Peppermint > Wintergreen > Spearmint

Favorites from this week included – tons of peppermint, eggnog flavored drinks, citrus, Asian-inspired dinner bowls…

Peppermint mochas with Copper Cow.

See also – La Colombe peppermint mocha latte with a chocolate mint Perfect bar.

Eggnog Nutrament and a Lady Alice apple. This is such a childhood throw-back treat for me.

Still loving the Kishu mandarins and also this satsuma was juicy and seed-free.

Sesame seaweed sheets.

Milk Bar candy cane ice cream. You’ll never go wrong adding marshmallow to peppermint.

Very surprised by how good these seasonal white chocolate pretzel m&m’s were. I shared them at work and my coworkers were all also impressed.

My mother-in-law bought us chocolate covered pretzel sticks that are also dipped in caramel!

This egg nog beer was obviously the most “me” booze I’ve ever purchased, but also one of the best beers I’ve had all year! Abomination Brewing‘s Fog Nog – a double IPA brewed with lactose and spices.

Trader Joe’s sriracha shrimp bowl frozen meal. Topped with tons of extra sriracha, Kewpie mayo, and maple almonds.

Salmon roll inspired bowls. Farro topped with spicy salmon salad (canned fish with mayo, sriracha, and rice vinegar), sautéed zucchini spirals, chili flakes, and furikake.

Udon noodles // sautéed celery, bok choy, and green onion // sautéed ground turkey // stir-fried with egg and a homemade sauce including tomato paste and spicy bean paste.

A take on this cheesy rice porridge. We added extra broth and shredded chicken and topped it with urfa chili paste.

Trader Joe’s spicy Mexican-style riced cauliflower stir-fried with eggs and garlic olive oil. Plus roasted green beans and garlic knots.

It’s Beginning To Taste A Lot Like Christmas

Eggnog and peppermint are two of my all-time favorite flavors so naturally December is one of my favorite food months. Here are some of the items I’ve been stockpiling for the celebration –

On-theme things from this week include…

Coffee combo. The chobani oat nog is the best vegan egg nog I’ve tried but not as good as the traditional stuff.

Holiday kombucha with a holiday crisp barebell and a Lady Alice apple.

Hanco’s peppermint iced tea! With herbal jelly and strawberry jelly hearts (aka the best bubble tea combo).

Holiday ice creams at Ample Hills. Coquito and Co – coquito ice cream with rum, cinnamon, and nutmeg and homemade coconut cheesecake chunks // Festival of Lights – cream cheese ice cream with raspberry rugelach.

Dinner and drinks at Sleyenda, Leyenda‘s holiday pop-up! They decorate to the nines and serve a specialty cocktail menu all month.

We had coquito, obviously, plus my favorite drink of all-time – The Candy Striper – a frozen blend of Novo Fogo silver cachaça, coconut, maple, vanilla, lemon, peppermint, and cardamom.

Bonus – Coffee with cardamom and amazing Yemeni pastries at Diwan Cafe. This was stuffed with cheese and smothered in honey!

Calamansi, Chestnut, Coconut, Cookie

Highlights from this past workweek – – –

Yogurt bowl with blackberries and a salted caramel cookie.

Best (non-coffee) drinks of the week – calamansi sparking water (7/10) / lemon rose sparkling tonic (9/10) / imperial IPA (8/10)

A new-to-me apple variety – Senecacrisp.

I had an evening appointment in the city and I got to check out Marvelous by Fred and their Merveilleux (aka floofy piles of whipped cream and meringues). I tried coffee and seasonal chestnut.

I enjoyed these vegan ice cream bites even more than I was expecting to; something about the chocolate was very satisfying.

These smoky, crunchy yellow peas are also pretty addictive.

BBQ rice bowls – brown basmati rice / sautéed kale with yellow onion and passionfruit vinegar / roasted zucchini / ground turkey with bbq sauce, Korean chili flake, and brown sugar / avocado.

Leftover rice stir-fried with garlic, evoo, fish sauce, rice vinegar, and Sichuan pepper salt / with turkey summer sausage / green onion / a gourmet mushroom blend / kumato tomatoes / and egg.

P.S. By the time you read this we will be on vacation! Adam and I have seven straight days off together!! Woo-hoo!

Calamansi, Grapefruit, Yuzu

Highlights from the last week, mostly fun drinks and good sandwiches on Trader Joe’s sourdough…

A new style of Kind bar, in dark chocolate peanut butter.

Sparkling matcha with a calmansi soda.

Seaweed chips plus sparkling yuzu.

A super easy paloma. I am 11/10 about finding tiny Squirt cans.

These tiny Trader Joe’s gummi bears are as delicious as they are adorable.

Out-of-town friends were here this Sunday and we spent an afternoon taking a long walk through Greenpoint – Williamsburg with stops for coffee and ice cream – the apple pie with cheddar caramel from Odd Fellows.

Tuna melts and roasted brussel sprouts. Tuna salad with mayo, stone-ground mustard, and capers, plus cheddar.

The turkey sandwich I’ve been waiting for all fall – with cheddar and pumpkin butter. Plus roasted broccoli with garlic and chili flakes.

P.S. It was a short week because I spent the first half in Ohio celebrating my grandmother’s NINETY-SECOND birthday. She’s amazing and it was an amazing trip!

