Salads, Berries, And Chocolate – Post Blizzard Eats

Fun fact about how old I feel – I spent an hour digging out my car on Sunday and it took until midweek before I could get up from my chair without audibly groaning.  This was my first year (ever!  I grew up on an island) having to do it and now I totally understand why so many people have heart attacks each winter.

daytime eats

The LIRR was still closed on Monday but thankfully Adam was around to drive me to work.  Silver lining – I spent extra time with the husband and we got to eat doughnuts for breakfast.

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I got an iced latte and a black sesame cream doughseed.

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Tuesday was much less exciting, coffee with vanilla almond milk and a piñata apple (Let’s be real though, I’m always excited about coffee!).

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And coffee with fat-free sweetened condensed milk in it is downright thrilling.  Plus a protein bar and a pear.

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More SCM love and more strawberry seltzer.

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Speaking of strawberry, this week’s tea – white strawberry.  This was a particularly pretty blend.

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The most exciting breakfast of all involved halo halo.  Plus cereal and chia seeds.  I’m still not sure if my Filipino coworker was impressed or horrified that I was putting it on plain Greek yogurt!

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I packed a couple homemade “instant” oatmeal bowls this week.  Rolled oats, nonfat milk powder, brown sugar, chia seeds, and pecans, mixed with hot water at work.  One day was freeze-dried raspberries with a peach on the side.

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The other was strawberries with a tangelo.

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I also brought in brownies!  I made a double batch of milk crumbs (from Milk Bar) and dumped them in my favorite brownie batter along with some caramel chocolate chips.  They got rave reviews from my coworkers.

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And apparently I missed them when they were gone because one day I bought chocolate cookies and an iced coffee for a train-ride snack.

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Lunches also included a slice of ridiculously overcooked veggie pizza.

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And a delicious salad topped with falafel and giant scoops of tzatziki and tabbouleh.

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nighttime eats

Adam had to take me home from work on Monday too – my train didn’t start running until the absolute last second on Tuesday morning – which meant we got to do a dinner date as well.  The streets were still crazy so we decided to eat wherever we could park.  We found a spot next to… Ramen Yebisu.

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I got the veggie miso ramen with shitake mushroom, scallion, onion, bamboo shoots, bean sprouts, and kelp.  With an egg on top.  It was good, but just couldn’t compare with the epic ramen they serve up the road at Chuko.

I went out on Thursday too.  I met up with friends for drinks and dinner after work.  Drinks were bourbon, lemonade, and iced tea slushies at Pork Slope.  Dinner was obscenely cheesy sandwiches at Melt Kraft.

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I got the Melter Skelter (<– ha!), raclette cheese, pickled green tomatoes, jalapeño, bbq chips, and watercress.

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So good.  The pickled tomatoes were a really nice contrast to the rich cheese and chips are always a good sandwich topping.

Another night, Adam ate leftovers and I ate a guava cheese empanada on the train.  We sat together for our salad course though.

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Arugula with sweet and spicy pecans, chia seeds, and golden raisins, dressed with lavender honey, evoo, balsamic, and lavender salt.

Plus we shared new gummies.

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My salad was spicy sweet and these were sour sweet.

I did manage to cook one real meal.  I put chicken breasts in the crockpot in the morning along with a jar of salsa and tons of chopped bell peppers and onion – plus a little bit of salt and evoo – and came home to this –

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Served with TJ’s Cuban black beans and tons of cheese on top.

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We have really been loving the crockpot this winter, all of our best chicken has come out of it.

One more day of work and then I’m spending my weekend being low-key and boring, running errands and catching up on tv.

Last Week’s Top Five

{1} Coffee, always.

Highlights include Starbucks while I grocery shopped last Monday.  The coffee was only ok, but getting to leisurely sip and shop on a weekday? Fabulous.

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Even better – a triple nonfat iced latte from the Stumptown in the Ace Hotel.

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It’s a neat spot and the espresso is fabulous, I highly recommend making a stop if you’re near Penn Station.

