Too Much Apple Crisp

B, Edles and I went to the local casual restaurant for breakfast, then took a nice walk up the East River in the rain. B had a few friends come over in the afternoon to hang out, and I spent part of the morning making an apple crisp.

Gonna continue with the fruit challenge after tomorrow, just don't have the mental energy this weekend.

BREAKFAST: 9am, blueberry pancakes, home fries, bacon, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 1pm, leftover sauteed broc and spinach over vegan morel risotto, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK 2-6pm, too much apple crisp, a small pumpkin cupcake, 1/2 glass of white wine, roasted almonds, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Apple crisp is simply sliced peeled apples tossed with a bit of brown sugar, salt and lemon juice, and topped with a concoction of flour, sugar, cinnamon and butter, baked until soft on bottom and crisp on top. I was going to serve with ice cream, but a certain wife of mine who shall remain nameless stored the freezer barrel in the cupboard instead of the freezer, so I put a bunch of the ice cream batter (really, a Cream Anglais) and put it into a squeezy bottle to jazz up the squared off crisp. From something as assed-out as melted ice cream to something as elegant as a few swirls of Cream Anglais!

DINNER: 8pm, small amount of Chinese food, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5
Ordered a brick, but ate only a bit, the rest saved for after my ride tomorrow.

Fruity Week, Day 5

Got through chores in the morning with Edie at my side. One chore was to get back on the fruit challenge. As I stood by the counter gritting, I said to Edie, looking up at me in the carriage peacefully, "I do this so you don't make the same mistakes I did!"

I originally got three kinds of grapes, but the red grapes seem to have disappeared into the endless maw know as my mawful wife. So I got seedless white and seedless black out, as well as kiwi. I've used both in smoothies before, but never actually ate any of them whole and unprocessed.

Grape. It's been my favorite soda flavor from birth. Grape jam is no stranger. Grape juice, and it's sophisticated fermented cousin is a friend. So why haven't I eaten grapes my entire life? Fear of the pulp, fear of the squish factor, fear of papery skin. So when I popped in the first white grape and chewed, it was a bit of relief/surprise. Sweet! Juicy! Smooth tender pulp! Like grape juice coming out of a rehydrated, tender raisin (in c-school, rehydrating raisins in wine was a kick). I....LIKE this! I could not detect any flavor difference in the white or black grapes. I think we have the first winner of Fruit Week. I still have to eat more, but I think this may become a regular item on my to-eat list. Matched with cheese like an apple, yummmm....

Kiwi didn't go so well. I used it in smoothies before for it's slimey consistency and tartness. And eaten straight, yes.....tart and slimy, only broken up by the gritty little seeds studding the flesh. This, I think, was not meant to be eaten straight, but as a counterpoint in a salad or smoothie. One piece was all I needed to learn what it was about. Kiwi, you don't fool me!

AM SNACK: 9:45am, 3 white grapes, 3 black grapes, 1 piece of kiwi

BREAKFAST: 11am, bite of "chocolate chip cookie", street pound cake, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5
In the farmer's market I realized I hadn't eaten a real breakfast and was kind of hungry. One stand had a lot of baked goods and I picked up a three-pack of some attractive chocolate chip cookies. Walking out, I took a bite and....BLECHCHCH! WTF? There was a little piece of paper in the bag listing ingredients: flour, smart balance, sugar...wait, what? F@cking smart balance? Hydrogenated vegetable oil with added chemicals to make in "healthy"? And the last ingredient was "vanilla pudding" -- what, kozy shack chemi-pudding? This tasted like a cheap industrial product, a batrayal of the trust I have with the farmer's market.

So at the corner of Union Square, I got a piece of poundcake from a cart. I just made pound cake last week, so this was an interesting contrast. Lighter, hints of vanilla instead of lemon and....no butter, definitely soybean oil or something equally cheap and neutral. This is same lame industrial cooking as the farmer's market cooking, but more honest and cheaper.

LUNCH: 1:45pm, homemade potato leek soup, homemade baked ziti, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Momma-in-law came over and we ate together, before I took off to do some Edie-free food shopping. It's nice to be able to lean over and tie my shoelaces in the middle of the market without twisting Lil' E into a secure pretzel.

