Coffees And Cocktails

by Emily

Important things first – the pink and purple trees in our complex are amazingly gorgeous.

This is the immediate view out of our front door and it makes me smile every day.

My purple hair finally got too patchy to be cute, while remaining highly pigmented in a few spots, and my hairdresser had to make me super blonde to get rid of it all.

I had a fantastic weekend – including a Lower East Side day, a Williamsburg/Bushwick day, and a Long Island day – and we ate all the things! I love New York, I love New York, I love New York.

We checked out OddFellows‘ new coffee and ice cream spot and I had an iced latte with toasted marshmallow milk.

I also had a toasted marshmallow iced latte (good, but not as good, obviously) from Sweetie Pies on Main while we walked around Cold Springs Harbor.

Japanese shaved ice from The Little One. Strawberry sauce / sweetened condensed milk / roasted strawberries / coconut whipped cream.

Arcade games and drinks at Barcade. <– one of my favorite spots in the city even if I’m not very good at Pac Man or Tapper

Craft cocktails on tap at Yours Sincerely. Adam got a tasting flight and I had a Folsom Fizz with bourbon, cola syrup, and almond.

Snacks at Smorgasburg. Belgian fries with malt vinegar aioli and chipotle ranch.

Noodle bowls at Just for Fen. Can JfF be my new living room? The space was so cute!

And the food was wonderful. I had smashed cucumber salad and spicy chicken rice noodles with housemade chili oil, pickled radish and cabbage, baby bok choy, scallion, cilantro, and peanuts.

Dinner at Forrest Point. On the patio!

I had a fried chicken sandwich with jicima and blue cheese slaw.

The few things we ate at home were pretty great too. Trader Joe’s scallion pancakes are the best frozen meal of all time. Served with baby carrots and bell peppers.

I made us delicious rice bowls. Brown rice / red, yellow, and orange bell pepper sauteed with onion and garlic / chicken breast slow-cooked in the crockpot with salt, pepper, oregano, cumin, garlic, lime, and orange juice and then shredded and broiled until crispy / sharp cheddar / TJ’s tomatillo roasted yellow chili salsa.

Plus mojito milkshakes! Cruzan rum / homemade mint simple syrup / lime juice / vanilla ice cream / ice.

4May2018

Sandwich x4

by Emily

I don’t have much to share this week, when your vacation is unexpectedly extended by two days your return home plan for a massive grocery haul turns into a five item mini trip and then you end up eating sandwiches two meals a day for two days straight.

I also took myself on a fun breakfast date in Dekalb Market Hall, and enjoyed an everything bagel with scallion cream cheese and an amazing iced latte.

I do have a few leftover island photos to share!

P.S. I adored being home, but oh man, do I love Brooklyn.

P.P.S. I am off from work today (all I could handle post-vacation was a two day work-week!) and I have exciting plans to eat all the things.

30Apr2018

Never-ending Vacation

by Emily

I’m still in St. Thomas! Woo hoo?

Luckily/unluckily my vacation was extended by a few days. My Sunday night flight was aborted (in the middle of take-off, horrifyingly!) and JetBlue couldn’t get me another flight out until Tuesday.

I have to actually go back to work on Wednesday so pretty please cross your fingers for me that I make it home tomorrow.

My six day turned eight day trip has been quite fun. Per usual, I’ve eaten some reeeeally good food, including smoked mahi dip at a bbq spot, homemade key lime pie, and a banana daiquiri with a view.

A post shared by Emily Wax (@emilywax) on Apr 29, 2018 at 12:44pm PDT

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Plus I went to food fair and got johnny cake with cheese and fraco (shaved ice) with tamarind, soursop, and condensed milk!

A post shared by Emily Wax (@emilywax) on Apr 29, 2018 at 11:58am PDT

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Carnival festivities –

Carnival 2018.

A post shared by Emily Wax (@emilywax) on Apr 28, 2018 at 12:22pm PDT

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Now it’s back to reality tomorrow.

24Apr2018

Three Day Weekend

by Emily

My three day weekend is actually a ten day weekend! I took a week+ off from work because I am going home for Carnival. By the time you read this post I will (hopefully!) be on a plane to St. Thomas.

Here were the top three from the past three days…

{1} Coffee (coffee, coffee).

[a] I am still loving Trader Joe’s shade grown espresso blend.

[b] I found my new spot for coffee and cookies – For Five Coffee.

They served me an perfectly roasty and creamy quad iced latte.

And they have crispy yet cakey cookies from Duchess Bakeshop, including unicorn cookies stuffed with cheesecake.

{2} Fun in packaged foods.

The chile rellano from Trader Joe’s is my all-time favorite frozen meal and the mojito kombucha was even better than expected.

{3} Our best meal of this year.

Glasserie in Greenpoint pretty much blew our minds. Their deal is Middle Eastern flavors mixed with contemporary techniques in a stunningly gorgeous former glass factory. We swooned over every bite!

Sour from Grimm.

Griddle bread that was chewy and perfect and sort of reminded me of funnel cake.

Roasted cauliflower with cured labneh and marjoram.

An assortment of mushrooms with celeriac puree, hazelnuts, and a soft boiled egg.

Chicken with roasted sunchokes, fried potato, and sesame. I almost never order chicken in restaurants but this was one of the best proteins I’ve ever tasted.

