Tag Archives: booze

Pesto Pizazz

by

Things from this week…

My fruit bowl had an admirer. Dogs can’t eat grapes (these were Thomcords), but Webster enjoyed some of my giant blackberries.

This swamp drink was a butterfly pea tea lemonade (with fresh lemon, lime, and brown sugar) with matcha.

Alani maple donut protein coffee (6/10, I wanted it to have more flavor and caffeine but there was no aftertaste).

Spudsy ranch sweet potato fries (9.5/10, so crunchy and savory).

Rainbow bites gummy candies (1/10, I was excited for these but I thought the flavor was so strange. We ate them while watching Rainbow Bright and even the on-theme of it all couldn’t save them).

We really enjoyed both of these IPAs. Three Floyds’ Cat Date double > Grimm’s Classic Rewind

This dinner was super quicky and easy but so satisfying. Cold silken tofu sauced with soy sauce, sugar, chili crisp, gochugaru, sesame seeds, and furikake / kimchi veggie dumplings / frozen edamame that I reheated in the microwave for two minutes.

Pesto pizza! Homemade dough (I swapped Greek yogurt for blended cottage cheese in the two-ingredient recipe) / sliced gouda / homemade pesto / sliced tomato / parmesan. Plus roasted zucchini.

Whole-wheat spaghetti with pesto, zucchini, tomato, and mushroom and herb chicken sausages. I topped mine with chili flakes.

We Had Fun-Fetti

by

Highlights from a very wonderful weekend…

Cafe Grumpy iced latte with oatmilk and blackberry syrup.

Are you admiring my sleeve? Last weekend Adam and I bought a $10 kit from Target and tie-dyed our own shirts!

Caffe Valencia Roosevelt – iced latte with frothed milk and vanilla and toasted marshmallow.

Green protein smoothie. Premiere Protein cake batter with frozen banana, grapes, and spinach.

Taiyaki. I got custard-filled, hojicha ice cream, condensed milk, and sprinkles.

Best cake ever from Butterfield. Super dense funfetti with two kinds of frosting; the cookies and cream layer was life-changing.

Lunch at Kayle.

Beef sliders on ube rolls.

Beef Tapa meal – seared tri-tip marinated with soy sauce and garlic with chili plus rice and a fried egg. And a side of roasted eggplant.

Plus, of course, halo halo. (10/10, best I’ve had in the city)

Dry-aged cheese burger from Mighties.

Spicy cumin lamb hand-torn noodles from Xi’an Famous Foods. These noodles are a large part of why I feel like I can never live outside of New York; 1,000/10.

Minnows And Salmon

by

Highlights from the past week…

Blue Bottle‘s Nola Shakerato is a work of art.

Smoothie with cottage cheese, peaches, mixed berries, and water.

Sandwich on garlic naan with sliced turkey, cheddar, and soft-scrambled eggs.

We ordered a whole spread of treats at Patisserie Tomoko, our new favorite dessert spot in Williamsburg. Yuzu cheesecake / black sesame red bean mochi / pumpkin pie. All 10/10!

Plus their special, the yuzuchoco float – yuzu sorbet, yuzu ice cream, and yuzu seltzer with a salted chocolate popsicle.

We ended up with these Trader Joe’s chocolate-covered peanut butter pretzels by mistake (sorry, Dad, they didn’t fit in your birthday box!) but Adam and I both love them.

Dinner at Minnows. We got fun drinks including an old-school frozen grasshopper.

Adam and I adored everything we got here. We shared a smashburger with pimento cheese.

Hushpuppies with salted honey butter.

A “big salad” with corn, pepitas, fennel, cojita, and citrus thyme vinaigrette.

Collard greens.

Adam surprised me with a sourdough croissant from Winner (YUM) so I made breakfast tasting plates for dinner. With roasted asparagus, a medium-boiled egg, Trader Joe’s hot-smoked salmon, and a horseradish dipping sauce.

Creamy mushroom pasta. Whole-wheat spaghetti with crispy sauteed oyster mushrooms and maitake mushrooms and a sauce made with cream cheese, gojuchang, and lemon juice. I topped mine with kelp flakes.

