Pumpkin And Paw Paw

by Emily

I am headed to NYC next weekend so I kept these past three days especially low-key. I went out for drinks with a coworker, bought a couple of sweaters, and caught up on tv while eating take-out. And that was it! I didn’t even make it to the gym.

Highlights in TV so far include All Rise, Evil, SNL, and The Rookie.

Highlights in food this weekend include…

A paw paw margarita from Vitae.

I didn’t really care for this latte but I loved the new pumpkin pie Perfect Bar.

These seaweed thins are delicious and way easier to eat than typical seaweed snacks (less crumbly and less greasy).

Yogurt bowl perfection. Pumpkin Noosa with blackberries and vanilla almond butter.

Biggest wins so far in Pumpkin Month = Prairie Artisan Ale‘s Basic Becky (an imperial stout with pumpkin, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, coriander, clove, and caraway) and Coolhaus pumpkin pie cheesecake ice cream (pumpkin and cheesecake ice creams with a graham cracker swirl).

4Oct2019

It’s Pumpkin Month!

by Emily

It’s Pumpkin Month! Check out my exciting, gourd-y stash:

Related note – my coworkers know me so well!

This week’s eats highlights were all about burritos, bowls, and tasty take-out…

I go in a bit later on Wednesdays (so my timing works for after-work yoga, which I actually made it to this week, whee!) so I took myself on a breakfast date to Marie Bette for one of their outstanding pretzel croissants.

This Trader Joe’s breakfast burrito – with eggs, cheese, chicken sausage, and potato – was pretty great.

And this adobo chicken burrito from Whole Foods wasn’t half bad either.

Pumpkin spice latte from La Colombe.

Pumpkin spice bar with pumpkin jellies! Those gummies were such an exciting find from H-Mart.

Lunch from the food trucks/farmers’ market that sets up at the hospital. I got nachos with spicy chicken.

Roasted shredded brussel sprouts with hot smoked salmon, pumpkin seeds, spicy peanut vinegarette, and zhoug.

Roasted broccoli slaw with sesame ginger baked tofu, honey butter almonds, spicy peanut vinegarette, cucumbers, and zhoug. And when the zhoug ran out I topped it with sriracha.

30Sep2019

A Perfect Weekend

by Emily

An ideal weekend would involve time with my boys, but this weekend did include several (quite yummy) snack items from the Perfect Snacks company! Also a trip to the Farmer’s Market, an afternoon of day-drinking with my cousin, and a Sunday shift at the hospital. Also, apparently, me being way too excited about everything I ate.

Highlights…

Cinnamon bears with espresso is the best combo.

Whole Foods uses a chocolate powder – versus a syrup – in their iced mochas and I am obsessed with them.

This local cold brew – with chicory, cinnamon, and lavender! – was pretty good too.

Still obsessed with this chocolate chip cookie dough bar that has no internet presence (they seem to be sold exclusively at Trader Joe’s?).

Breakfast biscuit from Ace with pimento cheese, a sunny side up egg, and jerk chicken.

Perfect for Apple Month – a caramel apple cocktail from Vitae! Vitae Golden Rum, Zirbenz Pine Liquor, lemon juice, salted caramel syrup, and cinnamon apple cider.

Still obsessed with the IPAs at Hardywood.

These new peanut butter cups are extra-strength delicious! They aren’t overly sweet and they don’t contain any palm oil, my two requirements in peanut butter cups. They’re still not a “health food,” but compared with Resse’s they do have an extra 3 grams of protein and 10 grams less sugar.

The last of my superior salad mix – romaine with Greek feta dressing, chorizo seitan, honey butter almonds, celery, and zhoug.

27Sep2019

Superior Salads

by Emily

Fun things from this week: It’s Friday! // I have plans to see my boys again in less than 15 days! // Yesterday I went to Hardywood with a coworker for happy hour and free pretzels and pimento cheese. // I finally made it to the farmer’s market that sets up on the hospital grounds and had a really excellent iced mocha with macadamia milk. // The weather is starting to get a bit cooler but still isn’t cold yet.

Highlights included…

Local nitro cold brew with maple.

Nothing beats Stumptown.

Strawberry lingonberry yogurt with chocolate peanut butter is a pretty great combination. Plus a Pazazz apple.

Bars on bars.

I had some really excellent topping ingredients on hand so I made this a week of salads. Honey butter almonds and zhoug are fantastic on their own and even better when paired together. Especially with a fun variety of proteins!

Romaine / Greek feta dressing / zhoug / honey butter almonds / baby tomatoes / chorizo seitan.

Romaine / champagne vinaigrette / zhoug / honey butter almonds / celery / vegan chicken salad.

Romaine / champagne vinaigrette / zhoug / honey butter almonds / baby tomatoes / turkey pepperoni. <– pro tip: if you bake pepperoni at 350 degrees for 15 minutes it turns into pepperoni chips!

6Sep2019

Apple Of My Eye

by Emily

It was a good week in theme snacks, snacks in general, actually!

