Sugar, welcome back!

Sugarfast ends with a wimper.

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

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

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

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

Someone's in the kitchen with Facebook...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

The sugar withdrawal abates

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

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

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

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

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

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

Fourth day of no sugah

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

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

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

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

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

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

No sugar, day 3

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

16 POUNDS OF FURY!!!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

So greeeeeezy

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

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

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

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

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

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

Up in New Haven for the day

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Chest hair and a weiner

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Vibrant and happy squash

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

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

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

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

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

Teachin'

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Rich Chocolatey Jewiness

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Vegetarian day

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

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

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

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

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

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

Pizzeria Flavored

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Babies, Fingers

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Porkalicious

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Tromping around

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

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

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

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

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

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

Macho

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

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

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

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

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

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

Good day, bad night

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Feeling fneh.

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

SUNDAY

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

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

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

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

MONDAY

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

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

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

Cookin', Marryin'

Spent the day indoors with B&E, baked pies, made ice cream, ate around the kitchen. Spent the later part of the day at a wedding uptown.

BREAKFAST: 8:30am, 1 & 1/2 farmer's market cider donuts, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Went in to the kitchen barely woken, and these were on the kitchen table, a gift from B. They went from the table to my belly by simply inhaling.

LUNCH TIME: 11am-2pm, 3 latkes at 3 different times, a small serving of parsley risotto, 1/3 of a freshly baked apple pie, shrimp chips, water, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Baked an apple pie for the Yom Kippur break-fast this coming Monday eve with B's family -- it's appropriate because I decorated the top crust with Jewish stars, of course. And why make 1 pie when it's almost the same effort to make 4. Made a pate brisee from the c-school book, and experimented with the apples. Farmer's market honey crisp, coated in a mixture of 2 cups sugar, 1/4 cup flour, tbsp cinnamon, tbsp salt, juice of one lemon and a tbsp of cider vinegar for sh@ts n' giggles. I've been thinking about the effects of vinegaring things a lot lately, and this seemed like a good way to work it into the sweet. From making the crusts to taking the finished item ended up being 3 hours, and during that, made creme Anglais to make some good ice cream to go with the pie om Monday.

DINNER TIME: 6:30-9pm, lamb chop lollipops, callimari, pizza squares, tomato and moz skewers, fried zucchini, a rice ball, a Sprite, a small plate of pasta, water, a few sips of wine, 2 bowl, hunger 4/5
B, E & I went to an uppercrusty Italian Catholic wedding on the Upper West Side for a friend of B's, who has some sort of uppercrusty position in the Food Network. So my expectations for something better than typical wedding fare was set a little bit higher than usual. The reception was at the Colombus House on 69th Street, and as I strolled in with Edie in a sling around my middle, I was brought to the side to have a tie put on -- old school don't mess around. I was hungry, and the cocktail hour was in full swing. For a moment I thought it would be more like an Irish Catholic thang, which means booze and not a lot else, but immediately I saw waiters come out passing trays.... of pizza! Woah.

The pizza was horrible, but it was the only non-good thing of the night. Most of the pizza was undercooked, flibbidy squares, with cloying dried herbs -- oddly, every 4th tray of pizza had slices of zucchini on them (which can give off liquid and make pizza even flibbidier) but the cook let these pies cook longer, the crust was crisper but revealed an oven cooking at too low a temp. The lamp chops were great, perfectly grilled and seasoned, the calamari freshly fried. We only got through the first course before we had to squire the baby away, but the pasta was wonderfully al dente, and the sauce bright and snappy. Not a small feat when serving 150+ people at once.

Brownie Adventure

This morning I went to the high school I'll be teaching culinary and put out samples of brownies while talking to kids on their lunch break. It was pretty intense, and I'm looking forward to classes starting in early October.

I made my fudge brownies last night, and put them next to some cheap Lil' Debbie bodega brownies. Yeah, it set the bar real low but it was cool to see a lot these kids eat both, having grown up on Lil' Debbie, and see their eyes light up when they tried a brownie that's actually a brownie and not an industrial concoction's idea of what a brownie is. I'm gonna write about it a bit more in detail on the newly reactivated Culinary School Confidential tonight...

