New Orleans Vacation 2016

by Emily

New Orleans was our best travel experience of 2016. We stayed at a cute hotel in the French Quarter and had enough time to really get to know the area. It was a great way to finish up the year.

This was my first trip to Louisiana and I think we managed to pack a lot in. We visited three local breweries, walked around Loyola and Tulane, explored the French Quarter and Bourbon Street, went to the World War II Museum….

We also tasted tons of local (or at least Southern) flavors – pralines, divinity, snowballs, beignets, pimento cheese, etouffe, grits, chicory coffee, milk punch, and hurricanes.

Here were some of our best bites…

♥Pralines. They were everywhere and the smell was amazing.

♥Hurricanes. We went to Pat O’Brien’s (<– yuck!) and Lafitte’s Blacksmith Shop.

♥Frozen daiquiris, this one was eggnog!

♥This pecan pie soda was actually horribly disgusting, but it was fun to try!

♥Snowballs. NOLA served me the best snow-cones of my life, I had one every day. This was wedding cake (a blend of vanilla and almond) and egg custard topped with sweetened condensed milk.

♥Breakfast at Café Du Monde. This was a must-stop for us, it was actually the only activity I had planned when I booked our tickets. The beignets did not disappoint and neither did the chicory coffee café au lait (served on crushed ice).

♥Breakfast at District Doughnut. We got a Nutella doughnut and a biscuit with pimento cheese.

Plus yummy Vietnamese coffee and an iced coffee with cola and chocolate milk (<– delicious and infinitely better than it sounds).

♥Brunch at Willa Jean.

I had the shrimp and grits – gulf shrimp, etouffee gravy, grits, and slow poached eggs with cheddar biscuits on the side.

Cookies and milk for dessert. With a beater of dough and vanilla-infused milk.

♥Flights at Abita. <– one of our very favorite breweries They had our old favorites and some fantastic limited edition flavors including vanilla Turbo Dog and a key lime gose. We had beers, Zapps chips, and a root beer on draught and were in absolute heaven.

♥Lunch at Cochon. They had house-made eggnog.

We split a variety of small plates – a roasted carrot special with mint, Louisiana blue crab rice, and whole fried shrimp with pickled mustard seed hot sauce. The fried herbs were aromatic and wonderful and the best bites were a mix of everything at once.

♥Dinner at Brennan’s.

Insanely creamy Caribbean milk punch with Buffalo Trace bourbon, Mt Gay black barrel rum, cream, and vanilla bean.

Ridiculous foie gras “sweet potato casserole,” with sweet potato puree and candied pecans.

I had the cheddar risotto for dinner. With Cherokee Rose cheddar, smoked maitake mushrooms, collard green puree, and a brown butter sauce.

♥Dinner at SHAYA. <– best meal of the trip and also best meal of the year

That’s a halvah cappuccino. I also had a Pearl Diver – vodka, labneh, vanilla, and lavender bitters.

We shared a trio of appetizers – Moroccan carrots with chermoula and mint / baba ganoush with green garlic / tershi = a creamy pumpkin spread with crispy garlic and chili oil. All with fantasmic pita bread and herbed olive oil.

Also foie gras with rose tahini and carob molasses on challah toast (omg).

I had the matzoh ball soup for my entrée. With slowed cooked duck, dill, charred leaks, lemon oil, and a cinnamon-scented broth. Best matzoh balls of my life! Adam had slow cooked lamb and the bites I stole were truly the best thing I’ve ever tasted (fyi I don’t typically eat mammals but I’ll have a taste occasionally if I know the meat is humanely-sourced and Adam says the flavor is worth it).

Dessert(s). We basically rolled away from the table! Chocolate babka with halva ice cream and labneh cheese cake with burnt honey ice cream.

It was a wonderful trip!

P.S. No post coming from this weekend, it was the husband’s birthday and I was in celebration-mode versus blogger-mode. And now we’re both back at work.. womp wah. Have a great week!

4Dec2016

Vacation Part 1/3

by Emily

We’re on vacation! Friday through next Sunday Adam and I have 10 glorious days off together!! We’re spending time in New Orleans and next weekend we’re doing a staycation in the city.

You can tell we’re in vacation-mode because we ate 90% of our meals out of the house and with drinks and dessert and have been purchasing all of the coffees.

Espresso at Variety.

