Sunday, June 21, 2009

Junk food day

A hot pretzel from a vendor on the Common, dipped into a repugnant cheez sauce just three times. At the cinema, a large bag of popcorn with butter-flavored topping, and a tureen of diet Coke shared with Nora. A bite of the ice cream, mint chocolate chip, Nora ordered between films (thank Darwin for free passes). During a journals work session on campus, I had perhaps a third of a bag of Garden Vegetable Sun Chips, and a can of diet Coke, and two pieces of sushi, and a chewy candy from the office candy dish. At home, the last of the spaghetti with sausage and peppers, and a can of diet Coke.

Saturday, June 20, 2009

Uno's, Parts 1 & 2

Late lunch at Uno's, solo: boneless chicken wings in some kind of treacly sauce, with carrot and celery sticks, all of which had committed some kind of grave food sin because I in role of punisher was instructed to dip these poor victims head-first into a vat of ranch dressing. Their screams. Also diet Cokes; also a chicken Caesar salad. Back at the desk, an Odwalla bar I had not wanted when I was given to me, and did not enjoy when I ate it. The flavor made no impression on me. Then back to Uno's for workshop, where in order to bump up our table's tab, I ordered a Chi-Town Tasting Platter, which was really rather sad -- wilted, uniformly unappetizingly brown and depleted. I had two chicken wings on the bone, small sad scraps of tough meat with a sticky undefinable sauce. I also had some fries and some shoestring onion rings in a jalapeno mayo sauce. I drank diet Coke and two Magners. My entree was mac-and-cheese from the kids' menu, with a breadstick; the waiter brought a steak knife for the mac-and-cheese so I would feel tougher. True story. I also polished off a brownie bowl, which I had foolishly ordered believing that others would help me eat the gooey brownie with vanilla ice cream, fudge sauce, and Oreos. The cherry was succulent.

Friday, June 19, 2009

More leftovers

At the office, reheated taco fixin's: red cabbage, cheese, yellow pepper, rice, guac, and a few slices of fried plantain. This with a can of diet Coke imported from home base. Dinner was leftover spaghetti, and bread with butter, and undressed salad; and a cheese quesadilla made with cheddar we had grated for Taco Monday; and a bottle of toxic Strongbow hard cider, and diet Coke. Also a bit of chocolate cake. All this feasting in front of the latest Netflix disaster, "The Water Horse." Neither water nor a horse; discuss.

Thursday, June 18, 2009

Solace in noodles

Went to Uno's with my book and a hang-dog look, for a comfort food lunch: bottomless broccoli-and-cheese soup (I had two bowls), and the rattlesnake pasta, penne pasta in a creamy sauce with jalapeno peppers, chicken, and a bread stick. Diet Coke. The pleasant waitress seduced me into ordering an oven-warmed macadamia cookie with a scoop of ice cream. Met some heathens at home that evening to discuss the historicity of Jesus, also known as Christ, also known as The Man Who Wasn't There. Nora had prepared spaghetti, with red sauce and choice of either reheated ground beef and mushrooms (left over from Taco Monday) or sausage and peppers (originally prepared for Nora's birthday party). I had a scoop of both meats. I was offered but declined salad. I drank diet Coke with lime slice. I nibbled at some Tostitos, but did have more than a few. I did have a second slice of chocolate layer cake, after the first proved insufficient to the task of being delicious enough.

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Give my regards to Broadway

A plain untoasted cinnamon raisin bagel from Dunkin, with a bottle of apple juice. One-and-a-half stale doughnuts, left from Sunday. Two turkey hot dogs with mayo, ketchup, and relish, from the Harvard Co-op café. At Dbar's Showtunes Tuesday, one sip of a Kentucky Iced Tea cocktail before switching to some kind of muddy mess in an old-fashioned glass. I believe basil was involved in the crime. To eat, a nibble of of Nora's spring vegetable salad (a potato basket filled with baby greens, fava beans, asparagus, onion, English peas, fiddleheads, dressed in green goddess dressing). One ounce of Shanna's lamb persillé, a 6 oz Colorado lamb steak with spring garlic infused jus, and a bite of her parsley risotto arancini. Myself, I had most of a plate of fried calamaria appetizer (rice flour & graham encrusted, with gingered green curry aioli, green papaya, & pickled red onions) and a bowl of sickly-looking, homemade tagliatelle (infused with black pepper & chive, tossed with morel mushrooms, artichokes, peas, & balsamic roasted shallots in a spring garlic sauce). I tried dipping one of Nora's taro root “chips” into her tuna ceviche, but got only a wet scoop of sesame-cucumber-carrot julienne (read: salsa), with nary a speck of the citrus- and spice-marinated fish. I managed also to suck down a Tanqueray-and-soda, and a diet Coke. Also had a slice of bread dipped into three flavors of some kind of oily condiment, and a handful of hand-cut French fries spiced with rosemary.

