Was It Blogvious?

by Emily

Adam’s back, yay! Surprise? I tried to keep it under wraps for security reasons, so I hope it wasn’t blogvious (<– totally unnecessary portmanteau for obvious on the blog) that Adam has been out of town for the past month. He had a trauma rotation in Texas and the dog and I missed him like crazy! Now he’s back and we both have two weeks off of work and I plan on spending the majority of them holding his hand!

Foodwise, here were the weekend highlights…

Adam didn’t get back into town until late Sunday evening and I spent the better part of the day hyperventilating with excitement. I distracted myself for a little bit with Vietnamese iced coffee and a pedicure.

Fun fact – toe nail polish was my something blue in my wedding.

Another day, another coffee.

I usually skip over Gala apples but this one was very sweet and crisp.

Brunch with friends at Du Jour Bakery, my new favorite breakfast spot in Park Slope. The space feels totally open and airy and they have yummy iced lattes.

I ordered the brioche French toast with maple butterscotch, berries, and whipped cream.

It was good, but I need to accept the fact that I don’t really like French toast. My girlfriends got savory egg sandwiches that I think I would love.

Dinner at Pearl’s Bake and Shark, a newish Trinidadian spot in Williamsburg. My bake and jerk chicken was very tasty.

Aka pulled jerk chicken on fried dough, with pickled slaw and pineapple salsa. The chicken didn’t taste like the jerk I grew up with, but it was smoky delicious.

Bbq turkey salad at home.

Baby spinach dressed with creamy Greek dressing / avocado / cucumber / chopped turkey breast tossed in cola bbq sauce / brie / a sprinkle of smoked paprika. A great combo; the paprika was such a good addition.

22Apr2016

This Week I Loved…

by Emily

Yogurt bowls

Guava Chobani with Cheerios, walnuts, pomegranate, and blackberry.

More of the above, but with mango soursop as my tropical yogurt flavor.

Plain Fage with granola, chocolate covered cacao nibs, walnuts, a turtle pecan biscotti, pomegranate, and blackberry. <– best lunch of the week

Earl Grey Rooibos tea

Cookie butter

I ate a big spoonful as my after-work snack every day this week.

And I ate a delicious lunchtime oatmeal in the last of the Biscoff jar.

The expanded menu at Boba Guys

A girlfriend and I got Hong Kong Milk teas this week and were swooning! Best boba I’ve gotten in the city and they have housemade almond and grass jellies.

The fantastically fun supplies from Mochi Things

My mom sent me some snazzy stickers and pens for Easter and they are greatly improving my workday mood.

This lip stuff

Minted rose is obviously the best scented beauty product I’ve ever owned.

What rocked your socks this week?

4Apr2016

Last Week’s Top Ten

by Emily

{1} Swapping out my wardrobe to welcome in the spring-ish weather.

So today and tomorrow are supposed to be pretty darn cold, but the rest of the month is looking so nice that I went ahead and traded my summer and winter gear. Scarves and boots are still available but if we get a freak snowstorm I’m out of luck because all my coats are at the cleaners. It felt good to get that big project done.

{2} Enjoying coffee again.

Extra espresso in my giant iced latte? My health is officially back to 100%.

This upcoming week I did brew a batch so I won’t have an excuse to buy coffee out every day.

{3} Berry smoothie.

Maple kefir, dates, and frozen mixed berries.

Kefir was the perfect smoothie liquid.

{4} Dessert-y oatmeal bowls for lunch.

Oats with chia, freeze-dried raspberries, pecans, and strawberry shortcake M&Ms.

Oats with chia, freeze-dried raspberries, and a big scoop of Biscoff.

I bought a jar of Biscoff last Saturday and it is practically empty now – – I am the only member of the household who eats Biscoff.

{5} National Pecan Day is April 14th and Nonni’s sent* me some Turtle Pecan Biscotti to celebrate.

*Free sample alert – no additional compensation was provided for this post, all opinions are my own.

