Weekend Wedding

I don’t have much food to share this weekend, I went to a wedding in Connecticut and the drive ate up a lot of my time so most of my meals were on the go.  Last night’s dinner was too yummy to go unblogged though.

Here were the weekend highlights…

The wedding was great, well-worth the drive.  The couple was beautifully in love, my salmon dinner was delicious, and it was great getting to spend time with some of my high school friends.

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The day was bittersweet though, Adam was supposed to be a groomsman and ended up not even being able to attend the wedding because of work.  Sometimes being married to a surgeon sucks.

Owning this dog is never a bummer though.  Look at how freaking fuzzy he was after his bath –

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I brushed his teeth the same day and he pretty much hated me all afternoon.

Coffee x ten thousand.

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This was an iced latte with homemade vanilla-cinnamon syrup from a spot in Floral Park.

My yummy dinner was an Asian-flavors veggie bowl.

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Roasted broccoli and cabbage / fresh edamame and yellow bell pepper / Asian sesame vinaigrette / cashews and wasabi peas.

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It was a great mix of flavors.

Superlative Eats

This week’s…

*Best coffee*

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Inspired by my absolutely decadently scented hand sanitizer, I stirred cinnamon and vanilla bean into my coffee (espresso blend with chocolate milk).

*Best oatmeal*

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Rolled oats with chia and freeze-dried blueberries, topped with a hefty scoop of cookie butter.

*Best yogurt bowl*

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Maple quark with Heritage Flakes and pomegranate.

*Best lunch*

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Sandwich week.  Spicy chicken on rye / Starbuck’s sandwich offerings are actually really darn good / Greek wrap stuffed with cucumber, tzatziki, and stuffed grape leaves.  <– the wrap was from a lunch and learn, our formula rep did a great inservice on the new ASPEN enteral nutrition guidelines.

*Best dessert*

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Work party for a coworker’s birthday.  We had filipino ambrosia and I made brownies.

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Fantastically ridiculous brownies! P.S. Amy Sedaris’ best-ever sprinkles are available here.

 

Weekend Trip To Richmond

I had Friday off and I made the absolute most of it with a three-day trip to Virginia.  I drove to Maryland on Friday morning to meet up with my aunt, uncle, and cousin, and then we drove down to Richmond together to visit my other cousin and her friends for the weekend.  Our schedule included beautiful walks, copious booze, and delicious food.  I had a fantabulous time!

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I mostly snapped photos of coffee and booze, but we ate until we could pop.  These are a few of the can’tmiss spots we visited:

Black Hand is a locally operated coffee roaster and café.  I started both my mornings with an iced latte and loved them so much that I went back for a pound of beans before we left.

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Bistro Bobette for French cuisine.  We had scrumptious foie gras with mango and balsamic and I ate rainbow trout with string beans and brown butter that knocked my socks off.

My Noodle & Bar serves awesome cocktails and the best Thai food I’ve had outside of NYC.

Thai rum, strawberry jam, and local honey shaken with basil with a Thai chili, salt, and sugar rim.  <– ridiculous good

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Drunken Noodles with yummy duck.  I forget to request “Thai spicy” and my dish was still tingly-good so you know I was impressed.

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Social 52 had biscuits and grits galore and a varied beer (and cocktail) menu with the option of flights with five ounce pours.

Sour, coconut porter, cream ale, and local cider.  The coconut porter was one of the best beers I’ve ever had; the coconut and porter loves alike enjoyed it.

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Plus I did a pb&j – peanut butter porter and raspberry stout!

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The Daily for – local, sustainably sourced – appetizers and cocktails.  My Bee’s Knees had gin, lemon, elderflower liquor, and vanilla-infused honey.  Perfectly balanced.

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Bonus, sightseeing: be sure to check out the fun little shops in Carytown and the gorgeous grounds at the VA Museum of Fine Arts.

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First Week Of April’s Top Ten

{1} Stumptown’s newest cold brew box – coconut.

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{2} This week’s homemade coffee blend – chocolate milk and espresso roast.

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{3} Giant veggie omelet for breakfast at work.  They are made fresh to order and are by far the best dish coming out of the cafeteria.

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{4} Garlic veggie pizza with a side of brussels sprout salad.

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{5} Yogurt bowl.  Plain Greek with strawberries, praline pecan granola, walnuts, and chocolate covered cacao nibs.

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{6} Oatmeal bowl.  Oats, chia seeds, strawberries, and cookie butter.  Simple, but this was the best oatmeal of the year.

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{7} This month’s Skoshbox.  There were chocolate-covered potato chips!

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{8} Biscoff chocolate chip mug cookie.

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{9} Trader Joe’s frozen “pizza.”  The crust was a bit floppy but the sauce had good spicy kick to it.

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{10} Creamy tomato turkey.  Sautéed ground turkey with browned mushrooms, roasted plum tomatoes, tomato paste, sour cream, tons of smoked paprika, salt and pepper.  Plus roasted zucchini.  I made a truly excessive amount of this dish and even after a couple of meals there’s still some left for next week.

