Weekend Top Five

by Emily

{1} Apple picking upstate.

The selections were pretty weak – they only had two varieties!

We picked small bags and then moved on to the brewery.

They had housemade cider and wine slushies so that part of the day was a bit more exciting.

{2} Pecan Pie Bar.

Omg, kids, this candy was ridiculous good.

I’m not even embarrassed that I ate it two months early – pecan pie month isn’t until November on the Emily is crazy calendar – because this is my new favorite thing.

{3} Friday dinner at home.

Leftovers scrambled into easy eggs.

Turkey hot dogs, roasted broccoli, and spinach.

With cider from Wolfer Estates.

It was good but not my favorite.

{4} Saturday pizza night.

TJ’s red pepper, provolone, and pearl mozzarella wood-fired pizza.

With roasted zucchini.

I burned the life out of the pizza but roasted squash is our end of summer favorite.

{5} Sunday night Thai food with friends.

We went to Siam Orchid, a tiny little spot that makes the best Thai food in Brooklyn.

My drunken noodles with vegetarian duck were on point!

19Sep2015

This Week’s Top Five

by Emily

{1} Coffee.

I know this gets repetitive but coffee is just so freaking good!

The winner this week was the double espresso with ice and cream from a coffee shop near my hospital.

{2} Chocolate with pretzels.

I brought the toffee candy to work and my co-workers lost their minds over it. We did too; it was a good thing I got it out of the house or I think Adam and I could have finished the tray in a day or two.

Also yummy pretzel chocolate from Lindt.

Yes, I had dessert every evening this week.

{3} Apple month stuff.

Apple-pear pouch. I sprinkled the SuperSeedz on a pretty killer salad from the cafeteria salad bar.

Salted caramel apple granola (with chia seeds) on my yogurt.

And this apple explosion lunch.

Caramel apple oatmeal, TJ’s freeze-dried apples, and Salty Road caramel apple taffy.

{4} Loaded baked potatoes.

These bowls were fantastic.

Baked potato / roasted broccoli with green onions / homemade baked beans / topped with plain yogurt, sharp cheddar, and green Tabasco.

For the baked beans: Sauté tons of white and yellow chopped onions. Add sliced turkey hot dogs, pinto beans, and tomato sauce and let things cook for awhile. Then season with brown sugar and Gochujang.

They were so yummy I ate the leftovers cold.

{5} Dinner at Mile End.

Mile End Delicatessen is my new favorite deli, which is a big deal because the place I grew up going to had a pickle bar! MED did have tasty hibiscus beer…

And poutine made with smoked chicken gravy.

And roasted cauliflower with caraway honey, harissa paste, and toasted pistachios. This had the best texture, crunchy on the outside and silky soft in the middle.

I ordered the turkey reuben for dinner.

Did not disappoint.

{Bonus} New CDs.

My parents are amazing, and they send us mixed tapes all of the time. They both made new ones recently so this is how my mother labeled them –

Lol!

14Sep2015

Apples And Honey

by Emily

A not-so-fun weekend moment was somehow deleting half of my photos when I went to upload them. Here were some of the yummy moments…

Tacoway Beach at Rockaway Beach.

I got a fish taco with guac.

And we went down the road to Connolly’s Pub for frozen piña coladas.

Best frozen drink we’ve ever had.

Meatball Shop.

This chicken sandwich was good but not as good as the next one.

BBQ at The Smoke Joint.

I got a pulled chicken sandwich that I smothered in North Carolina-style bbq sauce. Their cole slaw is amazing; sweet and tangy.

Kale salad from Pork Slope.

This was the junk food of kale salads – greens smothered in “Srirancha” dressing with cheddar cheese and housemade potato chip crumbles.

Apples and Honey for Rosh Hashanah.

Fage 2% Greek yogurt + apples cooked with cinnamon and butter + honey + chia seeds + salted caramel apple granola.

We made the ubiquitous (<– for good reason!) toffee candy.

I used graham crackers instead of saltines and added pretzels and pecans.

So freaking good.

