Coffee Break {A Giveaway}

by Emily

Now that I’m back in the workforce my love of java has grown even greater.

When you read my recaps from now, on you can assume I had at least one (big!) cup of coffee a day, even if I don’t always blog about it.

I was recently sent a new type of coffee to review. This post is so that I can share my thoughts on it… and share the love with you guys!

Please note – I was sent the coffee free of charge. The company is also providing another bag for me to share with one of you. I was not provided additional compensation for this post.

The Cafe Amani coffee is a blend of Fair Trade beans from Ethiopia, Sumatra, and Costa Rica. It was delicious: roasty but smooth. The coffee came with a gorgeously printed handmade bag (which I’m actually using to store tea bags, don’t tell the beans!) and a cute, little wooden coffee scoop.

My only complaint about this product is that it only comes in whole bean form and not grounds. I don’t have a coffee grinder at home so we had to sneakily use one that the grocery store and I felt like a ~~criminal~~ idiot.

World Vision sent me the coffee because they asked me to blog about their gift catalog. Here is a quick video that explains how the gift catalog works –

Basically, you can do something nice for the world in a loved one’s name. Like provide a goat and 2 chickens ($100) to a hungry family in Grandma’s name or send 5 ducks ($35) in Uncle Bob’s.

The catalog also has options for buying a tangible good for your loved ones while knowing that the proceeds from the sale will directly help children and families in urgent need. The following are three options that they’ve put together for the foodies in your life –

“Prosperity” Cinnamon Box – Vietnam’s renowned sweet cinnamon is a renewable resource collected from the Cassia tree by skilled artisans. It is presented in a beautifully carved cinnamon bark box that bears a common Asian character for prosperity.
Hand-Carved Serving Spoons – this beautiful set of two hand-carved olivewood serving spoons is delivered in a hand-sewn gift bag of African fabric and can be used as a decoration or for serving.
The Fair-Trade Coffee Set – includes whole bean coffee from Ethiopia, Sumatra, and Costa Rica blended by OneCup.org and is delivered in a bag hand-sewn by local women with a hand-carved olivewood scoop. <— this is what I was sent

FYI – The One Cup Project is a partnership between Seattle-based Silver Cup Coffee and World Vision. For every bag of coffee purchased at http://www.onecup.org, a $2+ donation is sent to World Vision. That donation is then multiplied 5x by matching grant partners. This means that when you buy a bag of coffee, a sum equal to the total purchase price goes to fund the work that World Vision does in Africa.

Now for the giveaway.

I am giving away one Fair-Trade Coffee Set to one lucky reader. For a chance to win, just leave a comment on this post by 2 pm on Saturday, December 8th.

3Dec2013

The Bacon – Bringing It Home

by Emily

It is {finally!} time to announce that I’ve started a new job. My first official job as a Registered Dietitian. <—yay!

I’ve actually known about this news for a while, but my hospital has an insanely long hiring process and I didn’t want to blog anything until everything was set. I spent yesterday at an all-day orientation and today I get to go start being an RD.

I am going to be the Dietitian for the Women’s Health Center at a hospital in Brooklyn.

The above statement still sounds so surreal; I still can’t believe it’s only been a little over 2 years since I was freaking out about buying my first white coat.

Please cross your fingers for me that I have a good first day!

2Dec2013

Weekend Wrap-Up; Hello, December!

by Emily

This weekend I…

…Walked around Manhattan with my family to check out the window displays.

This was such a great way to ring in the season, even if the tree wasn’t lit yet. It was the perfect way to spend my parents’ last day. My mom snagged me a milk and white truffle from the Lindt store.

And I came home with a really exciting candy assortment from a place in Chinatown.

I am really looking forward to trying the new varieties.

…Ate lunch at Carnegie Deli.

The bites I took of my dad’s matzoh ball soup were great.

We all shared strawberry blintzes.

And I drank the best chocolate egg cream of my life.

Though the very best bites were those my cousin shared with me of matzoh brei. I don’t know how they make theirs so chewy.

…Shared some exciting drinks with the husband while we explored the city. A Belvoir Fruit Farms Elderflower and Rose Lemonade.