The biscotti was quite good next to my coffee – crunchy but not toothbreakingly so and a good balance of salty and sweet.

But even better crushed into my all-time best yogurt combo. Turtle pecan yogurt bowl: maple yogurt, toasted pecans, chocolate-covered cocoa nibs, biscotti, and chopped plucot.

Or check out Nonni’s Pinterest page for some other pairing ideas.

{6} Binge-watching “Hart of Dixie” on instantwatch.

Yes, the show where Rachel Bilson plays a doctor in the deep south. And yes, it is totally a soap opera. But it is completely addictive! I am a woman obsessed, or I should say I was a women obsessed – I may have already finished watching all four seasons!

{7} Kombucha.

The Master Brew line from Kevita has been knocking my socks off.

Grapefruit was perfectly sweet and tart.

{8} Healthy sticks to scoop up less-healthy dips.

Baby carrots and green pepper in spinach and artichoke dip.

Apple slices in melted Biscoff and dark chocolate peanut butter.

Apple dippers in cookie butter are even more satisfying than licking it off of a spoon like I usually do.

{9} Taco brinner.

We loved our fish tacos so much the week before that I knew we needed a repeat.

This time our hard shells were stuffed with sautéed onions and peppers, shredded cheese, roasted tomatillo salsa, and scrambled eggs. This was practically the only meal I cooked all week, the other nights I mostly ate chips with cheese and salsa so I’d have time to watch my stories!

{10} Chuko Ramen.

I introduced a girlfriend to the joy that is their veggie miso with a soft egg and chili garlic oil on top.

It is the perfect dinner spot because Ample Hill’s ice cream is just a short walk down the block!

What are you looking forward to this week?

25Mar2016

I’m Alive!

by Emily

So it’s been awhile since my last post, huh? My two-week illness (a cold and then the flu) turned into a three week plague extravaganza complete with conjunctivitis, gastroenteritis, and a two-day stay at the hospital. Yippee. I didn’t really feel like myself again until just a couple of days ago.

Now I’m back in action, and I even have a week’s worth of meals to share…

daytime eats

I was still recovering on Monday so I started my week off with mint sparkling water cut with Sprite.

I’m usually not a clear soda (or non-diet soda) fan but the day I got home from the hospital I swear it was the best thing I’ve ever tasted. I didn’t even want diet coke that week, which says a lot about how sick I felt.

The real clue that I was basically dying is this – this small iced latte was my first cup of coffee in more than a week.

I also had a glass of kefir.

Maple was such a fun find.

By the next day I was fully ready for my lifeblood again. Nonfat caramelized honey (<–yum) iced latte with extra espresso. Sipped while grocery shopping.

I worked Saturday/Sunday which thankfully meant I had Wednesday off.

And yesterday I had a yummy Kevita kombucha.

Lavender melon. Kevita is a little more refreshing – and less sour and yeasty – than other brands of kombucha.

Packed lunches were my old standbys. Oatmeal.

Oats with chia seeds, strawberry shortcake m&m’s, and Justin’s chocolate hazelnut butter. Plus a piñata apple on the side.

And yogurt bowls, with blueberries and blackberries. 2% Fage with maple pecan granola, chia seeds, and more pecans.

Vanilla bean with Heritage Flakes.

Plus truffles from a coworker for dessert. With a side of Easter themed nails.

Wednesday at home I made an Easter-inspired spread.

Egg salad with potato chips, and warm carrot slaw (sautéed shredded carrots tossed with golden raisins, walnuts, mayo, and stone-ground mustard).

nighttime eats

Monday night I took the dog on an extra-long walk after work… and then laid down on the couch in my coat for more than an hour! I was too tired to cook anything, but hungry enough to go back and reheat a second plate of leftover pizza.

Plus baby carrots.

We try to always keep them on hand because they are perfect for distracting the dog while he gets his nails clipped.

Tuesday I managed to cook dinner and try a blog product sample (two birds with one stone). Popkoff’s sent me some free coupons for their new line “farm to freezer” frozen Russian dumplings.