{2} Ramen with some of my favorite people

My Maryland aunt and cousin came into town for a quick visit and I met them at the train and needed to provide food, warmth, and NYC awesomeness – enter Chelsea Market for Ramen at Mok Bar.

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I got the ginger chicken ramen (Roasted ginger chicken broth, pulled chicken, cucumber and garlic chive kimchi) with an egg on top and we shared a few varieties of kimchi on the side.

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They are used to the cold, and are a walking family too, so they were totally down with a chilly 2+ mile stroll through Chelsea/LES to meet Adam.

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Including a stop at Sokerbit!

{3} Dinner at The Vandal

The Vandal is a new (ginormous) restaurant in the Bowery.  The menu is a mix of “street food” from a myriad of cultures and the décor is graffiti-style art on every wall.  There’s a coffee cart in the dining room and a bar in the basement.  It’s a fun spot.  My aunt has a family friend who is involved in the opening.

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Highlight of the night – my cousin was trying to describe who Chris Santos was to Adam just as Chris Santos walked up to our table to say hello.  It was hilarious and he was very sweet and friendly.

We shared everything so we could all taste lots of drinks and dishes.  The drinks menu is divided into Bright, Spiced, and Barrel-Aged and we ordered one from each section plus a yummy bottle of Spanish wine.

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My drink was the best, The Intervention = Gentleman Jack whiskey, plum, Aperol, lemon, and Spanish bitters.

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We ordered a few meat dishes that I didn’t eat.  Plus shrimp arepas with purple slaw and chipotle cream and cauliflower with picada sauce, olives, and hazelnuts.

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Wild mushroom pizza with caramelized onion.

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And brussels sprouts elote.

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All of the dishes were fantastic but the pizza (recommended by Chris Santos himself!) and cauliflower were everyone’s favorite.  It was a wonderful night.

{4} Americanized Halo Halo

My sweet Filipino coworker knows I’m in love with palm seeds and she brought me in giant jars of palm seeds and halo halo topping (boiled, sweetened mix of beans, coconut, jackfruit, etc).

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I’ve been putting it on pretty much everything, including this ridiculous sundae.

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Toasted almond gelato, halo halo, sweetened condensed milk, frosted flakes, and rainbow sprinkles.  I didn’t have shaved ice but otherwise it was pretty close to the real deal!

{5} Blizzard bowls

I didn’t do the best job of stocking up on food before the storm and we spent most of the weekend eating chicken nuggets.  I did manage to get it together for one healthy (yummy) meal.

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Steam/sautéed shredded green cabbage and shredded chicken cooked in peanut sauce, topped with fried shallots and fresh cilantro.  Shredded cabbage is so quick and easy, I need to remember to use it more often.

I hope all my East Coast readers are staying warm and safe!

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Around The Web

We had high school friends visiting from Philly this weekend and Adam and I had a marvelous time.  We also had alcohol, lots of alcohol – thank goodness for three-day weekends!  I knew that booze was on our show-off-the-city agenda so I left my camera at home and kept my food blogger mode turned off (though I couldn’t help instagramming a few of our more fantastic eats: follow me here, I’m @emilywax).

Instead of a weekend wrap-up, I’m going to share a few of my recent favorite things from around the interwebs.

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The 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines were released recently.  I am pretty pleased with most of the updates, particularly the fact that they no longer villainize eggs (fyi, saturated fat has a much more deleterious effect on your cholesterol levels than dietary cholesterol does).

Some of my favorite Dietitian bloggers posted breakdowns of the new guidelines.  Check out the posts from – Nutrition Unplugged, Miles for Miles, and Grapefruit & Granola.

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I live for a good pun.

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The struggle is real (but worth it!).

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You can feel smart while you giggle at these two.

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Does anyone not do this?

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And these two pretty much describe me to a T.

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I hope everybody has a great week!

It’s All Greek To Me!

