Ocean 362 {Dinner In St. John}

by Emily

St. Thomas has to be my favorite island because it’s where I was born, but during our trip home our absolute best meal was enjoyed in St. John.

One of the boys from my high school class grew up to be an amazingly cool chef who opened a restaurant in Cruz Bay. Ocean 362 does modern takes on traditional Caribbean dishes using ingredients that are fresh, local, and sustainably sourced. It’s a total 10/10.

The space is pretty and open and we got a seat on the patio with a progressively more beautiful view of the sunset.

The setting sun also means that my photos get progressively less lovely!

Adam and I went alone for a date night and ordered a truly ridiculous amount of food for two people. We started with a local fish dip with citrus, herbs, and cream cheese, served topped with crispy capers, with radishes and crostini on the side.

We also had fresh bread with delightfully sweet butter and the chef sent out an assortment of pickles that were stunning. The mushrooms were good and the dilled cucumbers were the best I’ve ever tasted.

Cocktails included the Bean-a-colada with pineapple and vanilla infused vodka and pineapple juice. That dollop on the top is coconut milk and lime foam.

Plus a sparkly Seaplane with cava, orange bitters, and housemade hibiscus flower liquor. The foam is thanks to vegan “egg” powder. You can never go wrong ordering a cocktail with egg and especially not ordering one with hibiscus.

Adam said his pork tenderloin was scrumptious, but I’m sure it couldn’t have been better than my duck. Cast iron seared duck breast / duck confit / buttermilk dumplings / maple glazed carrots / crispy brussels sprout leaves. The dumplings were perfectly seasoned all the way through but the best bites were obviously confit.

We couldn’t choose so we got two desserts – torched brie with rum raisin conserve and a chocolate tart with a plantain crust, a passionfruit marshmallow, and dulce de leche.

We were swooning from the first bite to the last. Plus we continued to gush about the meal while we rolled ourselves back down the hill to the ferry!

4Apr2016

Last Week’s Top Ten

by Emily

{1} Swapping out my wardrobe to welcome in the spring-ish weather.

So today and tomorrow are supposed to be pretty darn cold, but the rest of the month is looking so nice that I went ahead and traded my summer and winter gear. Scarves and boots are still available but if we get a freak snowstorm I’m out of luck because all my coats are at the cleaners. It felt good to get that big project done.

{2} Enjoying coffee again.

Extra espresso in my giant iced latte? My health is officially back to 100%.

This upcoming week I did brew a batch so I won’t have an excuse to buy coffee out every day.

{3} Berry smoothie.

Maple kefir, dates, and frozen mixed berries.

Kefir was the perfect smoothie liquid.

{4} Dessert-y oatmeal bowls for lunch.

Oats with chia, freeze-dried raspberries, pecans, and strawberry shortcake M&Ms.

Oats with chia, freeze-dried raspberries, and a big scoop of Biscoff.

I bought a jar of Biscoff last Saturday and it is practically empty now – – I am the only member of the household who eats Biscoff.

{5} National Pecan Day is April 14th and Nonni’s sent* me some Turtle Pecan Biscotti to celebrate.

*Free sample alert – no additional compensation was provided for this post, all opinions are my own.

The biscotti was quite good next to my coffee – crunchy but not toothbreakingly so and a good balance of salty and sweet.

But even better crushed into my all-time best yogurt combo. Turtle pecan yogurt bowl: maple yogurt, toasted pecans, chocolate-covered cocoa nibs, biscotti, and chopped plucot.

Or check out Nonni’s Pinterest page for some other pairing ideas.

{6} Binge-watching “Hart of Dixie” on instantwatch.

Yes, the show where Rachel Bilson plays a doctor in the deep south. And yes, it is totally a soap opera. But it is completely addictive! I am a woman obsessed, or I should say I was a women obsessed – I may have already finished watching all four seasons!

{7} Kombucha.

