Vacation Part 1/3

by Emily

We’re on vacation! Friday through next Sunday Adam and I have 10 glorious days off together!! We’re spending time in New Orleans and next weekend we’re doing a staycation in the city.

You can tell we’re in vacation-mode because we ate 90% of our meals out of the house and with drinks and dessert and have been purchasing all of the coffees.

Espresso at Variety.

New Orleans cold brew at Blue Bottle.

Espresso at Mixtape.

Iced coffee and a chocolate croissant at L’imprimerie.

Drinking chocolate at Devocion.

Dinner at Sally Roots. Booze face.

I got jerk chicken ramen! Chicken broth, yummy jerk chicken, noodles, fish cakes, bamboo, spinach, and wood ear mushroom.

We did dessert at Guadalupe Inn. Drinks with meh chocolate tres leche cakes and churros stuffed with fabulous goat milk caramel.

Best brunch of the year at Rider. Safe Word of the Day and Covet Thy Neighbor’s Drink.

The Cure = crispy rice and lentil cakes, duck confit, cilantro, hoisin, sriracha, and poached egg. Adam had lox and fries, a combo you didn’t know how much you needed.

Dessert at Odd Fellows. Crème brulee and banofee ice creams with brown butter cake crumbs on top.

Pretty damn good brunch at Forrest Point. This drink was named “Fancy Pants,” Flor de Cana, Wild Turkey, Pedro Ximenez sherry, pineapple, lemon, Lapsang Souchong, star anise, cinnamon, and demerara sugar!

Chilaquiles!

Skillet s’mores with Fernet.

I did manage to make some dinners at home – chicken enchilada casserole. I loosely followed this recipe from Jo Cooks, with brown rice and the addition of green chilis. With roasted zucchini on the side and chips for dipping.

Other things that are making me happy… this assortment of cola-flavored goodies. The gum was great the seltzer was too plain.

We found (freshly made) coquito at a bar in Bushwick! It tastes like coconut eggnog and joy.

The Body Shop sent me this sweet holiday gift. Fantastic eyeshadow and delightful smelling things. FYI – they are offering a bunch of gift sets that will contribute to rainforest conservation, I recommend everything strawberry.

Happiest thing of all? I’m on vacation!

25Nov2016

Tastes Like Thanksgiving

by Emily

I hope all my American readers stuffed themselves silly yesterday (all of my readers really!) and made good memories with family and/or friends. Adam and I both had to work, so no festivities here, but thankfully I spent time with 3/4 of my family in St. Thomas last weekend. P.S. No post from last weekend, I didn’t take many pictures, but I did eat johnny cake with cheese and day drink almost daily.

In spite of being kind of lame on Turkey Day, I did manage to pack my week with holiday flavors – cranberry, green beans, turkey, pumpkin, and egg nog. Plus, apparently I’ve decided that chips are an on-theme holiday flavor!

Winter Cheer Stumptown with a cranberry clementine seltzer and a giant pomelo.

Cranberry turkey Wilde bar with a snap dragon apple and a cranberry cider seltzer. <– are we appreciating the cranberry seltzers I squirreled away for this week?!

Holiday spiced sweet cream cold brew.

Thursday felt like an appropriate time to get my eggnog goodies going.

Veggies with pita chips for scooping from the cafeteria for lunch. Tomato, green bell pepper, corn, cheddar, and beans.

Oats in a jar. I dumped hot oats with chia seeds and pepitas into the last of the chocolate tahini. Plus an ambrosia apple.

With more chocolate for dessert, I snacked on a cookie dough bar and a latte.

The cafeteria made a special Thanksgiving lunch. I had veggie lasagna, stuffing, and green beans.

Tuesday night – aka the first time Adam and I laid eyes on each other since last Wednesday! – we went out for dinner before making an overdue grocery run. I got a chopped salad with green chili lime vinaigrette, roasted corn, cucumber, jicama, and tons of avocado plus blue tortilla nachos with black beans, serrano salsa fresca, and Oaxaca queso sauce.

Post-dinner coffee to get me through Trader Joe’s. The aged Sumatra is tasty.

And the next morning I was able to get dinner going in the crock pot – cranberry bbq chicken that knocked our freaking socks off. In a slow cooker on low for 8 hours / chicken breast / maple whiskey bbq sauce / fresh cranberries tossed with minced garlic and a bit of sugar. I topped my bowl with some shredded cheese.

Served with roasted green beans and pumpkin beers.

I was the only RD at work on Thanksgiving and the day ended up being pretty exhausting. Thankfully I already had planned the ultimate lazy dinner – nachos. I kept things on theme though! TJ’s turkey and stuffing kettle chips / cheddar, swiss, and gruyere / turkey breast / cranberry sauce. With green beans in thyme honey balsamic vinaigrette.

