Hello, 2015! Weekend Wrap-Up

by Emily

It’s 2015!!!

My new year is off to a good start; I rearranged a few areas in the apartment that have been driving me crazy and have even been to the gym a few times. I opened the year with a trip to the movies to see “Wild” with friends. We all enjoyed it, even those who hadn’t read the book.

I’ve done plenty of good eating this year too…

breakfast

Coffee coffee.

With vanilla sugar.

And vanilla creamer.

Yep, I’m still deep in my vanilla obsession.

Which is why I bought this French vanilla yogurt.

With a seckel pear.

Another day I stirred vanilla bean paste into plain 0% Chobani.

It was delicious topped with blueberries, toasted walnuts, and maple syrup.

Pumpkin smoothie.

Canned pumpkin – the final can that’s been waiting in the pantry – with Greek yogurt, frozen banana, maple syrup, cinnamon, and Almond Breeze Hint of Honey. This was thin but so tasty.

Adam and I split this latte and donut.

Dough‘s mocha crumble did not disappoint.

lunch

A killer sandwich.

Turkey, sharp cheddar, banana peppers, and strawberry jam.

Plus apple slices with cinnamon maple sugar.

Black-eyed pea salad {BEP, green pepper, sharp cheddar, green Tabasco, and smoked almonds}.

And trail mix {peanuts, smoked almonds, dried blueberries, and birthday cake M&M’s}.

Another sandwich with sliced apple.

Fried egg with mayo and mustard.

If I had rye bread this would be the exact sandwich my dad cooked for me when I was growing up. His specialties were sandwiches – fried egg and grilled cheese (with pickle relish!).

snack

A trip to Ample Hills for the good stuff. Butter pecan brittle and salted crack caramel.

Chocolate covered potato chips. I measured out exactly one serving – these are Adam’s favorite thing ever and he was very kind to share.

Turkey jerky.

Chocolate-covered gummy bears = yum!

It’s possible I splashed cookie-flavored coffee creamer into diet coke and it was the best thing ever…

Dooo itttt!

dinner

You have to eat black-eyed peas on the first for good luck in the new year. I had mine mixed with green pepper, tomato, hot sauce, mayo, and cheddar on top of sprouted brown rice and chopped spinach.

The dog even got his own little serving!

I stuck a fork in my bowl, but I actually scooped my meal with bbq kettle chips.

It was a great pairing.

Friday we did salads for course 1; spinach with peanut sauce, chopped apple, and kasha (roasted buckwheat groats).

Followed by chicken patties from Trader Joe’s and cheesy fries.

The fries were great – just frozen from Trader Joe’s that we baked with shredded cheddar and gouda.

We celebrated round 2 of our anniversary on Saturday. When we watched our wedding video last weekend, we were reminded that I talked about eating pizza and watching Scrubs in my vows (really, I did!) and we realized that pizza and Scrubs would be a good anniversary activity. We got a variety of slices from our favorite pizza place in our old neighborhood and had a great time.

I got a green juice {spinach, kale, cucumber, and pineapple} to get in some veggies while we were picking up our pie.

Adam was on call on Sunday but I figured that I should start off 2015 by breaking my streak of chips and cheese for single lady dinners and cooking a real meal.

Spinach salad with balsamic, dried cranberries, blue cheese, and pecan crusted chicken tenders. I dipped the chicken in cranberry honey mustard before I dredged it in chopped pecans and it came out amazingly.

Woot, woot!

I hope that everyone is having a great year.

29Dec2014

Seven Year Celebration

by Emily

Sunday was our seven-year wedding anniversary. Adam and I got married on our fifth dating anniversary, so that means that we’ve been together for twelve years now. <– holy cow! I seriously thank my lucky stars every day that I get to be married to that man! {sap over, I promise}

We had a great weekend to celebrate. Both sets of parents sent gift cards and we had dinner out both nights, old friends of ours (who are new parents to a ridiculously adorable little girl) came into town for a visit, and we even went to a movie. P.S. we haaaaated “Into the Woods,” anyone else?

Iced coffee (7-11 for the win) with chocolate milk.

Rabbithole in Williamsburg for brunch with friends. I got the Rabbithole Florentine with poached eggs on wilted arugula, carmelized onions, sharp cheddar Mornay sauce, and a baguette.

They bought me an amazing lavender iced latte at the cafe next door afterwords.

We got take-out from Cheesecake Factory for dinner that night. Chopped vegetable salad and spicy cashew chicken.

Plus candy and our favorite champagne for dessert.

Sunday morning we made brunch at home. Eggnog french toast with blueberries and mimosas.