It was very tasty, and how gorgeous is the packaging? We also shared a black sugar bubble tea.

Yum!

…Discovered Cafe Dada, a new coffee-house in Park Slope.

I had a cafe au lait which was delicious,

but the espresso in Adam’s cortado was hands-down the best I’ve ever had.

It was so velvety! And the pistachio mousse we shared was great too.

It was a blend of pistachio and raspberries and the flavors went great together.

…Met up with friends from Buffalo. They were visiting family for the holiday and we all met up to share a meal. We took them to our two favorite places – Freeman’s Restaurant {the smoked trout plate}.

sugar, Sweet, sunshine {more pistachio}.

Such fun. We love it when they come into town.

Tried the Eggnog Jubilee from Jamba Juice.

It tasted exactly like I wanted it to – eggnog and nutmeg blended with ice – but I still didn’t need enough of the flavor to drink the whole thing. I’m glad I tried it though.

…Ate lots and lots of cheese. We were shopping in Trader Joe’s one evening when the idea for nachos struck and our eyes lit up. We got Wisconsin Sharp and New York Extra Extra Sharp Cheddars so we could do a blend.

Adam put pastrami on his (leftover from Carnegie) but my chicken ended up being moldy so I got my protein in the form of extra cheese. Plus candied jalopenos.

Swoon! We kept it going with grilled cheese for lunch the next day.

On thick slices of cibatta.

With apple slices on the side.

I probably should have tried to get some veggies in there too.

…Finally got some veggies in with a homemade dinner.

We topped this cous cous with roasted butternut squash, craisins, smoked almonds, champagne pear vinaigrette, and a sunny side up egg.

Runny yolk is the best sauce.

…Decorated for Christmas.

We’re ready for December!

29Nov2013

Weekly Wrap-Up; Thanksgiving

by Emily

I hope all of my American readers had a great Thanksgiving! Among many other things, I am thankful for you guys. My holiday (and Wednesday) included –

Lots of Starbucks.

That was a Joy tea with skim milk, but not to worry, coffee was consumed both before and after.

On Wednesday we had lunch at a diner near the hotel.

My veggie frittata was giant. No one else has access to a fridge and the amount of leftovers Adam has accumulated is insane.

That night everyone came over to our place to celebrate the first night of Hanukkah {and drink Rumchata!}.

The dog was loved by all. My family always gives the best gifts…they are much cooler than I am! Including awesome pumpkin spice brittle that my cousin brought from Cville.

We had a great Italian meal that night but the lighting made pictures impossible.

You know I got photos of Turkey Day. Sort of. My dad’s Long Island cousin hosted us for an amazing meal. Appetizers.

My uncle Brian makes the best latkes ever.

I had a coke with single-barrel Cruzan from home and a caramel apple martini that was ridiculous good.

My dinner plate had cranberry, turkey with gravy, peas, green beans, and sweet potato casserole. For dessert I chose peanut butter smores bars that I brought and pecan and apple crumble pies. With Kaula whipped cream! I took pictures of all that, but have none to blog. ← blame the husband, who touches things that don’t belong to him.

What’s your favorite pie on Thanksgiving?

27Nov2013

Mid-Week Wrap Up; Visitors In Town

by Emily

My parents got in on time Monday night and we’ve had a great time showing them around. They visited us in the city the years we lived in Brooklyn, but Long Island is a new family destination. And two sets of aunts and uncles get here tomorrow morning! Since I knew I’d have lots of good food to share with visitors in town I decided to post in smaller mid-week wrap ups this week.

Here’s some of what my mouth’s been up to…

Coffee from 7-11 with Cinnabon creamer.

I’ve been wanting to try that damn creamer for months and I ended up hating it so much that I threw out my whole coffee halfway though. Boo. But at least I can stop pestering Adam to walk to 7-11 with me.

A gingerbread lunch feast.

An awesome sandwich of Applegate Farms Herb Turkey Breast, reduced fat cream cheese, and banana peppers on Pepperidge Farm Gingerbread Swirl Bread.

Plus sliced Sweet Tango apple.

And Gingerbread Twix.

