Mostly Bowls

Highlights from the past week include…

Dark roast coffee with ube condensed milk.

A loaded yogurt bowl – plain Greek, Mid-day peanut butter chocolate square, doughnut peach, aprium, praline pecan granola.

Cosmic Crisps are my new favorite apple.

We did not enjoy this key lime sour, but I am posting a photo as a reminder to Adam and myself because it so seems like something we would like.

On the other hand, we loved the flavor profile and political stance of this Greenpoint IPA.

Typically I don’t buy vegan ice creams but these bites are pretty satisfying.

Our favorite sheetpan hash – roasted Japanese sweet potato, bok choy, and green onion; topped with smoked salmon candy and roasted Norwegian salmon. I also added tons of Kewpie, Sriracha, and furikake.

Big summer salads. Local lettuce, honey mustard dressing, baby tomatoes, roasted corn, baked tofu, and homemade croutons.

Best bowl of the week – sauteed cabbage, snap peas, baby tomato, and green onions, with chicken maple breakfast sausage, peanuts, Korean chili flake, Sichuan pepper salt, and a nuoc cham inspired sauce.

Tons of Roast take-out – chicken taco sandwich, fries, buffalo-style roasted potatoes – plus roasted purple cauliflower.

A Few Of My Favorite Things

My birthday was yesterday and Adam and I were both off Saturday and Sunday which meant I got to celebrate a birthday weekend! We tried to do/eat all of my favorite things which meant we spent a ton of time walking around the city and ate a metric-ton of sugar and caffeine. It was perfect!

We did almost all of my favorite things, including – a birthday morning run, time with Adam and Webster, a long city walk, a bridge walk, drinks at Evil Twin, and watching The Office (I only missed walking on a beach and having a drink in the ocean).

And we ate almost all of my favorie things, including – coffee, vodka, Diet Coke, Roast sandwiches, cheeseburgers, ice cream, sprinkles, halo halo, and brigadero (I only missed nachos and roasted green beans)!

Highlights included…

In addition to my free birthday Starbucks I had my two current favorite city coffees – a quad iced latte from Kodawari.

And a freddo cappuccino from The Grand.

Plus a homemade dalgona iced latte!

Homemade rose lemonade spritzers with vodka.

I bought all of the birthday-flavored frozen things.

Plus ice cream for Webster!

Brigadero Bakery. Their summer special vanilla was tie-dyed and my favorite thing I ate all weekend.

Roast take-out, fries and a roast beef sandwich.

A trip to Queens Night Market. I had stir-fried radish cakes.

And halo halo.

Brunch at Nowon. Milky Way cocktail – mezcal, cold brew, Cadamaro, and rum-condensed milk.

My favorite cheeseburger – double smashed patties, American cheese, kimchi mayo, bread and butter pickles. Plus ridiculously amazing honey butter tots.

Tres Leches Latte

Such a good week of meals! Highlights include…

Coconut tres leches iced latte! Espresso with a blend of coconut milk, condensed milk, and half and half. I was making a rose coffee syup at the same time so I went ahead and dyed it pink!

Yogurt bowl. Plain Greek with chia seeds and strawberry jam, yellow peach, passionfruit, and praline granola.

My birthday is this weekend so these felt appropriate. We have loved every single thing we’ve tried from Made Good.

Boozy grape slushie – grape soda ice cubes blended with vodka. <– my best idea of the summer

A take on callaloo. Collard greens, turkey bacon, and crab meat cooked with coconut milk, onion, scotch bonnet pepper, ginger, and chili flakes.

Adam paired his with rice like an adult and I paired mine with pizza like a winner.

Creamy, spicy, peanut noodles. Ramen noodles + stir-fried cabbage and red bell pepper + a sauce with cream cheese, peanut butter, and gojuchang.

I gussied up store-bought marinara to make a delicious meat sauce – turkey bacon, ground turkey, onion, chili flake, urfa pepper, fish sauce, and tons of garlic. Served on Trader Joe’s cauliflower gnocci with a side of garlic bok choy.

We also used meat sauce on homemade pizza. Plus sauteed broccoli with butter, chili flake, and garlic.

