My office (not our clinic but specifically my office in the clinic) didn’t have power for two painful days this week and it made things a little crazy.  Fingers crossed, I think we have the problem fixed for good now.

My head was kind of all over the place – I accidentally ate pizza three meals in a row, Monday dinner through Tuesday lunch! – so I don’t have a ton to share, but I am pretty jazzed about the things I did photograph…

breakfast

I made amazing cold brew this week.

Starbucks espresso roast (in this ratio) with maple cinnamon sugar dumped in with the grounds.

I wish I had a bigger French press because day 2 of leftover coffee was just as delicious.

With a yummy Sonya apple.

Coffee and cereal from the cafeteria.

That coffee contained a horrifying amount of sugar; the sugar lid popped off while I was pouring and I didn’t have time to get back in line.  I totally drank it, but I’m taking it as a sign that I should just go back to not putting sugar in my coffee.  (I used to sugar 1/10 times and lately it’s been more like 8/10.)

Coffee with dried Jackfruit and chocolate milk.  Speaking of the sweet stuff, it’s amazing that I didn’t get a headache from this sugar bomb breakfast.

No granulated sugar but I did do two pumps of cinnamon dolce – and an extra shot of espresso! – since this was a freebie cash-in.

lunch

You’ll spot tea in all of my lunch pictures, so I’ll start by mentioning the sweet box I received from AriZona.

Please note – I received the tea free of charge to review.  I was not provided further compensation for this post.  All opinions are my own.

They recently launched a new line of OAK Reserve Teas – black tea steeped with American Oak chips during brewing.  I am pretty picky about black tea, but I have to say that I loved these!  I was very impressed.  I was expecting the flavor to be smoky, but it was more woodsy?!  The lemon was my favorite; mellow versus sour and the citrus played nicely off of the oak.  They are made with maple sugar and that flavor definitely comes through in a pleasing way.  The lemon and lightly sweetened both have 75 calories and 22 mg of caffeine per bottle, which I think makes them an ok candidate for an “everyday drink.”  The unsweetened has zero calories, and rather than adding fake sugars they let the tea stand on its own.  <– love!  I am obsessed with the fact that manufacturers make “diet” drinks with nonnutritive sweeteners versus occasionally just cutting back on or leaving out the sugar entirely

The PR rep sent me a recipe for a cocktail that sounds pretty darn yummy (look at the bottom of this post), but Adam just dumped some Johnny Walker into the lemon variety one evening and was quite pleased with the final result.  We both plan on purchasing the teas with our own money once this very generous shipment runs out.

Back to lunch.  Oikos Caramel Macchiato Greek Yogurt with 2 dapple pluots and KIND Banana Nut Clusters.

This lunch was great.  The granola (a former freebie) was wonderful; the best variety of KIND granola that I’ve had yet.  The banana came through strongly but not at all in that fake “banana” flavoring way.  I was kind of shocked by how much I enjoyed it.  I am excited to eat more of all of these lunch components again.

Chocolate Strawberry yogurt (I guess this flavor is new?) with blueberries and pomegranate.

I never think about pomegranate for my lunch yogurts, but the little pops were delightful.

Chobani Coconut 2% Greek Yogurt with blueberry, pomegranate, and roasted coconut chips.

Best lunch of the week.

snacks

This happened more than once…

I am basically heartbroken to have eaten the last of my Chinatown crème brulee (or maybe coffee?) flavored hard candies.

Pea protein chips from my 2nd Urthbox.

Guava and cheese empanada on the train.

dinner

Is anyone at all surprised that we ate Chipotle for dinner?

My usual salad combo.

Not a lot to share in this category this week.  You know we did Chipotle a 2nd night too. One night I ate pizza.  And tonight (I’m writing to you from Thursday) I made a spinach salad with blue cheese, sweet and spicy pecans, dried cranberries, and lavender salt.

It’s packed to-go because one of the husband’s friends invited us over for dinner.  I am super awkward about taking food photographs in front of new people, so that’s all she wrote!

Oaked Cocktail Recipe

• 1 oz Amaretto Liqeuer
• 2 oz AriZona OAK Brewed Tea  (Emily note – use the unsweetened variety or skip the sugar)
• 2 Tbsp sugar
• 1 oz lemon juice
• 1 mint sprig