SNICKLEDINNER: 7pm, small green salad, sauteed spinach & broccoli over sofrito morel brown rice, vegan mint chip ice cream, 2 glasses wine, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
It's nice when you cook a meal with out a recipe, kinda decide how you want it to come out midway through, and it comes out just as you wanted. I had a half gallon of morel mushroom stock sitting in my freezer for ever, waiting for a vegetarian meal to prop up. I made a wallop of sofrito (slow cooked onion, bell pepper, garlic, cilantro) and put that in the rice cooker with the stock and short grain brown sushi rice. After cooking for over an hour, a shake of salt and it was singing.

T wasn't going to be over for another hour or so, so I large-sliced a couple of onions and caramelized them over low heat. Added sliced shitake, garlic, sake, a bag of spinach, and small-cut florets of broccoli, which I blanched and shocked earlier. Finished with sesame oil and chicken fat (KIDDING!) and sesame seeds, seasoned with salt, and damn if it didn't taste pretty good. The sweetness of the onions really played well with the greenery. Sweet balances bitter.

The starch in the rice really exploded, making the rice more risotto-like, which was perfect for the strength of the morel stock. The stock lent a low, broad base, kinda like when you're watching Star Trek Next Gen and the low hum of engines are always in the background. Anyway, I digress. T brought some ice cream, that was soft and ready to go outta the tub, a perfect way to end a meal.

Fruity Fail

Woke up early, got back to sleep, woke up again, had to get out of the house to get to the restaurant with Edie. Had to get back home to drop Edie off so I could meet L for some restaurant business, then we went to dinner at the 2nd Ave Deli. I was planning to do some fruit exploration in the evening, but my stomach was full and the queasiness that peach gave me was fresh in my mind so I passed. Tomorrow I shall resume.

However, I DID eat my share of fruit today with a smoothie, avocado in my sushi roll, and an apple donut!

BREAKFAST 1: 5am, organic cheerios with dead organic milk, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Woke up and could not get back to sleep for a few hours.

BREAKFAST 2: 8:30am, smoothie, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Used up the rest of the fresh blueberries along with the rest of the usual suspects.

AM SNACK: 11:30am, Manhattan Special, .25 bowl, hunger 3/5

PM SNACK: 1:30pm, meatball

LUNCH: 2:30pm, small try of sushi roll, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 3:30pm, donut, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
From Donut Plant, apple cinnamon flavor -- does that count as a fruit?

DINNER: 5:30pm, half a pastrami sandwich, matzoh ball soup, fries, health salad, pickles, water, a drop of Cel-Rey soda, a shot of chocolate soda, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

Fruity Week, Day 3

So while Edie continued to sleep, I mad myself a plate of fruit this morning -- orange, pear and peach. The first thing I noticed while peeling the orange was being transported back to hanging out in my parents' living room with my dad. He would snack on oranges all the time, all over the place, but the main place was on his Eames lounge chair listening to classical or klezmer, and reading a novel, while eating a fragrant orange that he bought in quantity in Chinatown for cheap. Just peeling it released a big orange smell that said Papa.

First down was the pear, the least scary as it looks like a deformed apple. The flesh is firm. This Bartlett pear wasn't very sweet, and wasn't very juicy. Hints of vanilla. A little bit mealy. Overall unpleasant, but very edible and not very challenging.

Next up was the orange. The first thing I noticed about it was that it looked like a big knot of pulp -- which it is, I guess. Not appealing. I put it in my mouth and started chewing, and the gush of juice coated my mouth, very pleasant -- almost made up for the chewy pulp it left behind. Soft, pliable, easy to swallow. Surprised how more complex it is than juice -- there is the sweetness, but another big note of bitterness, which allowed the 'orangeness' to blossom in the middle.

