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Illustration: Margalit Cutler<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Padma Lakshmi\u2019s snow day last week was cozy, complete with chai with fresh honey from the beehive on her terrace.\u00a0It was, in the middle of a blizzard, the calm before another hectic storm: Her new CBS show, a chef battle called <\/em>America\u2019s Culinary Cup, premiered this week. Lakshmi reprises her role as competition host, but unlike on <\/em>Top Chef, her job as the show\u2019s creator means she has crafted every detail, down to the challenges to the set design to the judges. At home, her primary judge is her daughter Krishna, who often taste-tests her recipes. And she <\/em>will be honest. Lakshmi recalls the tedious process of making tamales: \u201cIt took me so long to get the corn husks and soak them, to get banana leaves, make the dough, make the chicken that went in the middle as a filling, fold it all together, tie it up in a neat package, steam it, take it out, serve it.\u201d Her daughter\u2019s review? \u201cNot bad.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Monday, February 23<\/strong> I have my usual swamp water of collagen, bhringraj (an Ayurvedic herb), and creatine whisked into tap water. Then a shot of elixir, which I make by blending a whole orange and lemon, a knob of turmeric and ginger, black pepper, and homemade honey from the bees upstairs. It\u2019s a bittersweet jolt I hope will stave off any malaise.<\/p>\n Around 8 a.m., it\u2019s time for a cup of masala chai with cream and honey. The first batch of emails awaits. Forty-five minutes later, I\u2019m off to the gym with a 32-ounce bottle of water with electrolytes and a protein shake.<\/p>\n For lunch, I use the broth from earlier to make a cauldron of ribollita, a recipe I\u2019ve honed since my 20s when I was modeling in Milan and Rome. Lots of Swiss chard and buttery white beans bob in a savory broth of tomato and vegetables. I have a giant bowl paired with crusty toasted sourdough bread slathered with Irish butter and Maldon salt, which I eat at my desk while on my third Zoom call. Thirty faces from CBS\u2019s marketing team look back at me as I crunch and slurp. I finally have the decency to mute myself.<\/p>\n I have a second cup of tea in the afternoon, same as in the morning: masala chai, cream, honey. Outside, the wind whirls, snow atomized. A couple hours later, I slice a Honeycrisp apple and eat it with a quarter cup of creamy peanut butter. A third cup of chai, but this time I forget the honey.<\/p>\n Around 6:30, I sip on a cup of hot dark chocolate, swirling in a cacao stick from Nicolas Nuvan. I also snack on a bombolone filled with Crema Toscana, which the Teen\u2019s best friend, Camilla, made for her birthday this past Friday. Since then, I\u2019ve eaten the majority of them. The snow still blows like we\u2019re at the North Pole.<\/p>\n I end up making dinner around 9 p.m. Even though there\u2019s fresh chicken broth, I defrost goat broth yielded from asun, a Nigerian spicy snack we made two weeks ago for a charades party. I toss in some Sun Noodle ramen along with leftover roasted veggies and cubed tofu marinated in soy and black vinegar and pan-seared with chile crisp. I smother a bowl of all this with fresh mint, cilantro and lime juice, drizzling some extra chili crisp over the top. Heaven in a blue bowl. I curl up in bed and turn on a rough cut of episode five of the new show as edit notes are due in the morning.<\/p>\n Tuesday, February 24<\/strong> Out and into the slush by 8:45 a.m. Mamdani has done a pretty good job with the sidewalks, and people are surprisingly cheerful. The halal cart is already humming, and the smell of tandoori chicken and frying onions trails behind me. I\u2019m already thinking about lunch. At 11:30, I down a 42-gram strawberry protein shake while in a fitting.<\/p>\n I dash home. I\u2019m starving, so I have a giant bowl of basmati rice and tadka dal with a side of string beans saut\u00e9ed in tomato and ginger. Pickles smuggled from Kerala and raita, too. It\u2019s comfort personified. The mint has blackened in the raita slightly, but it\u2019s still minty and cool, and the cucumbers retain their crunch. I sneak a bit of cucumber to Divina, our Chihuahua.<\/p>\n An hour later, I munch on some spiced Afghan nuts sent to the office in a PR box. I also pack some off in a care package to my mom in L.A. She had a health scare a few months ago but is on the mend. Still, hospital food is the pits.