In the afternoon we spent some time in Grand Central Station.

Cafe Grumpy for cold brew.

And Ciao Bella for fig toasted almond honey gelato.

Prune was new to us for dinner and we loved it. I

talian Greyhound for me.

And we started with sardines with Triscuits and mustard.

We split two dishes and a side for dinner. Grilled pigeon with warm parsley dressing and seeded toast. The (buttery, seedy, sauce drenched) toast was pretty much the best thing ever.

Duck breast with cipollini onions, dandelion greens, and agrodolce dressing.

And hen of the woods mushrooms in brodetto.

Dessert was marscapone ice cream on a salted caramel brioche crouton.

Delish!

20Dec2014

Five Things – Weekly Wrap Up

by Emily

five things i ate last week

{1} Really great breakfasts.

I killed it on the breakfast front this week. Two different days I managed to bring in yogurt (TJ’s strawberry and then 2% plain Fage) with tons of pomegranate and blackberries for topping.

Plus I had cold-brew coffee with soy nog for the train.

Another day I did toast, followed by a juicy apple, and caramel hot chocolate to spruce up my coffee at work.

{2} Party food!

My lunches were a bit ridiculous this week, lots of work parties to attend. First, the Dietitian party.

My profession always has the best food. Salad, fruit salad, glass noodles with shrimp, and chicken Pad Thai.

Plus lots of dessert.

And later in the week there was a hospital wide celebration.

Salad, green beans, jerk chicken, eggroll, macaroni. Plus a chocolate fountain.

{3} Sandwiches, still.

The days without parties, I was still loving the cafeteria sandwiches. Jerk sliced chicken with mayo, mustard, provolone, and lettuce.

Plus a similar ‘wich with seaweed and a tangerine from home on the side.

{4} Dinner at Whole Foods.

We went on the first night of Hannukah hoping to find lattkes on the hot bar. No such luck, but we did make super tasty giant salad bowls. P.S. That seltzer was so good that I went back and bought a case of them!

Salad base with yummy chipotle almond dressing, tons of shredded veggies, roasted veggies, and a big scoop of mac and cheese.

And we stopped at Ample Hills to check out the seasonal flavor on the way home.

Did not disappoint.

{5} Super thick hot chocolate.

I made my own (super thick) hot chocolate. But I messed up the proportion of things a bit so the recipe is still not ready to share.

It looked good though!

five things i read/watched/listened to

{1} “Take Me to Church” from Hozier. I am still obsessed.

{2} “Snowfall” from Ingrid Michelson. This is my all-time favorite “Christmas song.”

{3} Blood, Bones, & Butter, Chef Gabrielle Hamilton of Prune’s memoir. <– do not recommend. Parts of the story were great, but I wasn’t a fan over her writing style and by the end I wasn’t a fan of her either.

{4} The mid-season finale of “Brooklyn-99.” Loooove.

{5} “Rick and Morty,” an amazingly smart and funny cartoon that we just discovered.

five things from instagram

{1} My new favorite top ever, a sweater my parents sent me with a giant icebear.

{2} I’m super proud of this wrapping job I did on my in-laws’ Christmas present… working a toy store over the holiday season in Buffalo definitely taught me a few things.

{3} Another shot of that tasty marshmallow I ate in the Bryant Park Winter Village.

{4} I like this drawing, but I took this photo back in November, before Thanksgiving! Slow down!

{5} Puppy love. His fat little arms slay me.

Have a great weekend!

15Dec2014

It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas! Weekend Wrap-Up

by Emily

It’s only 10 days ’til Christmas! And Hannukah starts tomorrow! And it was Adam’s 29th birthday on Thursday! We had a lot to celebrate this weekend. The last three days have been fabulous. Lots of great meals, several at fancy restaurants, and they were usually followed by dessert!

Friday

Friday was a regular work day for me, but I had the excitement of knowing that the husband was coming to pick me up at the end of the day. The switch to an electronic medical record system has gone fairly well, by the way; fingers are still crossed.

I ran out the door late in a flurry so breakfast came from Starbucks.

Iced latte and a fruit pouch that was not great.

Lunch was pretty much the same thing, since I didn’t pack anything and made it down to the cafeteria late in the day.

Iced coffee + chocolate milk, an apple, and a Gingerbread Larabar.

Plus some of the RDs came up to visit me – they liked my tiny office! – and brought me candy.

I don’t know where my Russian coworker gets those caramels but they are great.

Adam met me after work and we spent the evening in the city. Our dinner reservations weren’t until 8:00 so we did dessert first on a visit to the Winter Village at Bryant – Brrrryant! – Park.