New Orleans cold brew at Blue Bottle.

Espresso at Mixtape.

Iced coffee and a chocolate croissant at L’imprimerie.

Drinking chocolate at Devocion.

Dinner at Sally Roots. Booze face.

I got jerk chicken ramen! Chicken broth, yummy jerk chicken, noodles, fish cakes, bamboo, spinach, and wood ear mushroom.

We did dessert at Guadalupe Inn. Drinks with meh chocolate tres leche cakes and churros stuffed with fabulous goat milk caramel.

Best brunch of the year at Rider. Safe Word of the Day and Covet Thy Neighbor’s Drink.

The Cure = crispy rice and lentil cakes, duck confit, cilantro, hoisin, sriracha, and poached egg. Adam had lox and fries, a combo you didn’t know how much you needed.

Dessert at Odd Fellows. Crème brulee and banofee ice creams with brown butter cake crumbs on top.

Pretty damn good brunch at Forrest Point. This drink was named “Fancy Pants,” Flor de Cana, Wild Turkey, Pedro Ximenez sherry, pineapple, lemon, Lapsang Souchong, star anise, cinnamon, and demerara sugar!

Chilaquiles!

Skillet s’mores with Fernet.

I did manage to make some dinners at home – chicken enchilada casserole. I loosely followed this recipe from Jo Cooks, with brown rice and the addition of green chilis. With roasted zucchini on the side and chips for dipping.

Other things that are making me happy… this assortment of cola-flavored goodies. The gum was great the seltzer was too plain.

We found (freshly made) coquito at a bar in Bushwick! It tastes like coconut eggnog and joy.

The Body Shop sent me this sweet holiday gift. Fantastic eyeshadow and delightful smelling things. FYI – they are offering a bunch of gift sets that will contribute to rainforest conservation, I recommend everything strawberry.

Happiest thing of all? I’m on vacation!

18Nov2016

Highlights From Last Week/end

by Emily

Long time no blog! Life has been busy and work has been crazy and Adam had time to spend with me last weekend so I didn’t waste a single moment on the computer. This weekend is going to be pretty exciting too… follow me on Instagram for instant updates.

Speaking of Insta, do you follow @coffeecupsoftheworld? We went to the pop up exhibit in Manhattan last weekend and thought it was pretty neat.

Fitting, since coffee’s been a pretty big feature of the past week.

Here were some of the best bites…

To start, the single best bites of the month. Milk Bar for an iced latte (my favorite in the city) and a Thanksgiving croissant – “stuffing” flavored bread filled with in-house roasted, shredded turkey, homemade gravy, and cranberry sauce! Adam and I swooned and were more than a little sad that we shared instead of getting one each.

Chocolate halvah iced coffee. Better in theory but still not terrible in practice.

Chocolate cherry smoothie – plain Greek yogurt, frozen cherries, vanilla almond milk, vanilla bean paste, brown sugar,cocoa nibs.

Brunch at Lighthouse. With a grapefruit mimosa. We were blown away by our first chilaquiles experience, they are like a bowl full of nachos!

Brown butter sprinkled chocolate chip cookies I made for a birthday party at work. I used the dough base from this recipe and they were fantastic, the little bit of crunch from the sprinkles was perfect.

Ice cream from Davey’s. A Halloween candy mashup and cookie butter chocolate chip.

Dinner at Ducks Eatery. I don’t have a photo of my dinner, which was undercooked and kind of gross, but the appetizer/drinks situation was breathtaking. Exhibit A – smoked mussels with chili oil on toast with maple, smoked butter, and chives.

12th st sour with egg white foam.

Pièce de résistance – the Café Canard – Tullamore dew, espresso, brown sugar, cream, and nutmeg. I’m not one for hot coffee but sipping it through a cloud of sweet, foamed cream is pretty appealing.

Lentil bowls. Red lentils cooked with with garlic, ginger, red bell pepper, carrot, onion, tomato paste, and turkey bacon. Topped with cheese, hot sauce, plain Greek yogurt, and a serving of roasted zucchini.

Stoneridge Orchards sent me a nice package of dried fruits to try. Their products are all organic and always produced without sulfites, artificial preservatives, colors, hydrogenated oils, high fructose corn syrup, etc.

Dark chocolate cherries with almonds were a work snack.