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{Bonus} Non-food Entertainment Top Five

{1} “Hart of Dixie.”  I finished it last week but it I’m still not over it, the storyline was just so fun!  It was such a feel-good show, I really enjoyed watching something that wasn’t heartrending for a change (<– Whedon fan).

{2} Slate.  The source of 95%+ of my news plus the amazing Dear Prudence advice column (<– her response to “Too High” was spot on!).

{3} Girls with Slingshots.  Another soap opera!  This webcomic series is on long-term hiatus but you can start at the beginning and read through the archives.

{4} Serious Eats.  The source of 95%+ of my food-based news and cravings.  This is one of the sites I check every morning during my train ride, I’d hate to miss an article like the Nacho Showdown.

{5} Taylor Swift’s hilarious Apple Music commercial.

Last Week’s Top Ten

{1} Swapping out my wardrobe to welcome in the spring-ish weather.

So today and tomorrow are supposed to be pretty darn cold, but the rest of the month is looking so nice that I went ahead and traded my summer and winter gear.  Scarves and boots are still available but if we get a freak snowstorm I’m out of luck because all my coats are at the cleaners.  It felt good to get that big project done.

{2} Enjoying coffee again.

Extra espresso in my giant iced latte?  My health is officially back to 100%.

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This upcoming week I did brew a batch so I won’t have an excuse to buy coffee out every day.

{3} Berry smoothie.

Maple kefir, dates, and frozen mixed berries.

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Kefir was the perfect smoothie liquid.

{4} Dessert-y oatmeal bowls for lunch.

Oats with chia, freeze-dried raspberries, pecans, and strawberry shortcake M&Ms.

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Oats with chia, freeze-dried raspberries, and a big scoop of Biscoff.

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I bought a jar of Biscoff last Saturday and it is practically empty now – – I am the only member of the household who eats Biscoff.

{5} National Pecan Day is April 14th and Nonni’s sent* me some Turtle Pecan Biscotti to celebrate.

*Free sample alert – no additional compensation was provided for this post, all opinions are my own.

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The biscotti was quite good next to my coffee – crunchy but not toothbreakingly so and a good balance of salty and sweet.

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But even better crushed into my all-time best yogurt combo.  Turtle pecan yogurt bowl: maple yogurt, toasted pecans, chocolate-covered cocoa nibs, biscotti, and chopped plucot.

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Or check out Nonni’s Pinterest page for some other pairing ideas.

{6} Binge-watching “Hart of Dixie” on instantwatch.

Yes, the show where Rachel Bilson plays a doctor in the deep south.  And yes, it is totally a soap opera.  But it is completely addictive!  I am a woman obsessed, or I should say I was a women obsessed – I may have already finished watching all four seasons!

{7} Kombucha.

The Master Brew line from Kevita has been knocking my socks off.

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Grapefruit was perfectly sweet and tart.

{8} Healthy sticks to scoop up less-healthy dips.

Baby carrots and green pepper in spinach and artichoke dip.

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Apple slices in melted Biscoff and dark chocolate peanut butter.

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Apple dippers in cookie butter are even more satisfying than licking it off of a spoon like I usually do.

{9} Taco brinner.

We loved our fish tacos so much the week before that I knew we needed a repeat.

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This time our hard shells were stuffed with sautéed onions and peppers, shredded cheese, roasted tomatillo salsa, and scrambled eggs.  This was practically the only meal I cooked all week, the other nights I mostly ate chips with cheese and salsa so I’d have time to watch my stories!

{10} Chuko Ramen.

I introduced a girlfriend to the joy that is their veggie miso with a soft egg and chili garlic oil on top.

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It is the perfect dinner spot because Ample Hill’s ice cream is just a short walk down the block!

What are you looking forward to this week?

I’m Alive!

So it’s been awhile since my last post, huh?  My two-week illness (a cold and then the flu) turned into a three week plague extravaganza complete with conjunctivitis, gastroenteritis, and a two-day stay at the hospital.  Yippee.  I didn’t really feel like myself again until just a couple of days ago.

Now I’m back in action, and I even have a week’s worth of meals to share…

daytime eats

I was still recovering on Monday so I started my week off with mint sparkling water cut with Sprite.

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I’m usually not a clear soda (or non-diet soda) fan but the day I got home from the hospital I swear it was the best thing I’ve ever tasted.  I didn’t even want diet coke that week, which says a lot about how sick I felt.

The real clue that I was basically dying is this – this small iced latte was my first cup of coffee in more than a week.

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I also had a glass of kefir.

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Maple was such a fun find.

By the next day I was fully ready for my lifeblood again.  Nonfat caramelized honey (<–yum) iced latte with extra espresso.  Sipped while grocery shopping.

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I worked Saturday/Sunday which thankfully meant I had Wednesday off.

And yesterday I had a yummy Kevita kombucha.

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Lavender melon.  Kevita is a little more refreshing – and less sour and yeasty – than other brands of kombucha.

Packed lunches were my old standbys.  Oatmeal.