Baked buffalo chicken meatballs (with blue cheese and cream cheese!) and roasted broccoli with a horseradish ranch dipping sauce.

Webster’s 12th Buyday

by

Highlights from this week…

Yesterday was the 12th anniversary of Webster joining our family! He is the best. We spent the day hanging out and he celebrated with a peanut butter pup cup from Seacliff Shave Ice.

The humans shared one with cola and butterscotch, with vanilla ice cream, topped with condensed milk and mochi.

Southdown Coffee granita iced coffee.

I also had a variety of coffees from home this week.

We got a bunch of good snacks from Fine Fair Supermarket, including this great tres leches cake.

Trader Joe’s snacks. The ube mochi were fantastic, they were so marshmallow-y!

I loved these new Happy Hour tequilla seltzers.

This guava Mtn Dew was way too sweet but delicious mixed with golden rum.

Dinners this week – 1) Involved a lot of take-out (I was a bit under the weather and also take-out is great). 2) Involved a lot of cauliflower (I got excited about the options at Trader Joes and ended up buying three varieties. And also cauliflower is great).

Roast Korean BBQ French Dip special; shortrib, white cheddar, caramelized kimchi, crunchy onions, and spicy mayo on ciabatta. With roasted baby cauliflower.

Taco Bell came out with a birria taco (“grilled cheese dipping taco”) and I obviously had to try it. I also bought a back-up burrito in case it wasn’t good but I ended up really liking it; the red sauce was obviously not consume but the meat had a good texture and there was tons of cheese. Plus roasted cauliflower and broccoli.

Jalopeno popper turkey meatloaf (with Trader Joe’s hot and sweet pickled jalopenos and tons of sharp cheddar) plus roasted rainbow cauliflower.

Walking tacos (but Adam convinced me to serve them in bowls instead of out of the bag). I made mine with crumbled Fritos / plus ground turkey sauteed with red sauce, baby heirloom tomatoes, and white onion / cheddar / avocado.

Mac and three cheese muffins. With Goodle’s whole-wheat curveballs. I swapped parmesan for extra cheddar and added pickled jalopenos. Plus roasted zucchini.

Coffees And Pastas

by

Adam and I had the whole weekend together, which was just lovely! Despite the heat we managed to take the dog to a farmer’s market and take a humans-only walk across the Brooklyn Bridge. And we ate so many good things! Highlights included…

A dalgona iced latte (always a winner!) with chocolate milk.

Blue Bottle‘s shaken New Orleans cold brew is a 10/10 summer special.

Lemon chess pie at the farmer’s market.

Brigaderio cake at Cafe Patoro. I also had a brigaderio iced latte that was hands-down the best thing I’ve consumed so far in 2023.

Dessert flavored booze! Decadent Ale guava cream pop IPA / Ellicottville strawberry crunch bar cream ale / Skatterbrain vanilla cake whiskey (I mixed this one with amaretto, diet coke, and fancy cherries and it was fantastic).

Brunch at Nuaa Table. Thai iced tea.

We shared the veggie dumplings and roasted duck buns.

Banana blossom salad with coconut poached chicken and quail eggs. The acidity here was perfection.

Spicy shrimp basil noodles.

Son-in-Law duck egg – fried boiled duck egg, homemade black pepper brioche, and tamarind-fish sauce caramel. This was my favorite dish.

Lobster roll from Luke’s.

Dinner at Patti Ann’s. This was really good but not mind-blowing like I was expecting.

We shared charred asparagus with hummus, walnuts, golden raisins, and za’atar.

The smashed patty burger – on milk bread with sharp cheddar, special sauce, tomato, and crispy shallots.

And duck lasagna.

Chili garlic noodles from Omsom. I added leftover veggies, chili crisp, and a six-minute egg.

Denver –> NYC

by

This was a “short” week because I was in Denver until 2 am Tuesday East Coast time. My mom and I had such a fun vacation! Other than family stuff our favorite activities were the Rocky Mountain National Park (and just generally being constantly awed by how fantastically beautiful the wild flowers were!) and an afternoon at Meow Wolf.

