Weekend Report (HI, I'M A PANCAKE. F@CK YOU!)

FRIDAY
No school today, but woke up extra early to get ready for the 3am call the next day. Spent the morning making mise for a future meal. Made 6 servings of pizza dough to do a three-day cold rise in the fridge. To get rid of the chocolate from school lying around, cooked up a batch of soy-based daily ice cream, only this time using the good milk instead of soy milk, which was not on hand.

AM SNACK: 5:30am, small handful of chocolate pistoles, hunger 3/5

BREAKFAST: 7:30am, fruit smoothie, 1.5 bowls, hunger 4/5
Base of whole milk and good yogurt, banana, handfuls of cherries, grapes and blueberries, ice. Forgot the wheat germ and honey. Surprisingly good. Want to get a food processor to purée the fruit properly, then incorporate.

LUNCH: 2pm, handful of baby carrots, shrimp stirfried with unsalted stringbeans and criminis with adame, 2 ears boiled corn with butter and salt, grape soda, 2.5 bowls, hunger 4/5
On assignment from Ilsa, I was to cook a vegetable with a seaweed product replacing salt. I picked up this dried black weed stuff from Whole Foods, which I needed to soak before throwing in the stir-fry. I used sesame oil for the strong nutty flavor, along with diced shallots. It did taste briefly undersalted, but once I got some of the weed in my mouth, it actually tasted pretty good, huh.

DINNER: 6pm, mushroom pate, mushroom spaetzle, chocolate caramel tarte with chocolate sorbet, 2 pieces bread and butter, water, 1.5 bowl, hunger 3/5

SATURDAY
Up at 3am with my friend E. Rode to the start at Penn Station. E needed cigarettes and caffeine, and did not want to wait on line for the free coffee. So we shuffled over to McDonald's in our bike gear and waited in line with all the drunk, crazy and flagrantly omnisexual customers -- the line at a midtown McDonald's at 4 in the morning is hardly typical.

I haven't eaten anything from McD's in quite a while. I ordered the pancakes and sausage, which came in an old-school styrofoam clamshell. The last time I had pancakes and sausage at McDonald's, it was really early in the morning, I was with my mom, and we were waiting with a bunch of women for a bus to take us to Washington DC to march for a woman's right to choice. In an early morning pinch, crap is ok. However, today these pancakes tasted artificially tender, like a soft side of rubber, and the flavor was really LOUD, like HI, I'M A PANCAKE. F@CK YOU! Like a cartoon drawing of a pancake, instead of the real thing.

As you can see by the list below, during the bike ride to Montauk, just kept on piling it in at the rest stops. Not without thought, but with a very specific goal of a) keeping my bloodsugar level and b) never getting hungry. One thing not listed was about 120oz of water, which was a constant through the ride, due to a hydration pack on my back -- they look geeky and but it keeps me level.

One thing I did NOT eat on this ride, which I usually do, is Gatorade. After Ilsa admonished me that this stuff is just liquid candy with salt, I played around with alternatives, but none were really effective other than....lots of water and the right amount of food.

One big mistake I made was over-indulging in the food at the end. E was pretty miserable and crying because she forgot to refill her water bottle 25 miles back, and maybe hit the ride a little bit too hard early on and didn't save any juice for the end. I was up and running about shoving down as much food as possible, and got down a big plate of pasta and, uh, four burgers. The burgers were in a braising liquid, and were nice and juicy. When we got back to the hotel, I did not move far from the toilet until the next morning. Lesson learned: when my body is compromised (by, say, a lack of sleep and riding 109 miles on a bicycle), do NOT eat chopped meat.

AM SNACK: 3:15am, banana, hunger 2/5

AM SNACK: 4:15am, 1 Boston creme donut, one piece of poundcake, .5 bowl, hunger 3/5

AM SNACK: 4:45am, one half of a McDonalds pancake and sausage, .5 bowl, hunger 3/5

AM SNACK: 6:30am, one chocolate donut, .33 bowl, hunger 3/5

AM SNACK: 8:30am, 2 pieces of olive focaccia, pbj on graham crackers, handful of chocolates, 1.5 bowls, hunger 4/5

AM SNACK: 10:30am, 1 piece of focaccia, pbj on graham crackers, handful of chocolates, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 12:30pm, 2 large pieces of apple pie, whipped cream, 1.5 bowls, hunger 4/5

LINNER: 2:30pm, 4 small juicy hamburgers, plate of pasta in meat sauce, 1 beer, 2 bowls, hunger 4/5

EVENING SNACK: 9pm, portion of french fries, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

SUNDAY
Lazy day in Montauk. Went to a popular pancake house for breakfast, was surprised to find that the pancakes were strictly mediocre. In fact, all the food in Montauk kinda sucked. Rich people have low standards, as long as it's expensive.

BREAKFAST: 8am, 2.5 pancakes with bacon and home fries, apple juice, 2.5 bowls, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 1pm, fried fish sandwich with fries, large icecream sunday, 2.5 bowls, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 6:30pm, slice of streetza, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 7:30pm, half a rib plate, 1.5 bowls, hunger 4/5