P.S. that snazzy glitter sleeve is part of my ongoing campaign to make my office life more enjoyable. Fancy glass water bottle and a felt succulent.

The rest of the berries were paired with toasted nuts and roasted things for some “it still feels like fall” dinners. 10 out of 10 for this product review, by the way, these were by far the best dried fruits I’ve ever eaten. Sometimes dried cranberries can be displeasingly chewy but the texture here was quite pleasant.

Warm kale salad – sauteed kale / dried blueberries / pepitas / turkey bacon / honey thyme balsamic vinaigrette.

Cranberry almond chicken salad – shredded chicken breast / mayo / stone ground mustard / dried cranberries / slivered almonds. The sweetness of the cranberries was perfect with the mustard.

Roasted vegetable medley – butternut squash / shredded brussel sprouts / dried cherries / pecans / more vinaigrette / topped with goat cheese.

I’m off to enjoy a long weekend!

11Nov2016

Stick To Your Ribs Dinners

by Emily

Thank you, to all those who have served.

The weather is starting to cool down a bit more – I can no longer comfortably wear my sandals* – and our dinner choices have shifted towards steamy, stick to your ribs meals. *Note – I’m still wearing the sandals, I’m just not comfortable any more.

This was also election week and it’s safe to say that I ate my feelings in the form of booze, caffeine, and sugar. I am a woman, but I’m also cis/straight, white, sans disability or preexisting health conditions, and unlikely to get an abortion, so I know my feelings of disillusionment and heartbreak really pale in comparison to many others’.

On a happy note, here were some of the yummy things I ate this week…

This week’s coffee blend was soooo roasty and good.

I doubled up with train coffee and post-train coffee a few days, but I’ll note that this quad was enjoyed on a day I skipped the 1st coffee.

Starbuck’s holiday spiced sweet cream cold brew is good! It tasted like good tidings and cheer!

Did KIND bar read my blog? Limited edition caramel apple pumpkin spice is right up my alley. With a sweet Ambrosia apple.

I also love LARA’s hazelnut, hemp, cacao option. The crunchy nibs are great.

I was too busy at work for lunch one day and ate this turkey and stuffing sandwich on the way home in literally less than 3 minutes.

Plain Siggi’s with chocolate tahini and grapes with pumpernickel pretzels on the side. Yes, I put the grapes in the yogurt.

Elderflower yogurt (very floral) with persimmons and pumpkin spice Cheerios.

Strawberry cottage cheese plus grapes and pumpkin spice pepitas and granola. I didn’t enjoy this seltzer as much as I expected to.

Stress eating candies of choice –

Leftover turkey bolognaise that continued to knock our socks off. Thanks to turkey bacon, mirepoix, and 2+ hours on the stove, this sauce was packed with flavor.

With ~~wine~~ kombucha. Blueberry Mint was sweet and drinkable.

Leftover black eyed pea cakes. Topped with cheddar, fire-roasted corn, salsa, and a sunny side up egg with smoked paprika.

We’ve loved this chili from Iowa Girl Eats for years. This year I stepped it up a bit with lemon-pepper chicken, carrots and celery added to the base, and an additional hour of cooking time to concentrate the tomato before I added the beans.

Pumpkin beers to keep me company while I cooked. <– Adam and I both thought these two were some of the best of the season.

I topped my bowls with shredded cheese, pickled jalapeño, and plain Greek yogurt. Plus cucumber slices and Trader Joe’s pumpkin soup crackers on the side.

Chili, meat sauce, baked potatoes… what’s your favorite hearty, stick to your ribs food for winter?

7Nov2016

Biscuit Brunches

by Emily

Did everyone have a good weekend? I had two days off with the husband so mine was fantabulous. We had two great brunches, cooked two tasty dinners, accomplished all of our to-dos… the weather even held out for us.

Have you registered your Starbucks card yet? This was free.

This coffee – a triple shot maple iced latte from Bittersweet -was better though, probably because we bought it with a giant chocolate chunk cookie that was both doughy and crispy.

Brunch 1 was at The General Greene in Fort Greene. Adam went there a few weeks ago and has been raving about the biscuits. I thought mine tasted like cornbread.

I drank a Middleton – whiskey, mezcal, lime, luxardo cherry, and earl grey syrup.