My four-day workweek helped ease me back into real life after vacation.  I was also assisted by copious amounts of sugar, coffee, and alcohol.  And thanks to the holiday, next week is short too, wahoo!

daytime eats

Cereal and milk coffee.

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Coffee, Fiber One bar, Pink Lady apple.

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Latte and a tangelo.

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We got to sample some of the new desserts that are going to be sent up to patients on their birthdays.

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And our cafeteria’s brownies are always to die for.

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I don’t even really like brownies but these are terrifically fudgy.

Loaded veggie pizza.

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Cafeteria-assembled Mediterranean salad.  Romaine and ranch topped with marinated cucumbers, taboule, chickpeas, and cheese; plus a falafel, pita chips, hummus, and a pickle.

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Oatmeal with chocolate hazelnut butter and a side of fresh melon.

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This was my first time trying steel cut oats and I really enjoyed them.

nighttime eats

Leftover pineapple turkey chili pulled down from the freezer.

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Topped with pickled jalapeños and apricot stilton.  With buttered toast and a side of baby carrots and hummus.

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I was majorly thanking my past self for saving some chili for a future quickie dinner.

Scrambled eggs made for another easy night.

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Filled with broccoli, cauliflower, shredded chicken breast, and three cheese blend.

Mediterranean salad at home.  My cafeteria version was good but this was the better of the two; the crispy chickpeas took it to the next level.

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Baby romaine with TJ’s feta dressing / roasted zucchini / hard-boiled egg / crispy chickpeas / taboule / and feta cheese.

TJ’s chile relleno with cheesy eggs and buttered toast.

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This was an arbitrary assortment of foods but it worked.

Adam brought me home a giant salted caramel macaron from our favorite spot in Grand Central Station.  He was on an “away” rotation at NYU that ended yesterday so this was the last of the midweek Manhattan treats.

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I paired a cocktail grapefruit with a sticky toffee beer that was only so-so.

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And chocolates (nonpareils and dipped gummy bears) with a Dino S’mores Imperial Stout.

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Never mind the fact that the label is a mouse in a dinosaur costume making a s’more (<– !!!!!), this stout is brewed with graham flour, fluff, vanilla, and cocoa nibs, and it tastes like a freaking toasted marshmallow.  ♥♥♥♥

P.S. Have you seen the Tatum on Tatum episode of Lip Sync Battle?  I laughed so hard I’m pretty sure I scared the neighbors!

St. Thomas, 2016

I took Friday and Monday off and spent a four day weekend in St. Thomas visiting my parents.  It was really nice to get into the sun!

I didn’t take many food pictures, mostly I just texted Adam a million kissy-faced selfies.

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Here are the top four eats I did capture…

1.  Dinner at Longboard in St. John.  We shared a chips with a guacamole, hummus, queso trio.  That’s my frozen painkiller in the foreground.

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And I had a fajita salad with grilled mahi.

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Delicious.  The culinary themes for this trip were fresh seafood and local rum.

2. My favorite turkey bacon bagel sandwich from Barefoot Buddha. <– the sandwich I ate on my wedding day

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Plus a Vietnamese iced coffee.

3. A giant cheese calzone.

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Stuffed with spinach, mushrooms, and black olives.

4. Key lime pie!

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Served on plain Greek yogurt with a scoop of ground flax seed because that’s seriously the best way to eat key lime pie.

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Week 1’s Top Five

{1} Citrus

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Winter citrus and berry Polar / Pineapple upsidedown cake Larabar (which was amazing but seems to be a no longer available limited release / Cara Cara orange.

{2} TJ’s crispy broccoli

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It is way too easy to eat a whole bag at once.

{3} Cola + cherry gummies

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From my Skoshbox.

{4} S’mores dip at Blank Slate

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Plus a really fantastically creamy iced latte.

{5} Dinner at Penelope.

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I surprised the husband after work on Tuesday and we grabbed a quick dinner in the city.  They had vegetarian French onion soup.

{Bonus} I’m home in St. Thomas for the weekend!!!

