Author Archives: Emily

Funfetti

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Sprinkles, sprinkles for everyone!

I spent my afternoon baking homemade funfetti cookies for Adam to bring to school tomorrow.  All I had to do was pour a bunch of sprinkles into this sugar cookie dough.  The end product was pretty and delicious.

I only ate one finished cookie, I kind of overdid it on dough.

Worth it.

I barely had time to pause from baking before I had to make dinner.

Open-faced chicken sandwiches with two kinds of “fries.”

Oven roasted green beans,

and Ore-Ida Sweet Potato Fries.

The sweet potato fries were a sample from the Foodbuzz Tastemaker Program.

I liked the nutritional stats and ease with which they came together.  The taste and texture were pretty much identical to restaurant sweet potato fries.  Unfortunately, when you order sweet potato fries in a restaurant they are disappointingly mushy and these were no exception.  If you are someone who loves restaurant sweet potato fries then I highly recommend this product, but I’ll keep making mine from scratch.

My “sandwich” was just a slice of sourdough bread topped with pulled chicken.

Nothing fancy, but I did make the bbq sauce from scratch.

Pomegranate BBQ Sauce, makes 1.5 cups

  • 8 oz pomegranate juice (I used Blueberry POM Juice)
  • 8 oz can tomato sauce
  • 1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
  • 5 Tbsp granulated sugar
  1. Pour juice into a small saucepan over high heat and bring to a rolling boil.  Cover and cook until liquid has reduced to 1/4 the original amount.
  2. Add remaining ingredients to pan and stir to combine.  Continue to simmer for 5-7 minutes until sauce has reduced and thickened.

Don’t Let Your Eyes Fool You

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I’m not blind, what a relief!  Actually, it turns out I’m slightly nearsighted in my left eye but have better than 20:20 in my right eye, which averages out to perfect vision.  ie, I’m almost 26 years old (July 24th) and I still don’t need glasses! 8)

I had my eyes dillated so I had to walk around the mall a bit before I could drive.  I bought myself a frozen lemonade.

Pretty good, but not the one I’ve been pining for; I drank half.

I also wandered into heaven the new Anthropologie store.

It was painfull for me to wander around without trying anything on!  I always tell the husband that what I’m shooting for in life is to be just rich enough to shop at Anthropologie and J. Crew exclusively.  I did snag a bowl on sale for $3.

After the mall I had to head back to Wegmans; Adam needs me to make cookies for some of the boys who helped out with the ceremony yesterday.  I got lunch while I was there.

Sauted rappi and grilled veggies.

Plus oreo coffee panna cotta (<–oh. my. god.) for dessert.

Don’t let your eyes fool you, the serving was 50% smaller than it looks and the taste was 200% more delicious than it looks!  But yes, lemonade and panna cotta within the same afternoon did make my tummy hurt.

I’m glad my eyes are in shape because I’m watching “Across The Universe” as I blog and it’s pretty visually stunning.

Do you wear glasses or contacts?

Eye Confess

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Adam’s return to school this morning inspired me to wake up early and have him drop me off at the gym.  I sweated on the elliptical for 30 minutes at level 6 random and then did a quick strength/stretch routine.  It’s still in the 60’s here and the walk home was pretty glorious.

A quick shower later and I was sitting down to the bowl I’ve been dreaming about since Charlottesville.

Chobani Champions Honey-Nana Greek Yogurt topped with a sliced banana and a big handful of Great Harvest granola.

This breakfast has been on my mind ever since Kath handed me a sample of her chewy yet crunchy, salty yet sweet granola last week.

My expectations were met, and then exceeded.

I’ve got to hurry, I’m running late for an eye appointment.  Can I make a confession?  I haven’t been to the eye doctor since sometime in middle school!!!  Whoops, major healthy living fail.  I don’t wear contacts or glasses (20/20 last time I went) so there was no obvious need to make an appointment, but as a soon-to-be-doctor’s wife I know it’s better to get a check up beforeyou have a problem.  From the Hippocratic oath –

I will prevent disease whenever I can, for prevention is preferable to cure.

