Leave it to Leonor #238

This week, I am thinking about food. Specifically, I'm thinking about Grub Street Diet. It is easily one of my favorite columns even when the person does a terrible job of eating anything interesting. (And shout out to my friend Sierra who used to wrangle all these eatin' folks!) The good ones are SO GOOD: Taffy, Samin, Alissa Nutting. (Do you have faves? Tell me which!) Last week they published Lisa Lucas' very relatable diet and a few weeks ago my colleague Silvia's sent me on a seltzer spiral. 

Since it is very unlikely that I will ever be famous enough to be asked for my own weekly record of meals, I've done a LITL: Grub Street Diet. While writing it, I realized that with the exception of Mamiche's birth story, this feels like the single most revealing thing I've ever included in the newsletter?? Food is so personal! And the days that I chronicled weirdly had very little cooking considering how COVID life has felt like moments in between cooking and meal planning? I also mostly didn't include any of the meal prep for Mamiche because even without reading it yet Nicole the Troll thinks this is too long. 

Thursday, May 13th 

I don't know what took me so long to make the switch from French press to a moka pot considering I grew up with the latter, but I've been happier with the stronger brew. I inherited a fancy ass milk foamer, step upfrom the little milk frother I used to use. Today, I heat up coffee in the fancy machine on the "au lait" setting even though, if I'm being honest, I don't know what that does. *SHRUG* It tastes delicious. I eat that and split a Zabar's croissant with my croissant-obsessed child. 

For my aunt's birthday, I got her Shelky's egg salad because that is the sort of family that we are. I also got some for myself because it is the best in Brooklyn (don't @ me). This perfect egg salad was as close as I got to a pregnancy craving. I love it so much. It has the perfect amount of pickle. I pile it on a toasted plain bagel for lunch. 

We had to finish up some leftovers, so tonight's dinner was cheesy polenta with crab cakes. The polenta got nice and crispy in the cast iron, which added a crunch factor. Ever since Silvia's GSD, I've been requiring seltzer with my meals. Just plain ass seltzer. None of those weird "flavors". I love a very very cold glass. I was fighting off a migraine, so I fell asleep without any dessert. 

Friday, May 14th 
I nearly burn my coffee this morning which sent a shot of adrenaline through my veins that was stronger than any caffeine. I heated up milk in my fancy foamer and had some Ritz crackers from Mamiche's stash. I also eat few blueberries as I am cutting them up for her. I typically like to eat more for breakfast or I get hangry, but I'm feeling a little hungover from the migraine. 

For lunch, while Mamiche ate a well rounded meal with vegetables, my mom, sister, and I ate the egg salad on toasted multigrain toast. We all snack on watermelon and grapes. I probably could've eaten another slice, but started to think about how I am turning 40 this summer and should probably be watching my cholesterol or whatever. My sister and I each eat a mini Tango while Mamiche is asleep. I'm constantly hiding sweets from her. 

 Since mid-pandemic, Friday is takeout night, but the weather is so insanely perfect that it would be criminal not to go out. Toddler life means we are seated at an outdoor table at 5 pm. Le Paddock is a cute spot with good food, very relaxed-French-like servers, and a slow kitchen. We order a lentil soup for Mamiche, plus the kale Caesar and truffle fries to start. On any other day, Mamiche loves lentil soup. Today, she’s decided that she is going to drink water with a spoon and only eat fries. I've learned to choose my battles, plus she ate a lot of lunch. I devour a lot of the salad and fries and by the time my cheeseburger gets there, I am mostly full. Usually, the burger is a good bet. But today the bun is over-toasted and is so crunchy that it makes me choke and cough. Normally, this would only be annoying. In COVID times? It is an intensely uncomfortable feeling. I want to tell everyone that it’s just the too-crunchy bun! Not a highly contagious disease! At home, after toddler bedtime, I have a few spoonfuls of Americone Dream, but am too full from dinner to have more.  

Saturday, May 15th 
I ate a lot of Cream of Wheat growing up and it’s been nice to having it back in the rotation. This morning, we make it with milk, cinnamon, nutmeg and bananas. 

We head up to the Bronx to see the Kusama show at the New York Botanic Gardens. We get there before our timed entry and walk over to the Italian bakeries to pick up a loaf of olive bread and some pastries. I normally do not love Italian cookies, but make an exception for pignoli and lace-y ones. We get a few of those and I get a tiny cannoli which I eat while my child isn't looking, like some sort of addict.  

At the gardens, we get boxed lunch. I have half a pastrami sandwich, half a turkey sandwich, and Miss Vickie's Sea Salt and Vinegar Chips. I eat most of the skin off an apple because Mamiche loves them, but not the skin and motherhood is GLAMOUROUS. I want to eat the chocolate chip cookie, but I do not want her to have a crazy sugar rush, so I leave it in the bag and think of it longingly as we walk around the gardens. 

We meet with up with Grandma and Auntie for dinner, but Mamiche has overextended toddler written all over her face, so rather than go out, we order in from a nearby spot. I'm exhausted and choose the salmon without really looking too closely at the menu. It's a place I've been to a lot, so I assume I know what it comes with. I am wrong. SO wrong. My perfectly cooked salmon comes with delicious brussels sprouts and a risotto. A leek and MUSHROOM risotto. MUSHROOM. My hatred of mushrooms is well known among people who know me well and not-so-well because I can never shut up about it. I hate them so much. It is a hatred born based on their abhorrent texture. Luckily these are big enough to pull out from the otherwise perfect risotto. I am too tired for dessert. 

Sunday, May 16th 
Today it is just me and the toddler, so my food plan is fueled by thoughts, prayers, and snacks. I have my usual coffee, but throw in an extra shot in for good measure. For breakfast, I eat peanut butter toast and a close-to-overripe banana. Lately, it seems impossible to keep up with the bananas. I feel like they've taken cues from avocados in terms of their mysterious ripening ways. After the playground, Mamiche asks for a croissant. Nicole the Troll has told me I can never deny her a croissant, so I use this as an excuse to get an iced latte from my local coffee shop. I'm so tired that I open a packet of sugar and pour it out into the trash. I think I am slick by ordering a slice of banana bread when I think she's not paying attention. We end up splitting it while sitting on a bench in the sun. It is very nice even though I am feeling beat. I think this new brand of tired is coming from the slow increase in socializing.