Served with – just under the wire – the last pumpkin beer of the season.

Plus a nauseating amount of baking nibbles for dessert, we are doing a belated Thanksgiving with my in-laws this weekend and I’m bringing cookies.

What’s your favorite traditional Thanksgiving dish? I won’t judge you if you say nachos.

12Sep2016

Apple Picking Outing

by Emily

I had to go into work on Sunday but Adam and I fit a weekend’s worth of fun into Saturday. We drove two hours upstate to Twin Star Orchards for an afternoon of apple picking.

We did a complimentary cider tasting first. And enjoyed a wood-fired pizza – with fancy mushrooms and truffle oil – for lunch.

We came home with fewer than 10 apples (they actually just let us take our bag for free!) because we don’t have any grand baking plans, but had a great time walking around the orchard.

Date night was a new sushi spot in Great Neck. We split seaweed salad and edamame to start.

I got a meh veggie roll and a fantastic spicy crab roll for dinner.

They were out of the mackerel Adam wanted so they gave us free red bean ice cream with our bill.

New candy bar for dessert.

The popping candy didn’t have much get up and go but the milk flavored cream was very pleasing.

New take on an old casserole. I made smoked trout noodle casserole.

I loosely followed Martha’s recipe for the sauce. With whole-wheat rotini pasta, tons of sautéed mushrooms and chopped celery, smoked trout, and dill and smoked paprika. Topped with smoked gouda and crushed sour cream and onion potato chips.

Served with a new (to us) beer, coconut caramel chocolate brown ale. I don’t usually drink ales but this was unique enough to hold my interest, at least for 3/4 of the bottle.

What’s new with you?

5Sep2016

Semi-Vacation

by Emily

Adam has been on vacation for the past two weeks which means that, even though I’ve been at work most of the days, it feels like I’ve been on vacation for the past two weeks. Nice! Husband time is the best and getting to see him immediately before and after work (versus him going in while I’m asleep and coming home after dinner is made) is better than any white sand beach.

I mostly spent the past week making googly eyes at Adam. But also, per usual, we walked and ate a ton when I wasn’t busy at work. Here were the top ten eats for the week/end…

{1} Caramel coffee at home.

{2} Coconut coffee from Konditori.

{3} Brunch at Colonie. Duck hash for two.

With aioli, a poached egg, and the best fried potatoes.

{4} Drinks at Grand Army.

The best round included this Under the Sea – Batavia Arrak agricole rum, navy-strength rum, absinthe, cinnamon, coconut, lime, and blue curacao.

{5} Fruity beers at home.

We recently discovered that we adore New Belgium and their watermelon lime ale did not disappoint.

{6} Key lime pie.

Adam explored the North Fork one day – and loved it – and brought me home some of the best pie.

{7} Mamey ice cream.

I made a sundae with maple peanut butter, granola, and sprinkles.

{8} Ice cream with apple cider caramel. Ample Hills is celebrating Roald Dahl this month.

Enjoyed September 1st to celebrate the first day of Apple Month.

{9} Buffalo chicken quinoa bowls.

I stirred sautéed onion, carrots, and celery into quinoa and topped it with fancy blue cheese and buffalo chicken dip.

{10} Seafood extravaganza at Littleneck. We shared lobster and crab rolls.

The very best dish of the night was this charred broccolini.

With anchovy, lemon, and chili flakes.

{bonus} Dinner at Oiji. I didn’t take a single picture but Adam and I enjoyed one of our favorite meals of all time there. Among other things, we had a transcendent mushroom salad and honey butter chips that blew our minds.

27Jun2016

Queens International

by Emily

NYC readers – did you march/attend Pride Parade yesterday?? It was my weekend to cover work but I did manage to snag some on-theme treats (x2). And we didn’t have the energy to do much dinner cooking but we did have amazing Asian food in Queens (x2!).

Thursday through Sunday I worked every day but one so I’ve been drinking all of the coffee. Thanks to caffeine, this post is mostly a complete recap, I think I’m only missing one meal from each category. Here’s what I’ve got…

Seriously, all of the coffee. Always in the morning and a few times as an afternoon snack as well. Highlights include a latte from Hungry Ghost and a cold brew from Starbucks that I ordered full-strength (usually they add water).

With yummy bars. Coconut Chocolate Chip.

Caramel Almond.

A creamy tropical smoothie. Frozen mango, guava paste, avocado, and vanilla almond milk. I used a whole avocado (split into two servings) and I think next time I’d only use half, the creaminess was great but the flavor was a bit much for me.