And ordered the Huevos Salvadorenos. Sunny side up eggs on bean and cheese pupusas with salsas, crema, and curtido (a fermented cabbage relish). Plus yucca fries.

Brunch 2 was bbq at Blue Smoke in Flatiron. FYI – that’s a cold brew coffee with bourbon maple cream.

I also had a mind-blowingly good Milk Punch. It tasted like melted egg nog ice cream!

And a bright eyed sandwich, aka the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever eaten. Fried egg, pimento cheese, and spicy fried chicken on a biscuit doughnut. Runny egg and pimento cheese might be the best thing ever and the person who decided to make a biscuit doughnut is obviously a genius.

We checked out the new Smorgasburg location at Skylight One Hansen on opening day.

The space was gorgeous but way too hot and with too many opportunities for bottlenecks to form. Worth it though, for this scoop of toasted nutmeg ice cream from Malai. It was scrumptious.

Sunday’s afternoon treat was winter melon bubble tea with boba and grass jelly.

I was excited about two new recipes and actually cooked us a real dinner both nights. Prep-work sustenance was pumpernickel pretzels and pumpkin beers.

Cooking Light’s black eyed pea cakes. Topped with a relish of sautéed red and yellow bell peppers and turkey bacon. Plus broccoli.

Sunday’s dinner was even better though, and I didn’t even follow a recipe. I spent three hours cooking up this turkey bolognaise and the time commitment was worth it! Best sauce we’ve ever had. Served on orecchiette pasta with roasted zucchini on the side.

Have a great week!

5Nov2016

Bites And Frights

by Emily

How in the world is it November??? I promise not to spend the rest of this year talking about how the year is running out, but it really is blowing my mind.

On the agenda before January? Christmas shopping, finding the perfect day planner for 2017, and plans for three out-of-town trips right in a row.

Presently, I’m waiting for Adam to get home so we can go to brunch. And these were the highlights from the past week…

I actually did a pretty good job with capturing things this week minus a plethora more of nachos and iced coffees. I tried a new blend from Birch.

Espresso and a KIND bar.

Coffee, chai latte, and an almond croissant.

I found a white chocolate seltzer for my Halloween lunch. It didn’t have much flavor, but my oatmeal was good – with chia seeds, chocolate-covered cacao nibs, and candy corn, plus I stirred in pumpkin puree and Greek yogurt cream cheese at the end.

Other lunches centered around this sweet box of samples from LÄRABAR. They offered me a chance to try their newest product – BITES, “truffle-like bites made from real food to satisfy your sweet craving.” The bites are vegan, gluten-free, kosher, and only use Fair Trade Certified™ cocoa and coffee.

We tried three of four flavors (I’m saving mint chocolate for December, aka Peppermint Month) and were big fans. Cherry Chocolate Chip was enjoyable but not our favorite, I thought Double Chocolate Brownie was fudgy and great next to coffee, and Adam loved the fact that Chocolate Macaroon was coated in coconut flour.

I had a serving of brownie bites with a Noosa pumpkin yogurt and some gum drop grapes(!!) for lunch.

Coconut macaroon went with plain yogurt with yummy chocolate tahini on top.

This week’s snack highlights were nut and seed centric.

Also, of course, candy. Another product review, Magic Candy Factory sent me a super exciting sample –

That’s my name! I think this company is really exciting, you can choose from 100’s of shapes, or write a custom message, and MCF will 3D print you a gummy. The candy is vegan (no dairy, no gelatin), gluten-free, nut-free, and kosher. Most importantly, it’s delicious.

We tried sublime strawberry and Adam declared this his favorite gummy candy of all time.

Orange and black nachos for Halloween. TJ’s pumpkin chips topped with cheddar, olives, black beans, and shredded chicken.

Plus pumpkin beers and Peeps. Warlock was fantastic this year.

For the rest of the week, I made a big batch of pumpkin seed pesto. Served on pizza with cheddar and sliced turkey, I promise it was tastier than it looked. With a pea sprout salad.

And we tossed the rest of the pesto with pumpkin-shaped pasta, parmesan, shredded chicken, and roasted cauliflower. Almost nothing is better than pesto pasta.

Enjoy your weekend!

31Oct2016

Top Ten Last Week

by Emily

{1} Kobrick Coffee

I stepped up my espresso game with their housemade chocolate milk. Adam and I were both swooning after every sip.