We got a dulce de leche cookie,

then warmed up with a lusciously thick drinking chocolate – and a marshmallow! – from the from the Max Brenner stand.

OMG. We have been buying and hating hot chocolate since San Francisco but this liquid gold was exactly what we’ve been searching for. Super thick and rich but not sickeningly sweet.

We had a mile-ish walk to dinner and I’m terribly sad that it was too cold for my camera because I was basically dying at the gorgeous lights along the way.

Tavern on the Green, Adam’s pick for his belated birthday dinner, was seasonally stunning as well.

I got a Queens cocktail – Bootlegger vodka, Velvet Falernum, sorrel hibiscus liquor, pomegranate molasses, and lemon juice. Yummy, and perfectly balanced.

We shared the scallops with citrus butter, capers, and fried shallots to start. I’ve been having a love affair with fried shallots lately.

None of the entrees jumped out at me so I ordered two veggie sides, crimini mushrooms with blue cheese and basil and broccoli rabe with lemon, garlic, and sea salt.

It was a great night.

Saturday

We had errands to run in SoHo on Saturday, so we parked in Brooklyn and took the train in and spent the day in the city.

There might have been booze in my coffee.

I bought a snickerdoodle lattee from Dunkin and added a healthy pour of Rumchata (aka the snickerdoodle shot) and it was damn good.

While we were in Brooklyn, we split a sardine Bahn Mi from Bahnmigos.

It was great! The little me who grew up in the Caribbean shunning seafood (whyyyy??) can’t believe I eat things like sardines and scallops now.

We did linner (super late lunch) at Freemans Restaurant.

Blue Ridge Fizz = apple brandy, maple, allspice, and champagne. Freemans is our favorite brunch spot in the city and their cocktails are always magnificent.

I got poached eggs with tomato stewed kale, crispy shallots(!!), and hollandaise on sourdough toast.

My eggs ended up being overdone but I forgave them because the kale was so good.

We went next door to Morganstern’s for dessert.

We shared a cup of American egg custard and durian banana ice cream. Soo creamy! And the flavors were very true to life.

After a bit more exploring, we did round 2 at Sugar Sweet Sunshine.

I got a shot of The Nog – pumpkin cake layered with eggnog pudding and whipped cream.

SSS never disappoints.

Sunday

Sunday was all about hanging out at home. We would have stayed in our pajamas all day, had my dinner plans gone better. We cuddled, watched tv, and got up some holiday decorations.

I woke up starving from our early dinner the night before so I made a big plate of eggs for breakfast.

Scrambled with chopped jalapeno, corn, sliced turkey, sour cream, and goat’s milk cheddar.

Plus Silk soy nog on the side.

Instead of toast, I snacked on a bag of salted caramel popcorn.

The plan for dinner was pasta with sun-dried tomato pesto but something went horribly wrong and my pesto was pretty much inedible.

Instead, we salvaged our veggie side,

and ventured out for Thai, stopping for mint chocolate froyo along the way.

Much better. Enjoyed in front of Scrubs – which we are rewatching for the millionth time – it was a great end to a great weekend.

25Nov2014

The Slanted Woods {San Francisco}

by Emily

Wednesday morning we stopped at Peet’s for an eggnog iced coffee to go with my Ferry Building farmer’s market pear.

Then we made our way over the bridge through the pouring rain,

and up to Muir Woods for a stunningly beautiful hike.

We bought trusty $4 ponchos to get us through the 4+ miles in the downpour, but I wasn’t able to take many pictures.

Mostly we just got shots of Adam and me being goofballs.

We got completely soaked but still had a wonderful time.

Afterwards we went back to the hotel to dry off before our late lunch at Coqueta, a Spanish tapas place that knocked our socks off.

My cocktail – cream sherry, Luxardo amaretto, sherry vinegar, Manchego, and golden raisins – was one of the best I’ve ever had.

We split a variety of small plates, all of which we enjoyed greatly.

Huevos Nacional – deviled eggs filled with spring pea, smoked pimenton alioli, on pickled saffron potatoes and olive oil poached bonito.

Housemade potato chips with shaved Manchego and vermouth vinegar salsa. A play on bagels and lox of smoked salmon, queso fresco, and truffle honey.

Wild and cultivated mushrooms with garlic, chili, and sherry.

And Catalan-style vineyard greens with a caper-raisin puree, raisins, pine nuts, and garlic. <– my favorite dish of the day

For dessert we did caramel popcorn with Manchego cheesecakes that were amazing caramel lollipops with a liquid cheese filling.

