Weekend Report (Tenderloin Walkin')

On Sunday, I took a train with my bicycle to Garrison, rode to my parents' resting place, then down the Hudson Valley back to the Bronx. On the way, in Putnam Valley, a small front lawn off the street had a bird feeder hosting three cute-as-a-button deer. I stopped, watched them chewing the bird-cud, and wondered how hungry they must have been to expose themselves to traffic and spandex-clad cyclists. Also made me wonder how delicious their tender-loins could be....

I made two apple crumb pies on Saturday, one for a get-together with B's friend's that night, the other for a brunch that B hosted on Sunday. I used Chef Al's quick and easy pate brise recipe, which can be remembered by 1.5 + 1.5 = 3: 1.5 cups of AP flour, 1.5 sticks of butter, and 3 tablespoons of ice water, plus salt to taste. Chill flour, cube butter. Place all in food processor for about a minute, make into a powder. Press with fingers (the warmth from fingers should make it ball up). Add two tablespoons of sugar, put into a cylinder, wrap, and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

For the filling: 10 green granny smith apples were peeled, cored, and sliced thin (by mixer attachment). In a pan, heat sugar and lemon juice with water and cinnamon. As an experiment, I put in a shot of light corn syrup and one tablespoon of cornstarch dissolved in a little water, just to play with the mouth feel. Once it started boiling, it looked like it thickened, and I put the apples in the pan to heat and coat thoroughly.

Rolled out the dough into two rounds, covered two tins. Piled in the filling, then topped with crumb topping: butter, flour, sugar, and cinnamon blended in the mixer with the whisk attachment until it got really...apple-crumbly. Poured over the pies and baked for 60 minutes.

Consistent the crust was not. After laying in the first, the second got really thin to cover. On the thinner one, the crust was somewhat overwhelmed by the filling -- maybe I should have blind baked it? But the thicker one, the crust held up fine and tasted awesomely buttery. Chef Al's recipe worked.

Tomorrow begins the last full week of c-school.

SATURDAY
BREAKFAST: 9am, organic cheerios with good milk, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 1pm, sauteed shrimp with homemade pasta sauce and wholewheat pasta, organic cherry Italian ice, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5
This was perhaps the best pasta dish I ever made at home. The sauce was homemade a week ago and frozen, with shittakes in them to kick it up a notch. For a change, I butterflied the shrimp and dredged them in flour and sea salt before cooking off -- it gave them an interesting snap, and the butterflying made them curl up in a very restaurant kind of way. Once the pasta was boiled off, I put sauce in the pan and cooked the pasta further in the sauce to really grab and bond to it. Tossed in the shrimps, covered the top in freshly grated parm. I cooked up about half the bag of pasta, and when I was putting it into the bowl, I could hear Chef Al deriding me for serving him so much pasta -- only someone as 'large' as me should can eat THAT much pasta. So I left about 1/3 of the pasta behind (after picking it of shrimp and sauce), and it was quite enough. The cherry ice I picked up at Wholefood was only made with 5 ingredients - water, cane sugar, cherry puree, natural flavoring and citric acid. It was really good, looked purple instead of red, had a real nice flavor, but if I were to make it, I'd put in a shot of gelatin to make it just a little bit smoooother.

DINNER: 7pm, cheese and crackers, hummus, tabouli, 2 slices homemade apple pie, 2 glasses white wine, .25 bowls of food, .75 of pie, hunger 3/5
Dinner at A's house with B and two of her friends. Very low key, and not hungry due to great lunch. Lots of compliments, but I thought the pie was a bit disappointing.

SUNDAY
BREAKFAST: 4:45am, pancakes and bacon, .75 bowl, hunger 3/5
Wanted to eat strong for the ride, but only ate about 1/2 the amount of pancakes as usual, due to it being so damn early. Put the other half of the batter in the fridge, gonna cook 'em tomorrow to see how the flavor is.

BIKE POWER SNACK #1: 9:45am, small bag of potato chips, small bag of chocolate chip cookies, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Peekskill.

BIKE POWER SNACK #2: 11am-12pm, 20oz Gatorade, bag of corn chips, 1 bowl, hunger 3/5
Stopped in Ossening hoping for a farmer's market, but it wasn't there. Wasn't hungry enough to finish this small snack, but felt a lightness of head coming on.

BIKE WATERING: 8-3pm, 60oz

PM SNACK:3:15pm, bagel with hummus, water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Left overs from B's girlie brunch while I was gone.

PM SNACK: 4pm, apple pie, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Today's pie was much better than yesterday -- the crust was thicker, and held up against the apple goo.

DINNER: 5pm, beef & brocolli with brown rice, shrimp toast, water, 1.5 bowl
Perhaps the most reasonable meal I've had from Chinese takeout ever!