Food Diary - What I Ate in a Week.

It has been a while since I recorded a food diary (aka What I Eat in a Week).

Last week I was at home all week so I thought it was as good a time as any to again write my very own version of New York Magazine's Grub Street Diet (grubstreet.com).

Friday.

(I realise it's a little odd starting the week on a Friday but next Friday I have a dental appointment and nobody will want to read about cold drinks and mushy food!).

I hardly ever eat breakfast but I always have a variety of drinks each morning - a liquid breakfast as it were. Currently I have a bit of a thing for Coconut Water so today as soon as I roll out of bed I have a glass while waiting for the kettle to boil. Once boiled it's a big mug of PG Tips Tea with half a sugar and no milk. (I'm very happy that I can now buy PG Tips easily on Amazon Prime at a reasonable price rather than having to get them smuggled in from England or pay an extortionate amount for them!)

A little later I have a mug of French Press coffee, no fancy blend or anything it's Choc full o' Nuts French Roast. Every time people come to our house and drink coffee they always say how good it is and I'm happy with it as my 'everyday coffee in a mug' too.

I returned home from a work trip last night and had a big steak and potato dinner so I don't want to eat anything before I go into the city to run some errands and buy food for what will hopefully be a lighter dinner at home tonight. 

When I'm heading home in the early afternoon I realise that I haven't eaten and should pick up something. I decide to indulge in one of my guilty pleasures and I stop at the Golden Krust Bakery on 14th Street and grab two of their

Jamaican spicy beef patties. They are almost always too hot to eat straight away so I save them until I get home when they are just right - so good! 

Later in the afternoon I have another French Press coffee and a Tunnock's Caramel Wafer which is a Scottish chocolate bar/ biscuit - wafers layered together with caramel then dipped in milk chocolate. I've made it sound more decadent than it really is, it's actually rather spartan but it's a favourite cheap British sweet snack of mine.

 Earlier I bought a mighty fine looking piece of cod in WholeFoods so after having a Six Point Sweet Action beer I portion it up and rub it with some jerk spices. (I'm didn't intentionally  set out to eat Jamaican all day today, it was just the first spice I grabbed from the cupboard!) sear it, pop it in the oven and make a simple salad of arugula and tomatoes, the whole thing gets a spritz of lime juice and some olive oil, it's a quick, simple, delicious dinner. Afterwards I have a glass of Cotes du Rhones and then I'm away to bed.

Saturday.

I have my usual mug of tea followed by a mug of coffee, no juice today. 

We go out for a walk and by the time I get back I'm so hungry I need to eat something right now or else! Lunch ends up being two bowls of raisin bran (except it has dried cranberries in it instead of raisins... craisin bran?!?) with cashew milk, a plain Greek yoghurt with a dash of maple syrup and a hard boiled egg.  

Early evening we go out to the cinema in Union Square where we see Trainspotting 2. It's hilarious and we love it. After the film we walk over to Taverna Kyclades on First Avenue which is rammed so it's a fair old wait for a table as it is Saturday night. We sit it out with a Mythos beer at the bar and when we do finally get seated we attack a plate of mixed dips, horiatiki salad, grilled octopus and sausages. It's all delicious, especially the skordalia dip and octopus and we have a bottle of Greek red wine with it. We pass on the free mini desert -it's too late and we are too full.

Sunday.

Tea and coffee no juice.

We are in downtown Jersey City around lunchtime and I'm craving something Asian so we stop at Sawadee. I order what I always have in a Thai place: Tom Yum Soup and Chili Basil Squid (actually I'm exaggerating, occasionally I will swap out the squid for Massaman Curry). We get served huge portions but flavourwise everything is a bit disappointing as it's a little bland. I feel as if I'm about to get a cold and I wanted a good blast of chili to get it out of my system but this didn't quite hit the spot.

For Sunday dinner I dry rub and roast a slab of baby back ribs and cook up a big pot of vinegary collard greens. While it's cooking I have a Sweet Action to ease into the evening. I crack open some PBR's to have with dinner and it's the perfect meal!

Monday.

I wake up stupidly early and have a glass of coconut water then go back to bed first with a mug of tea and then with a mug of coffee and read. I spend the morning running errands and doing a big supermarket shop. When I get back home I have another coffee and make a sub sandwich for lunch: ham, cheese, salami, roasted peppers, rucola and olive oil.

I spend the afternoon cooking and doing chores. At various times I stop for a can of La Croix (Lime), a coffee and a couple of Harrod's Peppermint Disks, which are chocolate peppermint creams like a very deluxe After Eight. They are lush!

For dinner we eat Aubergine Parmesan that I made this afternoon with a rucola and tomato salad. I drink another Sweet Action. Dinner hits the spot and I go to bed feeling virtuous after my meat free dinner - which sort of makes up for last night's rib feast.

Tuesday.

Coconut water, tea and two coffees. 

I'm off to Soho House for a facial and sauna late morning so I have a bowl of (c)raisin bran with cashew milk before I go. I have a glass of herbal tea between my sauna and facial and leave feeling dreamy and rested - which lasts for about five minutes when I hit the hustle and bustle of the street. 

I had planned to have a quick lunch somewhere but I can't decide what I feel like, so I run some errands and buy food for a couple of meals at home. I go to Eataly to buy some meat and I grab a piece of foccacia with sausage and peppers which I eat as a very late lunch when I get home. It's very good, spicy and greasy, like a reworking of those street fair sausage and pepper rolls!

Dinner is kind of sophisticated for a Tuesday. I mix up a Steak Tartare and we eat it with a simple green salad and a Baguette from Kayser. We finish up the baguette with a cheeseboard and drink a Spanish Tempranillo.

Wednesday.

It's the usual again: coconut water, tea, and two coffees.

I'm at home all day today.  Lunch is simple, a toasted ham and cheese sandwich with plenty of Dijon mustard smeared on. Whilst I'm waiting for it to get browned and melt-y I snack on a handful of salt and pepper flavoured crisps and a couple of pickled onions from an almost empty jar that I spy in the back of the fridge. It's almost like a British pub lunch without the beer!

Yesterday I stopped by Dizengoff in Chelsea Market and bought a pint of their unbelievably good hummus which we have for dinner with some spicy lamb meatballs that I made, a big Greek salad and a sheet of Markouk village bread from Damascas Bakery which I toast over the gas flame on the stove's power burner. I have a PBR with dinner and we finish up last night's red wine before bed.

Thursday.

Same again first thing: coconut water, tea and two coffees.

I'm planning on having a last night's leftovers for lunch with a fried egg but end up having to dash out the house for work stuff. No time to eat at home so I run into Pret and grab a Greek Falafel Wrap to go which I eat when I get to work.

I go back home for a couple of hours in the afternoon before meeting my husband and going over to Williamsburg. We stop off at Fornello for a quick beer (Brooklyn Pilsner) and pizza (large sausage). I've only recently discovered Fornello and while it's not a hip cool pizza place it's a good quick option, the pizza is good and it is inexpensive.
After our early dinner we walk over to Warsaw and watch the Sleaford Mods. I have a tin of Zywieck beer and a plastic glass of red wine whilst there. I don't know what the wine is but it's a fair sized plastic glass and it is reasonably priced as far as a drink at a show goes. Warsaw is a great venue, one of my favourites - I like seeing music in unlikely places, it's not expensive and they even serve hot food.
After the show we head straight home. I've an early dental appointment and a day of cold soft food to look forward to tomorrow after all...