I was a little nervous this morning, and as I was depanning the brownies, ate one and that did me. On the way back, I spent an hour at the restaurant, as momma-in-law had Edie covered.

I strained the chicken stock I made a couple of days ago, and rendered all the wonderful fat that came to the surface in a nice hard white disk. After filling 4 half gallon freezer containers, I still had a bunch of stock left, so I boiled it down by half, and now it's nice and jello-like and sitting in my fridge waiting for the proper recipe...

BREAKFAST: 8:30am, brownie, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 2pm, half a Manhattan Special, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 3:30pm, 1.5 slices of streetza, green salad, cider, water, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 7pm, hotdog, leek dumpling soup, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Boiled some chicken stock I made a couple of days ago and through in some frozen dumplings from the Korean Market and a little salt. Huh, not bad at all, and relatively healthy.

Gotta eat the brownie

Got to sleep around 3:30am, and woke up at 7:30 on the nose -- Edie knows nothing of insomnia (at least not yet), and REALLY knows nothing of someone ELSE'S insomnia! Ah, good thing I'm keeping a detailed record, I'll be able to use it to make her feel guilty when she's older.

On the way home from our big day out, I passed the kosher pizzeria on Grand Street and was tempted to get a slice, but just couldn't find the appetite. Feeling unusually tubby and out of shape this morning. Thinking of different ways to remedy this, but unfortunately not acting on it yet.

BREAKFAST: 8:30am, smoothie, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Really good, but maybe a bit too sweet. Next time, skip the skimpy amount of vanilla sugar, just scrape a bean in. Organic milk, good yogurt, frozen blueberries, mango, cherries, fresh grapes, a banana, freshly ground flax, a pinch of sea salt, a large pinch of vanilla sugar. Remarkable how thick yet drinkable. New spice grinder has eliminated the grit from the flax.

LUNCH: 12:30pm, fried whiting, a little lemon potatoes, a little fried potatoes, 2 grilled shrimp, peasant salad, bread, water, spumoni-flavored ice, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Deep in Astoria with a friend, went to a really good Greek seafood tavern. The whiting was whole, bones and all, and with a thin batter shell that was cooked just right. The salad was made up of good tomatoes, cuce, red onion, feta, olive oil and oregano....oregano seemed to be on everything, in a good way. We went down the street to an old-school Italian sweets shop for the ice, almond flavored with bits of almond through out. There is a lot of good food in Astoria.

DINNER: 6:30pm, large bowl of homemade ravioli and pasta, 1.5 bowl, small handful of m&ms, water, hunger 4/5
Didn't have enough ravioli or spaghetti to make a meal, so whacked them together. Heated up some good olive oil, threw in some garlic for 15 seconds, tossed in some dry herbs, tossed the pasta, finished with grated parm, and BAM, a meal I would not serve another person but it was pretty tasty.

EVENING SNACK: 8pm, homemade brownie, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Made a sheet for samples at the table I'm hosting for this program I may be teaching in October. Had to eat one, make sure it wasn't off!

Food Day

What is Edie going to look like as an adult? I look at her now, and imagine a 5 foot, 7" baby -- a huuuuge head, stubby fat legs, flailing short arms, a protruding pot belly, short short hair with a swirly bald spot. And no talk, just crying, gurgling, cooing and her latest discovery, the raspberry a.k.a. the Bronx cheer. I can't help but think she's going to be a baby forever!

Spent a good part of the day at the restaurant, stuck around for a wine tasting, as L wants to put some expensive bottles on the wine list, so I got to taste a bunch of wines that would list at $80-$120. Indeed they were tasty, but I've also had $20 bottles that were just as good, just a bit less dependable.

When I got home, went into the process of cooking chicken stock, making dinner, eating then finishing frying off my latke stuff. All in all, a very foodie day. And Edie was pretty much strapped to my chest the entire day, only leaving the sling to make a special guest appearance for my friends!