Barcade for pumpkin beer and many, many rounds of Q-Bert and Tapper. I made it to level three on both despite numerous attempts to go further.

This weekend also involved several games of Jenga and darts. I was better at both than I would have expected!

12Sep2015

This Week’s Top Five

by Emily

{1} My coffee combo.

Community Coffee with cocoa powder, maple cinnamon, cream, and milk.

The cocoa doesn’t really mix in with the cold coffee but it’s still good.

Now I want to do a coconut-cocoa coffee next.

{2} Bars.

Most nights this week I was soooo hungry when I got home and having these to grab saved me from some major hangry fits. Not that we still didn’t go get Chipotle instead of cooking two nights in a row.

{3} This lunch. Trimona plain yogurt with Heritage Flakes, chia seeds, and chopped emerald beauty and honey punch pluots. <– how great are those names??!

Plus a bourbon brown butter caramel and a salty caramel apple taffy for dessert.

{4} This fancy Thursday night dinner.

I sautéed spinach with minced ginger, garlic aioli, and evoo, then tossed in gnocchi and roasted zucchini.

Topped with this hot smoked sockeye from Trader Joe’s.

Best meal of the week! The salmon was wonderful; I love hot smoked because it has a similar flavor to lox but not the slimy texture.

{5} Caramel apple Peeps. OMG.

These were seriously delicious; are all Peeps this yummy?? They were puffy and not too chewy and they had a perfect balance of sour dust to sweet caramel fudge. I’m awarding this best purchase yet for Apple Month.

10Sep2015

Royal Weekend; Highlights

by Emily

Normally I am a Brooklyn girl, but over the three-day weekend I spent some time loving Queens. One day for Flushing and one for Astoria. Also Adam and I both had Monday off and we spent the day eating our way from Chelsea to SoHo!

Here are the highlights, minus several ice cream stops and several more coffees…

Doughnut date!

Chocolate salted caramel from Dough and a latte from Blue Sky.

Fancy yogurt bowls.

Plain Siggis + 2 types of plucot + chia seeds + crumbled graham cracker pie crust.

The crust was leftover from a failed s’mores cookie batch I attempted last week.

Brunch with a girlfriend at Burnside Biscuits. We both got Salty Dogs.

And I got a classic (duck fat!) biscuit with a sunny side up egg and sharp cheddar.

Related:: Adam and I went to Sweet Chick for a dimly lit dinner and had duck sloppy joes. Also two different cocktails with sherry!

Sandwiches at BEC = bacon, egg, and cheese.

I got a Junior with turkey bacon.

Sandwiches at Blue Ribbon. I got the pulled bbq chicken with cole slaw on top.

BRFC feels pretty chain restaurant/fast food but the sandwich was delicious. The bun was meh (I rarely eat the bun on a sandwich like this anyway) but the chicken was juicy with some perfectly charred crispy bites.

Presso Coffee is the cutest and their maple lattes are on point.

Related:: another day I got a quad nonfat latte from Kinship Coffee Cooperative that was super good.

Oreo milk tea with boba and pudding from Kung Fu Tea.

We explored the New World Mall food court and want to go back asap.

We didn’t stop to eat that day though, our hearts were already set on Xi’an Famous Foods.

Their spicy hand-torn noodles make the most satisfying dish you’ve ever tasted.

Trader Joe’s chile relleno is the best frozen meal ever.

I would give this dish two thumbs up if I thought a restaurant had made it fresh.

Important note – you can buy cups of edible cookie dough.

Just fyi.

Enjoy the rest of your week!

4Sep2015

This Week I Loved…

by Emily

the start of apple month

September 1st means I go crazy eating all things {caramel} apple!

And breaking into this stash makes me feel less awkward about my growing pile of pumpkin items.

everything by George Ezra

But especially “Blame It On Me.”

my breakfast combo

Fiber One reached out to me about sending samples of their newest product – Cheesecake Bars! I am not one to turn down something that has 5 grams of fiber and tastes like cheesecake.

