Weekend Highlights + What’s In My Bag?

by Emily

In alphabetical order, because why not?…

Brunch in SoHo. I took a friend to Freeman’s.

I had the poached eggs with sourdough toast and cheddar grits.

Chipotle. Finally, we hadn’t been in almost a month!

Chicken salad bowl for me with all of the toppings. Plus way too many chips.

Chocolate-cherry smoothie.

Frozen cherries and dates, cocoa powder, and vanilla almond milk.

Cookies with M&M’s.

Have you made Number 2 Pencil’s awesome “single serve” recipe yet? Put it on your to-do list.

Fast dinner thanks to Trader Joe’s freezer section.

We had mahi burgers,

plus veggies in garlic butter sauce.

Popcorn. Made on the stove. <– so much better than the microwave bags

Random – I swapped out my purses for the week so I figured I’d do one of those “what’s in my bag?” photos.

Camera / day planner / book for the train (this week it’s The Elegance of the Hedgehog) / sunglasses / cell phone / keys / etc. It is easy to switch up my bags because all of the ecetera lives in that Brooklyn bag and can easily move from purse to purse.

Pens / gum / lip stuff / band aids / hair tie / hand sanitizer.

Salad and sandwich night.

Arugula topped with toasted, shredded Brussels sprouts, sweet and spicy pecans, and honey and evoo.

The amazing sandwiches were thanks to TJ’s new pastrami-style smoked salmon

Inspired by the Pastrami Russ at Russ and Daughter’s Café.

Pastrami-style lox on buttered and toasted pretzel rolls with pickles and muenster cheese.

Sprouted trail mix from my aunt.

It is similar to “Gorp” and very yummy.

Turkey and cheese roll-ups.

Yogurt bowl.

Plain yogurt with chopped nectarines and dulce de leche.

What’s in your bag? What items are always with you?

30Jun2015

Random Ruminations

by Emily

giveaway winner {congrats!}

And the cookbook giveaway winner is… Brittney. Brittney, e-mail me with your mailing info so you can enjoy making your ice creams!

{yummy} weekend eats

Friday breakfast: Americano with milk, string cheese, and an Enzo Bar from Lola Granola.

The bar was amazing; honey, vanilla, and cinnamon oats.

Saturday was a similar deal: Clif dark chocolate peanut butter bar with a clover brew of Starbuck’s Italian roast.

Friday’s dinner – the only dinner I managed to photograph – was boring but good.

Spinach salad with pepitas and roasted green beans dressed with evoo, honey, and lavender salt.

Toasted sourdough turkey sandwich with pepperjack and strawberry jam.

Spicy and sweet always makes the best sandwich.

Stumptown cold brew and fresh cherries for an afternoon snack.

We spotted this Sour Patch slurpee and bought one immediately. It was sour! Neither of us wanted more than a few sips but it was fun to try.

We did a similar maneuver the next day with frozen yogurt.

The salted chocolate chip cookie dough was fantastic! I topped mine with cookie dough (duh!), blondie, mochi, and Nutella.

We ventured into Astoria on Sunday; Sugar Freak for a Louisiana brunch.

That’s a “swamp juice” and it was exactly as disgusting as you’d expect. Maybe even more so actually, you guys know how much I love things that are over the top sweet and even I couldn’t bring myself to take a third sip.

I got a grilled chicken Po’Boy to eat. That, I could finish!

The side salad came with pecan vinaigrette that was the best part of the meal.

Afterwards we stopped by Kinship for coffees like we were just the coolest.

Two thumbs up for the cold brew, Stumptown again.

random facts {about me}

We were glad to have a low-key, boring weekend because 3 out of 4 in July include major plans (including my 30th birthday).

I am so excited about the SCOTUS marriage equality ruling. I got all teary-eyed on the train reading the news. This is definitely the proudest moment America has had so far this decade.

We only have a few old Criminal Minds left and we are pretty devastated about it. But…

Rookie Blues is back!!! My Canadian cop show is the best thing on summer television. I haven’t watched the first episode yet because I’m hoping if I save it for an elliptical session it will lure me back to the gym after a lazy week off.

I finally started reading Tina Fey’s Bossypants and it is just as hilarious and wonderful as I had expected.

I am obsessed with advice columns (Dear Prudence is my favorite!) so I read Dear Abby every morning but I think I need to stop because most of her advice is so terrible that it makes me huffy with anger on my way to work.

Sunday afternoon we went on a date to the Queens County Farm Museum and it was pretty much the best thing ever.

I got to pet the pigs!!! Animals – mostly French Bulldogs and Dachshunds but sometimes pigs – seem to sense my intense, unhealthy love for them and give me lots of petting time. The piggies laid up against the fence so I could really go to town patting their flanks and scratching behind their ears.

Yay! So much fun.

Which farm animal do you most want to cuddle?

16Jun2015

Confessions Post; XVII

by Emily

Click here to read Confessions part I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, IX, X, XI, XII, XIII, XIV, XV and XVI.

Confession #1 – “Orange is the New Black” was early released last Thursday and I can’t watch it yet because I am too obsessed with the old seasons of “Criminal Minds.” The Emily who watched OITNB season 2 in three days hates this Emily for making her wait.