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

That is how we say goodbye in Austria

At the office, a stale Dunkin Donuts jelly doughnut, and water. For lunch, a few bites each of Najavo sandwich, Tex Mex eggroll, and Sweet Tamale Corn Cakes, left over from the previous evening's warholian Cheesecake experience. Three-quarters of a nectarine. A bottle of water during the afternoon. Naglene, that is. Went home with J.D. after a failed attempt to see Titian at the Emeffay. Decided to cook dinner, so on a lark went to the grocery store. With the booty we collected and the staples in the fridge, we made a kind of soft taco: Defrosted ground beef, cooked with mushrooms and browned onions in an enchilada sauce. Flour tortillas. Nora-made creamy guacamole. A little salad left from Saturday, refreshed with tomato. Raw diced yellow pepper. A condiment sauce of Heinz canned tomato sauce, enriched with pureed sweet hot Costa Rican peppers and some of the gravy from the beef. Fried plantains pressed in the tostonera and spiced with cumin and adobo (very good with guac). White rice. Shredded cheddar. And a cooked relish of braised red cabbage and parsnip, with fresh-picked oregano and yarrow and thyme, and honey and brown sugar and vinegar and a little oil and divers espices. I had three such tacos, and a good helping of salad. While cooking, I consumed half the fragrant contents of a bag of fried pork rinds -- for experimental purposes only. Science be damned, we won't be replicating the experiment. I drank diet Coke with lime-slice throughout the evening, save for my foolish decision to open a bottle of Strongbow -- weak stuff, despite the name, and vile. Also a Pepperridge Farm cookie, the name of which I forget but which sounded like an English manor. Dessert was a slice of frosted chocolate layer cake. It was a very pleasant meal, consumed while watching Dr. Jones struggle against Nazis and his own mistaken belief in his father's disregard.

Monday, June 15, 2009

Evidence of excess.

A bowl of Peanut Butter Cap'n Crunch, with fresh sliced strawberries, in skim milk. Over the course of several hours working on the translation journal with the superbly focused Liza, three slices of that cold Domino's pizza, and four Dunkin Donuts (!). Two cups or so of water while gorging on this nosh. Then on impulse called Sean and Emilie, and invited them to join Nora and I at The Cheesecake Factory in Brookline. I ordered Corn Cake tamales for the table -- spoonbread cakes, in a sauce of tomatillas, with chopped tomato and cilantro and avocado and sour cream and spiced sauce with cumin to boot -- as well as an order of spicy chicken Tex Mex egg rolls. I ate a nibble of Nora's seared tuna, and had most of a Navajo sandwich -- fry bread stuffed with chicken, red onion, lettuce, and alligator pear. I had three bites of the 30th anniversary cheesecake, with layers of fudge cake alternating with layers of cheesecake. All this was washed down by diet Coke. I feel, and disputably am, gross. There was also a congo bar along the way -- Nora made me.

Sunday, June 14, 2009

All-nighter fuel

A chicken salad sandwich with cranberries in the mix, washed down quickly with a bottle of diet Mountain Dew during a break in class. During the day, a Nalgene of water. At midnight, a bread bowl filled with macaroni and cheese from Pizza Hut, delivered by a very nice guy working late. Also an order of boneless spicy wings -- toxic really. Also an order of breadsticks with a little marinara. Also most of a two-liter bottle of diet Coke.

