[updated below]

Last week, Sam of Becks and Posh suggested a dare in which participants photograph everything they eat between Monday November 20 to Sunday November 26 (her week is here). And I thought, “why not?”

My Week of Eating
The picture above is the “everything” collage for the week; below I present daily collages with short descriptions. I didn’t travel for the holiday, so no airplane or road food. You might notice a lot of repetition — I typically cook two or three complex and (usually) delicious meals during the week, and eat the leftovers several times, either at the office for lunch or for dinner at home.
The “photograph everything” challenge definitely affected my eating while at the office. I’d be sitting at my desk in the office, and would consider going to my collection of snacks in the break room. But did I really want to get out my camera and drag that along with me? And what if someone walked in while I’m taking pictures of a pile of almonds or a few squares of chocolate from various angles? That would be weird.

Abbreviations: B = breakfast, S = snack, L = lunch, D = dinner, Ds = dessert.

B: Home-made pumpkin-pecan-spiral bread, one slice with butter, one with cream cheese (I’ll blog about this bread later in the week). One fuyu persimmon
S: Roasted and salted almonds
L: Saag paneer, spiced cauliflower in yogurt sauce, basmati rice, apple chutney. Dark chocolate (Lindt, 70%)
S: A PowerBar “Nut Natural” (I got it on sale for 20 cents. It wasn’t very good.)
S: Roasted and salted cashews
D: Enmoladas (corn tortillas dipped in a home-made mole negro sauce) topped with crema and queso anejo, cabbage and carrot salad with lime dressing, roasted butternut squash and potatoes, black beans, mango lassi (not pictured)

B: Pumpkin-pecan-spiral bread (one slice with butter, one with cream cheese). Pink lady apple
L: Saag paneer, spiced cauliflower in yogurt sauce, basmati rice, apple chutney. Bartlett pear
S: 2 squares of chocolate (Lindt, 70%)
S: Slice of pumpkin bread with butter
D: Enmoladas (corn tortillas dipped in a mole sauce), roasted butternut squash, cabbage and carrot salad with lime dressing, black beans, margarita (not pictured)
Ds: Vanilla ice cream topped with dulce de leche and toasted pecans

B: Pumpkin-pecan-spiral bread. One slice with butter, one with cream cheese. One fuyu persimmon.
S: Roasted and salted almonds
L: Enmoladas (corn tortillas dipped in a mole sauce), cabbage and carrot salad with lime dressing, black beans, 2 squares of chocolate (Lindt, 70%)
S: Roasted and salted cashews
D: Saag paneer, spiced cauliflower in yogurt sauce, basmati rice, 2 papadums

B: Pumpkin-pecan-spiral bread (one slice with butter, one with cream cheese). One navel orange
S: Handful of Trader Joe’s sesame sticks
L: Enmoladas (corn tortillas dipped in a mole sauce) topped with crema and queso anejo, roasted butternut squash, cabbage and carrot salad with lime dressing
S: Two slices of home-made multi-grain sunflower-seed bread with Bellwether pepato cheese
D: Tossing Thanksgiving traditions out the window. Cheese-less chanterelle mushroom souffle (I forgot to put in the cheese!), braised savoy cabbage, slice of multi-grain sunflower-seed bread, potato-leek-carrot soup, Granite Springs chardonnay (El Dorado County)
Ds: No pumpkin pie for me. Instead, crepes (all local ingredients, using whole wheat flour from Full Belly Farm) topped with applesauce, dulce de leche, toasted pecans, and Cowgirl Creamery creme fraiche

B: Pumpkin-pecan-spiral bread (one slice with butter, one with cream cheese). Bartlett pear
S: Handful of Trader Joe’s sesame sticks
L: Peanut butter and jelly sandwich (using homemade jam on homemade bread). A somewhat bland lunch, but the location made up for that: looking out over the Pacific Ocean at Pescadero State Beach
S: Lindt chocolate
D: Enmoladas (corn tortillas dipped in a mole sauce) topped with crema and queso anejo, roasted butternut squash, potato-leek-carrot soup, margarita (not shown)
Ds: Crepes (made with local whole wheat flour from Full Belly Farm) topped with applesauce, dulce de leche, toasted pecans, and Cowgirl Creamery creme fraiche

B: Two small slices of the pumpkin bread with cream cheese, one slice of multi-grain sunflower seed bread with butter and kaya jam (a coconut-egg custard infused with pandan leaf that is popular in Southeast Asia. This one was from Thailand.)
S: Handful of Trader Joe’s sesame sticks
L: Saag paneer, spiced cauliflower, basmati rice, masoor dal. A piece of homemade plum candy (recipe on page 125 of The Ferry Plaza Cookbook)
S: Lamb’s quarters and cheddar cheese quesadilla
D: Tortilla casserole of lamb’s quarters, roasted butternut squash, corn (frozen), cheddar cheese, and crema, with two sauces (roasted tomatillo-chipotle, and tomato-chipotle). Black beans. And a margarita

B: Two pieces of whole-grain sunflower-seed bread, one with peanut butter and plum jam, the other with butter and kaya jam. Bartlett pear
L: Chanterelle mushroom souffles, savoy cabbage, masoor dal.
S: Bowl of coconut-almond granola with milk
S: Bowl of potato-leek-carrot soup
D: Rice noodles with vegetables and tofu. Pink lady apple
Ds: Crepes topped with dulce de leche, creme fraiche, and brandy-stewed pear

Update:
After I wrote “that would be weird” about taking photos of my lunch, I thought a bit about it, and it seemed like it could be fodder for a sitcom. I first thought of Seinfeld, as one could easily imagine the main characters going overboard about something as trivial as a person taking pictures of his lunch. Imagine this:

[exterior shot of Jerry’s apartment building, the characteristic music playing]

Jerry: He was taking pictures of his lunch with an expensive camera? Right in the break room?

George: Yeah! Pictures! I could hardly believe my eyes! I had no idea what kinds of nuts worked in my office.

Kramer: You know, my friend Bob Sacamano had a cousin who was in a cult that took pictures of their food. Then his camera broke, he couldn’t eat without a picture, and he almost starved to death. That was trouble.

George: See what I mean? One day it’s just photos in the break room. Next week he’ll probably will he be recruiting me to join in? We gotta do something about this.

…and so on. Perhaps Elaine would volunteer to start dating this guy to see what is going on, and craziness would ensue. Or perhaps to get back at George, the photo guy uses the immense power of the blogosphere to temporarily close down the coffee shop, leading to a tirade from George: “I had to go to Reggie’s, Jerry! Reggie’s!.” (first heard at the end of “The Pool Guy“)