The farmer’s cheese Pelmeni were fantastic – they cooked in under 10 minutes and were perfectly tender yet chewy. Plus, you have to love the short ingredient list: “Farmer’s Cheese, Wheat Flour, Water, Egg, Sour Cream, Salt, Sugar.” We kept things simple and tossed them with sautéed mushrooms and cabbage and low-fat sour cream.

Topped with a sprinkle of smoked paprika. I have two more freebie coupons and I would purchase the dumplings with my own money so this is a meal you’ll likely see again.

Wednesday was the warmest of the season (68!) and we made the most of it by taking the dog on a long walk – in sandals and t-shirts – for water ice. My strawberry and cola cup hit the spot.

Then we did fish taco night for dinner. We need to make tacos more often, Adam and I were both raving about this meal.

Toasted taco shells / sautéed onions and bell pepper / shredded cheese / roasted tomatillo salsa / mahi mahi cubes sautéed with lime, cilantro, and green onions / dollops of sour cream.

Yesterday I ate a guava and cheese empanada on the train.

Dinner part deux was TJ’s frozen gnocchi with eggplant and zucchini.

10/10. We relied a lot of frozen foods to get through this week but the quality of our meals didn’t suffer any.

I hope everyone is feeling well for the weekend!

27Feb2016

Sprinkles And Sandwiches

by Emily

By the time this post goes live I’ll already be on my way to work (wan wan). I’m working Saturday/Sunday because I have Friday/Monday off, and I’m heading in extra-early because we have family visiting and I need to be done and free to hang out in the afternoon. The good thing about visitors is that we’ll probably take them to Ample Hills!

Friday was a boring mix of buying new couch slipcovers and filing our taxes (wan wan), but Monday we’ve got some fun breakfast plans lined up.

A few of my dinners were pretty darn weak, but all of this week’s lunches were exclamation point worthy.

Daytime Eats

This weeks’ coffee – Starbucks espresso blend with skim milk. With a piñata apple.

And a chocolate pretzel protein bar.

Or a wonderfully juice sumo mandarin.

Or a lavender kombucha.

Plus buttered toast.

I also had an Americano with chocolate milk.

Plus Adam and I split a butterscotch latte while we ran errands.

With extra espresso, Adam loved it too.

This week’s tea – Roobios.

Amazingly, this caffeine-free herbal was my favorite tea thus far. With milk and honey it was downright delicious.

I’m still excited by this gum.

The flavor dies in about a minute but who doesn’t love a gum with sprinkles?

Oatmeal bowl. Oats with freeze-dried raspberries and blueberries and peanut butter chocolate chips.

The oats were great, but I ate much earlier in the day than I usually do (and then stayed for an hour of overtime!) and I ended up also getting a guava cheese empanada on the train home.

Yogurt bowl. Plain 2% Greek yogurt with fresh blackberries and pomegranate, toasted pecans, chia seeds, and Heritage Flakes.

Yogurt bowl. Maple Chobani with blackberries, pecans, and Heritage Flakes.

Salad bar. I love the days when the cafeteria does a Greek section; my salad was loaded with falafel, tzatziki, and taboule, plus black-eyed peas, olives, and cucumber.

Friday, Adam and I went to lunch at a new restaurant near our apartment. The meal was underwhelming, but I made a great yogurt bowl for dessert when I got home.

Plain Greek with peanut butter, honey, cinnamon, maple pecan granola, more pecans, and Luxardo cherries on top!

Nighttime Eats

House snacks included cashews – I’ve been making Adam trail mix bags for work and snacking heartily while I assemble them.

And chocolate-covered gummies.

And fun snacks included two girlfriend outings this week. A coworker and I got drinks at Colonie after an outlandishly frustrating work day. Bolivian Rose – Singani 63, Aperol, Dolin dry vermouth, Combier, and a super fragrant lemon twist.

