6.8.2014 | TI8

Breakfast: Shredded Wheat and grapefruit juice.

Morning snack:  Apricot pie.

Lunch Burrito at Chipotle.

Afternoon snack:  Cake scraps.

Dinner:  Thailand Restaurant in Mill Valley.  After hiking at Muir Woods, we really wanted some Thai food;  this was the closest spot with the best reviews.  The food was fine, but I wouldn’t rush back. 

Dessert:  Birthday cake!

6.7.2014 | TI8

Breakfast: Shredded Wheat and grapefruit juice.

Morning snack:  Yogurt.

Lunch Roast beef and rocket sandwich, apple slices.

Afternoon snack:  Apricots.

Dinner:  Burrito bowls.  We didn’t realize we were out of salsa, which was a total bummer, but at least we had guacamole.  Phew.

Dessert:  Apricot pie with ice cream.  I love summer fruit.

6.6.2014 | TI8

Breakfast: Shredded Wheat and grapefruit juice.

Morning snack:  Yogurt.

Lunch Leftover Ramen Noodle Soup.

Afternoon snack:  Apricot, apple, pecans.

Dinner:  Hawaiian Potluck at the kids’ school.  Can’t believe the school year is almost finished.

6.5.2014 | TI8

THURSDAY I ATE:

Breakfast: Chocolate croissant at The Beach Monkey Cafe in Pacifica

LunchSandwich from Gherkin’s Sandwich Shop in Montara (big day for eating; OST teambuilding trip). I ordered the “West Coaster” a chicken, bacon, avocado monster. It was really good, but I resisted my natural inclination to skip the sourdough roll and that was a mistake. Sourdough rolls are one of the biggest sandwich fails. The bread tastes great, but it is so much tougher than the filling that it’s impossible to bite without squeezing all the sandwichy goodness out.

Afternoon snack: Coke Zero.

Dinner: Split a BBQ beef sandwich from Costco.

Dessert: More of the doughnut cake.

6.3.2014 | TI8

TUESDAY I ATE:

Breakfast: Grapenuts with cranberry juice

Lunch: Another attempt at the roast beef and rocket sandwich. Basically, I just dumped in more horseradish that I drained a bit. Getting closer.

Afternoon snack: A few little Dove chocolates. Coke Zero

Dinner: Grilled buttermilk chicken. This is a go-to… need to post this recipe.

6.2.2014 | TI8

MONDAY I ATE:

Breakfast: Grapenuts with cranberry juice

Lunch: Roast-beef sandwich on salted caraway seed bun. I miss a whole lot of things about our old home in Friday Harbor. One of them is the “Roast Beef and Rocket” sandwich from The Market Chef. This was a perfect combination of flavors: thinly sliced rare roast beef, crisp arugula, a salty caraway-seed bun, and a tangy horseradish sauce. (It should be noted that the original version of this sandwich also includes some sort of olive tapenade… since I think olives are nasty, I always suffered the withering stares at the counter as I ordered it without). But here’s the rub: I can’t figure out the horseradish sauce. Suzanne surmised that it is probably sour cream and horseradish. I’ve tried it 3 times now, using prepared horseradish. The first time, it was bland, the second time I added more horseradish sauce, but that made it runny and gross. This time I set the horseradish on a paper towel to drain before adding. This got the texture right, but it was back to being bland. I’m thinking of looking  for some sort of dried horseradish powder so I can just keep dumping it in until it has a real bite. Fortunately, I’m going back to Friday Harbor in a couple of weeks and can try out a couple “RBR-no olives” from the source.

Afternoon snack: Chocolate chip cookie from Bittersweet. After eating my poor imitation of the roast beef and rocket sandwich, I started thinking more about The Market Chef. The sandwiches are good and all, but the chocolate chip cookies are something else. They have just the right balance of crunchy outer skin with a chewy matrix holding the chips and an unusually bold caramel tinge that I love.  I would often structure my day so that any errands I needed to do for work got done at cookie time. Bittersweet has pretty good cookies, to. As might be expected, their chocolate chips are out of this world, but their dough is inconsistent. Today was one of the good days; they were caramel-y and chewy, though the dough was thinner than  the chips, which isn’t my preference. So, a distant second choice compared to my favorites 1,500 miles away, but still made for a great afternoon.

Dinner: Mac-n-cheese. Always a crowd pleaser.

Dessert: Jelly doughnut cake… Suzanne has been experimenting with this one based on pins like this. Pretty much nailed it:

Jelly doughnut cake  fail

6.1.2014 | TI8

SUNDAY I ATE:

Breakfast: Grapenuts with cranberry juice

LunchTuna sandwich on fresh-baked seed buns

Afternoon snack: Cookies purchased from Eliza and Amelia’s roadside cookie stand

Dinner: Gorgonzola-stuffed burgers on caraway-seed bun. Alongside roasted potatoes.

5.31.2014 | TI8

SATURDAY I ATE:

Breakfast: Chocolate-Chocolate Chip pancakes from The Joy of Cooking. Except that I only added the egg yolks because I mis-read the recipe and had already thrown out the whites. Frankly, this whole separating eggs for breakfast food is bullshit. Seriously. Maybe it makes whatever you’re make a bit fluffier. Maybe it gets you props around America’s Test Kitchen. But for the rest of us, it gets an extra bowl or two dirty, it takes time, and it really doesn’t change the outcome much. I not only didn’t separate them, I threw the whites away, and the pancakes were pretty good.

LunchTurkey sandwich with salami and guacamole

Afternoon snack: More of that experimental doughnut thing

Dinner: Leftover pasta

Dessert: More of that experimental doughnut thing

5.30.2014 | TI8

FRIDAY I ATE:

Breakfast: Grapenuts with cranberry juice

LunchLeftover pulled pork

Afternoon snack: The usual. Some candy and a Coke Zero.

Dinner: Pasta with lemon and artichoke hearts from “I wish I Could Eat  Pasta Every Night”

Dessert: Experimental custard filled donut cake. The Bismarck. Color me Happy.

5.28.14 | TI8

WEDNESDAY I ATE:

Breakfast: Forgot

LunchMolcajete (1734 Webster st. Oakland, CA). Great Mexican food. Much more than a quick burrito, this was quite impressively flavorful. That sort of deep flavor where several chews into a bit you realize there is the hint of another spice you didn’t notice earlier. The burrito was small, but incredible.  I was a bit surprised how full I got, actually…

Afternoon snack: Dulce de Leche cake, thanks to Eve. This was one of those delectable bombs that, combined with a burrito, made me mighty sleepy.

dulce de leche cake

Dinner: Very small spinach salad. See above.

Dessert: Salted caramel cupcake from the Virginia Bakery. Leftover from the last girl scout meeting.