Dec. 29
Breakfast: leftover cranberry sauce, leftover pasta with tomato and hazelnuts.
Lunch (really just a snack eaten at the midpoint of a hike with my daughter): a few pistachios, a few hazelnuts, one dried peach.
Dinner: Jennifer Reese's Vadouvan Mac 'N' Cheese (from Make the Bread, Buy the Butter); Madhur Jaffrey's Deep-Fried Eggplant Slices; salad of romaine lettuce, basil, tomato, and scallions with white wine vinaigrette. I could not find vadouvan powder, which Reese's recipe calls for, anywhere: not the small Indian grocery, not the mega international supermarket. She recommends ordering it online. Anyway, I substituted ordinary curry powder and the mac & cheese was perfectly edible, although probably not tasting the way it was supposed to. I used whole wheat macaroni because that was the only kind available at the Whole Foods. My husband said it was "really filling," which, he said, he meant as a compliment. It's funny because, if I said something was "really filling," I would consider it a drawback. The deep-fried eggplant was not a success-- it came out all swimming in oil again and will have to be baked and drained and blotted a lot more before it becomes edible. I am not good at deep-frying.
Snacks: 4 cups of coffee with half and half, 2 regular, 2 decaf. One of the cups of decaf had whipped cream on top. Some candy (a few Ghiradelli squares, a Tootsie roll--thanks, Mom--, a Lindt truffle). Another handful of pistachios when I got home from the hike. Eggnog with rum after dinner.
Dec 30
Breakfast: leftover cranberry sauce, leftover spaghetti with tomato-hazelnut sauce.
Lunch (before work, 10 am): Leftover macaroni and cheese, leftover deep-fried eggplant (I blotted it, baked it, blotted it again, transferred to a different pan, and baked it some more, and blotted it some more. Now sort of edible).
Dinner: Madhur Jaffrey's Eggplant with Minty Tomato Sauce and Yogurt (goddamn it, why does this woman love eggplant so much?); white rice; chicken breasts braised in butter, chicken broth, garlic, onion, ginger, and lots of fresh basil; salad of arugula, tomato, and ricotta salata cheese, with red wine vinaigrette. The eggplant involved deep-frying large slices again, and had more or less the same oily result. I don't understand how there could be any other result, frankly. I turned up the heat enough that it constantly splattered me, and the eggplant was just slightly more edible. But only slightly. The addition of some tomato sauce and yogurt at least distracted me from the oiliness. On the other hand, it means I can't rebake the hell out of the eggplant the next day.
Snacks: 4 cups of coffee, 2 regular, 2 decaf, with half and half, and whipped cream on one cup of the decaf. About 2/3 of a dark chocolate Ritter Sport bar when I got home from work at 5:30, which was really too much to have before dinner. I was starving, and then I was distinctly not starving. Eggnog with rum in it while watching TV (slightly belated Doctor Who) after dinner.
Breakfast: leftover cranberry sauce, leftover pasta with tomato and hazelnuts.
Lunch (really just a snack eaten at the midpoint of a hike with my daughter): a few pistachios, a few hazelnuts, one dried peach.
Dinner: Jennifer Reese's Vadouvan Mac 'N' Cheese (from Make the Bread, Buy the Butter); Madhur Jaffrey's Deep-Fried Eggplant Slices; salad of romaine lettuce, basil, tomato, and scallions with white wine vinaigrette. I could not find vadouvan powder, which Reese's recipe calls for, anywhere: not the small Indian grocery, not the mega international supermarket. She recommends ordering it online. Anyway, I substituted ordinary curry powder and the mac & cheese was perfectly edible, although probably not tasting the way it was supposed to. I used whole wheat macaroni because that was the only kind available at the Whole Foods. My husband said it was "really filling," which, he said, he meant as a compliment. It's funny because, if I said something was "really filling," I would consider it a drawback. The deep-fried eggplant was not a success-- it came out all swimming in oil again and will have to be baked and drained and blotted a lot more before it becomes edible. I am not good at deep-frying.
Snacks: 4 cups of coffee with half and half, 2 regular, 2 decaf. One of the cups of decaf had whipped cream on top. Some candy (a few Ghiradelli squares, a Tootsie roll--thanks, Mom--, a Lindt truffle). Another handful of pistachios when I got home from the hike. Eggnog with rum after dinner.
Dec 30
Breakfast: leftover cranberry sauce, leftover spaghetti with tomato-hazelnut sauce.
Lunch (before work, 10 am): Leftover macaroni and cheese, leftover deep-fried eggplant (I blotted it, baked it, blotted it again, transferred to a different pan, and baked it some more, and blotted it some more. Now sort of edible).
Dinner: Madhur Jaffrey's Eggplant with Minty Tomato Sauce and Yogurt (goddamn it, why does this woman love eggplant so much?); white rice; chicken breasts braised in butter, chicken broth, garlic, onion, ginger, and lots of fresh basil; salad of arugula, tomato, and ricotta salata cheese, with red wine vinaigrette. The eggplant involved deep-frying large slices again, and had more or less the same oily result. I don't understand how there could be any other result, frankly. I turned up the heat enough that it constantly splattered me, and the eggplant was just slightly more edible. But only slightly. The addition of some tomato sauce and yogurt at least distracted me from the oiliness. On the other hand, it means I can't rebake the hell out of the eggplant the next day.
Snacks: 4 cups of coffee, 2 regular, 2 decaf, with half and half, and whipped cream on one cup of the decaf. About 2/3 of a dark chocolate Ritter Sport bar when I got home from work at 5:30, which was really too much to have before dinner. I was starving, and then I was distinctly not starving. Eggnog with rum in it while watching TV (slightly belated Doctor Who) after dinner.