And I introduced a friend to the Korean-style shaved ice at Snowdays.

They had specialty flavors – Thai iced tea! Topped with mochi, sweetened condensed milk, and grass jelly.

The mid-week blahs led to some pretty disastrous meals. Like big salads – baby kale, cashews, chia seeds, pomegranate, and peanut sauce – and horrifyingly cheesy nachos.

Or a sandwich night where the only veggies to be found were a side of baby carrots.

My sandwich – with a butter-toasted brioche, roasted turkey, raw milk cheddar, special sauce, and tons of pickles – was delicious but not the healthiest.

But we went on a really fantastic Tuesday night date at Talde. Now that I know that I like ginger in drinks I could order the Ginger Rose – Four Roses bourbon, Applejack, lemon, and ginger-cinnamon infused grenadine.

The drink was good but the meal was to die for; truly one of the best dishes we’ve ever had. Acorn squash rendang with Malaysian grits, fried shallot, pickled shitake, and a six-minute egg.

The blend of textures and flavors – crispy with creamy, spice with sour – was unbelievably satisfying. Dessert was sweet with salty.

Pretzel-potato chip bars with chocolate ganache.

And we started the week with veggie tofu bowls.

Extra-firm tofu was marinated in stone-ground mustard, lemon juice, honey, and evoo then baked ’til crispy.

Served on top of honey butter shredded carrots, and sautéed brussels sprouts tossed in the tofu marinade.

And ended the week with veggie packed pasta. TJ’s spinach tortellini with red sauce.

We gussied up the sauce with sautéed mushroom and onion and roasted zucchini and graffiti eggplant. I followed the Serious Eats trick of adding pasta water.

I hope everyone has a great weekend! Let’s cross our fingers for more warm weather!

12Feb2016

Top Ten Loves Before Valentine’s

by Emily

Here are the past week’s top ten eats –

{1} This breakfast.

Cashew date granola bar, grapes, and string cheese.

{2} And also this breakfast. Cold brew.

Plus a Ruby Frost apple (<– crisp and juicy!).

And rice cakes.

My co-worker brought in rice cakes and candy for the Chinese new year.

{3} Raspberry cinnamon lassi and a pretzel roll.

An unconventional snack combo but a good one.

{4} Strawberry vanilla smoothie. Adam and I shared, I didn’t actually finish a Big Gulp of smoothie.

Inspired by my lassi, I added a big shake of cinnamon.

{5} Killer yogurt bowl.

Fage pineapple yogurt topped with chia seeds, toasted walnuts, blueberries, and Luxardo cherries.

Why am I not putting cherries on top of everything I eat??

{6} Cafeteria salad bar. Toppings included cheese, olives, and white beans. With a side of tortellini salad.

I totally ate pizza the other 3 days.

{7} Super leftovers soup.

Whenever we make extras of a dish that would go well in soup, we toss them into the freezer for an easy dinner at a later date.

The bag included bok choy, shallots, red pepper, and shredded chicken, the broth was TJ’s miso ginger, and we had a Tupperware of orecchiette pasta in the fridge from the night before.

{8} Sandwich #1, Bareburger date. Plus fries.

My turkey burger was loaded with pimento cheese, spinach, tomato, pickles, mayo, and mustard.

{9} Sandwich #2, Thai chicken crunch.

Toasted bread with tons of melty peanut butter, Sriracha-mayo chicken salad, and pickled cucumber and carrot.

Served with roasted green beans.

The sandwiches were quick to assemble and very tasty and fun.

{10} Valentine’s-themed love, because I’m a sucker for anything limited edition.

I bought a Starbucks molten chocolate latte the first day they came out, because of course I did (only available until February 14th). It was freaking delicious.

{bonus} A mid-week date with Adam! We both had Thursday off and we spent the day in Manhattan. We ate giant sundaes at Serendipity 3 and took a frigid but fabulous 4 mile walk in the 17 degree weather.

Aaaaand now I work all weekend. Think warm thoughts for me, please!