Saturday, June 13, 2009

In which I sic 'em

Thank you, Nora, for that tasty egg and cheeze [sic] on croissant from Dunkin Donuts [sic] for breakie. Lunch was defrosted sausage & peppers & onions on a hoagie roll with a very small amount of mayonnaise. While grocery shopping, I had a sample serving of Chinese [sic] spinach & shrimp salad. Dinner started with flour tortilla quesadillas with cheddar and and onion and baby portabellas fried in marg. Salad was iceberg and romaine, with bell pepper and nectarine and diced fontina in a dressing of chopped fresh mint in olive oil and white vinegar and salt, pepper, honey, and powdered ginger. For dinner I marinated tilapia fillets in olive oil and white wine, flavored with a sprinkling of herbs -- woodruff, wood sorrel, and mint -- picked from the tunnel cap garden. I poached the fish in white wine, butter, and water. We served this next to white rice from the cooker, and spinach sauteed with corn oil, garlic, ginger, sultanas, chopped fresh cherries, red cabbage, and leeks. I squeezed plenty of lemon and lime juice into each dish. Over the fish we spooned a ragout of roasted tomatillas and tomatoes, cooked with fragrant yarrow and mashed and warmed with a little of the reserved poaching liquid. Bread with marj, one slice. Drank one glass of Nora's white sangria, of three-buck chuck blanco and Tropicana orange/tangerine jus and Peachtree and sliced fruit. Also drank diet Coke with a slice of lime throughout the night. For dessert I gave everyone a pool of pureed fresh strawberries with mint and honey, and the option of peach or mango or chocolate or raspberry or strawberry sorbet and Pepperridge Farm cookies. I garnished several bowls with mint leaves. I did not partake of this dish; instead I ate a few cookies and congo bars guests had brought. Before shopping, I had a handful of Honey Nut Cheerios in the case.

Friday, June 12, 2009

Food for a drowsy day.

Noonish, two pieces of reheated buffalo chicken specialty pizza. On these I put a smear of ranch dressing and some Frank's Red Hot, and the rest of the bottle of diet Coke from the previous evening. It added flavor, not just heat -- that's nice. Dinner was at Panera, a bowl of corn chowder and an undressed garden salad. Also an apple and some water. Oh yes, I had a piece of Polish chocolate right after work, half of which I have to a squirrel. It had Advowat in the middle.

Thursday, June 11, 2009

A nip of napa, a sip of soy

My one meal, at 8 PM or so, was two plates of home cooking: steamed white rice; napa cabbage sautéed in oil with garlic and soy sauce and basil; onion and green pepper and a bit of red cabbage, sautéed in oil as well with garlic and fresh lime juice and rind and black pepper. Over all this a Thai-inspired sauce of crunchy peanut butter melted into a lick of oil, flavored with soy sauce and chili sauce and lime juice and brown sugar and powdered ginger.

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

De train, de chips, den de bar

On the train in to work, a marged potato roll with a daub of the pistachio creme rescued from Louisa's last apartment relocation (and concomitant fridge purge). And water from my mildewy Nalgene, damn the thing. At work, around noon, a potato roll with just a smear of red pepper hummus. Before then, a full bottle of water; another in the afternoon. At home after 6, corn chips with cheese (really, cheez) and salsa, and diet Coke. Some of which, MOST of which, ended up on the floor, don't ask me how. Dinner at Dbar with my favorite Croatian, she coming straight from work at the Bend Factory. The appetizer we shared, a platter of steamed asparagus and sauteed escargots in a garlic butter sauce. I had a gin and tonic; nothing new there. Entree was, hers, sea scallops over cumin-carrot risotto, with a pea-mint sauce. Entree was, me, chicken-under-a-brick: crispy skin and well-seasoned, with mashed potatoes and a Madeira jus. We shared the plates between us, and a plate of fiddlehead ferns and another of rosemary-spiced fries with aioli or ketchup, besides. For dessert, we had a banana creme tart and a crème brûlée with fresh berries, shared again. I also had a diet and, with dessert, a glass of Belle de Brillet pear cognac. We greatly enjoyed the Tuesday Showtunes program.

