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

Staten Island Ur-Ride

Took a loop around Staten Island on the bike. Changed up the route a little, so the last leg was my "ur-ride" -- the first long ride I ever took. When I was 9 or 10, I got on my blue Ross no-speed and rode to the SI Mall for a McDonalds chocolate shake, then home -- as it turns out, that's 14 miles round trip for my little self!

Did a little food shop at Wholefoods after, picked up a Chinese brick in honor of my parents on the way home. Thought I was gonna do some cooking, but just conked out. Still pleasantly sore from Monday's workout, looking forward to pushing it on the upper parts tomorrow morning.

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


BIKE SNACK: 11:30am, Gatorade, coffee cake, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

BIKE LUNCH: 2pm, 6" veggie burger sub, a few corn chips, cherry coke, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 6:30pm, curry chicken with pork fried rice, egg roll, slice of cheese cake, water, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING SNACK: 8:30pm, lime sorbet, .5 bowl hunger 4/5

Thinking of more sorbet

Chill Tuesday with the Ediegirl. Playground in the morning, a visit to Y at her new office in the afternoon followed by a nice playdate with a mom friend after. Picked up some nice CSA stuff on the way home, food shopping in the evening.

Pleasantly sore from the lower work out on Monday, nice to be sore again.

TODAY'S COOKING:
Lime Sorbet: Mixed the three components together in the work bowl of the kitchen aid (1.5 quarts of slightly gelatinized simple syrup, 4 oz of cooked stiff meringue, a pint of lime juice), strain out the remaining lumps of meringue and fed into the ice cream maker. Incredibly smooth and supple, very sweet. Basically the best lime Italian ice you'll ever have, gotta do this again with freshly squeeze orange juice and a jigger of vanilla!

AM SNACK: 9am, bite of banana


LUNCH: noon, sardine & avocado on homemade whole wheat bread, a few whole wheat pretzels, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


PM SNACK: 5:30pm, slice of streetza, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 8pm, mashed potatoes with sauteed chili vegetables, lime sorbet, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING SNACK: 10pm, nutella with whole grain pretzels, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

Easing into Monday

Spent part of the day in the movie theater, another part at home cooking up some random things. I think I need to cook some knishes and other savory things ASAP, the fridge is looking bare...

Changed up the weight regimen this morning, did only muscle groups below the chest, and doubled the reps -- the exercises I could complete the reps, I'm going to up the weight, the ones where I can't, the weight will remain for now. Thursday I will do the same for chest/arms/shoulders. Probably take a month to cycle through the whole routine, and will probably up my soreness, but the 1-time-a-week on each group instead of three should ease with recovery.

TODAY'S COOKING:
Lime Sorbet Components: Had all these extra limes that B picked up, so I busted out a c-school recipe. Three components: Pint of freshly squeeze lime juice, 2 ounces of cooked meringue (1 egg white, 2 oz sugar, whipped in a double boiler until very hot then finished in the kitchen aide until doubled in volume), and 5 cups of sorbet basic syrup (quart of water, pound and a half of sugar, 6 oz of corn syrup and 2 oz of gelatin brought to a rolling boil then refrigerated). Once chilled, the three components will be thoroughly mixed then sent through the ice cream maker.

Graham Crackers: Found graham flour in the supermarket randomly, so I indulged myself in the afternoon with this recipe. Came out very very molassesy, but I love the gritty texture-- usually grit is nasty, but something about graham grit that is actually quite nice. Might either adjust molasses down and increase brown sugar, or find a different recipe all together.

BREAKFAST: 8:15am, organic chex with organic dead milk, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5


LUNCH: 12:30pm, good peanut butter on homemade whole wheat multigrain bread, potato chips, 2 pickles, water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Probably the healthiest lunch in the entire theater, once again.



PM SNACK: 5:45pm, large green salad, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 6:30pm, pasta with sauce, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5


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


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

Sunday Rain & Work

Rainy Sunday. B & E went uptown to visit grandma while I hunkered in and popped out a large but hearty presentation for a LS all about her knish life, for a lecture she's giving in a week. It was nice to do that kind of work again, it made 5 hours fly by like it was nothing.

Got out of the house in the late afternoon and picked up some Subway -- yes it's fast food, but at least I didn't have it delivered, he he.

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


LUNCH: 1pm, mashed potato with chili veg, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 3pm, peanuts and chocolate chips, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 6:15pm, foot long veggie burger sub, potato chips, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Definitely Indulgent

Due to B's sore throat and Edie's multiple poos yesterday, our overnight trip to CT was cancelled (along with my plans to ride my bike there today and home tomorrow.) I woke late, then packed Edie on the bike and we road the Summerstreets event to Union Square for a little shopping in the Farmer's Market.

In the afternoon, we three made it to the Hester Street Fair and spent a fair amount of time in a playground. We did some food shopping on the way home for the evening's dinner, and got to bed before 10pm.

TODAY'S COOKING:
Mashed Potato with Chili Veg: Made potatoes with the technique I learned in C-school: Boiled the peeled, cut up spuds until soft, baked them for 5 minutes to make them totally dry, ran through a food mill, a small amount of hot heavy cream, melted butter and salt, folded in minimally and poof, perfect mashed potatoes. Softened onions in peanut oil, added bell pepper and mushrooms, added a few tablespoons of chili powder then half a head of crushed garlic, a bit of salt. It was a nice dinner.


BREAKFAST: 10am, toasted bagel & cream cheese, water, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 1:45pm, breaded tilapia, brown rice & lentils, 2 ears boiled corn, large green salad, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 4pm, bite of a Mexican ice pop


DINNER: 6:15pm, sauteed mushroom, peppers and onions in chili sauce, mashed potatoes, cookies, water, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Bought a box of shmancy cookies to share with B while watching TV, definitely indulgent.

Good morning, bleah day

I was planning to ride this morning, but when I woke up at 6, I just felt like hanging out with Edie more, and Saturday and Sunday had riding plans anyway which would minimize my Edie time. So I fired up my old cast iron waffle iron and was in mid-waffling when Edie woke. I was able to whisk her into the kitchen for fresh waffles whilst Lady B slept away. Once waffling was done, Edie & I spent a nice couple of hours outside around the building, in the garden, in the playground.

Unfortunately, that was the high point of the day. Both Edie and B seemed to be a little ill in the afternoon, plans cancelled. I felt grumpy and did a fry-up for lunch. A lot of sugary snacking in the afternoon, culminating in a lazy order-in in the evening.

TODAY'S COOKING:
Waffles: The c-school recipe, doubled, with three vanilla beans scrapings. The main challenge is working with the 1918 campfire waffle iron, an old caste iron beast that is very temperamental, but fun because you never quite know what your gonna get. I end up eating the burnt ones on the spot, so the 7 or 8 that get to go in the freezer look reasonable.

Corn Tortilla Chips: A pack of corn tortillas cut into 6 wedges each, fried in peanut oil around 400 degrees. I let them go a little too brown, I found that when I took them out of the oil they continue to brown a little - lesson learned. I forgot to tell B, but the only way to make these cost effective is to strain the oil and keep it in the freezer until the next fry-up. Oh well.

BREAKFAST: 7am, 3 waffles, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


LUNCH: 12:30pm, corn tortilla chips, health salad, pickle, water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


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


PM SNACK: 5pm, bites of assorted donuts, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 9pm, roti canai, Malasian style shrimp and stringbeans with white rice, chocolate donut, water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5