And churros with drinking chocolate and a mixed berry powder for dipping.

Every last bite of this meal was inventive, fresh, and freaking delicious.

After more walking,

a stop at Humphry Slocombe for fluffernutter ice cream with butterscotch sauce, (<– Adam got ice cream almost every day)

and a New Orleans style coffee from Blue Bottle,

we were ready to drink our dinner at 21st Amendment Brewery.

21st Amendment brews Hell or High Watermelon, one of my top favorite beers, so we were excited to taste our way through their menu.

We shared Hell or High Watermelon, Vina, Framboise Forte D’or, Belgian Chocolate Stout, and a yummy honey meade from a guest brewery.

Also, a giant plate of fried cheese curds.

Ridiculous! And we were completely sober by the time we finished the 4 mile trek back to the hotel.

Thursday morning I fueled up with a praline chestnut latte and a local apple.

Plus a great rose macaron that we picked up along the way.

But the super steep hills still totally kicked my butt.

We were supposed to spend the morning in Golden Gate Park but unfortunately the crazy rain scared us away. We ended up eating our way through Japantown.

And actually even getting some Whole Foods hot bar while we hid and tried to keep dry.

Thankfully our afternoon plans were an indoor tour/tasting at Anchor Brewery.

We had a great time and definitely recommend it.

The rain cleared up in the afternoon while we spent some time in Chinatown.

And Boba Guys served us the best bubble teas of the year.

My almond milk coffee with boba and housemade almond jelly was delicious.

Then we were back to the Market Building where we couldn’t resist a final Vietnamese iced coffee from Out the Door.

An ironic choice considering our dinner reservations.

The Slanted Door has been on my list for years and it did not disappoint.

Piña colada – El Dorado 3 year white rum, house coconut cream, fresh pressed pineapple juice, pineapple gum, and lime.

Adam got a truly fabulous steak and I did three veggie options for my meal. Fried kabocha squash – palm sugar & lime caramel sauce, thai basil.

A green papaya salad – pickled carrot, rau ram, crispy shallot, roasted peanut – that was my favorite dish of the day.

And the Catalan Farm spicy broccoli – braised tofu, lion’s mane mushroom. The spongy mushrooms were so cool!

We did another round of churros for dessert.

As well as a brown butter cake trifle with huckleberries, lemon curd, and hibiscus meringue.

The meringues were as tasty as they were gorgeous. A great way to end our fourth day!

17Nov2014

Weekend Top Three

by Emily

{1} I made my Buffalo Chicken Baked Pasta. But I made this version cheesier.

Like, soooo cheesy; I accidentally spilled in most of the bag of cheese when I meant to do an extra sprinkle.

I also added more buffalo wing sauce, a bit more spinach, and swapped in whole-wheat pasta, ranch, and lean ground turkey for chicken breasts.

It was delicious.

{2} We soothed our fiery mouths with pumpkin beers.

All four ended up being fantastic. I wasn’t expecting to love the ales because I tend to prefer stouts and ciders, but they were some of the best pumpkin brews of the season.

{3} I found on-point bubble tea right next to my work.

One of the doctors told me about it and I might have to give her my firstborn. Awesomely chewy boba and tons of flavor options (they even had pumpkin!). Shown above is strawberry rose black tea with tapioca and rainbow jelly.

14Nov2014

Weekly Wrap Up

by Emily

As of this morning, the cold of winter is finally here. Ugh. But I had a good final week of thin hoodies and no gloves. Good eats too! I did a lot of train eating – bars for breakfast, guava cheese empanadas… – but the LIRR was too packed for stealthy photography. Here’s what I did capture…

breakfast {coffee, coffee, coffee}

Never hot, I don’t care if it drops below zero, you can pry my iced coffee out of my cold, dead hands.

Chameleon cold brew with the last of the honey almond milk, which I loved.

Espresso! With milk and sugar.

I tried the chestnut praline latte from Starbucks. I really liked it.

Marshmallow cold brew.

lunch

Turkey, sharp cheddar, and pumpkin butter sandwich on a pumpkin spice English muffin. With an apple and bbq chips.

Plus the last cookie.

Maple raisin oatmeal with a red pear.

And an afternoon treat of Turkish coffee that a coworker brought in.

Dannon Creamery cherry cheesecake (yum, much better than the strawberry!) with chopped strawberries and blueberries. TJ’s kale chips. I passed the kale around the breakroom and my coworkers all said they might buy some themselves.

Dannon Creamery vanilla pudding with strawberries, plus the last of the kale chips and bbq chips. This was the best store-bought pudding I’ve ever tasted. And Adam stole the milk chocolate pudding and loved it.