8Feb2016

A Week Of Super Bowls

by Emily

I was a bit under the weather last week, nothing too bad, mostly a lot of coughing and headaches, but I just didn’t have it in me on Thursday to blog a recap. I was not too sick, however, to eat a bunch of yummy stuff that’s worth sharing. Last Monday through Sunday, here are the highlights*…

*highlights within the highlights, I obviously drank more coffee than this

coffee

Caramel-flavored Chameleon Cold Brew! With half & half. I adore CCB, it’s so smooth.

Served one day with citrus seltzer and a sumo mandarin.

This wins for my all-time preferred citrus, it is sweet and firm, and there are seeds but they are big enough to pop out easily.

oatmeal

In homemade instant bowls for work (just add hot water!).

Rolled oats, chia seeds, dry milk powder, freeze-dried raspberries, and toasted walnuts.

And smoothies.

Vanilla almond milk + chia seeds + oats + frozen banana + brown sugar + cocoa powder.

old-school-style cafeteria lunches

Sliced turkey and cheese with a less than healthy “veggie” side.

My school didn’t actually have a cafeteria (I graduated in a class of <40 and we had iguanas running the halls) but this is how I imagined the lunches would have been.

pepperoni-ish pizza

Oh. My. God. We sliced up a TJ’s turkey summer sausage and put it on the best homemade pizza we’ve ever had.

Usually I try to overdo it with pizza – lots of veggies, too much cheese – and the crust ends up soggy, but this was a crispy masterpiece. With a simple side salad.

sugar

Haribo salty licorice.

Cake pop flavored gum. There are sprinkles in it!

We finished this month’s Skoshbox the day it came.

Tj’s dark chocolate mini cookies.

These hearts were way better than I was expecting; usually I don’t buy boxed cookies because I’m a pretty great cookie baker myself but there is no way I could make chocolate shortbread this crunchy.

fancy booze in Brooklyn

Adam met me after work for a fantastic Friday night date in Boerum Hill. We started at Grand Army for cocktail hour.

My Alabaster Cavern – blended scotch, Lustau East India Solera, cinnamon, lime, coconut, pineapple, and bitters – tasted like a fancy painkiller. We liked the space and the vibe (they have a penciled drawing of ET as Mr. T on the wall) and will definitely be back.

The drink menu at Colonie was no slouch either. My Empire State Sour was American whiskey, NY apples, lemon, egg white, baked apple bitters, and cinnamon.

Best drink of 2016. That line of cinnamon stayed in place on top of the egg foam and made every sip smell delectable.

We shared two wonderful, duck-based dishes. Cavatelli with duck ham, béchamel, and soldier beans.

And wheatberries, mushrooms, and arugula with a duck egg on top.

I know the pictures are hard to see, but those black bits? Were crispy mushrooms. I don’t know how to describe the flavor (truffle? earthy?) but they were the single best thing I’ve ever tasted.

dinner bowls

I did not watch the game yesterday, but I have been eating some delicious bowls of dinner. All but one include broccoli because apparently it’s our favorite.

We made a variation of our black-eyed pea mix. Roasted broccoli, edamame, gochujang, smoked almonds, and cheddar.

A super bowl on Sunday. Orecchiette with roasted mushroom and baby zucchini, tossed with browned butter and Italian four cheese blend, topped with a sprinkle of smoked paprika. Served on a bed of roasted green beans.

Best bowl of the week – farro with ginger, garlic, lemon, gochujang, evoo, and salt and pepper / mackerel with stone ground mustard and a bit of mayo / roasted broccoli / toasted walnuts.

This was technically a lunch bowl. The cafeteria had a baked potato bar.

I swear there was a potato underneath all of that cheese and broccoli.

dog love

I feel like Webster’s adorable mug hasn’t been on the blog much lately, but I have been snapping pictures of him for Instagram. These are some of the best ones:

Related – a girlfriend surprised me with this darling dachshund scarf.

Here’s to a great week!

