It’s Beginning To Taste A Lot Like Christmas

by Emily

I did not exactly hit it out of the park on dinners this past weekend – yesterday we went out to all-you-can-eat sushi with my cousin and that was the only night I deviated from Wegman’s hot bar. To be fair, I had to work Sunday and I needed to conserve my strength!

Five highlights from the past three days, four of which are on theme…

{1} La Colombe peppermint mocha latte can. Bonus – Trader Joe’s cedar balsam candle smells divine.

{2} TJ’s nog flavored coconut yogurt with gingerbread spice Life cereal. All I needed were some red and green sprinkles!

{3} Gingerbread and salted caramel gelato. I think I would like gingerbread items more if they were always paired with caramel, you need something to cut the spice.

{4} New Belgium’s Accumulation white IPA. This was the year I discovered I enjoy IPAs, especially double IPAs!

{5} We finally made it to Quality Pie and now we want to go back ASAP.

I had fried chicken on a biscuit with maple sriracha butter.

21Dec2018

…And A Partridge In A Pear Tree!

by Emily

This post includes five sweet things, four holiday theme items, three types of eggnog, two homemade dinners…

Stumptown Cold Brew with Trickling Springs egg nog.

Grady’s Cold Brew with Promised Land Holiday Nog.

I made my banana toffee magic bars for a cookie exchange at work and they came out really well! I subbed in caramel chips for butterscotch and it think it was an upgrade.

Sweethaus‘ holiday cupcakes are somehow eight times better than their already fantastic regular offerings. Eggnog and gingerbread with meringue frosting.

Hardywood’s gingerbread stout is stupid good and dangerously easy to drink.

This lavender can from Kombucha Town is my current favorite kombucha; it’s very mellow.

Fancy tuna salad makes an easy dinner. A mix of tuna and smoked sardines with mayo, dijon, and capers / roasted brussel sprouts / baby carrots / Trader Joe’s everything crackers.

But Wegman’s take-home meal section makes an even easier dinner. Spicy general tso chicken with fried rice and seaweed salad.

And one night I did legitimately cook – a protein, some veggies, and even a sauce. Asian take-out style tofu! This recipe but with oven fried tofu (similar to this method) in place of chicken. I also used rice vinegar instead of red wine vinegar and added in some cashews.

10Dec2018

Christmas Lights And Eggnog

by Emily

Adam had to go to Baltimore for a conference this weekend and I tagged along to hang out with family that lives in Maryland. It was a fantastic weekend. Five fun highlights include…

(1) A new bar, stuffed with chocolate almond butter.

(2) Delicious bowls of chicken soup provencal my aunt made.

(3) Eggnog iced coffee and an eggnog cream stuffed doughnut from Sugar Shack.

(4) A trip to the Guinness brewery.

(5) Baltimore’s Christmas Street, which is basically what the inside of my head looks like all December. It was totally magical.

3Dec2018

Gingerbread Galore

by Emily

So many holiday flavors consumed this weekend! <– Squee! It was just kind of a great weekend in general – we had no major to-dos looming and the weather was fantastic. We got to go to brunch with my cousin and her boyfriend and on a long walk with the dog. Next weekend brings out of town plans so it was really nice to keep things low-key.

Highlights…

Forager’s coconut cream cashew milk cold brew. It was yummy but way too filling to consume all at once.

Starbucks’ Juniper iced latte – I recommend getting double the espresso and half of the syrup so it’s not too pine-y [holiday flavor #1].

Plain Greek yogurt with maple, almond butter granola, and the last of the cranberry sauce.

Brunch at Renewal was delicious, we will definitely be back. I had a gin fizz with egg white and cream.

Roasted brussel sprouts with garlic fondue and sherry gastrique / field greens side salad with grapefruit vinaigrette / fries with pimento cheese and aioli.

Sugar cookie frozen yogurt and eggnog gelato [holiday flavors #2 and 3}.

King of Pop’s gingerbread was the best popsicle I’ve ever eaten, it was like a cookie dunked in milk [holiday flavor #4]. Enjoyed at Hardywood where I also had a Christmas Morning – gingerbread stout with Black Hand Coffee [holiday flavor #5].

This Sweethaus gingerbread cupcake with meringue frosting was the best baked good we’ve ever eaten, hands down [also holiday flavor #6!].

Trader Joe’s cauliflower latkes for the first night of Hannukah [holiday flavor #7] with a chicken thigh take on this Mississippi Roast recipe.

22Nov2018

Early Thanksgiving

by Emily

Early post because my extended family is coming into town for Thanksgiving and I am taking a three-day weekend to spend time with my parents! I’m working the holiday (today) and then I am free until Monday. Early Thanksgiving because I already managed to cram five holiday meal flavors into a short week of eating. <– good thing too, I spent yesterday evening baking my contributions for today’s meal and I did so much taste-testing that I may actually still be full this afternoon!

Eggnog (1) in my coffee. I’ve moved on from the soy nog, I just wasn’t a fan this year.

