Hello, 2017!

by Emily

How is everyone’s year going?? So far, the word for my 2017 is tasty.

Here are some culinary highlights from the first week…

Coffee first, always coffee. Espresso roast and chocolate milk before work.

I also had the best iced latte of the year from Birch; their shots are extra strong and roasty.

Adam and I both had Monday off of work and we started our new year with a trip to Serendipity 3.

Veggie chili for my lunch.

I kept lunch boring because I was focused on the main event – sundae funday! A giant scoop of peanut butter pie with hot fudge and bananas. <– swoon city

Work lunches were centered around a box of free product review samples I received from ips snacks. The snacks – crisps and popcorn – are all made with whey protein and pack at least 5 grams of protein for </ 150 calories.

I have to admit that I liked the snacks a lot more than I was expecting to. The salted popcorn was honestly the best bagged popcorn Adam or I have ever tasted! It was filling, satisfying, and totally delicious. The chips would rate poorly if I compared them to chip-chips, but score a 9/10 as snack crisps. Very few snacks, especially ones that pack less than 200 calories, keep me full enough in the afternoon that I don’t consider gnawing my own arm off on the train, but these did the trick.

I packed crisps and fruit to pair with toasted turkey and cheese cafeteria sandwiches. BBQ chips and a cara cara.

Sea salt and black pepper chips and an Asian pear.

Snack attack. Popcorn and a honey kolsch.

Yogurt bowl with plain Greek, chocolate tahini, sliced snap dragon apple, chia seeds, cinnamon, and sweet and spicy pecans.

I was killing it with dinners this week. Three different veggie-forward, flavor-loaded, 10/10 dishes! When I made fried green onions last week I saved the infused oil and that’s what I used for cooking this week. First, a simple salad to start off the new year.

Oak leaf lettuce, TJ’s Greek-style feta dressing, cucumber, dill, and roasted chickpeas. With hibiscus kombucha on the side.

Next up, spicy cabbage salad with turkey and peanuts from Bon Appétit. I only ever read this magazine on plane rides but this recipe alone would be worth the subscription cost!

I doubled up so that we could get 4 big dinners out of it, and roasted the cabbage so it was less voluminous, but otherwise followed the recipe exactly <– something I rarely do.

Served with cheesey breadsticks, aka pizza dough rolled up with an obscene amount of cheese.

Finally, I tried my hand at shakshuka. Based loosely on the recipes from Serious Eats and My Name is Yeh, my version had red bell peppers, red jalapeño pepper, and serrano pepper.

Served with hunks of sourdough.

I’m excited to do a little more exploring in the kitchen this new year. My meal plan list for the next month or so includes menemen, mapo tofu, kaya jam, okonomiyaki, and chilaquiles!

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!

15Aug2016

Working Weekend Wrap-Up

by Emily

No traditional weekend for me, my only day off was Thursday. I’m actually working straight through this Thursday – 7 days in a row – which means next weekend will be a three-day extravaganza! It’s hard to complain about 7 days anyway, my last year at Buff State when I was doing school/internship/part-time job there were a few stretches where I went 30 days plus without a true day off.

The past 4 days in numbers –

glasses of iced coffee – 7
packed lunches – 0
product reviews* – 2
desserts – 10 billion
books read start to finish** – 1

notes: *the products were both sent to me free of charge and neither company gave me additional compensation for this post; **the book was a murder mystery that I actually hated but needed to know the ending to

Here are the highlights…

Key lime cookie from Schmackary’s.

With white chocolate, pistachios, and cream cheese icing. The middle is the best part.

Three new dark chocolate flavors of Nonni’s Almond THINaddictives* – Dark Chocolate Banana Almond, Dark Chocolate Cherry Almond, and Double Dark Chocolate Almond. FYI – hit up their Facebook page for a new flavors giveaway.

They are 70-80 calories per pack (2 thins) and crisp but not too crumbly. I though the double chocolate flavor was a bit plain but the cherry and banana had great notes of tart and sweet. This week I paired them with my coffee but I’m also looking forward to crumbling them into yogurts.

