Popcorn And Poutine

by Emily

Random updates…

Both sets of excisional biopsy stitches are out and today I am finally allowed to go to the gym, woo-hoo! Also important – both biopsies came back clean.

We are finally catching up on Agents of Shield and LOVING it. Hilarious as always and just crazy touching. I’m not loving the “big bad” for this season but Fitz’s story-line is good enough that I don’t care.

I work this weekend but have super fun dinner date plans with the husband on Saturday.

Best bites from the week…

Coffee can and an Envy apple.

Vanilla yogurt with nougat halva from Seed + Mill and a sumo on the side. Halva mixed into yogurt is one of my favorite things. I also really like key lime pie in yogurt. Apparently I think you can improve dessert with Greek yogurt?!

Tamarind my parents sent me from home. I rode horses as a child and our stable had a patch of trees you could pluck tamarinds from and it’s one of my favorite memories.

No photo because I ate it while sitting in traffic but I had the most deliciously meta thing from Schmackary’s – a chocolate chip cookie topped with chocolate chip cookie dough frosting!

Piles of popcorn.

Spaghetti casserole with whole-wheat spaghetti, marinara, Trader Joe’s soy chorizo, and sharp cheddar. Growing up, I hated spaghetti but adored this casserole. This version was smokey and delicious. With roasted broccoli on the side.

Dinner at Mile End. The poutine of the month is Nashville hot chicken, so obviously we ordered that.

I also had a za’atar chicken salad with Boston lettuce, mint, Israeli salad, cucumber, and crispy chickpeas. Fresh mint in salad is so good, it genuinely makes me smile.

Happy almost weekend.

5Mar2018

Best Babka In Brooklyn

by Emily

Best bites from the weekend…

Best chocolate babka in Brooklyn, probably the world, at Oneg Bakery. It was so chewy! Yet crumbly and crisp too. And the chocolate was basically brownie batter! We were absolutely smitten and I ate too much and made myself sick.

Vanilla iced latte at the adorable Hearts Coffee in Bushwick.

Brunch at Meadowsweet. My iced Oslo espresso had sugar, milk, and bourbon in it.

And I had a beyond fantastic bowl of duck pastrami hash with parsley salsa verde and poached eggs.

Snack attack. La Columbe canned coffee and a cheesecake cup.

Fruity yogurt bowl, with citrus yogurt, sumo mandarin, and pomegranate.

Leftover breakfast casserole with the dregs of my veggie drawer.

Snazzy pasta bowls. Whole wheat spaghetti / brown butter and lemon / peas, green onions, and sun-dried tomatoes / crab meat.

2Mar2018

Dotted Line

by Emily

My favorite bites this week…

A breakfast date at Dot & Line. I had a maple iced latte and a croissant stuffed with vanilla cream and chocolate.

Breakfast casserole. Like this one, but with extra sharp cheddar, smoked rainbow trout, and the addition of green onions. With broccoli and cauliflower on the side.

BBQ chicken salad. Romaine with blue cheese dressing / green onion / cucumber / pomegranate / smoked almonds / sharp cheddar / shredded chicken with bbq sauce.

Sparkly mint brownie from The Fat Witch. <– best brownies in New York

It’s the freaking weekend!

26Feb2018

Charcoal And Cheez-its

by Emily

From this weekend I have some exceptional highlights and some cautionary tales…

I am a marketer’s dream – I’ll buy pretty much anything that says limited edition; it’s not a lifestyle I can really recommend, as both of these coffees were just terrible!

This coffee shop, on the other hand, was worth the hype.

Saltwater Cafe gave me a very tasty charcoal vanilla chai latte.

Other Lower East Side spots that redefine hypeworthy? Ice & Vice and Baohaus. I had an epic cup of Milk con Leche with goat milk cajeta and kaya jam.

And an Uncle Jesse Bao and a Spiceland Bao – fried tofu and spicy fried chicken with pickled cabbage, crushed peanuts, Taiwanese red sugar, and cilantro. Plus housemade lemonade.

Representing from the frozen section, Trader Joe’s scallion pancakes are damn good. With Sriracha on top and yellow bell pepper on the side.

And one night I cooked a great plate of Cheez-it crusted chicken tenders with homemade cole slaw.

P.S. CW Pencil Enterprise looks like what the inside of my soul looks like.

Hope everyone enjoys their week!

23Feb2018

Smoked Cheddar To Chocolate Almond

by Emily

Flavor themes of the week: coffee, cauliflower, seltzer, croissants.

White Noise. Iced latte and black sesame and milk frozen yogurt swirl fantasticness.

Home coffee for the week. Starbucks espresso roast with chocolate milk.

Breads Bakery. Smoked cheddar croissant.

Orwashers. Almond and chocolate croissant.

Yogurt bowl. 2% Fage with pomegranate, golden raisins, and luxardo cherries.

Snack time. Soursop yogurt drink / red walnuts and marcona almonds with rosemary / pinata apple.

Kakigōri from a pop-up at Canal Street Market. Japanese-style shave ice with black currant chocolate sauce, smoked almonds, and torched meringue. Toasted meringue is one of my all-time favorite flavors.

Luke’s Lobster. Lobster rolls taste like butter squared.

Pelicana. Korean fried chicken is the best fried chicken, period.

Not a winner dinner. Cauliflower rice / sauteed bok choy with rice vinegar / ground turkey sauteed with chopped kimchi and gojuchang / soft boiled egg. This had so much potential but I ended up stopping halfway through and eating fried chicken leftovers instead.

