I done drank the Kool-Aid
… the kale and beet Kool-Aid. Five days in and it turns out I love Tracy’s diet as much as I love her exercise method: no hunger pangs, plenty of energy, no caffeine headaches (not sure how I lucked out on that one), and don’t mean to brag (don’t mean to boast) but my tummy is as flat as, uh, one would expect after five days of a no-salt, no-carb, no-dairy, low-sugar, virtually-fat-free diet.
My appetite has (inevitably) decreased and for the last couples nights I found myself not even wanting to finish my 4 alloted ounces of chocolate-coconut pudding. I also skipped my blueberry applesauce on Wednesday. But keep in mind that on that day, because of shin splints, I didn’t work out at all — and this diet is designed to fuel about 1 hour of exercise per day. Unlike more extreme cleanses (looking at you, Master Nap).
In short, I’d recommend it to anyone. If you follow my advice about the wacky recipes (below) groceries should cost no more than $100. It does take a few hours of prep the day before you start (if you choose to prep in bulk) and then juicing every day (if you’re making your own) — but as someone who cooks and makes her own brown bag lunches, this was no biggie. It’s much cheaper than Blueprint and L.O.V.E cleanses and it has a lot more bearing to, y’know, real life. I’ll definitely be taking a few lessons back to the real world….
Now friends, don’t laugh….
I’m doing Tracy’s “baby food diet” next week, also known (rather more respectably) as her “performance cleanse.” It’s detailed in her book, 30-Day Method, which I wrote about here. I’ll be in New Orleans in two weeks wearing this size wee dress to a wedding — and I’d rather arrive small, go home big, if you know what I’m sayin’.
The diet will involve small portions of kind-of food for five days: kiwi “dessert,” blueberry applesauce, kale spinach beet juice, edamame & carrot puree, gazpacho, sweet potato corn pudding, kale juice, chicken protein soup, and chocolate chestnut pudding (which might have to be chocolate tofu pudding because I don’t think you can buy chestnuts this time of year).
Rather annoyingly, the recipes in the book are for single portions. Do they really expect us to steam, puree, and juice ten times a day — on top of an hour of exercise?
My plan is to make all the food on Sunday and then make the juices every day. (As I learned in my one and only juice diet, the time spent making juice and cleaning the dang juicer is the most aggravating part — aside from your boyfriend totally not understanding the concept and making you romantic candlelit dinners.)
Anyway, wish me luck! I’m dreading the caffeine withdrawal but otherwise sort-of looking forward to sort-of food. Oh and also — I won’t be calling it a cleanse. It’s a fucking diet.
This is the meal that preceded that very-Proustian dessert … lobster from the Red Hook Lobster Pound poached and sauteed in clarified butter, North Fork corn with sriracha, Sep’s beets with passionfruit vinegar, and delicate baby carrots from the Stone Barns farmer’s market. All by M.; I handled the side salad and the first course: cucumber and watermelon salad with basil from our garden, ricotta salata, a balsamic vinaigrette, and plenty of freshly ground pepper (inspired by…).
We were bidding farewell to his mom, who is heading back to her home in Bangalore after an extended stay in NYC. It was such a pleasure to get to know her — and next time, in India! (!!!!!!)
07.07.2010, 9 pm. East Village.
You know how I feel about cupcakes and you know how I feel about beets.
So how do I feel about Flourless Beet Chocolate Cupcakes with Whipped Cream?
Well, gee. I don’t know, but I’d sure like to find out.
PS: All the cupcakes on the site look (yes) freakin’ amazing. And there’s cookies too! (Now we’re talkin’.)
(Hat tip to Cup of Jo.)
Photos from Tasteologie’s CMYK Cocktail event, which paired cocktails and amuse-bouche inspired by the color model. Each color was “toasted” by a designer, industrial or otherwise (one of whom was color-blind!).
M.’s cocktail contribution kicked off the evening: the Pearly Gates to represent white (not to be confused with the yellow cocktail, a bergamot and gin affair, that he’s presenting above). Brian Sullivan, a Corton pastry chef, blew my mind with the black amouse: black sesame ganache with smoked banana foam, pickled cherry, and honey granules. I had two. I could have had more but SoHo frowns on piggies.
Also of note was the venison carpacio with Mast Brothers cocoa nib cream and puffed rice, served alongside a clever rum cocktail that turned magenta when you punctured a floating sphere of beet. I had three of those (the venison, not the cocktail). SoHo bedamned.
Twice makes it a tradition: we went to Clover Club for brunch on his birthday last year, and went again yesterday. I had the Barman’s Bloody, house-cured (beet-cured!) smoked salmon on potato cakes, and a Sloe & Lo for good measure. Love that place.
I’m rather crazy about beets but would have never thought to combine them with that other thing I’m rather crazy about (liquor) until that guy I’m rather crazy about (one letter, rhymes with “phlegm”) ordered a beet sangria at Tailor. Beetalicious.
I vant to suck your blood!
Beet, carrot, and ginger juice — pre-workout snack yesterday evening.
The diet’s been going fine — though I totally cheated (more on that later) — except I’ve had killer headaches. Yesterday’s started around 2 pm and lasted the rest of the day. Today’s kicked in a couple hours ago.
My only explanation is caffeine withdrawal.
So I’m not getting any kind of juice fast high; I don’t feel clear-headed or full of health. I’ve got energy and I’m not at all hungry, but my head feels like it’s stuck between two vice grips.
Yay.
I’m doing a juice fast today through Wednesday. These are most of my ingredients. Not pictured: ginger, lemons, parsley, and other herbs from M.’s garden. (I’m using the rice protein powder and almond milk to thicken fruit smoothies. I’ve had the liquid chlorophyll in my fridge for ages, and figured I’d really gild the lilly and add it to green juices.)
I think I’m going to have a salad for dinner. I was satisfied with my breakfast smoothie, positively delighted with my kale-broccoli-carrot-apple juice for lunch, and I’m looking forward to a post-work, pre-Tracy beet-carrot-celery-ginger juice — but I can’t shake the feeling that juicing is a waste of great ingredients.
Moreover, how lame would it be to sip juice while M. eats his dinner? Not very neighborly.
The dinner was the debut of Cathy and Akiko’s Hapa Kitchen, a supper club. (“Hapa” is a Hawaiian word for a half-Asian person.) The food — a homage to lamb and other fruits of spring, as well as Asian and Western cuisines — was the best of Akiko’s I’ve eaten, and that’s saying a great deal.
Pictured above: the first course, lamb and pork belly lettuce satay with pickled carrots, daikon, and cabbage, and a spicy almond-ginger sauce.
Pictured below: the second course, lamb gyoka/jiaozi with apples and beet-stained honey-sweetened yogurt sauce. (Akiko confessed that she amused herself by including pink or purple in four out of five courses. Very “Hello Kitty.”)
And below is the fifth course, curry-carrot ice cream garnished with a cinnamon-sugar dosa and ginger whipcream.
Jessica passed around little cards for guests to send their comments and congratulations to the chef. Very clever idea.
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