That combo is killer, Grady’s is thick and sweet and it makes my heart sing.

Traditional breakfast.

Potatoes, scrambled eggs, and (turkey) bacon. Covered in ketchup because I grew up in St. Thomas and we put ketchup on everything. <– real talk, I didn’t know that ketchup wasn’t an automatic pairing for chicken wings until I went to college; now I mostly use other condiments but scrambled eggs always get ketchup

The cafeteria is pretty grim over the weekend but Friday I did eat this seafood feast.

Fried shrimp, potato wedges, and vinegar-based cole slaw. We had leftover ice cream from our birthday party and I taught my coworkers about Australian iced coffees.

They loved it!

Since I didn’t have my yogurt lunches I got my probiotics in the form of Health-Ade Kombucha*.

Their small-batch (2.5 gallons) fizz is organic, vegan, kosher, and gluten-free. They do their fermenting in glass containers only and the bottles are fantastic and just begging to house a handful of wildflowers. Health-Ade generously sent me a case of Ginger Lemon.

I have to confess here that I actually kind of hate ginger. Nonetheless, I found the kombucha to be very enjoyable. The flavor behind the spice was very “clean” and just sweet enough. I still wouldn’t buy this flavor once I finish my samples but I will damn sure scoop up Pink Lady Apple or California Grape the minute I spot them. P.S. I brought a bottle to a ginger loving friend and she said it was hands down the best kombucha she’s ever tasted.

Date night in Hell’s Kitchen. My NCIS obsession finally paid off for Adam – I took us to Donna Bella Bake Shop because it’s co-owned by Pauley Perrette (aka lab tech Abby). We had a dreamy lemon bar and this delectable brownie with a cookie crust and ganache on top.

We walked past Room Service and decided to do Thai for dinner.

That guava mojito was terrible and weak. But the crispy duck salad wasn’t half bad.

I ordered the Pad Noh Mai for dinner, shrimps, minced chicken, fresh basils, Thai chili, and bamboo shoots with herbs chili paste garlic sauce.

The menu promised spice and it delivered. I wouldn’t recommend this restaurant though, Hell’s Kitchen is a bastion of excellent, authentic Thai restaurants and you can do better.

I cooked! A real dinner, a stew, made of vegetables no less. I put the crock pot to work for me, filled to its brim. Onion / garlic / carrot / kale / red bell pepper / white beans / red lentils / diced tomato / veggie broth.

I didn’t bother to season or brown anything so the end result was a little bland, but topped with melted cheese it was hearty and satisfying.

Three down, four to go.

29Jul2016

Weekly Wrap Up

by Emily

2 product samples* + 1 cookie obsession + 1 deconstructed sandwich + 1 dinner out = this week’s top five.

*please note – the FiberOne bars and Divella pasta were sent to me free of charge to review on the blog. I was not provided further compensation for this post and all opinions are my own.

{1} I’ve enjoyed FiberOne’s cheesecake bar line in the past and they reached out and offered to send me their two newest flavors, yes please.

Chocolate Cheesecake felt appropriate with this coffee combo –

Key Lime Cheesecake went perfectly crumbled into a yogurt bowl with some fresh blueberries.

I enjoyed both of the new flavors a lot, but I will say that neither of them reaches the yumminess of the salted caramel bar.

{2} Loving the David Lebowitz chocolate chip cookies.

I made this batch a week ago and we are still obsessed with them.

{3} Divella’s Fusilloni is made using a bronze press which creates a porous exterior so the small grooves in each piece hold onto sauce extra well. The company sent me some pasta and sauce so I could try a simple recipe for myself.