These holiday Twix are sooooo good. I wouldn’t normally eat a Twix but the gingerbread spice is wonderful.

We went to Great Neck for my parents’ first night’s dinner. Bareburger, of course, because that’s our go-to spot for out-of-towners. We shared the fried zucchini to start.

I’ve decided that the Western turkey burger (sans bun) is my favorite variety. The fried pickle on the side is too fun.

And despite the cold we wandered over to 16 Handles after dinner.

Sugar-free praline with chocolate pretzels, salty almonds, and peanut butter sauce.

For their 2nd dinner we went our favorite Italian spot, Luigi’s.

That focaccia is great. As was the Tuscan salad my mom and I split.

Baby spinach with breaded artichoke hearts, roasted peppers, gorgonzola dolce, pine nuts, and balsamic vinaigrette.

We all shared some fresh mozzarella too.

I stuck with the cheese theme for dinner. Spinach, ricotta, and goat cheese ravioli (house-made!) in a champagne truffle cream sauce.

It was very rich but very good. The sauce was truffle heaven.

I did have enough room left over to dole out a round of RumChata after dinner.

I was introduced to it as “the snickerdoodle shot” and that name is very apt. Adam and I both put some in our coffee too and decided that we’ll be doing that regularly.

I don’t know what the plan is for tomorrow (with 10 people for dinner) but the next day’s Thanksgiving, whee!

25Nov2013

Weekend Wrap-Up; A Fabulous Date

by Emily

This weekend was downright fabulous! I’m still not feeling quite 100% from my cold – you’ll notice that fruit and veggie consumption was still abysmal – but I felt well enough to have lots of fun. Having Adam home on break has been indescribably wonderful❤. And tomorrow my parents come to visit (and will be joined later in the week by two sets of aunts and uncles) for Thanksgiving and Hanukkah!

breakfast

Yogurt bowl.

TJ 0% honey Greek yogurt topped with two sliced kiwis.

Sunday breakfast.

We toasted the last of the garlic and cheddar beer bread in the oven with some Smart Balance Light.

With a sliced Cameo apple on the side.

And a cup of cafe con leche.

The coffee was part of a sample that Maison Camus sent me.

Please note – this product was sent to me free of charge. I was not provided further compensation for my this post. All opinions are my own.

I had not heard of Maison Camus before they reached out to me, but apparently they are an independent, family owned Cognac house. Their coffee is grown sustainably – no herbicides, fungicides, or pesticides, and they stick to a strict growing process to minimize environmental impact and preserve biodiversity. The beans are grown at high altitudes (primarily in Costa Rica and Guatemala) and they use small-scale farmers who they pay fair wages.

I haven’t opened the French Roast yet but we loved the Signature Blend. My first tasting thought was “smooth,” and it was fun to see that match the company’s description (the French Roast is described as bold and I’m quite looking forward to it). I did put a bit of SCM in my coffee but I took a few sips black and was thrilled with the lack of bitterness. I drank two big mugs. Adam, who drinks at least 3 cups of coffee a day and is a much more discerning drinker than I, was very impressed as well.

lunch

Breakfast for lunch but not brunch.

Seedy bread with Smart Balance Light,

and eggs scrambled with tons of corn (cooked with evoo, tons of Sriracha, and a bit of sugar).

Don’t turn your nose up at the sugar; I realize it’s something I’m not exactly short on in my die,t but with the chili sauce it makes the corn perfect.

On Saturday I took Adam on a date that ended up being one of our best days ever. We decided the last time we had such a good time was on our last trip to Toronto. We drove up through Long Island to Port Jefferson.

The town was gorgeous and quaint, and we even came across a fire pit offering free marshmallows for roasting!

After we licked all the burnt sugar off our fingers we headed over to C’est Cheese for lunch.

My girlfriend (who lives in Buffalo but grew up in LI) used to babysit for the owners and recommended it to us. We were grateful for the intel because we had an amazing meal.

Adam and I shared… A beer sampler.

{South Hampton Double White, Smuttynose Brown Dog, Frambois, Port Jeff Porter}

The Smuttynose was his favorite and the porter was mine, which was funny because we both didn’t care for the others selection. The frambois was enjoyed by all though and was an excellent palate cleaner.

