: 9pm, orange sorbet, chocolate chips & peanuts, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

Sickly

Tried to wake at 8:30 to cover Edie until the babysitter came, but felt destroyed and B hung out. Finally woke up at 12:30, feeling tired, sore all over and cloudy in the head. Never been sick like this. Gastric system seems to be fine, don't have a temp, just worn down for no particular reason. Legs very sore.


BREAKFAST: 12:45pm, brown rice crispies with dead organic milk, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5


PM SNACK: 3:45pm, cashews & chocolate chips, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5


LINNER: 5:30pm, 1 2/3 slices of streetza, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


EVENING SNACK: 7pm, watermelon, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

Engagement Liver

Last night, I found out my close friend E got engaged to her steady. About a week ago, we had this email exchange:

From: e gmail.com>
Date: Wed, Aug 17, 2011 at 2:22 PM
Subject: Re: both jewy and waspy
To: Norbert <norbert@gmail.com>

devilved eggs w/ chicken livers http://www.saveur.com/article/Recipes/Toltott-Tojas-Chicken-Liver-Stuffed-Eggs
looks delish!

From: Norbert <norbert@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, Aug 17, 2011 at 3:14 PM
Subject: Re: both jewy and waspy
To: e gmail.com>

U placing an order? :). I'll make em for your engagement party, he he he

Sent from iNorbert

So this afternoon I made them, and brought them over to her house in the evening! Fortunately it just required a saute pan and a food processor because...my oven doesn't work! The burners and broiler works fine, but the oven won't get hot -- probably the element burned out. Have an appointment on Friday, but until then, no baking. I was planning on doing sweet knishes today, hopefully the dough will hold out until then. Additionally, I was about to pop a sheet of granola in the oven when I found it dead. It's sitting raw in the fridge until the oven is back up.

In the evening, started feeling unusually tired and sore in the legs -- usually soreness from a morning work out peaks the next morning when I wake up, but this soreness seemed to be getting worse the following evening...

TODAY'S COOKING:
Orange Vanilla Sorbet: Mixed the ingredients with three more vanilla bean scrapings, ran through the ice cream maker, waiting for it to set. Tasted some of the loose batter, oh my, very vanilla-y.

Chicken Liver Deviled Eggs: I tasted a bit of the mousse for salt, but holy crap do I hate this stuff. Tastes minerally, funky, eggy, yucky!

BREAKFAST: 10am, good yogurt with honey, peanuts and vanilla, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 1pm, falafel balls, hummus, water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 6pm, boxed kraft mac n' cheese, a beer, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5 
Starting to really feel tired and off. Despite making salad from CSA veg, needed something fast, easy and filling.


EVENING SNORT: 7:30pm, 1 beer
In Brooklyn with E&T, celebrating their new engagement. Feeling tired.

EVENING SNACK: 9:30pm, watermelon


EVENING SNACK: 11:30pm, chocolate chips and peanuts, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

My hot greasy balls

I don't know if my weight will be up or down this month, but this is for certain -- I now have small, hard muscles underneath my flabby midsection that never existed before. As I was stretching this morning in preparation for one of my new more intense 2-a-week sessions, I felt a few more muscles I never felt before, and again my first thought is, uh oh, is that a hernia? A bit of my intestine poking out? If it was, I would be in intense pain, and not raising the number of sit ups by a full 1/3...

By evening ends, my shoulders and legs were sore and stiff, usually it takes a night's sleep before that kicks in....



TODAY'S COOKING:
Falafel: I've made this twice in c-school, and twice at home. Once in c-school it failed, and both times at home it failed -- all because the batter was too wet and in the deep frying, it became hollowed-out falafel skins. I followed the recipe again, (20oz onion and 12 garlic cloves processed to liquid, bunch of parsley and bunch of cilantro processed to past with cumin, cayenne, turmeric and salt, then 4 cups of chickpeas processed to pebbly, then all mixed together with flour and baking soda.) THIS TIME I used whole wheat flour, and instead of sticking the recommend 4-6 ounces, I just kept adding until the consistency looked nice and firm, probably about 16 ounces of flour in the end. I refrigerated the mix for an hour or so, then scooped into balls and fried in 400 degree peanut oil.