They come in strawberry and salted caramel and they are freaking delicious. Each moderately sized bar has 150 calories. They certainly aren’t as healthy as a bowl of oatmeal, but I can handle the 3.5 grams of saturated fat occasionally for something quick that keeps me full through the morning and really does taste like dessert.

I paired a caramel bar with a caramel macchiato one morning and it was a bit too much but also amazing.

But most mornings I kept my coffee pairing low-key, Community Coffee with cream and milk.

Yum, I love it when we have (fat-free) half and half in the fridge.

yogurt bowls

2% Fage with strawberries and Heritage Flakes.

Plain Skyr with cotton candy grapes(!!!) and sea salt caramel apple granola.

Omg, kids, the granola was insanely good. It took a lot of self-control not to go through and pick out all of the caramel bits.

salads

Loaded from the cafeteria.

Greens with ranch, peppers, tomato, cucumber, black bean and corn salsa, green olives, cheddar, and Sea Salt SuperSeedz from home. The pumpkin seeds gave this just the right amount of crunch.

At home.

The little strawberry glass is holding strawberry beer – Abita’s* deliciously juicy Strawgator.

And my “salad” – which had no greens because we ran out of spinach – was tons of chopped cucumber and sweet red pepper topped with TJ’s insanely spicy Sriracha ranch, shredded cheddar, roasted pecans, and a huge pile of pulled chicken with roasted garlic and honey bbq sauce.

Also I ate Chipotle salad two days in a row. No shame.

* apparently Abita makes a milk stout?! I want it so badly I can practically taste it.

31Aug2015

Weekend Highlights; I ♥ New York

by Emily

Taking Friday off meant I had a three-day weekend to spend exploring the city. I’m a Brooklyn girl at heart but this weekend I was all about Manhattan. We spent three full days walking or eating or eating while walking and you know those are all my favorite activities! Long story with lots of gushing short: I love it here! I think NYC is one of the most beautiful places on the planet and I can’t imagine living anywhere else.

Since we ate pretty much nonstop, this is going to be a lengthy post. I cut what I could and am only including the exciting stuff. Working alphabetically always seems to make the most sense to me…

Chelsea Market {Chelsea}.

Friday afternoon, after my girlfriend left and before Adam got off of work, I took myself on a ramen date at Mokbar.

I got the brothy chicken ramen – roasted ginger chicken broth, pulled chicken, and cucumber and garlic chive kimchi, topped with a soft-boiled egg.

Very nice, especially the egg, but not quite as good as Chuko Ramen.

Gansevoort Market {Meatpacking District}.

I actually didn’t love any of the items I ate there, but it was too pretty not to show. A burnt, gross, maple cortado from Champion Coffee.

And a shimmery birthday cake macaron from Dana’s Bakery.

It wasn’t the best macaron ever (found at Bakeshop by Woops!), but I still want to go back for the s’mores and cookie dough.

The High Line {Chelsea}.

I had a crab cake empanada from La Sonrisa.

Lump blue crab, cream cheese, lemon juice, breadcrumbs, and spices. Good, but nothing can hold a candle to the guava-cheese at the truck near my train. <– The food was good this weekend but I guess a lot of it did come up short compared with past experiences. Good thing the walking was so darn fun!

Magnolia Bakery {Greenwich Village}.

Adam swooned over his s’mores cupcake and I got the legendary banana pudding.

Totally worth the accolades and Magnolia’s tourist destination status.

Nutella Bar at Eataly.

My Nutella iced latte was on point.

Peanut butter jelly smoothie. The only homemade item yummy enough to make it into this post.

We blended up frozen grapes and dark cherries with plain Siggi’s yogurt, peanut butter, and honey.

Brunch at Penelope {Kips Bay}. A girlfriend from my University of Buffalo days came into the city for a visit. We split a pitcher of rosé sangria with mango and watermelon.

And I ordered a BBELT – double (fakin) bacon, over-medium egg, lettuce, and tomato, with black pepper balsamic mayo on toasted sourdough. With hand-cut fries.

Much better than a boring old BLT.

Pier A Harbor House {Battery Park} for Brooklyn Brewery‘s Long Hall Lager.