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Cupcake Confessions

In the wee hours before dawn, I was up writing, during which episode I ate six mini-cupcakes (each a single bite!) and the rest of that garlic bread from the other day, and drank a liter of diet Coke. In the morning, after waking, a bottle of Tropicana's ruby-red grapefruit drink, and a Boston creme doughnut. Halfway through the protest demonstration at the Church of Christ, Scientist, we stopped over at Au Bon Pain -- a bowl of wild mushroom bisque and a garden salad lightly dressed in lite ranch. Also water, that unpalatable constant. Dinner was fun to cook, on a stool in the kitchen while Gordan Ramsey thundered out of his Hulu box. We had some leftover chili in the fridge; I sauteed onion and bell pepper with butter and garlic and Magner's and cumin and chili pepper, to stretch that a bit. On the side was a chop salad of iceberg, hard-boiled egg, raw red cabbage, carrot and celery, to which I added a fair bit of peppercorn ranch dressing. Opened a bag of corn chips, and dipped those into a jar of salsa and another of cheese, and into fresh, Nora-made guac. Finished the Magner's I'd opened for the chili, and have some diet Coke too, as well as a glass of berry smoothie -- strawberries and raspberries out of the freezer, with fresh mint and ice.

Monday, June 8, 2009

It was tasty, but upsetting, was the beef.

Garlic naan and artichoke eggplant hummus, and water (and a scant few Smart Puffs). A strawberry-banana smoothie from the Atomic Bean Cafe, courtesy of the gentleman whose mathematics journal I may be consulting on. At a party thrown by one of the smartest guys I know, two Magner's and two plates of: brisket and potato salad, and marinated carrots and mushrooms and tomatoes, and a tasty salad of slender mushrooms, maybe chestnut or cinnamon cap?, and bean dip and corn bread. When I went to buy the Magner's before this BYOB affair, I also bought a diet Coke and a single-serving Rice Krispies treat. After my messy platefuls of vittles, I finished off the affair with a slice of fruit pie with a scoop of chocolate peanut butter ice cream. Yes, fruit pie -- it was store-bought, and therefore of not remarkable quality; the succulent filling could have been peaches or apples or cherries, for all that the taste spoke out.

Sunday, June 7, 2009

A day no pigs would die.

A few spoonfuls of reheated chili, and a potato roll with marg, washed down with universal solvent, for breakfast. A handful of trail mix and more water mid-day. Shared a slice of carrot cake as well as some garlic naan with eggplant & spinach hummus, and more water. Half a frozen confection -- Crunch bar on a stick, oh yeah -- before the decision to stop at TGIFriday's, where I had paste-filled fish sticks, and french fries, instead of the fish and chips I ordered. Also two and a half diets and a half an over-dressed Caesar salad (she came to the table wearing a cocktail dress -- silly salad, it is a casual dining restaurant). Also some Smart Puffs and a Magner's at home. Also a few nibbles of Nora's leftover garlic bread (with garden-fresh oregano!).

Friday, June 5, 2009

All hail impulse

Cheese sandwich, improvised from a once-frozen, now-thawed potato flour hamburger roll, with sliced American and mayo, on the train with Nalgene-2-O. Lunch was two slices of the inexhaustible Domino's pizza, eaten at my desk. More water. I walked with Louisa to Starbuck's, where she gifted me an almond toffee bar. At dinner with Julie at Beacon Street Tavern, I had a Magner's and a diet Coke and a water, and a boat of baked macaroni & cheese, and a bowl of moules in savory broth with leeks and cherry tomatoes sweating their flavor, and a paper basket of frites with remoulade. Also, on impulse, intelligent wonderful impulse, a dessert: the tres leche, a butter cake soaked in sweetened milk. J. remarked that the flavor was quite like that of a Belgian waffle -- by this she meant not the Gargantuan plate-filling mutant coffered pillow that some places serve with sliced strawberry and canned whipped cream, but les gouffres sold by street stands, with chunks of caramelized sugar waiting in the cake. After the Dire Reader session, I joined Jenna Dee (after we walked off from our companions) for a gin & tonic, and a few mouthfuls of horsepiss Harpoon cider (never again, over and over he thinks), and a chicken skewer with lackadaisical satay sauce, at the Miracle of Science bar. Am I tempted to seek out richer and more exotic food, now that I am recording all my consumption?

