I was off of work yesterday because I work both days this weekend. We are still hoping to to have some evening Long Island fun though. Highlights from this past week…
I took myself on a fantastic car picnic in Huntington for my day off! Vanilla bean iced latte from Southdown Coffee and the best cinnamon roll of my life from Duck Island Bread Company.
Sparkling watermelon waters. The watermelon flavored Liquid Death is a 10/10. We also really like this passionfruit watermelon Mela; typically we don’t buy sugar-sweetened drinks for home but this stuff is delicious (especially with tequilla!).
Crunchy things – honey roasted chickpeas and crunchy lentils.
These Blue Pearl blueberries are great; so big and sweet.
Big fan of these brown sugar boba popsicles. I have no idea how they get the frozen tapioca to stay so soft/chewy.
Leftover sheet-pan hash. We were getting sick of it at this point so I topped mine with a Sriracha honey mustard sauce.
Delicious Mediterranean-ish bowls. Farro mixed with pesto / canned artichoke hearts sauteed in evoo and then cooked with a mix of tomato sauce and harissa / roasted zucchini / canned tuna / chopped olives.
Adam is busy tonight so we celebrated St. Patrick’s Day a day early with ridiculous/amazing corned beef reuben grilled cheeses from Roast. Plus short rib shepherd’s pie and (homemade) roasted green beans.
I also made us green iced lattes!
See also – this week’s coffee combo was a winner.
Still really enjoying these guava crisps.
Pineberries! We liked them more than the Oshinko berries but less than regular strawberries.
This bin of strawberry popping bobas felt like it had endless potential.
I made great iced matchas with lemon seltzer and boba. Also – amaretto and diet coke with popping boba; 9.5/10
We weren’t that impressed with these fancy truffles.
But were shocked by how much we liked these limited-release cookie dough candies.
Best meal of the week – chicken kale pesto sausage on a pretzel bun with honey mustard / roasted yellow and purple cauliflower / Japanese sweet potato salad that is one of the best things I’ve ever made; roasted Japanese sweet potato with mayo, Kewpie, Sriracha, rice vinegar, paprika, white pepper, gochugaru, green onion, and pickled radish.
Leftover veggies and potato salad plus salmon salad – canned sockeye, smoked sockeye salmon candy, mayo, Sriracha, rice vinegar, and green onion.
Giant, smokey, protein-packed salads. Romaine and carrot greens with black garlic balsamic vinaigrette / roasted brussel sprouts with evoo and urfa pepper / roasted carrots with maple, evoo, butter, paprika, and gochugaru / smoked turkey breast / bacon-flavored crunchy mung beans / fried egg.
It was a short workweek because I spent Monday-Wednesday in Ohio. My grandma is moving and I went help pack up/visit with her and my mom! Here were some random things I’ve enjoyed since I got back home…
Pocket latte – coffee chocolate bar with caffeine.
This real latte was better. New York Beanery‘s monthly special is a mint mocha. We also had a pretty amazing creme brulee latte.
Fruity, extra-creamy yogurts. The fig was too lemon-y for my tastes but the marionberry was perfect.
Buttered popcorn with togarashi, furikake, and brown sugar.
Yogurt soju 9/10 and yuzu jelly sake 20/10.
We tried and loved a new-to-us Vietnamese spot in Long Island – Sup. Bang bang chicken salad.
Vietnamese iced coffee (with also had a great strawberry tea) and green papaya salad.
Peppermint pour-over coffee with egg nog cold foam.
Dalgona iced coffee with eggnog.
Red and green yogurt bowl. Trader Joe’s eggnog Greek yogurt with kiwi, raspberries, and vanilla granola.
Holiday special scoops from Odd Fellows Ice Cream. Buddi’s Spaghetti Sundae – maple ice cream, chocoalte cookie crumbs, mini marshmallows, m&m’s, sno caps, and corn nuts / Moose Nog – egg nog ice cream with fudge swirls and peanut butter cups.
Seasonal brews from Ardent Brewing. The gingerbread was perfect, not too spicy at all, and the Fog Nog is truly my all-time favorite beer/alcoholic beverage/beverage in general. 15/10.
A very close 2nd all-time-favorite is Leyenda’s Candy Striper – a frozen delight with cachaca, coconut, vanilla, lemon, peppermint, maple, and cardamom.
We went to their Sleyenda holiday pop-up for seasonal drinks and a wonderful dinner (it was too dark for photos but my shrimp arepas were amazing). I also had a Reindeer Games with tequilla, cachaca, banana, honey, maple, lemon, pine, and bitters.
Chinese take-out from Blue Wave. I got fantastic veggie stir-fried udon. Also the best scallion pancakes I’ve ever eaten.
Red and green salads. Red leaf lettuce with homemade ranch, red bell pepper, fresh mint, a soft-boiled egg, and a garlic and herb lobster cake (frozen, from Luke’s via Whole Foods).
Red and green rice bowls. Brown rice / sauted bok choy / sourkraut sauted with gojuchang and sugar / soy marinated eggs.
P.S. I am off of work most of this week, which is just lovely! I sipped a fancy coffee while I wrote this post!
This year I worked Thanksgiving Day but then had Friday off for a long weekend — so my parents came to visit! They loved getting to experience the cold (not many 45 degree days in St. Thomas!) and spend time with their granddog and we did a bunch of great New York exploring. Our travels included Time Square, Bryant Park, Chelsea Market, Industry City, Bushwick, Greenpoint, and Hudson!
I did not take a single dinner photo – we went to the oldest steakhouse in New York and also had outstanding meals at Kitty’s in Hudson and Glasserie in Brooklyn! – but here are a few highlights from the past week…
I managed to eat many on-theme things on Thanksgiving.