Other than my peepers, I am pretty good about being proactive about my health.  Here are the appointments I consider essential for a woman in her 20’s –

  • gynecologist (yearly)
  • dentist (6 months)
  • dermatologist – skin exam (6 months)

What yearly medical appointments do you keep on your calendar?

Pride of Lions

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I am so proud of my husband.  He begins his 3rd year of medical school tomorrow and I’m sure he’ll kick as much ass at clinical as he did his first two years of school!  The soon-to-be-3rd-years had a celebratory ceremony today and Adam was in charge of the opening/closing remarks.  <– this is why his parents are in town

Before the festivities began, I took my in-laws out to brunch.

I had a bogo coupon for Moe’s so that’s where we went.  What?  Mexican food can be brunch.

I got another rice bowl.

Rice, black beans, tofu, green pepper, onion, mushrooms, lettuce, cilantro, cheese, and corn salsa.

And chips with a side of queso.

I ate about 2/3 of everything and it was delicious.  I love how healthy Moe’s is, but I will admit that it’s got me hankering for some cheesy, crunchy, greasy, authentic Mexican food.

Adam did a great job at the ceremony, sometimes I can’t believe that the handsome, funny, well-spoken medical student belongs to me!

Afterwards we cheers’d at Pearl Street Brewery.

I was drinking a Blue Eyed Blueberry Blonde.

My beer was nice and refreshing, with just a few hints of fruit.  I love that Pearl Street microbrews on site.  Whenever a beer is described as blonde I know I’m bound to like it; I also enjoy dark beers (Guinness, Turbo Dog…) but I hate IPAs.

Along with my beer I ordered a turkey reuben.

Not on the menu, but they’ll sub turkey for corned beef if you ask nicely.

It was delicious but so filling that I could only handle half.  I left my chips only completely though; who eats chips when their husband’s meal comes with wedge fries?!

Yum!  My favorite fries are the big, squishy ones.

Once we got my in-laws on the road we had to run a few errands.  I’m actually going on another trip in just a few days so we had to get the husband stocked with a few groceries.  I grabbed a white chocolate toffee cookie while we were at the store.

I’m going to get off the computer now so that I can spend Adam’s last free night (ever!) hanging out, but know that I will be enjoying a big bowl of peanut brittle ice cream later this evening!

Doorknob Ankle Cold

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Whew, vacation’s not over yet; Adam’s parents are here for a visit!  We spent the day running around with them and it was nice to be the one showing off the city for a change.

Before our visitors arrived, Adam and I set out for the farmers’ market.  We didn’t find any produce we wanted but it was basically a menagerie down there.  Here’s a llama –

there’s a llama –

(and another little llama, fuzzy llama, funny llama, llama llama,) duck!

That song will be stuck in your head for the rest of the day.  (Remember this one??)

While we were out we snagged breakfast, straw-style.

Organic 3 Cafe is great about letting you customize your juice orders.  This was spinach, carrot, cucumber, kale.

I also grabbed a half-sweet coffee from Wilson Farms.

Soon enough, my in-laws were here and we all headed to Tokyo Shanghai Bistro for lunch.

That’s the a la carte tomago (egg custard nigiri) I shared with my mother-in-law.

The lunch specials (only $6!) came with steamed rice and a cup of soup, I went with hot and sour.

For my main order I got the garlic eggplant with extra veggies.

I’ve been craving garlic eggplant for forever and this totally hit the spot.  It was a little bit spicy but not super sweet or fried tasting.

After lunch we took a movie break and headed to the theatre to see Mr. Popper’s Penguins.  The movie was a lot better than I was expecting, it was great to see Jim Carrey actually act (not just make crazy faces).  My favorite character was definitely Pippi.

We wanted to cash in a Groupon for dinner so we drove out to Hamburg to the Buffalo Street Grill. 

The husband and I had trouble deciding so we ended up sharing two dishes.

Tortellinni with portobello mushrooms and pesto,

and grouper topped with crab, brie, and roasted red peppers,

which came with french fries,

and a squash medley.