Last was the peach. I remember being scolded by my mom many times, why don't you just try this peach? It's so juicy and sweet! This was easily the hardest. Looking at the flesh, it looks like nothing I like to eat. A weird redness where the pit was. Skin is vaguely fuzzy. Flesh has a sheen. I popped one piece in my mouth. First thing I noticed was the consistency -- skin was a little tough and papery, the flesh was a bit slimy and gelatinous. Flavor, a tone of peachiness, mostly sweet. I chewed it fully and swallowed, followed by an exclamation of "yuck!" to Edie. I put another slice in my mouth and it popped back out, I just couldn't get myself to close my mouth. I took it to the sink to cut it into smaller pieces. Popped a smaller piece in my mouth and again it popped out! Damn, this is like trying to feed a baby, except I'm the baby!

Conclusion, pears are neither here nor there. Oranges, I think with more experience I could learn to like them. Peaches, I just don't like, and now I can say I've really tried one and I KNOW I don't like them.

AM SNACK: 9am, orange, pear, peach, .15 bowl, hunger 3/5

BREAKFAST: 10am, pumpernickel bagel with cream cheese, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 12:45pm, baked ziti, mint ice cream, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACKING: boiled shrimp, a few spoonfuls of various mayonnaise, a few tastes of vegetable soup, coca cola, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
The vegetable soup we made in school was really big-tasting, and completely vegan -- I brought home a pint for HVS this Friday...

DINNER: 8pm, Stouffers French bread pizza, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Ahhh, the opposite of peaches!

Fruity Week, Day 2

Edie powered through 2 bottles of breast milk and 3 bottles of formula, a new Edie World's Record for quantity eaten in one day. In a week or two, we're going to start with a little bit of solid food.....

Woke up wiped out. Hung around the house doing laundry and prepping for class tomorrow before going out for lunch and the baby drop in at the community center. Picked up ingredients for a baked ziti, as I needed to use the tomato sauce I made weeks ago or watch it go bad.

EVIL SNACK: 10pm the night before, a few ounces of dark chocolate
Why do I not remember that when I do this, it keeps me up for hours? Didn't get to bed until I watched most of Schindler's List on cable and read a scary story in New York magazine about circumcision....

BREAKFAST: 8:45am, 16 blueberries, 3 blackberries, 3 raspberries, smoothie with those three, frozen cherries, banana, milk, yogurt, flax, vanilla sugar, salt, ice, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
The blueberries were the most familiar. The first taste was surprisingly bitter, but by the second, the sweetness came in and balanced it nicely. Between the two opposite tastes, a distinct flavor came through, nice. I would eat these when these are at the height of their season.

Blackberries were sour with almost no sweetness that I could detect. The little nodules that make up the body of the berry kinda weirded me out, like a face that can't be seen due to the overwhelming dense forest of juicy pimples that are waiting to squirt at you. The consistency wasn't so bad, after one chew the nodules became undifferentiated pulp, no big squirt. However, there is a dry bit of grit that holds the berry together that is a bit unpleasant.

Raspberries are of similar structure, but like blueberries, have nicely competing sweet/sour tones where a particular 'raspberry' flavor calls out in the middle. I think I've only had this flavor in jams -- for some reason I associate it with artificial berry flavor, though this is as real as it gets.

The smoothie is jazzed up with a teaspoon of vanilla sugar, to get over the blackberry bump. However, those damn blackberries lent a slight grit to my otherwise smooth smoothie that was just sucky.

Conclusion of the fruit experiment: blueberries could be a regular snack when in seasons. Raspberries are gonna get bought in the frozen form and added to my smoothie regime. Blackberries, there must be SOMETHING people like about these things -- must try again next summer when they're back in season. Otherwise, not gonna bother.

LUNCH: 12:45pm, fish ball with rice noodle, 2 lotus leaf wraps, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Food from the Chinese cart at the corner of East Broadway and Rutgers. Weird, cheap ethnic food makes our city great. Sat in the park with Edie eating, enjoying the mild weather and the mysterious fish balls.

PM SNACK: 1:45pm, 1 "zebra" cookie
At the baby drop in, the leader brings home baked goods every time. This was a simply merranguy chocolate cookie dusted with confectioners sugar before baking so when all the cracks form, it looks like black lines on the white surface.