First did 2-ounce scoops, but they were not cooking in the middle, so ended up doing 1/4 of that (which is a tablespoon, as we all know) which cooked to the center while getting nice and mahogany on the outside. They stayed intact, and while a little bit too spicy for my palate, were just right in terms of chickpeaness, aromatics, seasoning and greasiness. Over all, a success. Glad I went heavy on the whole wheat flour. And they're vegan! Did not need any egg to hold them together.


Sorbet Components: Made meringue again, as well as a quart of the basic sorbet syrup, this time with vanilla sugar in each, and in the syrup I added the husks of a bunch of spent vanilla pods that the vanilla sugar was resting with as well as the zest of a full orange as the mixture came from room temp to rolling boil. I figure building as much flavor into the components will make the final product all the more strong when I toss in the freshly squeezed juice (of orange, with a little lemon for snap.)

BREAKFAST: 10:30am, brown rice crispies with organic dead milk, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5


LUNCH: noon, 1.5 pieces of tomato and moz focaccia, water, one chocolate street cone, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


PM SNACK: 4:15pm, nutella & whole wheat pita chips, water, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 7:15pm, large green salad, 8 or so falafel balls, one ear of boiled corn, 1 beer, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Haven't had beer in the house for casual drinking in the longest time. It's Rolling Rock, a crappy industrial brew, but I drank it a lot in college and it has a very light, sweet taste that is enjoyable with heavy food. Really made the meal special.

EVENING SNACK: 9:30pm, watermelon

A Favorite Underrepresented Food

Baby party in Prospect Heights in the morning, a nice bike ride with Edie there and back. Stayed local with Edie in the parks around the building while B slept the afternoon away.

Ordered in some Malaysian food in the evening as a special treat -- their version of Singapore Mei Fun has little bits of sweet Chinese sausage, which is definitely one of my favorite underrepresented foods. I remember making it in c-school: it's dry sausage that is sweeter than most, but the sweetness is balanced with soy and other dark, rich flavors. Hmmmm, maybe I should attempt to make some, though I don't know if B would be down with me hanging sausage links around the house, waiting for them to get nice and hard. It's not a smell-free process...

BREAKFAST: 8:45am, organic whole grain chex with organic dead milk, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5


BRUNCH: 10:30am, whole wheat bagel with cream cheese, salmon & trout, small chocolate coconut milk, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


LUNCH: 1:30pm, bean burrito, large green salad, pita chips with nutella, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


PM SNACK: 5:30pm, half a kasha knish, a little lime sorbet, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 7:30pm, singapore mei fun, roti canai, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5


EVENING SNACK: 8:30pm, chocolate chips & peanuts, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Laid Back on a Bike

A bunch of friends, some with babies, rode bikes with me up the summerstreets event in the morning, and we picnicked in the playground near the 72nd St. entrance of Central Parks, as the heavy rains yesterday left the grass soaking. Edie babbled through her nap, but I fell fast asleep for a few hours after snarfing some nutella. Edie & I got on the bike again in the afternoon to Prospect Park to hang out with E&T, and a dog named Oreo. By the time we got home I was quite ravenous and made myself an over-sized bowl of pasta. Got to bed around 10. A good laid-back day on a bike with my daughter.

BREAKFAST: 7:15am, brown rice crispies with organic dead milk, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5


BRUNCH: 9:15am, a couple mini knishes, half a ham & cheese sandwich, a donut & a half, a breakfast sausage, water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 2pm, whole grain pita chips with nutella, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 6:30pm, pasta with homemade sauce and freshly sauteed shrimp, water, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

Knish 3.0: Kasha, Broccoli Cheddar

B claims that our favorite brand of Greek yogurt's fat-free version is just as tasty, if not more so, than their full fat version.This flies in the face of human biology, as our bodies are programmed to seek out certain things, sugar, salt and above all fat. It's why these things make food taste good. Remove one, two or three of them, and things just don't taste right. I suspect B's sense of femininity and body image has something to do with fooling herself into this yogurt deception, but what do I know.