A bowl of New England Clam Chowder.

Adam ate this all on his own but he said it was excellent.

The Somerset sandwich – Melted aged cheddar, sun-dried tomato pesto, black olive tapenade, and fresh basil.

The aged cheddar on our sandwich was actually our very favorite cheese of the day, though it had a lot of competition.

A cheese sampling.

{Truffle Tremor, Taleggio, Pecorino Toscano, Scharfe Maxx, Vlaskaas, 2 year Grafton, Harbourne Blue}

The sampling is a plate of seven assorted cheeses that changes each day. We loved our selection. And we came home with leftovers so the fun could continue the next day. The fun continued that day as well; we finished out our date with a trip to “Thor” and popcorn for dinner.

On Sunday we had leftovers to look forward to.

We chopped up the last of our cheese plate and put it on top of crockpot cranberry chicken (scroll down to dinner) and jasmine rice.

This was so good we both wished we had leftovers of our leftovers.

dinner

I only have one meal in this category! The other days we did big, late lunches and just snacked (popcorn and bananas foster!) for dinner. Thankfully this one meal was a winner, though not very photogenic.

Crockpot Cranberry Chicken = put 1 lb of boneless, skinless chicken breast into the crockpot and top with 14 oz fresh cranberries and bbq sauce (we used Whole Food’s Korean style) to cover, then cook 4 hours on “high.”

So simple, but so good. Adam raved about this meal and went back for both 2nds and 3rds. The green on the bottom was frozen spinach that I cooked with evoo, lemon juice, craisins, and smoked almonds.

drink & dessert

The gingerbread cookies from Cheryl’s (thanks again, Barb!) are perfectly soft and spicy.

I’ve already bought a whole slew of gingerbread flavored goodies and I’m excited to announce that I’ve decided tomorrow is the perfect time to start opening them.

Grande, non-fat, eggnog latte.

I got this with a 50% off coupon and I was glad because I didn’t love it this year. Somehow it wasn’t sweet at all, which was very strange with the eggnog flavor.

Another sample, Rave Review Original Culinary Spirits sent me a box of booze for cooking.

Please note – this product was sent to me free of charge. I was not provided further compensation for this post. All opinions are my own.

We had a lot of fun setting up a bourbon tasting.

Bourbon isn’t my favorite kind of whiskey, and on first taste I preferred Rave Review to the competitor. I rarely give a bad review (I’m excitable and pretty easy please), but I have to say that after heating I hated it! The flavor was almost savory?! which we think was related to the blend of spices. That said, I could see how it could be good in a savory dish, and I do plan on cooking with it.

On the positive side, we made Bananas Foster with the Rum and I’m giving that two thumbs up.

I basically followed Alton Brown’s recipe, except I skipped the banana liquor and used cinnamon instead of all spice.

Served over vanilla ice cream, this was wonderful. I’m pretty sure we’ll be making another batch next weekend.

Finally, have you seen the new limited edition winter flavors from Polar?

Toasted coconut was good but champagne strawberry is out of this world. The flavor is great and the scent is just ridiculous. I will also be searching high and low for fudge cheesecake, obviously.

Do you ever cook with booze, or do you just drink booze while you cook?

22Nov2013

Weekly Wrap-Up; My First Cold Of The Season

by Emily

Have you stayed healthy so far this flu season? I’m finally on an upswing, but I spent the past week with a bad cold. Achoo!

The husband gets (2) 2-week periods off this year and his first started last Friday evening. We took advantage of the break and drove over to visit my sister-in-law’s family in Pennsylvania. I spent our entire visit with the dog and/or my niece on my lap so I don’t have a single picture from Saturday.

On Friday, I had a large, late lunch at Whole Foods before we got in the car.

A hot bar assortment.

Clockwise from top left – green beans, gnocchi, broccoli, mac and cheese, big noodles, and Cesar salad.

For dessert, I surprised Adam with a bag of limited edition chocolate dipped wavy Lays.

