Adam and I both worked this weekend, so we didn’t have a lot of fun, but we did have some good snacks. Highlights included…
Trader Joe’s pumpkin spice protein smoothie. Mild flavor, good spice, and pretty filling.
Whole-wheat matzoh with melted cheddar. I haven’t fully sold Adam on matzoh brei yet but he’s onboard with the bread as a vehicle for cheese.
Howling Gourds is officially our new favorite pumpkin ale! It’s fairly hoppy and cinnamon-forward but most importantly it is 7% ABV which is higher than most other pumpkin beers we’ve tried in the past.
Clean-out-the-pantry pasta that was surprisingly good. Whole-wheat rotini with steamed broccoli, sautéed radish, Trader Joe’s vegan chorizo, and marinara sauce, topped with Manchego.
Black and white cookie. I’ve decided I have not been eating nearly enough bagels or black and white cookies.
If you haven’t tried the hot honey chicken sandwich from Melt Shop yet get yourself there immediately. It has hot honey and jalopeno pimento cheese!
We went with a seafood theme for dinners this week and each night was better than the last! Seared scallops with crispy garlic smashed potatoes and sauteed bok choy and radish greens.
Roasted cabbage with sliced radishes, avocado crema, and Whole Food’s frozen fish fillets.
Broccoli rice with five spice quick pickled cucumbers, furikake, Sriracha aioli, and smoked salmon.
Adam and I had time together on Friday, Saturday, Sunday and we had just the best weekend ever! We got super lucky with nice weather which makes all of the difference this time of year.
Friday night we met up with friends for distanced fun in Brooklyn. Dinner and some stand-up comedy. Ample Hills does shows on their rooftop and each $10 ticket comes with a giant cup of ice cream! I got Coffee Toffee and No Sleep ‘Til Pumpkin – coffee ice cream with pumpkin gooey butter cake pieces.
Saturday we took a sixteen mile walk around the Upper West Side and Central Park.
And Sunday we visited the Brooklyn Botanic Garden.
Food highlights from the week include…
Rainbow cookie iced latte with edible glitter and pink whipped cream(!!!) from Crave.
Snacks from H-Mart. Oreo bubble tea candy and durian chocolates. Plus seaweed and salted egg potato chips.
A two chip chocolate chip cookie from Levain (newest best cookie ever) and a Campfire Cappuccino from Orwashers (with toasted marshmallow and hickory smoke, newest best marshmallow coffee ever).
Dinner at Tradisyon. I had Kare Kare – stewed oxtail and brisket in peanut sauce with eggplant, green beans, and bok choy and shrimp paste.
Plus we got delicious popsicles. Soy milk with mochi and brown sugar and calamansi cheesecake with meringue.
Important things first – as of Thursday we have entered Pumpkin Month!
I am very excited about some of those beers. This year’s haul was more restrained than years past because I have accepted that I don’t actually eat cereal so I didn’t buy eight varieties of pumpkin spice cereal to sit and grow stale while they waited for Adam.
Highlights from this week included lots of fall flavors…
And this next-level tasty Eleven Lives & Still Wandering double IPA.
I spent two solid hours in the kitchen last Sunday prepping meal components and it was worth it because we had a super easy and delicious taco week! Sautéed onion and red, orange, and yellow bell peppers with roasted zucchini // cauliflower and walnut vegan taco meat // crockpot shredded chicken thighs // homemade salsa (loosely inspired by this recipe). Tacos with veggies, salsa, cauliflower meat, and shredded cheese.
Giant protein bowls with veggies, shredded cheese, cauliflower meat, chicken, salsa, and a fried egg. Plus a cheese quesadilla.
Chicken chilaquiles (made with homeamde tortilla chips!).
Last weekend the husband and I were both off Friday night through Monday morning and it was amazing! It was the most time in a row together we’ve had in months! We made the absolute most of it cuddling with the dog, taking multiple trips into Brooklyn, and catching up on the last season of Agents of Shield.