BREAKFAST: 8am, good yogurt with honey, vanilla and cashews, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

AM SNACK: 10:30am, 1 latke, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 12:30, 2 small slices tex-mex pizza, half a Manhattan Special, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNORT: 2pm, equivalent of 1 glass of wine

PM SNACK: 3pm, large chocolate chip cookie, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Left the restaurant hungry, wanted to avoid the McDonalds situation from last week. One high-quality chocolate chip cookie definitely has less calories and impurities than a McD's value meal, and I wouldn't be surprised if it had more nutrients...

DINNER: 6:45pm, large green salad, sauteed shrimp, 3 latkes, 2 ears boiled corn, 6 chocolate truffles, water, cider, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING SNACKING: 9pm-3am, shrimp chips, 3 cold latkes, 6 remaining chocolate truffles, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5
This was both the cause and result of insomnia.

Hootin', Hollerin'

Dinner was satisfying, cooked up a dish that I wouldn't of known how to do before c-school. Brown a sausage in a little oil till nice n' crispy, deglaze with wine (sake), then add liquid & stuff (cider, apple slices and kraut), cover and simmer on low heat until cooked through. Came out pretty good. Made latkes to go with, very good but a bit greasy.

Did laundry and food shopping this morning, all with one hand, as Edie was in the sling being secured with the other. Went over to the local community center for a baby 'drop-in', which B was doing until she went back to work. Was a bit odd, talking about 'birth experiences' with the two other ladies there, but it was fun. My birth experience centered around leaving the hospital when it was time to push to try to find a piece of pizza.... if memory serves, all that I came up with was donuts, and by the time I got back, there was still another 45 minutes of hootin' n' hollerin' before the Edie was upon us...

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

AM SNACK: 10:45am, left over samosa with chickpeas and roti, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 1:15pm, slice of streetza, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 4pm, cider, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 6pm, green salad, pork sausage braised with kraut and apples, potato latkes, halavah, water, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

Half Portion Future

I kinda did well eating through the day, keeping portions small, until dinner. I guess it's one of those heritage meals -- I used to get the same exact thing for many years, and it seemed all well and good, but sitting down in front of it today, I see the portion is just crazed. Mentally, I think it's normal, but getting down the last few bites was a bit of a struggle. Really, should the end of a meal be a struggle? Next time, gonna order a half portion, it's more than enough.

Finding myself really desiring caffeine lately, particularly Manhattan Special. Where did this come from?

BREAKFAST: 8:30am, smoothie, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
New blender, a little stronger than before. That's good, as all the fruit except the banana was frozen

AM SNACK: 10:45am, 2 lotus leaf wraps, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
From my fishball vendor by Seward park. Glutinous rice and ground pork is not every one's idea of a yummy breakfast, but it hit the spot.

PM SNACK: 12:30pm, cup of fresh apple cider, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5
From the Union Square farmer's market.

LUNCH: 1:45pm, turkey and cheese sandwich, cherry diet coke, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Lunch at a sandwich shop with my friend C. Desiring caffeine for some reason.

PM SNACK: 3:45pm, 1 piece of plum ruggelah
Yuck. At my aunt-in-law's house. Tasted very in-lawish.

DINNER: 6:30pm, 2 potato samosas with curry chickpeas, roti, seltzer, halavah, 2 bowl, hunger 4/5
Picked up Hindi-friendly Indian food from a favorite taxi stand on Houston off A. As I was eating, realized it was a tremendous amount of food - probably could do with half. But for $5.50, it's a hell of a meal.

Vegetarian for a day!

B, Edles & I took the subway up to 42nd Street, hit up Ethiopian in Hell's Kitchen, then slowly wandered our way home, stopping through Times Square, Macy's, B's brother's house, Tompkin's Square and all bits in between.

BREAKFAST: 9am, apple, raw milk cheese, 2 soy sausage patties, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5
Not sure why I picked up this Morningstar-brand vegetarian sausage from the market, I guess I just wanted some variety, and real breakfast sausage is a bit of a production -- the fake stuff just needs to be reheated in the micro, unlike raw meat. Then again, the vegetarian stuff is not very yummy, but it is a pretty good texture.