I had read negative reviews about them online, but we both loved them. They had the perfect ratio of salty and sweet; the chocolate was only on one side of most chips so it wasn’t too overwhelming. The bag said it contained five servings, but we didn’t find that to be true 😉

My youngest niece had the sniffles all weekend and I came back with them too. Here’s what I ate before I realized just how sick I was – A Siggi’s 2% Pumpkin Spice Yogurt.

This flavor was great, definitely the best pumpkin yogurt I’ve tried so far. Sometimes Siggi’s can be a bit sour/chalky but this flavor was nice and creamy.

A new kind of tofu.

We quartered our block of Soy Boy Caribbean pre-seasoned tofu and gave it a quick sear.

A comforting dinner.

We shared a can of Bar Harbor Lobster Chowder.

With a (giant) side of beer bread.

Cheddar Garlic Beer Bread(!!).

So good. That bread was my best idea yet, but I made it in a daze and now I can’t remember the proportion of ingredients.

When I woke up on Monday I realized I had more than the sniffles, I was sick, sick, sick. This is where I tell you that I have not eaten a single fruit or vegetable since last Sunday. In fact, Adam went out-of-town for a few days mid-week when I was at my sickest and I ended up eating cheese and crackers for five meals straight! These TJ raisin and rosemary crisps were featured heavily.

Very tasty, but I don’t think I’ll be eating cheese and crackers again soon.

Here are the things I ate last week that weren’t cheese, or at least weren’t 100% cheese (though I’m now realizing that I did stick exclusively with sandwiches and cookies) – A killer sandwich.

A leftover slice of tofu with smoked Gouda and grape Crofters.

An even better sandwich.

Applegate Farms honey maple turkey with cream cheese, smoked Gouda, grape Crofters, and banana peppers.

A take-out sandwich.

Turkey burger with mozzarella. I ate too many fries.

A mug cookie, jazzed up SCM and salted caramel sauce.

It looks giant and fluffy like that because I double the recommended baking soda.

On the store-bought front, my mother-in-law sent us a cookie jar of Cheryl’s.

Thanks, Barb!

Finally, I received two samples this week that were perfect for trying when I was under the weather.

Please note – I received the following products free of charge. Neither company provided me with further compensation for this post. All opinions are my own.

Numi Organic Tea sent me some Pu·erh Variety mini samplers.

That includes Chocolate Pu·erh, Emperor’s Pu·erh, Jasmine Pu·erh, Basil Mint Pu·erh, Cardamom Pu·erh, and Ginger Pu·erh.

So far I’ve tried the Emperor’s and Jasmine varieties and was a big fan. I’m looking forward to the others a lot, though I will probably give the Ginger to Adam because that’s not my favorite flavor. Chocolate didn’t appeal to me with my cold, but look at the yummy description – “With a rich velvety, chocolate aroma, Numi’s Chocolate Pu-erh is an enticing blend of deep, dark pu-erh and organic cocoa nibs. Whole vanilla beans and sweet accents of orange peel enhance this blend along with nutmeg and cinnamon rounding off a spicy finish.”

I also received a bottle of powdered wheat grass from Pines.

I used to love the wheat grass shots at Jamba so I used them as inspiration and combined 1 tsp of wheat grass powder with 3 oz each orange juice and unsweet vanilla almond milk.

So delicious! Though next time I might shift the ratio a bit in favor of the oj; Jamba used a vanilla soy milk that brought more sweetness to the table than my almond milk. If you are unfamiliar with the flavor of wheat grass and want to try it you definitely can’t go wrong with the vanilla and orange pairing.

How many times a year do you usually get sick? Have you caught a cold yet this winter?

15Nov2013

Weekly Wrap-Up; How Is It Mid-November?!

by Emily

I keep thinking “I can’t believe it’s October!” but actually we are in the middle of November. This year is flying!

This week makes another wrap-up that is pretty light on content/photos. We are in the middle of yet another big life change and I’ve been all over the place. All over the place, figuratively speaking. Literally I’ve been in the apartment. On the couch. Eating. Have I mentioned that none of my pants fit?

Here’s some of what I’ve been eating (and eating, and eating)…

I discovered that my leftover salted caramel cream cheese macaron filling makes a pretty awesome fruit dip.