I tried, and did not love, the new Coke.

dinner

When I got home on Monday, dinner was waiting in the crockpot for me.

Chicken with bbq sauce, smoked brown sugar, and fresh cranberries. I ate mine on a big bed of spinach.

We had salted caramel cheesecake and a yummy pumpkin beer for dessert.

Pizza and salad.

A giant bbq chicken slice from Pinos. The crust on these is amazing, super fluffy and light but still crunchy.

Plus Whole Foods hot bar – garlic broccoli, pickled cucumber, and salad with veggies on top.

We also got hot chocolate that we’d been excited about all week – supposedly it was made with ganache – that ended up being a big cup of hot milk.

You cant win ’em all.

10Nov2014

Lunch And Learn; Weekend Wrap-Up

by Emily

I spent Friday and Saturday in New Jersey at a pediatric nutrition conference getting my learn on. A girlfriend, a co-worker, and I all went together and we had a very nice time. It stinks to lose a Saturday to “school,” but the lectures did include pediatric nutrition support, oncology, failure to thrive, and GI disorders; all big interests of mine. The conference ran for 8 hours each day but since it was only an hour or so away from the city I did get to have some fun with the husband in the evenings too.

Here are five favorites from the weekend…

{1} Saturday’s breakfast.

Getting to Jersey for the conference meant waking up by 5:30 both Friday and Saturday. On a typical workday, I should be up by 6:50; 50% of the time I set my alarm for 5:20, and 100% of the time I wake up after 7:10, so I was understandably a bit worried about the early wake-ups. I was excited about the conference so I managed, but Saturday was easier because Adam drove us in and I was looking forward to time in the car with him.

We stopped at Dunkin Donuts for the new cookie lattes – Snickerdoodle and Sugar Cookie – which were only okay,

and at La Bagel Delight for an everything bagel with jalopeño cheddar cream cheese.

That was great, obviously.

{2} Conference eats.

I didn’t do the best job of packing breakfast/lunch the first day and was not very happy throughout the afternoon. On Saturday, the three of us used the break to drive to Chipotle for a real lunch.

My friend and I split a rice bowl, which is always good.

And, as we were driving home I spotted a Sonic!!

Strawberry diet cokes are flipping amazing. My friend thought I was crazy for freaking out when we saw the sign, but once she tasted it she got it.

{3} Dinner in Koreatown.

Friday night, I met Adam in Penn Station (we took the train that day) and we walked over to Koreatown for dinner. There is a food court there that we had been dying to try.

We shared a steamed red bean bun.

Then got big bowls of bibimpap for dinner.

Mine, with tofu and tons of kimchi, was delicious.

We tried a canned coffee for dessert.

And stopped at Tous le Jours for mochi to share as well.

The chocolate was good but the maple was better. Soooo chewy.

{4} Sushi in Park Slope.

Saturday we ended up at Yamato, a favorite spot of Adam’s from when we lived in Brooklyn.

Salad with ginger dressing to start.

Veggie roll combo.

The cucumber avocado roll was the best, but I smothered everything in wasabi.

Plus we stopped and got hot chocolate for dessert.

That’s a homemade marshmallow!

{5} A package from Dannon Creamery.

Dannon’s newest line, Dannon Creamery sent me a super cool box of samples.

These desserts were sent to me free of charge to review. I received no further compensation for this post. All opinions are my own.

DC makes cheesecakes made with Greek yogurt plus three flavors of pudding, all averaging about 200 calories per serving/cup. I had tried the strawberry cheesecake on my own in the past and didn’t like it, but I was pleasantly surprised by the two other flavors I’ve tried so far.

Lemon cheesecake was opened pretty much the minute I got the package.

Nothing artificial about the topping and the mouthfeel of the cheesecake was great; I’m a fan!

I also quite enjoyed the dark chocolate pudding (with a leftover chocolate chip cookie).

I’m looking forward to the other flavors.

Eating Chalk

Tag Archives: berries

Hello, 2015! Weekend Wrap-Up

breakfast

lunch

snack

dinner

Seven Year Celebration

Five Things – Weekly Wrap Up

five things i ate last week

five things i read/watched/listened to

five things from instagram

It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas! Weekend Wrap-Up

Friday

Saturday

Sunday

The Slanted Woods {San Francisco}

Weekend Top Three

Weekly Wrap Up

breakfast {coffee, coffee, coffee}

lunch

dinner

Lunch And Learn; Weekend Wrap-Up

These desserts were sent to me free of charge to review. I received no further compensation for this post. All opinions are my own.