LUNCH: 1pm, vegetarian Ethiopian, water, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Ethiopian was my go-to for a first date, if a gal wasn't comfortable with the strangish food and strangish method of eating, she probably wasn't supple-minded enough to be of continuing interest. It's not for nuthin' that B loves Ethiopian food!

PM SNACK: 2:30pm, street ice cream cone, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 6pm, 1 slice streetza, small amount of buttery popcorn, ritz crackers with peanut butter, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Odd meal that never was. Got a slice at the place I like on Rivington on the way home, cooked the last of the popcorn at home for B but she was asleep by the time it was ready. Only hungry enough for a small snack after that.

A Pleasant Saturday

Went to yoga in the morning, and it started with a very uncomfortable seated position sitting on fully extended ankles -- I guess it's good because cycling encourages a very tight and limited range of ankle motion, but my ankles felt stretchy and rubbery the rest of the day. Makes me think I should yogacize more often. A Mommy & Me class may be in my future this week.

When I got home from yoga with the HVS, B went on a bike ride and I put Edles in a sling and walked her up to the Union Square farmer's market. Ate pizza at a few random slice joints I never tried before, none that good.

Went with D for Korean BBQ in the evening, fun as always. We took a wander through the Korean grocery store after, some very odd stuff -- dried sweet n' crunchy crabs, stuffed pancake mix, sardines packed in soy paste, a children's shaved-ice kit.

BREAKFAST: 8:30am, good granola with good milk, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 1pm, 2 slices of streetza, chocolate ice cream cone, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
The first slice from a new hole in the wall on ave A, a typical mess of too much cheese. Second slice for the $1 slice shop on Ave A, it tasted amazingly like....nothing. Very chewy.

DINNER: 7:30pm, bulgogi, rice, sour tofu stew, kimchi pan jeon, 5 or 6 samplings of starter dishes including jellyfish, cold fishcake, seaweed crunch stuff, kimchi, apples in mayo, water, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING SNACK: 9pm, men's pocky, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
A score from the Korean grocery store. Thin pretzel sticks coated in "bitter chocolate", but tasted pretty sweet to me.

Pirate of the HIgh Seas of Pizza

With B home with Edles, I rode out to Coney Island, a nice relaxed trip. Stopped by my fishball vendor on the way home, but by the time we were in a cab going uptown to B's family for a holiday dinner, realized I was starving. We stopped in the slice joint across from my mommainlaw's home, but was told they were 4 minutes away from the next slice. Talk about poor management. If you're a friggin' slice joint, YOU HAVE TO HAVE SLICES ON HAND!! It's cool they're baking them fresh and not 15 pies in the morning to reheat all day. But they should always be one pie ahead of running out. I wanted to jump behind the counter and slap each counterperson, then hijack it like a pirate of the high seas and declare myself manager-captain.

BREAKFAST: 9am, toasted bagel with cream cheese, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 1:30pm, cherry ice, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Near the end of my ride. Felt warm and a little dehydrated, making this ice extra delicious. There should be a book about exercises matched with the foods that will be even more delicious after performing them. Here is a sample:

DO: An hour and half yogacize withthe HVS
TASTES BETTER: Vegan Cesar salad with woody bits of tempeh!

LUNCH: 2pm, fish balls with rice noodles, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 6pm, potato chips, roast chicken, mashed potatoes, salad, asparagus, homemade cookies n' creme ice cream, flourless chocolate cake, 2 glasses wine, water, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Roshashana dinner at mother in law's, catered by Fresh Direct. Everything was pre-cooked, a reheated, except for the ice cream I brought. Nothing was served that I couldn't have made myself, better and fresher, all could have been knocked out in about 2.5 hours, for about half the expense. But this is the world we live in, I suppose.

Cheesus does not love his pretzel.