Tomato Basil Fusilloni

1 package Divella Fusilloni pasta

1 can Divella tomato basil sauce

2 tablespoons olive oil

3 garlic cloves, chopped

6 basil leaves, chopped

¼ cup Pecorino Romano cheese (optional)

Bring two quarts of water to a rolling boil, adding a handful of salt just before the water begins to boil. In a separate sauce pan heat olive oil. Add garlic and sauté for 2 minutes, then add tomato sauce and lower to a simmer for 3 minutes. Empty pasta into water and boil for 10 minutes until al dente, drain. Mix sauce with Fusilloni. After plating, top with Pecorino Romano cheese and chopped basil as desired.

The simple recipe was a little plain for us, but the Fusilloni was the best freaking pasta we’ve ever tasted. Adam and I were both eating it plain out of the strainer by the handful! The texture was wonderful, with the perfect amount of bite.

Served with simple side salads.

Ranch, carrots, pistachio.

{4} Deconstructed turkey reuben bowls, because if I like a food I have to eat it in every possible iteration (see also – macaroni and cheese, burgers, and casserole).

This version was quick and easy. Shredded turkey breast from the crock pot – cooked with evoo, s&p, and some potatoes and carrots, shredded cabbage sautéed in the turkey drippings, chopped dill pickle, cubes of swiss cheese, and caraway seeds.

I tossed everything together in a skillet and we were eating 15 minutes later, crock pot meals are great.

{5} Dinner at Baoburg knocked our socks off.

My Ping Pong Show had mixed juice, whiskey, lillet, grapefruit bitters, and nutmeg.

We started with fantastic crispy duck salad. Shredded duck confit, green apple, red onion, mint, scallion, and cashews, in a spicy lime dressing.

And I did more duck for dinner, in ramen with bok choy and black truffle broth.

Duck, duck, good!

10Jun2016

Destination City

by Emily

this week I loved…

Neutrogena Revitalizing Lip Balm. It took me forever to find a balm with both tint and spf but this one fits the bill perfectly!

A blog book review. Dawn Lerman’s My Fat Dad was sent to me free of charge to try/read for the blog. Her chapter on moving to New York City walked the reader through the different cultural food neighborhoods in a way that made my mouth water.

Living in a destination city. I had two different sets of friends visiting NYC for work trips this week. It was fantastic to get to catch up with them! However, I went out after work for dinner and/or drinks multiple times and I am flipping exhausted.

P.S. My favorite bar (Pork Slope in Park Slope) now has $1 jello shots, clearly I backed the right horse!

this week I ate…

Vietnamese-ish iced coffee.

A killer smoothie – with banana, blueberry, and avocado. So creamy.

Poppy seed bagel with olive cream cheese.

Oatmeal bowl. With cookie butter and a pixie tangerine.

Greek yogurt bowl with Cheerios and plums. I also crumbled a brownie in there (see below) and it was pretty fantastic.

Taboule salad from the cafeteria.

Whole Foods hot bar. Lots of veggies, rice with black beans and cheddar, and broccoli mac and cheese.

I needed a 2nd coffee snack more than once.

Turkey jerky.

Best ever brownies. Just this recipe without the fluff.

Baby carrots with great feta dip.

I had Thai food in Williamsburg with Adam and a girlfriend. Drunken noodles with mock duck that were as spicy as they were delicious.

We cooled our mouths down with soft-serve from Milk Bar. Fruity pebble soft-serve(!!) with fudge sauce and sprinkles.

Indian at the Grand Central food court. And yes, I realize that is a lame spot to take an out-of-towner.

Starbucks sandwich for a quick dinner on the train and then I went straight to bed!

I did make dinner at home one night! Whole-wheat vermicelli noodles with ginger and garlic chicken, shredded cabbage, bell pepper, and a tahini lime sauce. With cashews on top plus tons of Sriracha after the picture.

We snacked on a servings’ worth of cashews and sliced bell pepper while we cooked.

Good friends, good eats, it was a good week!

18Apr2016

Weekend Wedding

by Emily

I don’t have much food to share this weekend, I went to a wedding in Connecticut and the drive ate up a lot of my time so most of my meals were on the go. Last night’s dinner was too yummy to go unblogged though.