29Jan2016

Salads, Berries, And Chocolate – Post Blizzard Eats

by Emily

Fun fact about how old I feel – I spent an hour digging out my car on Sunday and it took until midweek before I could get up from my chair without audibly groaning. This was my first year (ever! I grew up on an island) having to do it and now I totally understand why so many people have heart attacks each winter.

daytime eats

The LIRR was still closed on Monday but thankfully Adam was around to drive me to work. Silver lining – I spent extra time with the husband and we got to eat doughnuts for breakfast.

I got an iced latte and a black sesame cream doughseed.

Tuesday was much less exciting, coffee with vanilla almond milk and a piñata apple (Let’s be real though, I’m always excited about coffee!).

And coffee with fat-free sweetened condensed milk in it is downright thrilling. Plus a protein bar and a pear.

More SCM love and more strawberry seltzer.

Speaking of strawberry, this week’s tea – white strawberry. This was a particularly pretty blend.

The most exciting breakfast of all involved halo halo. Plus cereal and chia seeds. I’m still not sure if my Filipino coworker was impressed or horrified that I was putting it on plain Greek yogurt!

I packed a couple homemade “instant” oatmeal bowls this week. Rolled oats, nonfat milk powder, brown sugar, chia seeds, and pecans, mixed with hot water at work. One day was freeze-dried raspberries with a peach on the side.

The other was strawberries with a tangelo.

I also brought in brownies! I made a double batch of milk crumbs (from Milk Bar) and dumped them in my favorite brownie batter along with some caramel chocolate chips. They got rave reviews from my coworkers.

And apparently I missed them when they were gone because one day I bought chocolate cookies and an iced coffee for a train-ride snack.

Lunches also included a slice of ridiculously overcooked veggie pizza.

And a delicious salad topped with falafel and giant scoops of tzatziki and tabbouleh.

nighttime eats

Adam had to take me home from work on Monday too – my train didn’t start running until the absolute last second on Tuesday morning – which meant we got to do a dinner date as well. The streets were still crazy so we decided to eat wherever we could park. We found a spot next to… Ramen Yebisu.

I got the veggie miso ramen with shitake mushroom, scallion, onion, bamboo shoots, bean sprouts, and kelp. With an egg on top. It was good, but just couldn’t compare with the epic ramen they serve up the road at Chuko.

I went out on Thursday too. I met up with friends for drinks and dinner after work. Drinks were bourbon, lemonade, and iced tea slushies at Pork Slope. Dinner was obscenely cheesy sandwiches at Melt Kraft.

I got the Melter Skelter (<– ha!), raclette cheese, pickled green tomatoes, jalapeño, bbq chips, and watercress.

So good. The pickled tomatoes were a really nice contrast to the rich cheese and chips are always a good sandwich topping.

Another night, Adam ate leftovers and I ate a guava cheese empanada on the train. We sat together for our salad course though.

Arugula with sweet and spicy pecans, chia seeds, and golden raisins, dressed with lavender honey, evoo, balsamic, and lavender salt.

Plus we shared new gummies.

My salad was spicy sweet and these were sour sweet.

I did manage to cook one real meal. I put chicken breasts in the crockpot in the morning along with a jar of salsa and tons of chopped bell peppers and onion – plus a little bit of salt and evoo – and came home to this –

Served with TJ’s Cuban black beans and tons of cheese on top.

We have really been loving the crockpot this winter, all of our best chicken has come out of it.

One more day of work and then I’m spending my weekend being low-key and boring, running errands and catching up on tv.

Eating Chalk

Tag Archives: apple

Was It Blogvious?

This Week I Loved…

Last Week’s Top Ten

I’m Alive!

daytime eats

nighttime eats

Sprinkles And Sandwiches

Daytime Eats

Nighttime Eats

Top Ten Loves Before Valentine’s

A Week Of Super Bowls

Salads, Berries, And Chocolate – Post Blizzard Eats

daytime eats

nighttime eats