Sooooo creamy, it was fantastic. And especially enjoyable after a 2 miles walk on the water down Battery Place.

We stopped at Brookfield Place to admire the view and now need to go back immediately for lunch.

Red Farm {Greenwich Village} for playful dim sum.

The space was beautiful, nothing was there by accident, and pro tip – the toilet seats are heated! We shared drinks, small plates, and an entrée. A nice rosé from Washington.

The Bee’s Teas – Chamomile tea-infused Bird Dog Bourbon, figs, lemon, basil, Runny Honey, and chamomile tincture. Not bad, but not as good as the honey drink we had last week.

We got the Pac Man shrimp dumplings and the crispy duck and crab dumplings.

Super fun, but we felt like the dim sum menu was more about the “wow factor” than great flavor. Our entrée, on the other hand, was one of the best things I’ve ever eaten.

The wide rice noodles with shredded duck were freaking packed with duck. There was honestly more meat than noodles! And the meat was perfectly cooked, crispy and succulent. We were in heaven.

Smorgasburg Queens {Long Island City}.

It was the perfect time to try Wooly’s shaved ice.

Party rocks = crushed Fruity Pebbles and Pop Rocks.

Sokerbit {Greenwich Village} for gummy candy goodness.

This Swedish candy shop is amazing, giant bulk bins of candy, mostly licorice and cola flavored (my two favorites!). I came away with a giant bag.

Everything we’ve tasted so far has been wonderful.

Victory Garden {Greenwich Village} for locally made goat’s milk yogurt.

I got the tangy original flavor, topped with goat’s milk caramel, sprinkles, and halvah. OMG.

What’s your favorite city?

28Aug2015

Weekly Wrap-Up, Weddings Have Great Food

by Emily

breakfast

Coffee. With Hint of Honey Almond Milk and a GoMacro Bar.

Or seltzer and an applesauce.

Or chocolate milk.

Another morning I tried to do the coffee + chocolate milk combo but my cafeteria was out of milk so I just drank it black and I had a stomach ache for the rest of the day.

lunch

Yogurt. Strawberry Fage with plucots and pumpkin seeds on the side.

Oatmeal. Quaker Summer Berry oats with Justin’s Chocolate Hazelnut Butter on top and plucots on the side.

Sandwich. A monster from the cafeteria with spicy turkey and fresh mozzarella on a brioche roll.

Leftovers. Egg salad (see below), TJ’s Crispy Broccoli – which I dumped into the egg salad! – and an apple.

snack

Salty.

Sweet.

dinner

I am missing many photos from the start and end of this week, but I did a pretty good job capturing the middle days.

Monday my camera was dead all afternoon and through the evening. You didn’t miss much though, I ate two grilled cheese sandwiches in bed. Then I ate a second dinner of Thai take-out. Also in bed. Related fact – I have been burning through episodes of “Body of Proof” at an alarming rate. It’s bad; not just the fact that I’m watching the show obsessively, but the show itself, is bad.

Tuesday was frozen shrimp goyza from Trader Joe’s.

We sautéed broccoli and bok choy with ginger, garlic, rice vinegar, and soy sauce and served our pan-fried goyza on top.

I woke up early Wednesday morning to hard-boil eggs for salad.

This was eggs with minced red bell pepper, mayo and a healthy dollop of sesame gojuchang which gave the salad a great spice and a little bit of smokiness.

With roasted green beans on the side.

Roasted green beans have always been one of my favorite foods but now that I’ve started topping them with sliced shallots they’re on a whole new level.

Thursday night I was way less pathetic, but I still don’t have any pictures. A Buffalo friend came into town and took me to a wedding. The event was in LIC at The Foundry and it was beyond gorgeous but way too dark for food pictures.

I ate hummus, cocktails, mini cupcakes, and all the other wedding trappings but the only photo I have is a blurry shot of my friend and me.

Fun fact – I met her straight from work and I had to get dressed in a Barnes and Nobel bathroom. I am the classiest.

I took today off to spend the morning with my girlfriend before she drives home so I have this whole Friday ahead of me to ~~watch Body of Proof~~ do fun stuff in the city!