Pita on the Train (... "try to take over the world.")

A stale pita smeared with marg and strawberry sandwich, and water -- same bottle as yesterday (2 eco points). Lunch was undressed salad leftover from the previous night, and two slices of that pizza (cold salad, cold pizza). I drank water. When Levine let us out for 10 minutes, I enjoyed an espresso brownie from Starbucks, and a low-fat vanilla Bottleofcoffeesomethingachino. At home, an early dinner of 2 Magner's, 3 slices of leftover pizza, and a 1/4 bag of Tositos (yes, with hint of lime), dipped in a specialty mixture of sour cream + generic cheese dip. Oh yes, before I left the office, I had a miniature, blue-frostinged cupcake. I may have a Nagleneful of water at the movie tonight: "Land of the Lost" at the midnight screening on the Common.

Thursday, June 4, 2009

Macrobioatetoomuchpizza

Half a cup of Peanut Butter Cap'n Crunch cereal, carried in on the train in a sandwich bag. eaten dry and washed down with a Nalgene-bottle's worth of tap water. A box lunch from Campus Convenience, consisting of dough bits labeled as "Macrobiotic Thai Dumplings". These were vegan, and gave me indigestion. Dinner was a bowl of salad -- iceberg, yellow pepper, sweet sweet cherry tomato, and cucumber, under a coat of Peppercorn Ranch -- and no less than 6 slices of Domino's pizza. What kind of pizza? Medium. Sliced chicken on some slices; chunk pineapple on others. Also garlic bread, with marg and grated parmesan and garlic powder and salt and pepper, with fresh oregano from the garden, on cheap Italian bread from Johnnie's. I drank diet Pepsi all night.

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

The eater of buffalo chickens

A slice of the twice-previously-mentioned yam-carrot bread, and a Nalgene of water for breakfast; a buffalo chicken salad sandwich for lunch; and, around 4 PM, an over-priced fruit salad from Starbucks, an "old fashioned" glazed ring donut, and a can of espresso with cream.

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

A day of sandwiches

Two slices of yesterday's yam-carrot bread, with marg, and a glass of powder-mix fruit punch, in the morning. For lunch, an undressed garden salad from U-Burger, and a veggie 'Boom Burger' with cheese, fried jalepanos, and BBQ sauce. And a tablespoon of mayo, which I was loathe to omit. With this, three cups of diet Coke, each spiked with a splash of fragrant root beer. Dinner was a flatbread sandwich from Subway, with a veggie patty, pickles, tomatoes, spinach, and honey mustard, rounded out with Harvest Cheddar Sun Chips -- where is cheddar harvested? -- and a Pepsi Zero. Also a cup of Cherry Garcia frozen yogurt. On the ride home, I refreshed myself -- so weary I was, from shouldering not one but TWO smelly, 16-lb bags of kitty kibble -- with a bottle of o-water.

Monday, June 1, 2009

Sunday brunch and a fridge-cleaning dinner

In the morning, a taste sample from the yam-carrot-coconut-sultana bread baked the night before. At White Horse, a swiss cheese & tomato omelette, with home fries and toast, a skewer of fresh fruit, and two glasses of orange juice. At home again, in front of Twilight via Amazon Watch Now, appx. 6 whole Buffalo-style chicken wings; a very few Tositos from the night before; one slice of banana bread and appx. 1/3 of the aforementioned carrot bread, with oleo. Two bottles of Magner's and 1/2 liter of Fresca.

Sunday, May 31, 2009

The blue shrimp fooled me

A hard boiled egg; a half-cup of broccoli in sauce left-over from last Saturday's Chinese food fete; a potato flour hot dog-style roll smeared with marg and peanut butter; a plate of stir fry, with bell pepper, water chestnut, napa cabbage, red cabbage, shrimps, grated yam, snow pea, carrot, and celery, over rice (the red cabbage dyed the shrimp blue, leading them to overcook as I waited for the blue shrimp to turn pink). In the late evening, a third of a bag of 'hint of lime' Tostitos, 1/3 c of mint chocolate chip Breyer's; 1/3 of a loaf of homemade banana bread. Throughout the day, nearly a whole bottle of Diet Coke (with a slice of lime in my glass).