The veggies were seriously delicious, the best side I’ve had in a restaurant all year!

Finally, we took the parents to Anderson’s for frozen yogurt.

I got a baby twist with marshmallow topping.

Mmmmn.

After we said goodnight to my in-laws, Adam and I took a walk to pick up a few things at the Co-op.  It might be 90* in DC but it’s in the 60’s here; we were so cold we ended up sharing a cinnamon dolce steamer from Starbucks to warm up!

A steamer is just steamed skim milk with 1.5 pumps of syrup, but it did the trick getting us through our walk.

Adam is making the opening and closing remarks at a medical school ceremony tomorrow so we’ve got to get to bed and get him his beauty rest!

Gourmet On The Go

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We’re back in Buffalo!  We made it home without losing any limbs or luggage and managed to eat only healthy, delicious meals; I call that a winner travel day!

To start the morning my aunt took me to Atwaters, a local bakery her neighbor owns, to buy a loaf of bread and some provisions for our drive.

I also picked up an iced coffee with skim milk.

Adam and I hung out with my family as long as we could (my cousin just got back from study abroad in Costa Rica and had amazing pictures!) but soon it was time to hit the road.

You know we couldn’t leave Baltimore without self-serving one more frozen yogurt.

I got a mix of cookies and cream and taro yogurt topped with strawberries, bananas, Oreo, sprinkles, and rainbow jelly.

The rainbow jelly took my joy over the top, although now I’m going to be missing froyo and bubble tea!

Typically vacation food goes downhill once you get into the car, but today we were ready and we kept things gourmet.  I bought this Tofu Bahn Mi at Atwaters in the morning and it ended up being the perfect brunch.

Bahn Mi is a Vietnamese sandwich made with pickled veggies.  Typically it is very spicy but this one was pretty mild (my only complaint).

Lunch was also a sandwich, but not just any sandwich.

Bee’s Knees Honey Peanut Butter (good), homemade strawberry jam (better), and Dakota bread (best).

Best damn pb & j I’ve ever had!  I’m seriously amazed by how good this bread is each time I eat it.

We were pretty well prepared but sadly I spent the last few hours in the car dying of hunger.  Adam had a huge bag of m&m’s that made the whole car smell like chocolate and it was all I could do not to pour them down my throat.  I managed to wait, but once I picked up our dinner on the way home I could not keep my hand out of the bag of chips.

Many many (way too many) chips were consumed this evening.

We are out of veggies, actually we are out of everything, so I picked up rice bowls from Moe’s for dinner.

My bowl was rice, black beans, tofu, sautéed mushrooms, sautéed onions, sautéed green peppers, lettuce, cheese, corn salsa, and cilantro.

I scarfed that bad boy.

Time to unpack!

Get Your Grillz On

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After my walk this morning I was ready for a good breakfast.

A 2% Mango Chobani yogurt topped with banana and strawberries,

plus a thin slice of Dakota toasted and drizzled with honey.

Great Harvest bread is sort of indescribably good; I’m not sure what we’ll do when this loaf runs out!

Plans for the day included a trip to the aquarium.

This is my crabby face.

Crabby faces are quickly solved by trips to froyo places.

I self-served cheesecake/chocolate/cookies and cream topped with kiwi, strawberries, coconut, sprinkles, and rainbow jelly (<– like what’s in bubble tea, so fun!).

What in the world are Adam and I going to do when we get back to Buffalo?!

Evening snacks included more guacamole,

and more bread dipped in oil.

I promise that our dinner was lovely and delicious, but unfortunately my pictures are all a little dark.  We made pizzas on the grill!

That was my creation – pesto, buffalo mozzarella, shredded mozzarella, and lump crab meat.  The best combo of the night was my uncle’s – pesto, buffalo mozzarella, basil, sun-dried tomatoes, and strawberries!

Here were my pieces; for reference, each piece was slightly smaller than the size of a playing card.

So good.  My cousin also grilled up some peaches,

which were fantastic paired with yesterday’s dessert spread.

We’ve been eating like kings on this vacation.

What’s your favorite thing to cook on the grill?