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Oats with chia seeds, strawberry shortcake m&m’s, and Justin’s chocolate hazelnut butter.  Plus a piñata apple on the side.

And yogurt bowls, with blueberries and blackberries. 2% Fage with maple pecan granola, chia seeds, and more pecans.

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Vanilla bean with Heritage Flakes.

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Plus truffles from a coworker for dessert.  With a side of Easter themed nails.

Wednesday at home I made an Easter-inspired spread.

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Egg salad with potato chips, and warm carrot slaw (sautéed shredded carrots tossed with golden raisins, walnuts, mayo, and stone-ground mustard).

nighttime eats

Monday night I took the dog on an extra-long walk after work… and then laid down on the couch in my coat for more than an hour!  I was too tired to cook anything, but hungry enough to go back and reheat a second plate of leftover pizza.

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Plus baby carrots.

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We try to always keep them on hand because they are perfect for distracting the dog while he gets his nails clipped.

Tuesday I managed to cook dinner and try a blog product sample (two birds with one stone).  Popkoff’s sent me some free coupons for their new line “farm to freezer” frozen Russian dumplings.

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The farmer’s cheese Pelmeni were fantastic – they cooked in under 10 minutes and were perfectly tender yet chewy.  Plus, you have to love the short ingredient list: “Farmer’s Cheese, Wheat Flour, Water, Egg, Sour Cream, Salt, Sugar.”  We kept things simple and tossed them with sautéed mushrooms and cabbage and low-fat sour cream.

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Topped with a sprinkle of smoked paprika.  I have two more freebie coupons and I would purchase the dumplings with my own money so this is a meal you’ll likely see again.

Wednesday was the warmest of the season (68!) and we made the most of it by taking the dog on a long walk – in sandals and t-shirts – for water ice.  My strawberry and cola cup hit the spot.

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Then we did fish taco night for dinner.  We need to make tacos more often, Adam and I were both raving about this meal.

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Toasted taco shells / sautéed onions and bell pepper / shredded cheese / roasted tomatillo salsa / mahi mahi cubes sautéed with lime, cilantro, and green onions / dollops of sour cream.

Yesterday I ate a guava and cheese empanada on the train.

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Dinner part deux was TJ’s frozen gnocchi with eggplant and zucchini.

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10/10.  We relied a lot of frozen foods to get through this week but the quality of our meals didn’t suffer any.

I hope everyone is feeling well for the weekend!

The F Word

So this week has been awful – I have the flu and I’m dying.  Yup, sick, dying, but definitely not overly dramatic.

Remember how I was sick last week (with a cold, I guess?)?  I felt ok-ish over the weekend, like a person again on Monday, and then like death after his robe got caught in a jet engine on Tuesday.  I felt so bad I actually went to an urgent care center and willingly let them shove q-tips down my throat and up my nose.  Long story long, no strep, but I have the flu.  Ugh.

So 95% of my meals have looked like this:

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Or like this:

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But I did eat two really good bowls of dinner on Sunday and Monday!  A Greek salad – romaine topped with TJ’s feta Greek dressing / roasted chickpeas / cucumber / TJ’s tabbouleh / TJ’s stuffed grape leaves / and pimento stuffed green olives.

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And a grain salad – bulgur with evoo, s&p, and allspice / roasted broccoli / browned mushrooms/ toasted walnuts / yellow raisins / and minced green olives.

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When I’m not on death’s door I can toss together a pretty great meal.

I hope everyone is feeling healthy this weekend.

Short And Sick

This week was short but no cakewalk.  Monday I was off because I worked Saturday/Sunday, and Thursday I was off because I’m a coughing, sneezing, miserable mess.  How am I sick again?? Apparently my immune system is as over winter as I am.

I ate pizza and/or soup for 90% of my meals this week.  Here were my more exciting eats…

Brooklyn Roasting Company has nitro cold-brew now and it is flipping delicious.

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This week’s tea was vanilla rooibos.  Perfect for my throat and yummy with a bit of milk and honey.  Rooibos is definitely my favorite type of tea.

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This yogurt bowl was the best thing I ate all week.  Coconut Greek with fresh strawberry and pomegranate, Nature’s Path Heritage Flakes, chia seeds, and toasted pecans.

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Monday, before I knew how sick I was, Adam and I both had the day off and we had a wonderful time in the city.  We got sushi burritos!  Mine was fantastic – sushi rice, marinated tofu, cucumber, carrot, pickled cucumber, seaweed salad, tobanjan mayo, tempura crunch, and sesame seeds.

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Split a cone at Big Gay Ice Cream.  The salty pimp = vanilla soft serve with dulce de leche, sea salt, and chocolate dip.  Plus sprinkles.

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And took a long walk (sans coats!) through Chelsea and across the Manhattan Bridge.

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This week’s Skoskbox had some big winners, especially the grape Hi Chew.

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Here’s the only dinner I actually cooked this week.  Cheesy scrambled eggs and spicy green beans.

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I put the green beans under the broiler – to attempt something like this – and they came out great.

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I hope everyone is feeling their best this weekend!