Today was a slow start, but got out of the house and made it to Central Park. In the subway, a man playing steel drums dedicated a song to Edie, then a smelly-looking man asked me what "his" name was. I didn't want to engage him, so I just said "Eddie". What's an extra D between strangers? Moments later, the greasy-looking beardy quasi-hipster I was standing next to in the crowded uptown 5 train announces loudly, in a comically high voice, that we were all saved because "Cheesus" loved us, etc etc.

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

LUNCH: 11:45am, large green salad, homemade risotto, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Wow that risotto is rich, had maybe a cup's worth but it sure packs a filling punch.

PM SNACK: 2pm, "cheese" pretzel, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5
Edie & I trekked up to the south east corner of Central Park to read a bit, and ended up spending some time in the massive FAO Schwarz toy store, lured in by the promise of a bathroom. After, found myself hungry but there are no cheap restaurants and all the vendors just sell hot dogs. The Central Park vendors sell three kinds of pretzels -- plain, cheese and "pizza". I said what the hell, let's see what a pizza pretzel is, and the vendor said "No! Cheese!" Uhhh, ok. What I got was a none-too-fresh pretzel with a line of flavorless sub-cheezewhiz cheese product in the middle of the dough. I can only shudder at the thought of a pizza version.

DINNER: 6pm, pork panang curry, shrimp & chicken dumplings, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Ordering in with B&E.

EVENING SNACK: 8pm, oreo cookies, some cookies & cream ice cream, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Bringing ice cream to dinner at yomomma's house for the beginning of the holidays.

Somebody save my soul

In the evening, B, E and I went to a meeting of our coop's gardening club to get keys to the gate of the plots that we'll be planting on -- a small step to recover from today's soul-destroying lunch. What does one plant in late September?

BREAKFAST: 8am, toasted bagel with homemade hummus, gatorade, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
My homemade hummus is horrible. Tastes like slightly gritty earthy chickpeas, and that's it. I went too skimpy on everything -- tahini, lemon, salt, oil. I guess I'm not ready to do this without a recipe just yet. My dad could rock out gallons of this stuff without a recipe, but he had his ratios down. Then again, was his hummus as good as I remember it?

PM SNACK: 12:30pm, roasted venison shank with marrow on croutes, bottle of Manhattan Special, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
At the resto, sampling an appetizer special. Good, especially the marrow, though the cut is a little bit tough for that cooking method. The Manhattan Special made me want to drink 4 more bottles of it.

LUNCH: 2:45pm, 2 cheeseburgers, fries, sprite, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5
I did not intend to go to McDonalds. After the restaurant, walked around DUMBO with Edles, popped in La Bagel Delite but didn't see anything appetizing. I took the F train one stop over to East Broadway, intending to get a snack from my squid n' rice noodle vendor, but she was absent today. Shopped at the supermarket, picked up a donut to cover myself until I got home but one bite and....urg, stale and through it out. Now ravenous. all the restaurants were dirty looking Hispanic diners and dirty looking Chinese worker spots. Carrying groceries, Edie in a sling around my neck, I just wanted....easy, fast, no hassle, clean.

The counter person was spacing and looking at her colleague playing on her cell phone, but the food still cam within 15 seconds of ordering. The burgers were room temp and unburger-like. Fries were good, though this 'medium' was the extra-large size of my youth. I should of just ordered one hockey-puck burger and a children's fries, and skipped the corn-syrup solution. Edie will NEVER eat this shitty food, the only reason it clicks with me is because I was introduced to it by my parents. Well, she may eat it on her own to experiment, but it won't be associated with my company and love.

While eating this, my first thought was, "Ugh, this isn't that good but I'm hungry" and the second thought was, "Ugh, I'm going to have to confess this in writing tonight."

DINNER: 6:30pm, homemade pizza, a little Gatorade, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
I made up for the damage to my soul at lunch by producing the best pizza I've made in a long time at home. Wholefoods wheat dough, left over homemade pizza sauce out of the freezer, a ball of buffala moz, generous freshly grated parm, good olive oil in a squeezy bottle, a pinch of sea salt. Let the dough defrost in the fridge this morning, and stretched it halfway an hour before finish stretching right before topping. Only used the stone on the bottom of the oven for more intense heat, let bake for 6 minutes. Luckily I got to that place where the crust is dark golden brown with dark brown splotches -- another 30 seconds and it would of gone bitter. I put the cheese down first, and everything was wet BUT minimal, so it became a really nice thin layer that all melded together into, urm, pizzaness.