{2} Pumpkin yogurt bowls

2% Fage with pumpkin puree and pumpkin butter, cinnamon, slivered almonds, and pumpkin spice granola. With an Asian pear.

Plain Siggi’s with pumpkin x2, pumpkin spice cheerios and frosted mini wheats, and a few candy corns. With a gingergold apple.

Pumpkin Chobani with cereals and another apple.

{3} Bobwhite Counter

Fried chicken sandwich with pickles and pimento cheese.

{4} Pumpkin Smoothie

We make at least one every October. Pumpkin puree, plain Greek yogurt, cinnamon, maple syrup, and vanilla almond milk.

{5} Xzibit “Pimp My Ride” style Reese’s

Reese’s stuffed with Reese’s Pieces. My peanut butter cup obsession usually does not extend beyond Justin’s minis but I am bewitched by these; the bit of crunch takes the cups to a whole new level.

{6} Molly’s Cupcakes

They have a whole slew of gooey stuffed cupcakes.

Cake better was perfection!

{7} Let’s Pretend This Never Happened

Unsurprisingly, Jenny Lawson (aka The Bloggess)’s 1st memoir did not disappoint. I added her 2nd book to my Christmas list less than halfway through.

{8} Nachos

I turned my copycat Chipotle bowl leftovers into nachos. Nachos > salad bowls. Tortilla chips, cheddar cheese, black beans, corn, sautéed onions and peppers, and shredded chipotle honey lime chicken.

{9} C’est Cheese

Adam and I had a weekday off together and we spent several hours of it on the phone dealing with our retirement accounts. We desperately needed booze and cheese afterwards so we headed to Port Jefferson for lunch. Baked brie with raspberry jam.

Beer flight – Post Road Pumpkin / Telekinesis sour / Framboise / Imperial Biscotti Break stout.

Plus a Spanish salad with mandarin oranges, Manchego, olives, and a honey tarragon vinaigrette.

{10} David Pumpkins

Bless you, SNL, this is my new favorite thing.

{Bonus} Be sure to check out SaveTheDay.Vote, Joss Whedon’s super PAC that produces short PSAs about the importance of voting (for Hillary). The subject matter is sobering but somehow the videos are all still laugh out loud hilarious. Whedon is already my role model, and I am so impressed with all of the celebrities to chose to participate.

P.S. Happy Halloween!

24Oct2016

Pumpkin Yogurt — Froyo — Beer

by Emily

This weekend was low-key but exactly what we needed. Inclement weather killed our Saturday plans (instead we ran some errands and caught up on tv) and Sunday I was scheduled to work. I’ve got Wednesday off in exchange for yesterday so my workweek will be two mini 2 day blocks <– nice!

Here were the weekend’s top eats…

We made a quick trip down to Rockville Center to check out Kookaburra Coffee. They had toasted marshmallow coffee syrup!! Fan-freaking-tastic in my triple shot iced latte.

Spooky yogurt bowl. Plain Fage with pumpkin butter stirred in, topped with chia seeds, salted peanuts, cocoa nibs, and a few candy corn.

I put a lemon cream popsicle in seltzer water with some whiskey. Creamy, fizzy, and boozy, the trifecta.

Pumpkin pie froyo, topped with pretty much all of the dessert-y toppings.

Cheese plate dinner. With dates, apple, and sautéed green beans with almonds.

The highlights were this paprika cheese from TJ’s,

and these Malbranche Mura Cha Cha matcha tea biscuits I was sent to review. The cookies are gluten-free and vegan and absolutely bursting with matcha flavor. Be forewarned – if you don’t like the tea you won’t like the cookie, Adam loves both.

Copycat Chipotle salad bowls. Romaine // spicy salsa // shredded cheese // chipotle honey lime chicken // sautéed onion and orange and yellow bell pepper // black beans // fire-roasted corn.

I sipped pumpkin beer while I sautéed my chicken. Both were delicious, 8-9/10.

I’ve got three different pumpkin iterations packed for tomorrow’s lunch!

Eating Chalk

Tag Archives: booze

New Orleans Vacation 2016

Vacation Part 1/3

Highlights From Last Week/end

Stick To Your Ribs Dinners

Biscuit Brunches

Bites And Frights

Top Ten Last Week

Pumpkin Yogurt — Froyo — Beer