Watermelon Pop Rocks

This past week was a crazy grueling work-week for both Adam and me (obviously his schedule was immeasurably worse than mine) and we ended up eating a ton of take-out (and candy!). The homemade meals I did manage to cook came out wonderfully though. Highlights included…

I am having a love affair with summer fruits. Doughnut peach + green plucot. My stone fruit preference goes plucot > plum > nectarine > peach > apricot and sometimes I forget how wonderful peaches are.

My mom sent us Pop Rocks to eat on watermelon, which was a great idea! Somehow it extended the fizziness.

Mango and dark cherry smoothie with almond milk and Greek yogurt.

We are officially all-in on alcoholic seltzers. These were two of the best we’ve tried so far.

Take-out win shout-out: this insane fried chicken sandwich from Roast. On sourdough bread with ranch, hot honey, pickles, and cheddar. Plus I made spicy cucumber salad.

Our favorite chicken salad – shredded chicken breasts with slivered almonds, kimchi, mayo, and horseradish. Plus sauteed rainbow chard with green onion, chili flake, and garlic.

Curried chicken thighs (baked after a marinade in goat milk yogurt, evoo, Jamaican curry powder, salt, and ginger) with baked cauliflower and coconut beans and rice (brown rice cooked with coconut milk, black beans, yellow onion, and habanero pepper).

Tastes Like Summer

Highlights from a tasty July week…

Coffee combo – Trader Joe’s dark roast with Chobani oatmilk horchatta.

We ordered marshmallows!

Vanilla Greek yogurt bowl with white peach, passionfruit, and fluff.

Toasted banana bread with marshmallow/fluff.

Summery drinks for a walk around our neighborhood – Blue Point Rainbow Italian Ice Sour and a vodka cocktail with fresh watermelon.

Adam and I are both head over heels for these vegan sweet potato cheese puffs.

Roasted garlic chicken sausage on a hot dog bun with Kewpie and kimchi. Plus roasted baby cauliflower.

Turkey sloppy Josephines! With roasted rainbow cauliflower.

Sheet-pan hash. With yellow potato, zucchini, green onion, pobablo pepper, fresh corn, chicken sausage, and sharp cheddar.

Trader Joe’s Guajillo Salsa

Highlights from a tasty week…

Still in love with these pie cookies from Whole Foods – they are shortbread with jam (raspberry, pineapple, or guava!) and streusel; I’m obsessed.

Nacho night! Tortilla chips with cheese (sharp cheddar, swiss, and gruyere) and black beans topped with salsa, sour cream, radish, tomato, and spring onion.

Plus a green juice for health.

And a sparkling tequilla canned cocktail for fun.

Chicken and veggie bowls. Shredded chicken (a mix of white and dark meat, cooked in the crockpot), roasted zucchini, black beans, roasted bell peppers and yellow onion, guacamole, salsa, sour cream, cheese, radish.

Chilaquiles. Tortilla chips, chicken, peppers and onions, salsa, and cheese; topped with roasted zucchini, a fried egg, radish, sour cream, and Crystal hot sauce.

Sandwich Week

This is a delayed post because we got back from vacation and both immediately had crazy work schedules including weekend coverage. But I declared last week “Sandwich Week,” which meant that all of our take-out was actually on-theme!

First – vacation was amazing. Truly one of the best weeks of our lives. We road-tripped to Provincetown Cape Cod –> Boston –> Portland, Maine –> Hudson, NY –> home. We got lucky with beautiful weather, admired astonishingly pretty flowers/landscaping, and ate some of the best meals of our marriage. I don’t have a single photo to share but I will link to some of our favorites.