P.P.S. Also I was home for several meals that didn’t get photographed because apparently we are obsessed with Roast Sandwich Shop and will order and eat their bbq chicken crunch wrap multiple days in a row!

Peanut Butter, Pretzel, Pumpkin

Highlights from the past week – – –

Pumpkin spice latte smoothie! Canned pumpkin, plain skyr, coffee, cold brew powder, ice, cinnamon, maple, and brown sugar.

This week’s coffee joy.

Pumpkin spice Chobani with s’more granola.

Plan Siggi’s with pumpkin seed butter. Plus an apple and a pumpkin spice chocolate cookie. P.S. This recipe made some of my favorite cookies of all time, so butterscotchy!

I am 100% obsessed with these pretzel-stuffed peanut butter cups. I bought bags of minis for work and home.

I saved the best pumpkin beers for last – Abomination Brewing’s Forbidden Pumpkin pumpkin milkshake IPA and Schlafly’s pumpkin ale.

Trader Joe’s Turkey Day quesadilla.

This is to remind me to get takeout from Roast more often! Adam and I split cheesy turkey and roast beef sandwiches, plus fries.

My favorite sheet pan hash combo – roasted bok choy and sweet potato plus smoked salmons (hot smoked Atlantic and salmon candy).

Pumpkin pasta. Whole-wheat rotini with ground turkey cooked with pumpkin puree, sour cream, and chili oil. Plus roasted baby cauliflower.

Big Happy

Adam was free on vacation last week – and I managed a few overlapping days off as well! – and we had a wonderful time. Tons of dinners out, tons of time together (but never enough!), we walked from Williamsburg across the bridge to Koreatown and back, took a long stroll eating around Ridgewood/Bushwick, and spent some time at Rockaway Beach. A great week!

Highlights include —

Breakfast on the beach boardwalk. Nutella iced latte from Rockaway Roaster and an amazing guava cheese danish from Rockaway Bakery (they also have croissant bread loaves and I’m dying to go back!).

Maple oat-milk matcha lattes.

Freeze-dried honeycrisps with a seed bar.

Boozy apple pie milkshakes!

This double IPA from Stone was very drinkable.

Chips with what ended up being the best jarred salsa I’ve ever eaten.

Mochi things from Mochii, mochi stuffed with cookies and cream ice cream and mochi balls with toasted rice powder and peanuts.

Chamoyada from Maya’s Snack Bar – tamarind ice cream with fresh mango and tons of chamoy and tajin.

Leftovers from Mud Club in Woodstock were still great.

Delicious birria burrito and quesadilla from Nene’s Deli Taquiera.

Omakase at Shinn East. Every single bite was perfectly composed and it was so fun to watch the chef up close.

We had one of the best dinners of our lives at Little Mad.

I didn’t take many pictures because I was too busy swooning. Favorites were fried maitake mushrooms with sour cream and onion dip served in an onion(!!).

And this insane, upscale take on corn and cheese – baby corn, fried corn silk, caramel popcorn, and comte cheese fondue.

Caramel Apple

Favorites from this week were caramel apple snacks and fizzy beverages. Highlights included…

Coffee shake! Iced coffee, cold brew powder, and vanilla ice cream.

Caramel apple Greek yogurt. For Trader Joe’s seasonal yogurts this was better than pumpkin and not as good as eggnog.

My parents sent me these caramel apple Cow Tails and they are hands-down the best Apple Month item.

Good pea flower, rosemary, and black tea kombucha and out-of-this-world-excellent peppermint watermelon sparkling water.

We paired these to make sparkling yuzu matchas.

Still obsessed with these maple almond butter pretzels.

I ordered a bunch of Thai take-out so we could have leftovers. The remains of this chicken pad see ew was a standout.

[Homemade] Soba noodles stir-fried with eggs, frozen stir-fry veggies, baked tofu, and spicy tahini sauce.

Chicken nuggets, roasted purple and orange cauliflower, and crispy roasted potatoes (loosely based on this method), with homemade maple mustard dipping sauce.

…

Sour Apple

Highlights from this week included – Trader Joe’s sourdough sliced bread, Apple Month stuff, vegan junk food, end of summer veggies…

Cinnamon apple chia oats. <– I also had a(n unphotographed) bar with chia seeds this week, I need to remember to eat more chia, it’s delicious!

Cinnamon apple Over Easy bar.

Zestar apple with a salted caramel Noosa yogurt.

Salted maple kettle corn and freeze-dried fuji apples. P.S. The Trader Joe’s freeze-dried fruits are superior to all others.

Not apple-themed but still amazing – these Snacklins vegan pork rinds. I scooped crab dip with them and it was my favorite snack of the week!

Bacon egg and cheese sandwich for brinner. Toasted sourdough with mayo, yellow mustard, honey-maple sliced turkey, sharp cheddar, turkey bacon, and a fried egg. Plus yellow peach and heirloom tomatoes. Plus on-theme chocolates.

This was supposed to be a roast beef sandwich but our stores were all out?! Sourdough with pastrami-style turkey (probably better than my original plan!), black garlic and horseradish mayo, and sharp cheddar. With roasted orange and purple cauliflower.

Vegan chicken nuggets and roasted zucchini and yellow squash dipped in Bitchin’ Sauce.

A take on callaloo with turkey bacon and crab.