Here were the weekend highlights…

The wedding was great, well-worth the drive. The couple was beautifully in love, my salmon dinner was delicious, and it was great getting to spend time with some of my high school friends.

The day was bittersweet though, Adam was supposed to be a groomsman and ended up not even being able to attend the wedding because of work. Sometimes being married to a surgeon sucks.

Owning this dog is never a bummer though. Look at how freaking fuzzy he was after his bath –

I brushed his teeth the same day and he pretty much hated me all afternoon.

Coffee x ten thousand.

This was an iced latte with homemade vanilla-cinnamon syrup from a spot in Floral Park.

My yummy dinner was an Asian-flavors veggie bowl.

Roasted broccoli and cabbage / fresh edamame and yellow bell pepper / Asian sesame vinaigrette / cashews and wasabi peas.

It was a great mix of flavors.

25Mar2016

I’m Alive!

by Emily

So it’s been awhile since my last post, huh? My two-week illness (a cold and then the flu) turned into a three week plague extravaganza complete with conjunctivitis, gastroenteritis, and a two-day stay at the hospital. Yippee. I didn’t really feel like myself again until just a couple of days ago.

Now I’m back in action, and I even have a week’s worth of meals to share…

daytime eats

I was still recovering on Monday so I started my week off with mint sparkling water cut with Sprite.

I’m usually not a clear soda (or non-diet soda) fan but the day I got home from the hospital I swear it was the best thing I’ve ever tasted. I didn’t even want diet coke that week, which says a lot about how sick I felt.

The real clue that I was basically dying is this – this small iced latte was my first cup of coffee in more than a week.

I also had a glass of kefir.

Maple was such a fun find.

By the next day I was fully ready for my lifeblood again. Nonfat caramelized honey (<–yum) iced latte with extra espresso. Sipped while grocery shopping.

I worked Saturday/Sunday which thankfully meant I had Wednesday off.

And yesterday I had a yummy Kevita kombucha.

Lavender melon. Kevita is a little more refreshing – and less sour and yeasty – than other brands of kombucha.

Packed lunches were my old standbys. Oatmeal.

Oats with chia seeds, strawberry shortcake m&m’s, and Justin’s chocolate hazelnut butter. Plus a piñata apple on the side.

And yogurt bowls, with blueberries and blackberries. 2% Fage with maple pecan granola, chia seeds, and more pecans.

Vanilla bean with Heritage Flakes.

Plus truffles from a coworker for dessert. With a side of Easter themed nails.

Wednesday at home I made an Easter-inspired spread.

Egg salad with potato chips, and warm carrot slaw (sautéed shredded carrots tossed with golden raisins, walnuts, mayo, and stone-ground mustard).

nighttime eats

Monday night I took the dog on an extra-long walk after work… and then laid down on the couch in my coat for more than an hour! I was too tired to cook anything, but hungry enough to go back and reheat a second plate of leftover pizza.

Plus baby carrots.

We try to always keep them on hand because they are perfect for distracting the dog while he gets his nails clipped.

Tuesday I managed to cook dinner and try a blog product sample (two birds with one stone). Popkoff’s sent me some free coupons for their new line “farm to freezer” frozen Russian dumplings.

The farmer’s cheese Pelmeni were fantastic – they cooked in under 10 minutes and were perfectly tender yet chewy. Plus, you have to love the short ingredient list: “Farmer’s Cheese, Wheat Flour, Water, Egg, Sour Cream, Salt, Sugar.” We kept things simple and tossed them with sautéed mushrooms and cabbage and low-fat sour cream.

Topped with a sprinkle of smoked paprika. I have two more freebie coupons and I would purchase the dumplings with my own money so this is a meal you’ll likely see again.

Wednesday was the warmest of the season (68!) and we made the most of it by taking the dog on a long walk – in sandals and t-shirts – for water ice. My strawberry and cola cup hit the spot.

Then we did fish taco night for dinner. We need to make tacos more often, Adam and I were both raving about this meal.