Doughnut Plant‘s Pride doughnut = yeast with raspberry glaze.

Yogurt bowl. Strawberry lingonberry with real berries and Heritage Flakes.

Trail mix bags. The standout ingredient was cinnamon roasted chickpeas.

Mini peanut butter cups (x ten thousand) make the afternoons seem less lengthy.

Sandwich and fries on a busy day. I was worried about mealy tomatoes when I bought this but they ended up being roasted and the chew and smokiness totally made the sandwich. There was a nice layer of spinach on there too, it was actually a pretty sandwich.

Salad / mac and cheese / hardboiled eggs.

Another Pride treat, from Ample Hills. In a cone with oatmeal lace.

The Queens International Night Market was fun, like a smaller, more focused Smorgasburg.

We split a taro shaved ice with mango, scm, boba, and mochi.

I had a very disappointing duck bao.

And Filipino tacos that were absolutely one of the best dishes we’ve ever tasted. Chicken sigsig, crispy shells, and lemon mayo. They were such a pleasing mix of textures and flavors!

The Elmhurst neighborhood of Queens is basically just the storefront version of the market. I want to try something in practically ever window we walked by! I loved what I had too. Bahn Mi at JoJu.

My “Hot Chicken” had grilled lemongrass chicken with spicy mayo and kimchi, plus pickled vegetables, and a soft cooked egg. And for $5.99 it was giant, that picture only shows one half!

And afterwards we walked to Red Ribbon Bakeshop. The Ube Overload cake was gorgeous but bland and the Halo Halo was fantasmic. Shaved ice with various sweetened beans and fruits, milk , leche flan, and whipped mango topping.

My only “homecooked” meal was basically an assembly of parts but I ate chips and dips and three day old roasted broccoli for dinner while I wrote this post so I’ll pat myself on the back for it. Plus it was delicious.

Potato and onion pierogis with tons of roasted zucchini, tossed in a sauce made of cream cheese and chicken stock, topped with hot smoked salmon.

I only work four days this week thanks to the weekend shift, woo-hoo!

23Jun2016

Similar To Cake By The Ocean

by Emily

I’m mashing last weekend’s post into this week’s – and we’ve done a lot of good eating! – so I had to filter down to only the most delicious things. Here are the best bites from the top five categories…

{1} all the coffee!

We ordered The Unicorn at Box Kite, obviously.

We went to Birch Coffee and loved it so much that we went back at the end of the day to buy a bag of beans.

Then went back again a few days later for another latte!

Locally roasted coffee that comes in cups with trees on them is just too exciting. And there were birch trees etched into the sidewalk out front!

{2} protein-packed salads

Beans, eggs, and lots of fish. At Whole Foods – spring mix with tangerine vinaigrette / salmon / two kinds of bean salads / parmesan / and a hard-boiled egg.

At the cafeteria – romaine with blue cheese / veggies / corn / kidney beans / cheddar / egg. Plus my coworker brought me a giant piece of baked salmon and I tossed that on top too.

At the cafeteria when I worked last Sunday and pickings were getting slim – I did the best I could with fried fish and a steamed vegetable mix.

It wasn’t bad, but I did buy a train snack that night.

{3} killer sandwiches

Breakfast: egg and cheese on a croissant with turkey bacon.

Lunch: do taquitos count as sandwiches? I’m including them either way, because this lunch was too good not to share. Tortaria knocked our socks off. Adam and I split a platter with mahi and cauliflower (and pork for him). Plus spicy fries and tons of guacamole. And a tamarind agua fresca.

The sauces sitting on the tables – green salsa, blended salsa, and something creamy and smoky – were astonishingly good. And that ridiculous quantity of food (why include chips and fries in the same deal?!) cost less than twenty dollars.

Dinner: cod bahn mi at a new Vietnamese/taco spot in Park Slope.

Don’t question it, the combo worked, I went with a girlfriend who got tacos and we were both very pleased.

{4} sweet stuff

~~Cake by the ocean.~~ Cookies by the Hudson. We got giant chocolate chip walnut cookies from Levain and enjoyed them in Riverside Park.

Tropical smoothie at home. Frozen mango and soursop with guava paste and vanilla almond milk.

Ben & Jerry’s Empower-Mint flavor is yummy and it supports an important cause.

Siggi’s yogurt with berries and shredded halvah.

Birthday cake croissant from Union Fare. It’s topped with ground sprinkle dust and filled with sprinkle-studded pastry cream!

It was also just one of the best croissant we’ve ever tasted.

{5} hearty homemade dinners

Spanish flavors reigned supreme on the home front this week. Tomato garlic crock pot chicken served with brown rice tossed with garlic, tomato paste, raisins, and chopped olives. Plus roasted broccoli.