I bring this up because I noticed I used plain AP white flour in my knish dough today. Otherwise, I've been eating almost exclusively whole grain breads, whether made at home, at the falafel joint yesterday, the brown rice in my rice n' beans and rice n' lentils, the pita chips I buy for my family, the pretzels, and on and on. I think I became conscious of whole-grain products years ago as a health measure, but I do believe I like the taste of (most) whole grain products more than their refined grain counterparts (one glaring exception -- any grain product from the sweet side of life, from cookies to pancakes, are kinda ick. An exception to that exception - graham crackers) Am I Betsying myself into thinking this actually tastes better? I don't think so. Whole grain is WHOLE, it's not removing fat or sugar or salt, it simply is not removing the bran (fiber) of the bigger grain. This actually does bring some flavor, a certain nuttiness in some grains, a rich leafy undertone in others.

I gotta make another stab at graham crackers, replace the molasses with more brown sugar...

On a side note, not as sore as I hoped from yesterday's upper body weight lifting. Think next week to go from 3 to two times a week full body, with more reps across the board.

TODAY'S COOKING:
Knishes: As I went along, I kept thinking about how to do this x10. That's a lot of potatoes to peel and chop and boil, that's a lot of onions to cry over while dicing and slowly caramelizing. Made double batch of dough, used half of it, the other half for some sort of sweet knishes later in the week. Cranked the oven to 425 this time (recipe calls for 375) and checked occasionally -- 28 minutes gave some nice browning to the tops. I think I may even go hotter next time. Potato knishes came out good, I'm happy with the potato-onion balance, and dough has a nice thinness to it. Needed a little more salt and a healthy dose of freshly ground black pepper would help, too. The kasha was good, cooked with water, a little butter and salt, a little pepper, and sauteed fresh mushrooms with a little garlic. Needed a little more salt. After it cooked, I mixed in two eggs, which helped firm up the mix in the final knish -- it had a little bit of firmness when bitten, instead of just crumbling. I also made a handful of broc-cheddar knishes. A cup of broccoli quick-steamed, chopped, and mixed with equal amounts potato mixture and shredded mild cheddar (left over from burrito making.) They came out rather attractive, and the cheese gave a nice saltiness to it.

BREAKFAST: 8:45am, toasted pumpernickel bagel with cream cheese, onion and tomato, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 12:30pm, breaded tilapia, 2 bean burritos, pickle, large green salad, watermelon, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5 

DINNER 1: 5:30pm, broccoli cheddar knish, kasha knish, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5 
Broc-ched knish better than expected. It is very American, and has a sheen of health to it, I think this could be popular.



DINNER 2: 7:15pm, hot dog, a little lime sorbet, peanuts & chocolate chips, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING SNACK: 9pm, watermelon, whole wheat pita chips, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Testicles

Had dinner with friends at M. Wells this evening, a fine-dining diner in LIC that's been getting a lot of press, first for their menu, now because they lost their lease after 1 year and must close. The food was good, if a little precious (the duck testicles in the casoulet were barely distinguishable from the white beans) and I really did not enjoy the shabby railroad-style diner while paying fancy-pants prices. But it was nice to get out.

Lifted weights on the upper body today -- did 25 push-ups, a new personal lifetime record. However, I tried to double the reps and found because I wasn't pausing my normal half to full second between actions, 10 reps felt a lot harder, he he. Instead of increasing weight on on some of this weight-lifting, going to focus on uninterupted motion and increasing reps.


TODAY'S COOKING
Burritos: Had a big container of black beans and brown rice I cooked a while ago. Bought a 24 whole wheat tortillas, shredded 3/4 of a pound of mild cheddar, and made a simple guac in the food processor (2 onions to liquidy, then two heads of cilantro, juice of two limes, a little salt, a little olive oil and the flesh of 5 avocados, all pulsed until relatively smooth -- came out more like an avocado mousse than what I was hoping for, oh well). Upon eating them, I found the soft smoothness of the cheese and guac, agains the overly-soft beans and rice (I think I didn't cook it down far enough) made for a very soft burrito lacking texture. I suspect Edie & B will dig them, though.

BREAKFAST: 9:30am, good yogurt with honey, vanilla and peanuts, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5


LUNCH: 12:30pm, large green salad, 2 bean burritos, watermelon, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 4:45pm, falafel sandwich on whole wheat, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 8pm, duck-testicle casoulet, escargot & marrow, cesar salad, rib-eye steak, mackerel with spatzle and ratatouille, banana cream pie, angel food cake with whipped cream and blueberries, maple pie, ice cream, 1 beer, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5