  • Cape Cod: Bookstore (great lobster rolls and view) / Scott’s Cakes (yellow cake with pink buttercream only, best I’ve ever tasted)
  • Portland: Bao Bao (our favorites – bang bang chicken salad, crab rangoon spring rolls) / Crispy Gai (wonderful Thai, plus cocktails) / Duck Fat (duck on duck on duck poutine) / HiFi (all-time best doughnuts) / Izakaya Minato (amazing crudo and okonomiyaki) / Time and Tide (inventive lattes)
  • Hudson: Breadfolks (all-time best pastries) / Gracie’s Lunchonette (our favorites – pink horchatta iced latte, tuna melt with freshly baked tuna) / Kitty’s (Adam’s favorite meal of the week; our favorites – potato chips with dip and salmon roe, crispy broccoli) / Lil’ Deb’s Oasis (caribbean/eclectic, one of my favorite restaurants on earth)

Second – Some non-sandwich highlights from the past week…

This week’s coffee combo.

It’s stone fruit season! I will be snacking on nectarines, peaches, plums, and plucots for the foreseeable future.

Malted blueberry smoothie. Frozen blueberries with chocolate milk, plain Greek yogurt, and malted milk powder.

I scored cake-flavored beer that wasn’t a stout and loved it.

Boozy cherry coke slushy – frozen cherry coke cubes, frozen cherries, Luxardo cherries, and vodka.

Breakfast for dinner with freezer-staples the night we got home. Hashbrown and Trader Joe’s gojuchang veggie mix with soft-scrambled eggs.

Plus a brinner cocktail with decaf iced coffee, amaretto, coffee liquor, and sweetened condensed milk.

Finally – SANDWICH WEEK! Definitely a little inspired by Trader Joe’s sourdough bread.

Roasted sliced turkey, turkey bacon, strawberry jam, honey dijon. Plus roasted green beans.

Soft-scrambled eggs topped with smoked salmon salad. That green pile in the back is sauteed shredded brusell sprouts with shallots and dried cherries.

Heirloom tomatoes, gojuchang mayo, smoked sliced turkey, turkey bacon. Plus baby cucumbers with Bitchin Sauce.

Shake Shack cheeseburger and fries. We also shared an oreo funnel cake milkshake that was surprisingly delicious.

Take-out from Roast – aka our ultimate sandwich experience. Their roast beef melt is my all-time favorite. With fries and roasted green beans.

Turkey cheeseburger-inspired trail mix. Meat stick, cheddar moon cheese, dill pickle flavored almonds.

Turkey cheeseburger-inspired salad. Local lettuce with honey mustard dressing, baby tomatoes, dill pickle almonds, dill pickle slices, turkey meatballs (seasoned with dill pickle juice and yellow mustard), sharp cheddar, and homemade croutons with furikake.

Lattes, The Tyger, and Bambina Blue, Oh My

Highlights from an exceptionally yummy weekend…

We made dalgona iced lattes with chocolate milk. This is my favorite coffee texture.

Iced cinnamon roll from Mel The Bakery, aka the best cinnamon roll we’ve ever eaten. We regretted not buying more things and want to go back immediately.

Tres Leches x3 doughnut ice cream sandwich (tres leches ice cream sandwiched in a tres leches cake doughnut and dipped in tres leches chocolate coating!) from Doughnut Plant.

Hazelnut crunch gelato at Bambina Blue. We thought we weren’t big gelato fans but this spot has changed our tune.

Topo Chico has officially 100% sold me on alcoholic seltzers. These cans are delicious.

We had a wonderfully good lunch at The Tyger.

I had a Tyger Strype Slushee – Espolòn tequila, Shoumei white tea, peach, lemon, and smoke layered with Espolòn tequila, mango, lemon, honey, and cardamon.

Also a non-alcoholic Green Woods Laugh – mint, pandan, cucumber, and lemon – with Tito’s.

We shared hamachi crudo with Vietnamese salsa verde, coconut, microgreens, and cherry tomato.

Chicken satay with the most interesting/layered peanut sauce I’ve ever tasted.

Stir-fried water spinach with chili, garlic, and shrimp paste.

And Pad See Ew with Chinese broccoli and tofu. The tofu was a salt and pepper crusted silken tofu and it was fantastic.

Plus a Thai coffee tart with a bruleed top for dessert.

Dinner salads. Local butter lettuce with balsamic vinaigrette, mint, peas, lamb sausage, and raw milk aged cheddar. I see why the lamb + mint + pea pairing is a classic.