Rose milk custard with candied pistachios for dessert. This was just a bit tangy and just a bit floral and totally delicious.

10/10.

21Apr2018

My Favorite Thing I’ve Eaten

by Emily

Top five from last week –

{1} My favorite thing I’ve ever eaten! Also the most “me” thing I’ve ever eaten. Quad shot, iced, birthday cake latte (with birthday cake sprinkle sand!!) from Milk Bar.

{2} Vanilla bean Greek yogurt with the amazing Alphonso mango. Plus a guava kombucha.

{3} BBQ from Fletcher’s. I had smoked chicken and cole slaw. Important note: they now sell their amazing sauce to take home. <– highly recommend.

{4} Bahn mi chicken salad. With baby carrots, roasted broccoli, and Korean bbq kettle chips.

{5} Giant Greek salad bowls. Local oak leaf greens from Greenpoint / TJ’s Greek feta dressing / heirloom tomato / cucumber / roasted chickpeas / dolmas.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

16Apr2018

I (Strawberry) Heart…

by Emily

The five most exciting edible things from this weekend —

{1} There’s a new cookie dough place in our mall. The serving size was stupid big and they wouldn’t let us split the scoop into two flavors but it was delicious. We went with Oreo.

{2} I discovered a Sonic that’s not super far from our house. How excited am I about strawberry diet cokes??

{3} I’m back on the coffee obsession train. I was feeling a little under the weather last week and it was hard for me to drink anything roasty but thank goodness that’s over.

{4} The worker at Chipotle was extra generous with the fajita veggies and cheese and I ended up with a wonderful salad – romaine / chicken / pinto beans / peppers and onions / corn salsa / hot salsa / cheese.

{5} We went to Hanco’s and I had Vietnamese iced coffee with strawberry jelly hearts in it! Plus a really fantastic bahn mi with vegan pork (tofu).

P.S. Today’s my day off! And it’s also Adam’s day off!! And we are going into Brooklyn for lunch!!!

13Apr2018

Chili Cheese Fries Because It’s Still Chilly

by Emily

Seriously, why is it so chilly still?? Over the weekend I dry cleaned our winter coats, packed up our sweaters, swapped boots for sandals, etc, etc, and then Monday morning it was a balmy 30 degrees.

Freezer-burn aside, I had quite a nice week! Tuesday I took a personal day to spend time with Adam post-call and we tried some yummy spots in Bayside. And I’m off again today because I work this weekend.

Here were the highlights from the week…

Chocolate glazed doughnut (from Dough) and a maple iced latte at Browny.

Juicy watermelon wonder kombucha.

Chia pudding. Chia seeds / skim milk / maple syrup / vanilla bean powder / sliced banana.

Peanuts are my favorite snack at the moment.

Dinner out at Maria’s Mediterranean. We got some complimentary bites to start, including the best olives I’ve ever tasted.

Plus we ordered the chips and dip – housemade pita chips with tatziki / melitzanosalata, roasted eggplant puree / and tirokafteri, spicy feta spread.

I got the spanikopita for my entree.

And we tried something fun for dessert – ekmek, a bread pudding-baklava mash up with syrup-soaked shredded phyllo, custard, and whipped cream.

I leaned into the weather and made us big steamy bowls of chili. A loose version of this recipe from Iowa Girl Eats that is our favorite. The baked beans take it over the top.

I topped my bowl with sharp cheddar, plain Greek yogurt, and tons of Sriracha.

Our leftovers turned into cheese fries! Waffle fries / cheese – TJ’s 3 cheese blend / chili / ~~bacon~~ leftover duck. Plus green beans for something green.

And yesterday I made buffalo chicken meatballs. Ground chicken / panade / buffalo sauce / egg / cream cheese / cheddar. Plus sauteed carrots and celery to stay on theme.

It’s supposed to warm up this weekend, woo-hoo!

9Apr2018

Pig Squared

by Emily

Highlights from the weekend…

We went in to Manhattan early Saturday morning to check out the SNL line. <– never going to happen, people had been camped out for at least 24 hours On the plus side, we got to check out the leftover Easter decorations in Rockefeller Plaza.

We spent the day with a Buffalo friend who is living in the city for a year for fellowship. We took him to two of our favorite porcine named restaurants and on a long walk from Lower East Side to Tribeca and back.

Pig Bleeker for lunch. Smoked fried chicken sandwich with mayo, mustard sauce, hot sauce, and pickles, plus the crispiest fries.

Pig and Khao for dinner. I ordered the half hainanese duck, which came with duck fat fried rice which is apparently my favorite thing.

We had birthday cake croissants at Union Fare. Can sprinkle dust be a part of my everyday life?

We had a variety of cinematic favorite tributes this weekend. 90’s throwback snacks while we watched Empire Records on Rex Manning Day!

And a Thackery Binx inspired Daiquiri Binx cocktail – apple cinnamon infused white rum, simple syrup, fresh lime, egg white.

Eggcellent dinners using up our Easter leftovers.

Egg salad – with mayo, dijon, smoked paprika, and red and yellow bell pepper. Plus roasted broccoli. We scooped the salad with Trader Joe’s honey butter potato chips which was pretty fantastic.

Salad salad with a mango kombucha.

Romaine / cilantro salad dressing / blue cheese / smoked almonds / fried tofu / hard-boiled eggs.

Have a great week!