Today is National Coffee Ice Cream day and since I love coffee, and ice cream, and coffee ice cream (and dulce de leche!) I jumped at the chance when My/Mo Mochi Ice Cream offered to send me a box of samples to celebrate. My/Mo Dulce de Leche = coffee ice cream, wrapped in mochi dough, with a caramel core. I 10/10 loved them. Hands down the best mochi I’ve ever eaten. Now I’m dying to find their seasonal flavors!

Meanwhile, in Apple Month… I ate a bag of Trader Joe’s freeze-dried honeycrisp apples that I forgot to take a picture of but totally recommend. Also, pink lady kombucha and Siggi’s with apple.

Other snack highlights include… cold brew with salted caramel dark chocolate milk.

Black sesame cheese crisps.

Cookie dough Perfect Bar with a maple chicken jerky.

Birthday cake marshmallows (while reviewing glycolysis!).

I really loved my dinners this week, thanks in no small part to the fact that they were all smothered in Trader Joe’s zhoug sauce. Salads with romaine, baby heirloom tomatoes, TJ’s Greek feta dressing, TJ’s turkey summer sausage, tabbouleh, zhoug.

The best sheet pan hash I’ve made yet – summer sausage, potato, sweet potato, green onion, and cabbage.

23Aug2019

BLT FTW

by Emily

Life highlights from the past six days –

I survived my 2nd week without my boys. Adam has been super sweet about sending me a million photos of the most handsome dog in the world!
I’ve had a ton of TPNs at work lately and I realized the other day just how comfortable I feel managing them now – I will never stop being grateful for this job opportunity, I have grown so much as a clinician the past year.
I saw, and loved, The Farewell. Such a sweet, funny movie; I can’t recommend it enough.
I went to a free yoga class with one of my coworkers and loooooved it! I had forgotten about just how much I enjoy yoga. I haven’t been in several years and it seems my balance has gotten much worse but my flexibility has gotten much better – I got myself into camel pose easily and comfortably.

Food highlights –

All of the coffee.

Hey Day Cold Brew.

Black and white ~~milkshake~~ cold brew – Grady’s with vanilla bean powder and chocolate milk.

Still obsessed with this chocolate chip cookie dough Perfect Bar that seems to only be sold at Trader Joe’s and has no internet presence.

This mango and nut mix is perfectly spicy-sweet.

This yogurt bowl was amazing. Strawberry quark with pluots, maple cashew butter, and homemade chocolate chip cookie.

I had a great assortment of gummy candies for the movie, lots of cola options.

These s’mores mochi have graham cracker ice cream and and a marshmallow center and all three of us thought they were fantastic.

Raspberry Short Kate! Hardywood‘s newest IPA brewed with milk sugar and raspberry.

Whole Foods hot bar – kale salad, cabbage crunch salad, carrot and harissa salad, breakfast potatoes, chicken sausage – with a side of chicken and waffle chips.

A swoon-worthy sandwich – local heirloom tomato, turkey bacon, and kewpie mayo on a bun.

BLT salad. Sweet baby lettuce with champagne vinaigrette, heirloom baby tomatoes, bacon, Dubliner cheese, and hickory smoked peanuts. Plus spicy roasted okra that my cousin made.

Leftover salad with delicious crab cakes that my cousin made.

Trader Joe’s frozen scallion pancakes with mayo, sriracha, and a side of roasted green beans.

15Jul2019

Convenience Foods And Cocktails

by Emily

It was not a super exciting weekend for me – Adam was out of town and I worked on Sunday. I spent my single day off on errands and chores around the house. On the meal front I was all about snacks, convenience foods, and cocktails.

Highlights…

Iced coffee with vanilla bean powder.

Perfect Bar comes in cookie dough flavor!! <– I’m not sure if this flavor is very old or very new but oddly I cannot find a single mention of it on their site or the internet in general

Polar unicorn kisses seltzer. I am obsessed with these fantasy-themed mini cans.

Am I determined to try every existing variety of pimento cheese before I leave the South? Yes. Northerners, take note – this variety from Trader Joe’s is not very good; pimento dip should not be homogeneous but should have individual shreds of cheese.

On the other hand, these (vegan!) mini marshmallows are vanilla-y perfection.

Still in love with these chicken and waffle chips.

Spicy ramen + agua fresca cerveza.

A not very good frozen meal + a quite good rum and coke (with Vitae golden rum and tons of fresh lime).

29Apr2019

Chocolate + Coffee, Chocolate + Peanut Butter

by Emily

Highlights from the past week…

Personal Life:

We had several boons come together in the last week or so. Related – I am waaaay overdue on sharing some big life updates. In short, the highlights are –

Adam is officially a board-certified surgeon (woo-hoo!)
Adam got his dream job and is all set up to be a critical care attending in New York this summer (woo-hoo!!)
We’ve lined up our New York apartment
Our lease here was a month short but we’ve finally lined up a place to live in Charlottesville in July