I even gave it its own recipe page.

With green apple.

And since there was clearly more dip than apple, I also dunked in some TJ everything crackers.

So good. There was a lot of this snack this week. Another day I topped the caramel with a dollop of my cinnamon maple pecan butter.

Spoonful by spoonful, the pecan butter container is getting pretty empty!

I loved this chocolate raspberry breakfast.

TJ European Style Low-fat Chocolate Yogurt topped with fresh raspberries, a scoop of Cascadian Farm Dark Chocolate Almond Granola and a spoonful of cinnamon maple pecan butter.

And cold (we were out of ice) coffee with skim milk on the side.

I planned on using SCM in my coffee but it exploded everywhere when I heated it in the microwave. Just as well because the chocolate yogurt was pretty sweet. I was impressed with the yogurt, I’ll have to check out some other varieties of their European style.

I’m going through some of my old recipes to reshoot the photos, and this week I made my pesto pasta casserole.

That picture’s not too great though, is it? And I used a bottle of pesto from Trader Joe’s that we both hated and it basically ruined the dish. Boo. But on the positive side, I think this was the very first TJ product that we didn’t love.

Another old (old blog!) favorite, turkey cheese crisps.

Classed up with crumbled blue cheese and a drizzle of honey when they came out of the oven.

The honey was sent to me from Golden Blossom Honey. {This product was sent to me free of charge. I was not provided further compensation for this post. All opinions are my own.}

The GBH is a 100% American-made product with a signature patented blend composed of extra-white clover, sage buckwheat, and orange blossom.

My blue cheese and honey crisps were definitely a better dish than the original. The honey earned two thumbs up from me; the flavor was unique, but not savory the way I find some orange blossom honeys to be.

Our fridge is very bare, and I finally ate the frozen meal I bought the day we moved in, a Kashi Mayan Harvest Bake. Plantains, roasted sweet potato, black beans and kale with a spicy ancho sauce served over 7 Whole Grains & Sesame Pilaf, amaranth and polenta topped with a pumpkin seed garnish.

This is on my top-5 list for frozen entrees, both flavor and texture are great. Not quite large enough for dinner for me though. I planned on eating it with this truebar,

but it was disgusting so instead I ate a slice of seedy bread with Smart Balance Light and smoked gouda.

Much better! Though I was still feeling snacky after dinner and ended up eating a bag of Smart Fries as well.

I love those. I need to get to a 7-11 asap so I can buy more.

One night we got take-out from Jessie’s.

My fries with blue cheese for dipping were the best part, but my sandwich was pretty good too.

They have a fun group of Turkey Day inspired specials right now! My sandwich was turkey with stuffing and cranberry dressing on top. I want to go get the salad special soon, it has cornbread stuffing croutons.

The best sandwich of the week was one I made myself.

A slice of TJ seedy bread (one cut in half since this bread is much larger than the kinds I usually eat) with Applegate Farms smoked turkey, cream cheese, blue cheese, grape Crofter’s, and banana peppers.

So many good flavors. Having banana peppers in the house for sandwiches has been fun.

Number 1 food of the week?

Lavender and Salted Caramel Macarons. Obviously.

I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Eating Chalk

Category Archives: Uncategorized

Coffee Break {A Giveaway}

Please note – I was sent the coffee free of charge. The company is also providing another bag for me to share with one of you. I was not provided additional compensation for this post.

The Bacon – Bringing It Home

Weekend Wrap-Up; Hello, December!

Weekly Wrap-Up; Thanksgiving

Mid-Week Wrap Up; Visitors In Town

Weekend Wrap-Up; A Fabulous Date

breakfast

Please note – this product was sent to me free of charge. I was not provided further compensation for my this post. All opinions are my own.

lunch

dinner

drink & dessert

Please note – this product was sent to me free of charge. I was not provided further compensation for this post. All opinions are my own.

Weekly Wrap-Up; My First Cold Of The Season

Please note – I received the following products free of charge. Neither company provided me with further compensation for this post. All opinions are my own.

Weekly Wrap-Up; How Is It Mid-November?!