Our favorite activity of the weekend was definitely the afternoon we spent in Industry City enjoying the art.
We ate a million exciting treats, highlights of which include…
A freddo cappuccino from Oasis Cafe. Also an unphotographed Oreo caramel mousse!
Love, Nelly – a newish Colombian bakery in Bushwick – is our new favorite spot. Every single design choice is perfect.
Among other things, we had a coffee with condensed milk and crushed ice,
and a shaved ice with passion fruit and almond syrups and passion fruit meringues.
A fresh soursop milkshake from a Vietnamese spot in Flushing.
Bars have to sell you a food item with your drinks to serve outdoors here and Adam’s favorite German spot has added a cup of marshmallows and gummi bears to its menu!
Drinks at Diamond Reef. Their outdoor space is great and they served me the best frozen pina colada of my life! Also chips and guac, blistered shishitos, and a pretty great guava rum punch.
Highlights from this week include – truly epic snacks, a mid-week date night with the husband, and homemade dinners featuring fantastic sausages that I found at Whole Foods. I had a weekend comp day and a holiday comp day and was off Monday-Tuesday, which was just lovely!
Our favorite beer was that one that looks like a smoothie – Even More Hydra, a sour ale with blackberry, raspberry, blueberry, marshmallow, and cacao nibs.
The fudge ripple in this 7-11 ice cream is my favorite thing I’ve eaten all year.
Highly recommend these Trader Joe’s crunchy honeycrisp for Apple Month.
My work situation this past week/weekend was crazy, over-the-top busy so I don’t have a ton to share from the past seven days because I mostly ate weird snacks and sad take-out. I am actually off Monday and Tuesday this week and I could not be more excited for my “weekend.”
Here were five things I ate and loved…
{1} Top Apple Month success so far has been these caramel apple mellowcremes. They are as delicious as they are adorable!
{2} Still obsessed with Dr. Brown’s black cherry soda. I don’t know how I let this stuff fall off my radar the past few years, it’s fantastic!
{3} Also obsessed with these Trader Joe’s turkey corndogs. They are the perfect balance of sweet and savory.
{4} These buffalo blue bean burgers remain the best recipe I’ve ever created. Paired with homemade coleslaw with yellow raisins and sesame seeds. I roasted the cabbage which was a total upgrade.
{5} Before our busy weekend Adam and I managed to get into Brooklyn for a date on Friday – take-out from Donna Cocktail while watching the sunset in Domino Park! I had a frozen margarita and the best taco I’ve ever eaten. P.S. Then we went to second dinner at Meckelberg’s and split three sandwiches!
We were trying to eat through some of our stores before I went grocery shopping this weekend so the past week we ate a lot of random foods from the back of the freezer and take-out. Somehow it worked out that everything was delicious! Highlights include…
First things first, it is Apple/Spice Month! Yes, I am already feverishly shopping for pumpkin beers too.
Peanut butter and jelly crispy waffle from Costa Nova + an iced latte.
Leftover olives from our dinner at Glasserie.
Local Cava Guava IPA which was basically beer champagne.
Adam and I are both 10/10, head over heels obsessed with these Swedish Swedish fish. We bought every flavor we could get our hands on at the store the other day.
We also lost it for these Ben & Jerry’s cinnamon bun cookie dough bites. We had their original cookie dough flavor when it first came out and were underwhelmed but these were outstanding.
Trader Joe’s Asian stir-fry veggies topped with scrambled eggs.
Boca Burgers with beautiful roasted purple potato and roasted broccoli with chili spice.
Chipotle nachos! Tortilla chips with cheese, chicken, roasted peppers, corn salsa, and guacamole.
Homemade okonomiyaki. Topped with Kewpie, Sriracha, and furikake.
Buffalo chicken pizza is good, but leftover buffalo chicken pizza topped with honey and Korean chili flake is even better.
Eating Chalk 