I think the only fault I would have with it was that the dough wasn't home made (and because of the wholewheat element, added a whole-grainy taste to the affair) and my stretching was a little uneven, leading to a few thin and a few thick spots.

A Review of Orthodox Pizza

Spent the day indoors with the Bird, leaving only to vote and read in the park next door, and when B got home from work, I jetted off and met in Williamsburg for a trawl through the religious section looking for good pizza. The first place we went was the only kosher pizzeria in Williamsburg that had any sort of presence on the internet, and....it was now a schwarma and schnitzel joint.

This was on Lee Avenue, the central business strip of the religious neighborhood, with lots of black coats and frumpy dresses and quadruple-wide strollers everywhere. I leaned out of the window of L's car and called to the group of Orthodox men sitting on the stoop, "Excuse me, do you know of a kosher pizzeria around here?" They said ah, your looking for the pizza place that used to be here! One guy asked if we liked schwarma, as this new place has the best. One gave me instructions for another place a few blocks away. I asked if it was kosher, one guy said yes, the other guy wobbled his flat hand to indicate "kind of", whatever that implied.

So me and L were off, slowly driving to a 2nd place, looking closely at the storefronts , the make up of the retail business. Every block had about 3 bakeries, 1 "dry goods" store (old fashioned term for clothes), every other block a hat store or a Judaica shop. After parking and stopping more random men on the street for directions, we found our first open kosher pizza place, a "Dairy Restaurant & Pizza". This did not look promising. Bright lights, dirty linoleum tile floor, cheap fake wood furniture uncleared, lots of people crowded in (mostly women and their many kids), pizza boxes stacked up in weird places. One side of the room was one long service area, 3/4 dedicated to a hot bar full of things like liver blintzes and eggplant souffle. (I assume the liver was vegetarian.) The other 1/4 in the corner was a fairly standard pizza set up, with a crappy 2-deck Baker's Pride oven and 3 South Americans making the pizza. The front guy, an older Yiddish gentleman took our order and were served our undercooked, pale slices on red plastic trays. $2.50 a slice, and quite horrible.

L & I walked out and started stopping random Orthodox gentlemen about where to find pizza in the neighborhood. Many directed us back to where we came, but we said we were looking for other pizza. One young man asked us what was wrong with where we were, and when we said it wasn't very good, he said, hey, that's good pizza, it's what you get for Jewish pizza (his term). Other men we stopped didn't have much of a grasp of English, a few seemed, quite honestly, mentally retarded. But everyone was actually pretty cool, helpful and didn't judge us for our lack of religious apparel or head covering (though we were both sporting full beards!)

We got directions for a 3rd place finally, and we were quite confident that this must be it for Williamsburg. We trawled down Lee, popped into one of the many bakeries for a black & white (L has a sweet tooth equal to mine), and made it the pizza place, oddly called "Cafe Au Lee", a French name but the food was again 3/4 dairy restaurant and 1/4 pizza, with South Americans churning out deli-quality stuff.

We were impressed that this very low quality pizza was so popular -- on an early Tuesday evening, they were all doing booming business. So I asked L, really, is this population really looking for better pizza? Between the high bar set for entry by the religious crowd, the low bar set for quality expectations and the seemingly total lack of profits from alcohol, is an Italian-style pizzeria here really viable? After a bellyful of some crap pizza, I think he may of lost a bit of enthusiasm for the neighborhood. But it was a fun trawl.

BREAKFAST: 9am, organic cheerios with the good milk, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
I was going to buy the organic dead (i.e. homogenized and cooked at the hotter faster temp) but the expiration date was so close to the good stuff, it just didn't make any sense.