Toasted taco shells / sautéed onions and bell pepper / shredded cheese / roasted tomatillo salsa / mahi mahi cubes sautéed with lime, cilantro, and green onions / dollops of sour cream.

Yesterday I ate a guava and cheese empanada on the train.

Dinner part deux was TJ’s frozen gnocchi with eggplant and zucchini.

10/10. We relied a lot of frozen foods to get through this week but the quality of our meals didn’t suffer any.

I hope everyone is feeling well for the weekend!

25Jan2016

Last Week’s Top Five

by Emily

{1} Coffee, always.

Highlights include Starbucks while I grocery shopped last Monday. The coffee was only ok, but getting to leisurely sip and shop on a weekday? Fabulous.

Even better – a triple nonfat iced latte from the Stumptown in the Ace Hotel.

It’s a neat spot and the espresso is fabulous, I highly recommend making a stop if you’re near Penn Station.

{2} Ramen with some of my favorite people

My Maryland aunt and cousin came into town for a quick visit and I met them at the train and needed to provide food, warmth, and NYC awesomeness – enter Chelsea Market for Ramen at Mok Bar.

I got the ginger chicken ramen (Roasted ginger chicken broth, pulled chicken, cucumber and garlic chive kimchi) with an egg on top and we shared a few varieties of kimchi on the side.

They are used to the cold, and are a walking family too, so they were totally down with a chilly 2+ mile stroll through Chelsea/LES to meet Adam.

Including a stop at Sokerbit!

{3} Dinner at The Vandal

The Vandal is a new (ginormous) restaurant in the Bowery. The menu is a mix of “street food” from a myriad of cultures and the décor is graffiti-style art on every wall. There’s a coffee cart in the dining room and a bar in the basement. It’s a fun spot. My aunt has a family friend who is involved in the opening.

Highlight of the night – my cousin was trying to describe who Chris Santos was to Adam just as Chris Santos walked up to our table to say hello. It was hilarious and he was very sweet and friendly.

We shared everything so we could all taste lots of drinks and dishes. The drinks menu is divided into Bright, Spiced, and Barrel-Aged and we ordered one from each section plus a yummy bottle of Spanish wine.

My drink was the best, The Intervention = Gentleman Jack whiskey, plum, Aperol, lemon, and Spanish bitters.

We ordered a few meat dishes that I didn’t eat. Plus shrimp arepas with purple slaw and chipotle cream and cauliflower with picada sauce, olives, and hazelnuts.

Wild mushroom pizza with caramelized onion.

And brussels sprouts elote.

All of the dishes were fantastic but the pizza (recommended by Chris Santos himself!) and cauliflower were everyone’s favorite. It was a wonderful night.

{4} Americanized Halo Halo

My sweet Filipino coworker knows I’m in love with palm seeds and she brought me in giant jars of palm seeds and halo halo topping (boiled, sweetened mix of beans, coconut, jackfruit, etc).

I’ve been putting it on pretty much everything, including this ridiculous sundae.

Toasted almond gelato, halo halo, sweetened condensed milk, frosted flakes, and rainbow sprinkles. I didn’t have shaved ice but otherwise it was pretty close to the real deal!

{5} Blizzard bowls

I didn’t do the best job of stocking up on food before the storm and we spent most of the weekend eating chicken nuggets. I did manage to get it together for one healthy (yummy) meal.

Steam/sautéed shredded green cabbage and shredded chicken cooked in peanut sauce, topped with fried shallots and fresh cilantro. Shredded cabbage is so quick and easy, I need to remember to use it more often.

I hope all my East Coast readers are staying warm and safe!

Eating Chalk

Tag Archives: cabbage

Hello, 2017!

Biscuit Brunches

Working Weekend Wrap-Up

Weekly Wrap Up

*please note – the FiberOne bars and Divella pasta were sent to me free of charge to review on the blog. I was not provided further compensation for this post and all opinions are my own.

Destination City

this week I loved…

this week I ate…

Weekend Wedding

I’m Alive!

daytime eats

nighttime eats

Last Week’s Top Five