Long time no see!  My mini posting hiatus was not for lack of things to blather about.  The husband had a full day off on Saturday and we like to make the most of our time mooning at each other and eating mass amounts of cheese so I didn’t take any photos.  Then I spent Sunday eating more cheese and watching a truly horrifying amount of Netflix (more on that below!).

I picked ten things to share for this post, ranging from product reviews and beauty (ha!), to entertainment, to foodie.

{1} Let’s start with the best meal of the week, the best meal of the whole year, actually.

Runner & Stone, down in the burgeoning area on 3rd Ave in Park Slope, is officially my new favorite restaurant.

The space and the menu were beautiful and thoughtfully done.  The dishes are not too pricy, but this meal felt luxurious.  I don’t remember what was in this amuse-bouche, but it was complimentary and tasty.

As was the house-made bread and butter.

We started dinner with a round of drinks.  Vodka soda – with Industry Standard, a Brooklyn-distilled vodka – for me and a Gowanus – aka an extra dirty martini – for Adam.

He went with two small dishes for dinner.  White bean soup with sherry,

and the deconstructed duck pastrami.

Both were delicious, but my dish totally stole the show.

Rye pappardelle with smoked salmon, dill, and house-made crème fraiche.  I loved how playful this was, and more importantly, how tasty.

We obviously had to try dessert.

An orange wine with their buckwheat tres leches.

Runner & Stone, we’ll be back!  Soon!

We ended our date night by stopping in at some of our favorite Brooklyn haunts for drinks, as well as dessert round 2 at Ample Hills.  What a night!

{2} I’ll be less verbose about items 2 – 10, but that doesn’t mean they’re any less exciting.  This homemade dinner looks God-awful, but it really was wonderful.  TJ’s Sprouted Red Jasmine Rice with curried lentils and Jenna’s Baingan Bharta, topped with plain yogurt and Sriracha.

I didn’t love the eggplant – apparently I really do dislike garam masala – but I used to think that I hated lentils and I was pleasantly surprised by them.  I usually make lentils just to be nice to Adam, but now I want to make them again for my taste buds too.  They were soooo easy; we just simmered red lentils with water and a little salt, curry powder, turmeric, and smoked paprika.

{3} Another dinner success.

Arugula blend salad with cave-aged blue cheese, sweet and spicy pecans, and a maple vinaigrette,

topped with a Shallotta Salmon Burger.

I had big plans for a salmon burger and egg sandwich but apparently the patties were pretty good because by the time I went to make my eggwich Adam had eaten them all up.

{4} This item involves a generous box of free samples from Numi Organic Tea and Nutiva.

As I said, these items were provided free of charge.  I was no provided further compensation for this post.  All opinions are my own.

They’ve teamed up to promote their genius mash-up recipe idea: chia iced tea.  Sounds good, right?  I haven’t actually tried the recipe yet – I’m getting on that this weekend – but I wanted to share it with y’all, along with my thoughts about the products in general.

Iced Tea + Lemonade and Chia Seeds

• 1/2 tsp. Nutiva Organic Black Chia Seeds
• 2 Tbsp. water, room temperature
• 1 Numi Organic Tea – Breakfast Blend black tea bag
• ½ cup water, boiling ½ cup lemonade Ice cubes
• Lemon slices

1. Add chia seeds to 2 tbsp. of room temperature water. Stir to combine, and set aside for 5 minutes, until chia soften. 
2. Meanwhile, bring ½ cup of water to boil.  Steep tea bag in hot water for 5 minutes. 
3. Discard tea bag and pour tea into a tall glass. Add lemonade and chia seeds and stir to combine. 
4. Top with ice, garnish with a lemon wedge and serve. 

So far for the teas, I’ve only tried the Breakfast Blend so far.  The mint is definitely up next once I’ve thinned out my tea bag stash a bit; it smells insanely delicious.

I can’t say that I adored it, but I have been hating most hot teas.  I’m excited to try it iced, a much better test for me.

Chia seeds are always fun.  I used the black variety in one of my favorite smoothies.

1.5 Tbsp chia seeds + 1.5 cups frozen strawberries + 1.5 cups lemonade.

And the O’Coconut Snacks are great.

They’re basically macaroons, with chia and hemp for extra flavor.

{5} Speaking of coconut, I made coconut iced coffee that rocked my face off.

Cold brew with TJ’s coconut water and a big glug of Almond Joy coffee creamer.  Gah!

{6} A killer alcoholic beverage.  My strategy of choosing booze that sounds like dessert has never served me wrong.

Does honey beer even need more explanation?

{7} Another product review.

See disclaimer above.  Free item.  No other $ exchanged.  All my opinion.  Yada, yada.

Valentia sent me their Even Glow Vitamin C Serum (sold exclusively on Amazon).  I have basically no makeup or skin care regimen – no wrinkle cream, no foundation, and I guiltily put sunblock on once or twice a month – so I am not the best judge, but I was a fan.  The serum smells like lemon meringue pie!  I haven’t used it long enough to discern any long-term, wrinkle-busting effects, but day-to-day it makes my skin look a bit glowy.  Photo-evidence straight out of bed, 5 minutes after application, prior to putting on mascara or brushing my teeth.

Speaking of terrible selfies… I need to show you guys my hair.  My hair has been a hot mess ever since I dyed the whole thing brown after the purple to gray debacle.  It looked like it could be my natural color and was just inexplicably damaged.  I figured if I went blonde(ish) at least the damage would seem less sad.  So I went in for some highlights/ombre.

I love it!  I couldn’t get a great picture but this is definitely an improvement.

{8} While we’re taking about hair… Who saw season 1 of “The Killing?”  Linden’s 90’s style, face-framing wisp bangs drove me freaking crazy!  In spite of my ceaseless Facebook ranting about the bangs, over the past week I’ve Netflixed my way through almost all 4 seasons.  I haaaaaated the season 3 finale but I’m hoping they fix things up in the Netflix-exclusive final 6 episodes.  Also, I’m thrilled that Jewel Staite makes some appearances, but she has rocked as both a badass space cowboy/mechanic and badass space doctor, why have all of her recent parts been the easy-to-please girlfriend?

{9} I never watched Chelsea Handler’s tv show, but I just started her third book.

Her stories are hilarious.  The books are kind of terrible for my commute because I feel bad laughing so loudly on the LIRR.

{10} It’s Apple Month!!!  I’ve got a round-up post of important apple products headed your way tomorrow.  And yes, I’ve already started my pumpkin beer collection.

Do you think you’ve eaten your best meal of 2014 yet, or is it coming up this holiday season?