LUNCH: 12:45pm, large green salad, hot dog with kraut, mustard, onion relish, Gatorade, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

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

DINNER: 6-7pm, 2 kosher slices of pizza from 2 different joints, half can of kosher cola, 1 black & white cookie, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
The three issues with the quality of the kosher pizzas was, umm, the crust, the sauce and the cheese. Both crusts were slightly crumbly/sawdusty to the bite, indicating fresh dough that did not rest or proof. The sauce was oddly sweet, probably sugar or corn syrup was added to allow the sauce to taste 'fresh' longer. The cheese on both were surprisingly normal, by crappy standards. Both slices were of the quality of any deli in Manhattan that happens to have pizza.

Screaming Parsley

I was supposed to have a kosher pizza adventure today, but L postponed until tomorrow at the last minute. So unexpectedly I had the day, Edie covered by mommainlaw, and a body recovering from the 100 mile ride the day before. So I took myself to the movies and lunch, though it felt kinda....I felt like I should be working on something, not just relaxing. A focused trawl through Wholefoods made me feel a little bit better.

BREAKFAST: 9am, good yogurt with honey and almond extract, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Really running out of food, must do a food shop soon. Wasn't in the mood for yogurt, but it was either that or hotdogs! To change it up, I swapped out vanilla with almond, which I will...never do again. Blechch!

AM SNACK: 11:45am, slice of streetza, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 3:15pm, spinach salad with carrot dressing, hijiki tofu patty, water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5 Lunch at Dojo.

DINNER: 6pm, sea scallops, risotto, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Made dinner for B & yomomma. I got these huge sea scallops from wholefoods, they were advertised as "wild", but what I didn't know until I cooked them is that they were treated with a saline solution which does two things -- preserves their color and freshness, and makes them absorb a huge amount of water. So when I cooked them, it a) took longer to cook, b) they shrunk and released a lot of water into the pan, preventing browning and c) ended up just not very good. And I paid $19.99 a pound for a lot of water.

The risotto, on the other hand, was off da hook. I used my simple c-school recipe to make an unadorned risotto, something I was craving after trying the HVS's subpar rice pudding. Used up the last of my chicken stock, last of my sherry, finished wth a lot of freshly grated parm, a container of marscapone and a half stick of butter. When I finished it with minced parsley, the parsley just SCREAMED flavor, enhanced by the fat, the salt, the underlying shallot and garlic and reduced wine. Wow. A little bit rich, though.

Even though quantity-wise this meal was maybe .75 bowl, I suspect calorically it was closer to 1.25. I haven't thought that way in terms of bowls before, but it seems more honest. Which begs the question, how many calories in a "bowl"? A bowl of water is different than a bowl of ice cream. Oh well, the silliness of a blog...

A day on the bike

Woke at 4:30 again, ate, then got to the start line in Central Park around 6am and met D. We road the NYC Century, a 100 mile ride that is not a race, more of a casual excursion that takes in a lot of the city. Avery 15-30 miles is a supported rest stop, with water, food and restroom facilities.

You see all sorts of things, but the thing that got my attention the most were the children and the parents with their older children, One guy in his 50-60s was riding with his daughter, who was probably a late teen, early 20s. Man, I so hope that to be me in 15-20 years. To be able to share this ride with Edie would be amazing. Our route transposed over some of the shorter routes, and people on the 30 mile route took kids as young as 7 or 8. I imagine next year, instead of riding 100 miles, I'll have Edie strapped on to ride the 15-mile route with me.

BREAKFAST: 5am, good granola with organic dead milk, pint of gatorade, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

AM BIKE SNACK: 7:30am, bagel with pb&j, small amount of potato chips, 1 crappy crispy creme donut, little baggie of graham crackers 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

AM BIKE SNACK: 9:30am, small amount of potato chips, a few pieces of pita with hummus and tabouli, 2 mini cliff bars, .5 bowl, hunger 3/5

PM BIKE SNACK: 1pm, 2 whole wheat pbj sandwiches, spicy pita with peanut butter, handful of pretzels, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM BIKE SNACK: 4pm, small vanilla ice cream cone, handful of pretzels, baggie of potato chips, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 6:45pm, beef lo mein, wonton soup, shrimp toast, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5