Pie (2) in my breakfast bar. Betty Lou’s cherry. I know cherry isn’t strictly a Thanksgiving flavor but I’m still counting it.

Stuffing (3) with roasted brussel sprouts (4). I actually made something of a stuffing-dressing/strata hybrid, with several eggs stirred into my stock. Plus roasted celery and onion, hunks of raisin pecan sourdough, fresh sage and parsley, and turkey breakfast sausage.

With a local cranberry (5) gose and maple brown ale for some thematic booze.

I hope all of my American readers have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

19Nov2018

A New York Weekend

by Emily

Adam and I went on a quick vacation and just had the best weekend in NYC! We got super lucky with weather that was warm/dry enough for a long day of walking (including two trips across the Williamsburg Bridge and a spin around Washington Square Park). We tried a some new spots that totally knocked our socks off (see below). We met up with friends for a fantastic dinner at Bellwether (highlights included duck liver mousse with ramp mustard, strawberry preserves, and crostini and a Oaxacan Sour cocktail with mezcal, luxardo, agave, egg white, and lime).

The best Thanksgiving item and the entire impetus for this trip = Milk Bar‘s Thanksgiving croissant stuffed with turkey, stuffing, and cranberry sauce.

The best coffee = a quad, non-fat, iced latte of Stumptown at Black Brick.

The best doughnut = Alimama‘s sweet and savory mochi doughnut. It was topped with salted caramel and Nutella and was unbelievably, perfectly chewy. Plus we had a great ube cream puff.

The best brunch = Bricolage. There were so many things that sounded amazing we ended up ordering/sharing three entrees! Duck bahn mi with chicken liver pate, shallot mayo, pickled daikon, carrot, and herbs // five-spice fried chicken and waffles with red cabbage and fennel slaw, sriracha butter, and maple syrup // croissant french toast topped with Vietnamese coffee whipped cream, condensed milk creme anglaise, and blueberries.

The best ice cream = Morganstern‘s papaya guava ice cream alongside a scoop of American egg. P.S. the new location was beautiful and the line was far less out of control.

I ♥ New York.

9Nov2018

Chili When It’s Chilly

by Emily

It was a great week in packaged coffees. Grady’s Cold Brew = 11/10 (it’s my very favorite!). P.S. how great are our flowers??!

Black Hands can = 9/10.

Blanchard’s can = 7.5/10.

Other beverage fun included Polar hibiscus cloudberry seltzer.

And this killer cocktail combo – cinnamon hibiscus tea, Goldschläger, and club soda.

Snack attack. Strawberry sage kombucha, a caramel chocolate granola bar, and an Autumn Glory apple.

Can you believe I didn’t try a Coolhaus ice cream sandwich until after I left New York? We were super impressed with this.

Our dinners this week were definitely on a theme. Chili. Ground turkey / black beans and baked beans / sweet onion and poblano pepper / tomato paste and crushed tomatoes / clove, cumin, smoked paprika, brown sugar, fish sauce, liquid smoke, and gojuchang. Topped with cheddar, plain Greek yogurt, and jalopenos.

Bacon and cheese wrapped hot dogs. Turkey hot dogs and halloumi cheese wrapped in turkey bacon on a whole-wheat bun with ketchup. With a side of green bean fries.

Bacon chili cheese hot dog casserole. Double layers of cauliflower rice / turkey bacon / sliced turkey hot dogs / green onion / leftover chili / and sharp cheddar. Topped with plain Greek yogurt and hot sauce.

Yum!

2Nov2018

All Hallow’s Eats

by Emily

Pumpkin Noosa for breakfast. I sprinkled some crunchy granola from the cafeteria on top and it was fantastic.

Maple glazed doughnut with a maple pancake iced latte from Sugar Shack.

Snack attack. Is it even Halloween week if you don’t make yourself sick eating too much sugar? None of fun-sized candy at work was exciting to me and I had to drive myself to Wegman’s to buy my own chocolate.

Crispy honey garlic tofu bites served on top of roasted broccoli and cauliflower. The tofu recipe was perfect, I couldn’t believe how crispy it came out. After I took that photo I smothered my plate in Kewpie and Sriracha!

This Pumking version was toooo much bourbon for me.

Sweet potato hash success. Crispy sweet potato (cooked similarly to this method) / sauteed red bell pepper and spring onion with tumeric and smoked paprika / garlic chicken sausage / topped with a fried egg / and copious amounts of Cholula hot sauce.

Our Halloween dinner was perfectly on theme – vampire killer pumpkin pasta. Pumpkin shaped pasta / garlic chicken sausage / sauteed spinach with tons of garlic / tossed in aioli / topped with pan-fried haloumi.

Plus the best pumpkin beer of the year and a chai pumpkin ale.

Eating Chalk

Tag Archives: booze

It’s Beginning To Taste A Lot Like Christmas

…And A Partridge In A Pear Tree!

Christmas Lights And Eggnog

Gingerbread Galore

Early Thanksgiving

A New York Weekend

Chili When It’s Chilly

All Hallow’s Eats