Confession #2 – I spent several hours on Saturday coloring.

Skyhorse Publishing recently sent me a free copy of one of their new adult coloring books – Paisleys, Coloring for Everyone – and I am hooked. {please note – I was not provided further compensation for this post and all opinions are my own}

The book is filled with intricate paisley prints for you color in. And the pages are perforated so you can do this –

Confession #3 – I recently learned via internet comment stream (btw, the comments on “Dear Prudence” are great) that many seemingly normal adults wash their bath towels after each use. The husband then had to listen to a 15+ minute rant on why I hate those people.

Confession #4 – A good portion of my Instagram feed is NYC foodie accounts and I am constantly screenshotting posts about places I think Adam and I need to visit…

Confession #5 – …90% of them are coffee and/or ice cream places.

When was the last time you colored?

18Apr2015

Eggcellent Eats

by Emily

We bought tons eggs and dye for Easter this year, and of course, never did a darn thing with them. The dye is in our “holidays bin” for next year, but the eggs had to be cooked. And so, I enjoyed hard-boiled eggs as a meal almost every day this week.

I was also all about the Cara Cara oranges and Medjool dates. It’s starting to taste like summer!

stuff

I started Ruth Reichl’s first autobiography on the train and I think I’m in love.

She is so funny, and I love any story about food!

We were insanely busy at work all week and I’m dying. That’s why this post is a day late (and is short about 10 more coffee and candy pictures), because I did sessions with 18 patients on Friday – many of them with gestational diabetes – and when I got home I just wanted to lie down.

breakfast

I made an awesome cold-brew blend this week: Community Coffee French Roast and BRC Peru with brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and pumpkin pie spice.

Served on ice with S’mores Milk and skim milk.

So good.

I am almost through my Nonni’s Biscotti sample shipment and I am going to buy more when we’re out.

They are yummy, even when not dipped in coffee.

I discovered the magic that is dates dipped in peanut butter.

lunch

Kimchi noodle bowl.

The Cara Cara was the best finish for my perfectly burning mouth.

I brought TJ’s cashew butter and tahini kale chips and crispy broccoli snacks (<– they’re back!!) to crunch on top of salad bar.

With a big scoop of macaroni salad.

This tasting plate wins best lunch of the week.

Dates / turkey bacon / hard-boiled egg / crispy broccoli / orange.

But this triple – chocolate oatmeal bowl wins a close second.

Rolled oats with a heaping Tbsp of hot chocolate mix, chocolate-covered cocoa nibs, and dark chocolate chips.

And this busy day “lunch” was a loser. Vanilla soy milk at 11 am.

And Easter candy at 4pm when there was finally a lull.

dinner

Omg. Kids! I made the tastiest stroganoff-inspired noodle bowls ever. Adam and I could not get over them.

Served in heaping scoops on egg pappardelle.

Yummy Stroganoff-ish Pasta, serves 4

Heat 1 Tbsp evoo in a large skillet over high-medium heat. Add 20 ounces sliced white mushrooms, and a big pinch of salt, and cook until the mushrooms have lost their juices and browned, stirring regularly (10 – 13 minutes). Deglaze the pan with a healthy pour of cream sherry. Remove mushrooms from pan and reduce heat to medium-high, adding an additional Tbsp evoo if needed.
Add 1 lb lean ground turkey and two large shallots, chopped to the pan. Season with pepper and 1 Tbsp smoked paprika. Cook 5 minutes, stirring regularly and breaking up the meat into small pieces with the side of your spatula. Stir in 1/2 Tbsp ground garlic, 1/2 Tbsp fish sauce, and 1 Tbsp soy sauce. Continue to cook, stirring regularly, until meat is cooked through (5 – 7 more minutes).
Reduce heat to low and stir in 3/4 cup reduced-fat sour cream.
Serve on top of pasta of choice.

The leftovers were still great.

Served on top of spinach salad. Plus, those of us who can eat chocolate had Lindt caramels for dessert.

We had cobb salad.

Baby spinach with balsamic / roasted asparagus / turkey bacon / avocado / TJ’s cave-aged blue cheese / hard-boiled eggs.

And egg salad.

Eggs with shredded carrot, chopped green pepper, mayo, pickle relish, garlic mustard, dill, tumeric, smoked paprika, and s & p. With great seeded crackers my parents sent us for Easter.

And roasted broccoli and green beans.

Egg salad is good – and I wasn’t even tired of eggs yet! – but roasted green beans are always the best part.

Then we finished the week out with Chipotle.

Enjoy your weekend!

6Mar2015

When It Snows It Blizzards*

by Emily

When it comes to the big, important stuff – having jobs, our health, and a great marriage – Adam and I know that we are unbelievably lucky. That said, man oh man, this week was annoying. The snow has been relentless, I wore my favorite sweater to work only to get to the cafeteria and douse myself head to toe in balsamic vinegar, Adam had to have both of his big toe nails emergently removed, and my car has a flat tire. When it rains it pours*. I’m pretty sure I have never been so glad for a weekend!

There was a lot of stress snacking going down this week that I didn’t do the best job of photographing, but I am going to recap the most delicious things…