DINNER: 6pm, large green salad, homemade baked ziti, small quantity of homemade mint chocolate chip ice cream, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

Fruity Week, Day 1

Day one of the 3-fruit-a-day challenge was easy: banana, tomato, avocado. It had to be, as that was what I had on hand. However, on the way home from a day out, I stopped by the market and picked up a whole mess of fruit. Some vaguely familiar, some make me wonder how to even cut into them. From most comfortable to most cringe worthy:

Pineapple
Pear
Mango
Orange
Grapefruit
Kiwi
Three kinds of grapes
blueberries
blackberries
raspberries
Peach
Papaya
Pomegranate

I skipped on strawberries and plums because the thought of putting them in my mouth made me gag. I'm going to attempt a minimum of three bites of each fruit unprocessed, and a minimum of a 1/2 cup serving processed into a smoothie. Peach is making me feel a little queasy, now that I think about it. This is gonna be a challenge, he he he.

BREAKFAST: 8am, banana, last piece of pound cake, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Banana was good n' familiar. Noticed how as I chewed it, it's slime factor increased, not in a bad way, just in a....familiar but strange way. It's why it's such a good base for a smoothie, I guess.

Too bad pound cakes don't grow on trees, or this challenge would have been a lot easier.

LUNCH: 1pm, croque monsieur, small amount of potato chips, diet coke, pink peppercorn bread pudding, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
Out at a little cafe in Astoria with Edie and friends. The sandwich was good, the crisp toasted bread being the star of the show, the thin slice of ham barely there, just giving a nice porcine note. Didn't particularly want the coke, but it came with the meal, that or the corn syrup version. The bread pudding, something I usually don't eat, was actually really interesting, sweet and peppery. Are peppercorns considered a fruit?

DINNER: 6:30pm, large green salad with plum tomato and avocado, small piece of pork loin sauteed in chicken fat and potato leek soup, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5
So thanks to Buttery Peanut, I got 2 more easy fruits in today, tomato and avocado diced and mixed into my salad. Tomato is known to me, but I've never used avocado in this way -- I had it on hand because B loves it in her salad. It lent a creaminess to the more crunchy, fibrous surroundings which was pretty nice. I may do this again in the future, voluntarily!

Feeling fruity

In this evening's Simpsons, the entire town except the family turns into zombies because of burgers made from cows who were on all-cow diets. Bart is in his bedroom, windows boarded up, complaining, "I'm so hungry, there is nothing to eat", then says, "except that", and the camera pans to his side table, with a bowl of ripe, sparkly fruit.

Starting tomorrow and ending Saturday, I will attempt to eat at least a part of three fruits a day. I've been relatively fruit-o-phobic my entire life, and have only upped my fruit consumption as an adult by processing it into things like smoothies and pies. Apples and bananas are about it, things like grapes have always turned my off by their....squishiness. Oranges too....pulpy. Peaches too....hairy. This week I will attempt to eat around the produce aisle.

Rented a car and went up into Peekskill to visit my parent's grave site, the fist time with Edie on the outside of B's belly, and strapped to mine. Despite the rain, we gathered with my brother's family (5 kids and counting) and popped over the the general store at Tompkin's Corners. They have a small back room the 10 of us piled into, and then....all the lights went out. Outages in upstate during bad weather is not all uncommon, and the proprietor had electric lanterns to light the dark room. Quite romantic, eating processed turkey with 6 children and a couple of orthodox Jews in a darkened room...

BREAKFAST: 8:15am, toasted onion bagel with cram cheese and sable, rootbeer, 1.26 bowl, hunger 4/5
I was give a bottle of good IBC rootbeer earlier this week, but had to put it aside due to sugar fasting. I can understand while sweet things (donuts, muffins) are such popular breakfast items -- it really gives a lift to waking up.

LUNCH: 1pm, turkey & swiss on a roll, potato chips, diet coke, chocolate chip cookies, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5
At the general store in Peekskill where I used to buy candy from as a child.

PM SNACK: 5pm, slice of streetza, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5
Riding my bike home from the car rental, I went down Bleeker, past many, many pizza places -- John's, Keste, Monster. Went to the Pizza Box, an old school joint that's been there forever and enjoyed a standard street slice.

DINNER: 7:45pm, potato leek soup with sauteed shrimp, a few pseudo-healthy Betsy cookies, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

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