My parents and I stuck with tradition and ate Thanksgiving nachos – Trader Joe’s stuffing chips with smoked turkey, sauteed shishitos, swiss and gruyere, and cranberry sauce. Plus sauteed green beans with butter and lemon.
Plus Loryn Powell said that Fireball and banana cream rum tastes like a Cinnabon so my mom and I tried it with a maple pecan cream liquer and were quite impressed!
We were also pleased with these Tip Top mini canned cocktails.
We tried – and loved – one of the Zaro’s specialty black and white cookies – mint chocolate.
We found the Oishii omakase strawberries on sale! Fun to try but no one really preferred them to standard strawberries.
Everyone thought that Fortunes Ice Cream in Trivoli makes the best ice cream we’ve ever tried. I got persimmon and the sour cherry labne.
Broad rice noodles with tofu from Bangkok Bar in Industry City – I’ve wanted to go there for forever and now I want to go back immediately.
Great iced latte from Wycoff Starr.
Festive yogurt bowl with plain skry, frozen banana bread, brown sugar syrup, cinnamon, and sumatra mandarin.
Can you beleive we’re in November?! Highlights from the first week…
I ended October with a homemade Frankenstein tea latte. Matcha with ube.
And I started November with cookie butter cold brew from Dunkin’. <– swoon, by the way
Two bougie snacks, one win. We really loved the Blue Stripes Cacao chocolate covered cacao beans (we’ve liked everything we’ve tried from this company so far, actually; Adam is in love with their cacao waters). I expected to love the cookie butter because this company makes my favorite peanut butter but it had an overwhelming coconut flavor that I did not care for.
The cookie butter was not terrible in a yogurt bowl.
But I much preferred this yogurt bowl with chocolate sunflower seed butter (plus plain skyr, blueberries, and vanilla granola).
We both 10/10 love these honey mustard pretzels.
An easy but delicious Trader Joe’s frozen items dinner – chicken goyza potstickers with gojuchang vegetable stir fry.
Homemade meatballs – a blend of chicken and turkey with tons of garlic and parmesan – with roasted kobucha squash. Plus a maple Sriracha dipping sauce. It turns out that kobucha squash is my favorite thing and I want to eat more immediately.
Roasted delicata squash (this recipe) with egg salad. The egg salad was loaded up with dill pickles, smoked paprika, horseradish, yellow mustard, and mayo (Kewpie + boring).
Chobani pumpkin spice Greek yogurt with strawberries, granola, and chia seeds.
Noosa pumpkin yogurt with blackberries and granola.
See also – I really enjoyed this Elleno’s Greek yogurt with lemon curd.
As much as I love potato chips I also really like things that are pretending to be potato chips. Wilde’s chicken chips (this chicken and waffles variety is my favorite).
Biena’s Hawaiian bbq chickpea and veggie crisps.
Local pumpkin beers. Bronx Brewery’s Tattooed Pumpkin IPA (7.5/10) and Blue Point’s Big Mother Pumpkin imperial pumpkin ale (8.5/10).
Also local, also for spooky season – Sixpoint’s Screamsickle orange and vanilla hazy DIPA (8.5/10).
A fun date night – Adam and I went out to For Five Coffee for these tasty churro pancakes with dulce de leche drizzle, chocolate pearls, and horchatta ice cream.
Pumpkin Month pasta. Trader Joe’s butternut squash pasta with roasted zucchini, Seemore’s chicken kale pesto sausage, and Sauces n Love pink pesto sauce. [note to future Emily – we did not like the pink pesto!]
Fantastic noodles and veggie bowls. Whole-wheat vermicelli / nom choc / chicken breast cooked in the crockpot with soy sauce, rice vinegar, lime, ginger, and honey / roasted brussel sprouts / chili crisp.
Turkey reuben inspired sheet-pan hash. We loved this! Roasted potatoes and cabbage with smoked turkey, sourkraut, and homemade 1000 island dressing.
Siggi’s pumpkin spice skyr with blackberries and granola.
Trader Joe’s vanilla bean Greek yogurt with pumpkin puree, maple syrup, chia seeds, blackberries, and grnola.
Pumpkin pie smoothie. Pumpkin puree with milk, plain Greek yogurt, frozen banana, maple syrup, cinnamon, and mace.
Trader Joe’s scallion pancake / canned salmon with mayo and Sriracha / roasted zucchini / all topped with Kewpie, Sriracha, and furikake.
Roasted cauliflower and chicken salad – shredded chicken breasts, mayo, yellow mustard, honey mustard dressing, and roasted almonds slivers with Sichuan salt.
Breakfast burger sandwiches. Whole Foods’ plant-based burgers, gouda, and a fried egg on a whole-wheat bun with blueberry jam. Plus leftover cauliflower.
I hope all of my readers and safe and not having horrible weather! If the rain isn’t too terrible in NYC this weekend Adam and I have some fun plans for tomorrow.
Highlights from this week included…
Greek yogurt bowl with chia, maple syrup, granola, plucot, and blueberries.
Apple snack plate. Apple pie rice cakes, dried apples, apple cider caramels, and smoked almonds.
Butterfly pea tea and matcha iced latte.
I impulse-bought some very fun desserts for the week. Refridgerated creme brulee! It came with little packets of crunchy sugar for the topping.
This Trader Joe’s salted maple ice cream was great; wonderful consistency.
Yummy homemade chicken congee. With brown rice, chicken thighs, and vinegary greens (kale and red chard sauteed with soy sauce, gojuchang, and rice vinegar). Topped with crushed peanuts and tons of chili crisp.
Buffalo chicken pasta salad. Whole-wheat pasta / chicken sausage / blue cheese / sauteed carrot, celery, and green onion / sauce made out of mayo, vinegar, and Frank’s buffalo sauce.
Eating Chalk 