I don’t have a ton to share from my return home because this was the longest short week ever. I landed in JFK at 6 am and was at my desk at work by 7:30! Also I worked through the weekend and had some of the busiest and stressful shifts of all time. Suffice to say we’ve mostly eaten take-out the past week! Here were some highlights…

Frozen tahini iced coffee. I made coffee ice cubes and blended them with more coffee, tahini, sugar, and a splash of half and half.

Very impressed with the Sang black coffee can (roasty, good body, and outdone only by Grady’s and Stumptown).

Extra-crispy Cosmic Crisp apple.

A winner Whole Foods’ hot bar day – Roasted veggies and roasted green beans / celery, date, and peanut salad / Caesar chicken salad / hard-boiled egg / mac and cheese.

Loved this alcoholic beverage from Empirical; it really did taste like pine in a lovely way.

Cinnamon bears are my new favorite kind of chocolate-covered gummy.

Dinner at a restaurant – Youta, a new ramen spot we loved. Spicy serano cucumber salad.

Fried chicken with garlic mayo.

I got the veggie ramen – truffle veggie broth, maitake, shitake, kikurage tempura, topped with menma and scallion.

And a mango parfait for dessert.

Dinner via takeout – Dario’s Pizza. New to us and a 9.5/10. We got two kinds of cheese slices, shredded beef, and spicy chicken.

Dinner “made” at home thanks to these kimchi vegetable dumplings and frozen cauliflower.

Plus homemade dumpling sauce.

Coke, Callaloo, Cashew

by

Highlights from a yummy week…

A fantastic smoothie; frozen cherries and strawberries with cottage cheese and water.

7/11 Day. I ruined my Coke slurpee with unfrozen lemon but it’s still my favorite holiday.

Rum and Coke slush! Coke ice cubes blended with golden rum and key lime juice.

These Tid Bits fruit bites are delicious and surprisingly high in fiber and protein.

Cashews aren’t usually my go-to but I loved these for snacking this week.

Hands-down our household’s favorite snack right now are the Trader Joe’s lentil curls. They are so satisfying!

Dinner sucesses this week were 100% thanks to this beef bacon.

Sandwiches with bacon, Kewpie, and local heirloom tomatoes. Plus roasted zucchini and extra tomato on the side.

Callaloo is traditionally made with amaranth leaves and salt pork but this version with spinach and beef bacon was a delight. Plus crab, yellow onion, hot pepper, ginger, garlic, urfa, and coconut milk. I topped my bowl with hot pepper jelly.

No bacon but still a winner – turkey meatloaf. A riff on this recipe with gojuchang, ketchup, sisig seasoning, green onion, and sharp cheddar. Plus roasted cabbage with tahini and chili crisp.

This post is a day early because I am taking a long weekend and heading to Colorado tonight! My youngest cousin is getting married! And I am spending a few extra days exploring Denver with my mom.

Taco Bout It

by

Highlights from the 1st week of July…

Lunch at I am Nacho Mama. I had a wonderful iced latte with almond milk and honey.

Mexi-cola cauliflower wings.

Chicken tacos with griddled cheese and special sauce.

Best snack of the week – guava corn crackers with Trader Joe’s Everything and the Elote dip. <– we were big fans; it was best with baby carrots

Themed snacks for the 4th – watermelon seltzer, Italian ice beer, and s’mores ice creams.

Definitely my most obscure week of themed dinners yet – handheld seafood! Tuna melts. A mix of tuna and smoked trout with tons of relish and mayo, on sourdough, with banana peppers and sharp cheddar. Plus roasted brussel sprouts and carrots tossed in a honey mustard sauce.

(Salmon) hot dogs for July 4th. On a whole-wheat bun with Sriracha and tarter sauce. Plus roasted yellow squash.

Crab handrolls. Shredded imitation crab with Kewpie and Sriracha / satuted cauliflower rice with salt, white pepper, and rice vinegar / avocado / poorly wrapped in nori.

Shrimp tacos. Corn tortillas with Whole Foods grilled shrimp and chipotle aioli and homemade mango salsa (with green bell pepper, poblano pepper, lime, salt, and gochugaru). Plus roasted broccoli and Trader Joe’s breaded cheese curds. Best meal of the week.