1, 2, 3 / 366

We are four days into 2016 and I’ve yet to have a weekend day – my Christmas four-day weekend and an upcoming vacation (yay!) meant that it was my turn to work both the holiday and Saturday and Sunday. <–worth it!  The weekend coverage shifts – and subsequent week days off – are one of the main “perks” of my new inpatient position.  And clinically the last few days have been fascinating, lots of malnutrition, bowel obstructions, and parenteral feeds.

The only downside to the extra busy days (and terrible weekend-menu cafeteria food) is that there’s no #newyearnewyou around here, instead it’s been lots of junk food and zero gym time.  You win some, you lose some.

daytime eats

I opened the year with an extra shot of espresso in my iced latte, a good way to start anything.

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Plus an apple with cheese.  My apple selection this weekend was Piñata and Pink Ladies, all of which were exceptionally juicy and crisp.

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Saturday breakfast was all about the cartons – a winter cheer cold brew and an Icebox Water.  The water was a freebie product review.  It’s really hard to characterize the taste of water (unless you dislike it for some reason, Dasani tastes like carrots to me and I think it’s terrible) but I will say that I found this one enjoyable/refreshing and definitely inoffensive.

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Obviously the ideal would be that people would refill reusable water containers but Icebox Water does offer a more environmentally sustainable option to bottled waters.  Each BPA-free carton is 100% recyclable (and made of 76% less plastic than traditional bottles).

Sunday was my busiest day and thankfully my biggest coffee.  Plus strawberry champagne(!!) seltzer.

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The cafeteria is only partially open on the weekends and the offerings are grim.  I relied mostly on packaged foods from home for lunches.

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Plus gross cafeteria pizza that went unphotographed.

nighttime eats

You have to eat black eyed peas on the 1st.

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I made my favorite BEP recipe – beans / chopped green pepper / smoked almonds / chopped Dubliner cheese / green Tabasco / plus the new addition of shredded chicken breast.

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With a big pile of green beans roasted with shallots on the side.

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Saturday we gussied up some long-ago leftover leftovers.  I made my artichoke and mushroom pasta unhealthy great again by pan-cooking it in lots of evoo and adding an obscene amount of Sriracha and mozzarella cheese.

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This was better than the original dish.

Sunday, Adam met me after work for date night.  Fonda did not disappoint.  I spotted the Rosalita margarita on Instagram and knew that it would be fantastic.

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I was right!  It’s a hibiscus margarita with a hibiscus salt rim, swoon.

We split a salad that was scrumptious – avocados, roasted carrots, toasted pecans, soft goat cheese and romaine hearts drizzled with a lime mustard vinaigrette.  I swear, there was more avocado than lettuce!

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As well as fried sweet plantains with sour cream and queso fresco.

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Adam got chicken enchiladas and I got a vegetarian chile rellano.

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Roasted poblano pepper filled with carrots, zucchini, corn kernels, pickled jalapeños and Chihuahua cheese. Served with a roasted tomato guajillo sauce, pickled onions and Mexican crema.  Stuffed chiles are my favorite Mexican dish and this was the best version I’ve ever had.

With Kahlua tres leches for dessert.

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We both want to go back immediately.  I’ve got my eye on the brunch menu.

Snacks for the week included fancy popcorn from my stocking.

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And cookies.  David Lebovitz’s chocolate chip cookies really do deserve all the veneration they’ve gotten in the food press.  I made a batch for a NYE party and both the party-goers and my co-workers lost their minds over them.

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Recipe notes, because you know I always have to change something:  I used salted butter, skipped the nuts and doubled the chocolate instead – a mix of semisweet and milk chocolate chips, and refrigerated the cookies as preformed balls instead of slice and bake logs.  I don’t think my changes hurt anything, in fact I’m pretty sure the nut for chocolate swap was an improvement!

I also made a less lauded but still terrific peanut butter (chocolate chip) mug cookie.

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My year is off to a sweet start!