I also made fantastic enchiladas.

Whole Foods’ roasted garlic green chile enchilada sauce costs a ridiculous $4+ per can and it is soooo good. Our filling was ground turkey breast cooked with TJ’s vegan chorizo and tons of roasted yellow squash and zucchini. Plus cheese galore.

10Jun2016

Destination City

by Emily

this week I loved…

Neutrogena Revitalizing Lip Balm. It took me forever to find a balm with both tint and spf but this one fits the bill perfectly!

A blog book review. Dawn Lerman’s My Fat Dad was sent to me free of charge to try/read for the blog. Her chapter on moving to New York City walked the reader through the different cultural food neighborhoods in a way that made my mouth water.

Living in a destination city. I had two different sets of friends visiting NYC for work trips this week. It was fantastic to get to catch up with them! However, I went out after work for dinner and/or drinks multiple times and I am flipping exhausted.

P.S. My favorite bar (Pork Slope in Park Slope) now has $1 jello shots, clearly I backed the right horse!

this week I ate…

Vietnamese-ish iced coffee.

A killer smoothie – with banana, blueberry, and avocado. So creamy.

Poppy seed bagel with olive cream cheese.

Oatmeal bowl. With cookie butter and a pixie tangerine.

Greek yogurt bowl with Cheerios and plums. I also crumbled a brownie in there (see below) and it was pretty fantastic.

Taboule salad from the cafeteria.

Whole Foods hot bar. Lots of veggies, rice with black beans and cheddar, and broccoli mac and cheese.

I needed a 2nd coffee snack more than once.

Turkey jerky.

Best ever brownies. Just this recipe without the fluff.

Baby carrots with great feta dip.

I had Thai food in Williamsburg with Adam and a girlfriend. Drunken noodles with mock duck that were as spicy as they were delicious.

We cooled our mouths down with soft-serve from Milk Bar. Fruity pebble soft-serve(!!) with fudge sauce and sprinkles.

Indian at the Grand Central food court. And yes, I realize that is a lame spot to take an out-of-towner.

Starbucks sandwich for a quick dinner on the train and then I went straight to bed!

I did make dinner at home one night! Whole-wheat vermicelli noodles with ginger and garlic chicken, shredded cabbage, bell pepper, and a tahini lime sauce. With cashews on top plus tons of Sriracha after the picture.

We snacked on a servings’ worth of cashews and sliced bell pepper while we cooked.

Good friends, good eats, it was a good week!

3Jun2016

It’s Time For BBQ And Hot Dogs

by Emily

Here were this week’s top three…

{breakfast}

Killer breakfast sandwich. Turkey bacon, egg, and cheddar on a croissant. If I could get the cafeteria to scramble me an egg with peppers to put on a sandwich I’d be in heaven.

Coffee always makes the top of the list! Black Hand with chocolate milk.

With a Lavender Love kombucha.

{lunch}

Yogurt bowls for the win. With blueberries and chopped nectarine and modest variation in toppings. 2% Fage with Nature’s Path Heritage Flakes.

4% Siggis with pecans, chia, and cookie butter.

Passionfruit Chobani with Heritage Flakes, pecans, and chia.

{snack}

This kettle corn is some of the best packaged popcorn I’ve ever tasted, it is super crispy.

Another sweet and salty, a pixie tangerine with a chicken Wilde Bar.

My coworker brought me in a grass jelly drink to try after I raved about the jelly at Boba Guys. It was good! Not very sweet at all and mildly grassy in a pleasant way. I mixed it with vanilla soy milk.

{dinner}

Our cooking took place indoors and up North but we still made the most of Southern bbq flavors for two of our meals this week. Nacho night! Carolina bbq chips, sharp cheddar, pulled turkey with bbq sauce, pinto beans, red onion, and roasted broccoli.

A similar concept on salad – arugula with ranch / bbq turkey / pinto beans / red onion / cucumber / bell pepper. With corn on the cob. This was a fun dinner but it desperately needed some crunch and we ended up dumping kettle chips on our salads to act as de facto croutons.

Hot dogs in scrambled eggs sounds low-brow but tastes amazing. Our eggs included ‘dogs, red onion, arugula, and cheddar. With avocado and roasted asparagus on the side.

Now I just need to find myself some watermelon this weekend!

Eating Chalk

Tag Archives: avocado

Vacation Part 1/3

Tastes Like Thanksgiving

Apple Picking Outing

Semi-Vacation

Queens International

Similar To Cake By The Ocean

Destination City

this week I loved…

this week I ate…

It’s Time For BBQ And Hot Dogs