<\/p>\n Soon after, I head over to The<\/em> Daily Show<\/em>. Around 5:30, glam is glamming in the dressing room. I sample all the snacks in the basket they\u2019ve left for me with all their swag. You can tell a lot about a show based on the snacks in the dressing room: artisanal chips, delicious caramels, and some nougat or nut soft bar with a texture I cannot wrap my head around. Glam and entourage seem to like them, though. I down a Diet Coke, which is my usual emergency measure to try and wake up and be funny and informative. I hug Desi, the host. She is so slim and svelte in her gorgeous suit. I drop the candy in my hand immediately.<\/p>\n Afterward, around 8, the Teen and I drop by a cocktail party for an Oscar contender at Zero Bond<\/a>, where I have one glass of crisp Champagne. The Teen and I gobble a passing slider. It\u2019s not special, and we don\u2019t go back for seconds.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a school night, so we\u2019re home at ten. Realizing we didn\u2019t really eat dinner, we make nachos in the microwave. Not my finest hour of parenting. The nachos are gooey, warm, and tangy with pickled jalape\u00f1os smothered over the top. I wash this down with 16 ounces of Lactaid 2 percent milk.<\/p>\n Wednesday, February 25<\/strong> At 12:30, lunch is two bowls of leftover ribollita, no bread. I eat while on another Zoom call, then a podcast recording with Samantha Bee. Do we ever eat at the table anymore??<\/p>\n I have a third cup of chai. Not sure when, but I know<\/em> I had a second cup of chai somewhere. Another podcast recording. I grab another bombalone from under the glass cloche on the kitchen counter \u2014 they seem to be taunting me there every time I pass, like heroin on a platter. I take a bite, and the Crema Toscana oozes out like yellow lava onto my chest. Sugar and cinnamon dust are everywhere. It doesn\u2019t help that I have a dentist appointment this afternoon.<\/p>\n At 4:15 p.m., after a lecture about flossing, motorized water blasting, and<\/em> brushing, I stop to get a Butterfinger. Some kind of self-destructive revenge eating at its finest. I must be getting my period (yes, still!) because I\u2019m craving sugar, and I don\u2019t usually have a sweet tooth.<\/p>\n Back for an all-hands meeting at the office, where I sneak a wedge of a colleague\u2019s Cara Cara blood orange. Then I have another, hoping she doesn\u2019t notice the thievery. I remember I\u2019m not supposed to eat anything after the dentist \u2014 it\u2019s a little too late for that.<\/p>\n At 8:45 p.m., I\u2019m determined to have at least one goddamned meal at the table this week. The Teen and I have schnitzel dusted with a Gunpowder spice blend, a collab with Diaspora Co. that we\u2019ll resurrect in spring. We also have steamed buttered broccoli and mie goreng: rice noodles with veggies and tofu. I douse it all with homemade salsa macha.<\/p>\n Later, I sneak down to the kitchen to grab a bowl of H\u00e4agen-Dazs mint chocolate chip, but then opt for coffee ice cream. Really no way to go wrong here. These are my two favorite flavors of ice cream since the Coco Banana ice cream shop closed 30 years ago in Hacienda Heights. Back then, when I would hang out there in high school, my favorite was lychee. Tonight, I shave some salty dark chocolate from Hu with a microplane over the top of my bowl. Why not??<\/p>\n Thursday, February 26<\/strong><\/p>\n Same liquid trio as every morning. Today, I have a second cup of chai within minutes. First one didn\u2019t hit enough. Then an egg in a hole on sourdough with Maldon salt, olive oil, and Maggi Hot & Sweet sauce. Two cups of fresh pomegranate arils, too.<\/p>\n
A snowstorm has dusted New York overnight; at 7:30 a.m., it\u2019s quiet. The Teen has a snow day, so I let her sleep. On the stove, broth is already bubbling, and I dip in a cup to test its flavor before morning tea. Needs more black garlic. Perhaps half an apple for some stealth sweetness?<\/p>\n
The Teen has school today, so we\u2019re up early. Same liquid routine of elixir, swamp water, and tea by 8 a.m. I have a cup of Good Culture cottage cheese, which is nice and salty. I douse it with a cascade of pomegranate seeds, lovingly shelled by our nanny, Tashi.<\/p>\n
8 a.m. Elixir\u2013swamp water\u2013masala chai. Off to the gym with electrolyte water and a protein shake.<\/p>\n