Another night we were supposed to have cauliflower soup for dinner but I couldn’t deal with the blender so at the last minute I ended up making… whatever the hell this is. At least it was tasty! Sauteed yellow onion and leeks with celery seed and smoked paprika / roasted cauliflower / turkey bacon / sharp cheddar.

Have a great weekend!

19Feb2018

Fresh On The Blog

by Emily

Gotta love a three day weekend! I don’t work today (hence the late post) and my plans include the dog, my bed, and The Office, the end.

My Friday, Saturday, Sunday were all pretty great too. Friday, Adam drove me into work so we had before-work breakfast date and after-work dinner date (plus we basically consider the time driving in the car to be a date too!). Saturday, I met up with girlfriends for brunch and discovered that Bayside, Queens – which is about 10 minutes from my house – is actually kind of great. And Sunday, we had friends in from out of town and we got to show them the magic of Grand Central Whispering Gallery; plus the magic of coffee from Cafe Grumpy!

highlights…

Apertif. I had a croque canard sandwich with duck rillettes, apple, brie, and béchamel.

IMG_20180217_123702_501

F.O.B. A newish Filipino spot in Cobble Hill people have been (rightly) raving about.

We got so much good food! Corn bibingka – rice cake with farmers cheese, kesong puti, and coconut butter.

Overnight chicken adobo and pechay – sautéed Chinese cabbage with chili and garlic.

And Halo Halo – shaved ice with nata de coco, red beans, tapioca, mango, jackfruit, and ube ice cream!

French Workshop. We split something with white chocolate mousse, and hazelnuts, and milk chocolate ganache but there were about a million other things that looked good too.

Joyce Bakeshop. We’ve decided that we don’t love their coffee, but their kouign amann is my all-time favorite pastry. Seriously, I like it more than filled croissants from Union Fair and cronuts from Dominique Ansel, and that bar is set pretty damn high.

Kame Ramen in Nomad. I had spicy chicken miso with sesame oil and a soft boiled egg.

IMG_20180218_133342_125 (1)

I did manage to cook one meal at home – loaded baked potato casserole / shredded chicken with bbq sauce / spinach salad with pomegranate, marcona almonds, and Trader Joe’s cilantro salad dressing.

Have a great week!

16Feb2018

Heart On My Apron

by Emily

It’s hard to believe that the Valentine’s celebration of love fell on a week when America really needs some extra love <– but more importantly needs better gun control legislation.

– – There is no good segue from my opening thoughts to blathering about my lunches so I’m just going to abruptly start talking about food here. – –

Highlights from this week…

Chocolate covered strawberry smoothie – plain Greek yogurt, frozen strawberries, and chocolate milk.

Chocolate covered cherry iced coffee – espresso roast with chocolate milk and Luxardo cherry juice.

There is a snazzy new Hungry Ghost location near my work and their fantastic iced lattes have not been a good thing for my coffee budget.

Seriously though, the best coffee of my life was Sunday while grocery shopping – the frozen moolattas from Stew Leonard’s are unreasonably delicious.

Birthday cake flavored protein bar.

Sumo mandarin // conversation hearts // sweetened dried lemon and dried persimmon.

Lavender yogurt with blueberries // dark chocolate heart.

Vanilla bean yogurt with blueberries and a jaffa murcot mandarin.

Coffee and chicory yogurt with blueberries // cinnamon churro crispy treat.

Pinch of Yum’s bourbon chicken. I used breasts instead of thighs, roasted shredded cabbage instead of rice, and upgraded to maple bourbon.

Cheesy baked crab dip – with shredded crab, cream cheese, cheddar, green onion, Old Bay, minced ginger, and fish sauce.

Scooped with orange bell pepper slices and Trader Joe’s coconut shrimp.

Spiralized zucchini sauteed with lemon and pepper topped with extra-firm tofu crusted in peanut sauce (peanut butter, soy sauce, rice vinegar, lime juice, fish sauce, canola oil, sugar, garlic, and ginger).

I hope everyone has a fun, safe, love-filled weekend.

9Feb2018

Emily Of Sandwich

by Emily

This was a short week for me on the work front, I was off Monday from the weekend (with Adam!!) and off Thursday for a doctor’s appointment. Wear your sunblock, kids – I have to have two moles surgically removed, one on my chest and one on my back, complete with stitches, giant gross scars, and a month straight of no gym and no normal showers. At least I got a good lunch in Manhattan out of the deal?

Highlights…

We finally made it to Doughnut Project! The Malter White was great, malted milk chocolate with a malted chocolate chip mini cookie and cookie crumble.

We got a gift certificate to the Russian Tea Room for Christmas this year and we enjoyed a super fancy lunch. We had vodka, of course.

And caviar.

And I had delicious Kulebiaka for my entree – salmon with slow cooked onions, mushrooms, and vegetables wrapped in pastry, served with braised caraway cabbage and mustard beurre blanc.

Yogurt bowl wins. Greek with fresh strawberries and caramel almond butter.

Strawberry Icelandic style with a fancy tangerine.

Chicken quesadilla from La Esquina.

Best ever ice cream from Ice & Vice. Malted vanilla with sea salt caramel.

Dessert at Vanilla Bean. Banoffee tart for me and a crazy good iced latte.

Caramelized banana peanut butter cups.

It was sandwich week for dinners! Croque Madame – rye bread, smoked turkey, sharp cheddar, strawberry jam, french toasted – with roasted broccoli and shishitos.

Jalopeño popper turkey burgers with smoked gouda and roasted green beans. We didn’t have buns but I’m still counting this as a sandwich.

Asian-style turkey reubens – with gojuchang mayo and kimchi – with roasted shredded brussel sprouts.