The Master Brew line from Kevita has been knocking my socks off.

Grapefruit was perfectly sweet and tart.

{8} Healthy sticks to scoop up less-healthy dips.

Baby carrots and green pepper in spinach and artichoke dip.

Apple slices in melted Biscoff and dark chocolate peanut butter.

Apple dippers in cookie butter are even more satisfying than licking it off of a spoon like I usually do.

{9} Taco brinner.

We loved our fish tacos so much the week before that I knew we needed a repeat.

This time our hard shells were stuffed with sautéed onions and peppers, shredded cheese, roasted tomatillo salsa, and scrambled eggs. This was practically the only meal I cooked all week, the other nights I mostly ate chips with cheese and salsa so I’d have time to watch my stories!

{10} Chuko Ramen.

I introduced a girlfriend to the joy that is their veggie miso with a soft egg and chili garlic oil on top.

It is the perfect dinner spot because Ample Hill’s ice cream is just a short walk down the block!

What are you looking forward to this week?

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!

4Mar2016

Short And Sick

by Emily

This week was short but no cakewalk. Monday I was off because I worked Saturday/Sunday, and Thursday I was off because I’m a coughing, sneezing, miserable mess. How am I sick again?? Apparently my immune system is as over winter as I am.

I ate pizza and/or soup for 90% of my meals this week. Here were my more exciting eats…

Brooklyn Roasting Company has nitro cold-brew now and it is flipping delicious.

This week’s tea was vanilla rooibos. Perfect for my throat and yummy with a bit of milk and honey. Rooibos is definitely my favorite type of tea.

This yogurt bowl was the best thing I ate all week. Coconut Greek with fresh strawberry and pomegranate, Nature’s Path Heritage Flakes, chia seeds, and toasted pecans.

Monday, before I knew how sick I was, Adam and I both had the day off and we had a wonderful time in the city. We got sushi burritos! Mine was fantastic – sushi rice, marinated tofu, cucumber, carrot, pickled cucumber, seaweed salad, tobanjan mayo, tempura crunch, and sesame seeds.

Split a cone at Big Gay Ice Cream. The salty pimp = vanilla soft serve with dulce de leche, sea salt, and chocolate dip. Plus sprinkles.

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And took a long walk (sans coats!) through Chelsea and across the Manhattan Bridge.

This week’s Skoskbox had some big winners, especially the grape Hi Chew.

Here’s the only dinner I actually cooked this week. Cheesy scrambled eggs and spicy green beans.

I put the green beans under the broiler – to attempt something like this – and they came out great.

I hope everyone is feeling their best this weekend!

27Feb2016

Sprinkles And Sandwiches

by Emily

By the time this post goes live I’ll already be on my way to work (wan wan). I’m working Saturday/Sunday because I have Friday/Monday off, and I’m heading in extra-early because we have family visiting and I need to be done and free to hang out in the afternoon. The good thing about visitors is that we’ll probably take them to Ample Hills!

Friday was a boring mix of buying new couch slipcovers and filing our taxes (wan wan), but Monday we’ve got some fun breakfast plans lined up.

A few of my dinners were pretty darn weak, but all of this week’s lunches were exclamation point worthy.

Daytime Eats

This weeks’ coffee – Starbucks espresso blend with skim milk. With a piñata apple.

And a chocolate pretzel protein bar.

Or a wonderfully juice sumo mandarin.

Or a lavender kombucha.

Plus buttered toast.

I also had an Americano with chocolate milk.

Plus Adam and I split a butterscotch latte while we ran errands.

With extra espresso, Adam loved it too.

This week’s tea – Roobios.

Amazingly, this caffeine-free herbal was my favorite tea thus far. With milk and honey it was downright delicious.

I’m still excited by this gum.

The flavor dies in about a minute but who doesn’t love a gum with sprinkles?

Oatmeal bowl. Oats with freeze-dried raspberries and blueberries and peanut butter chocolate chips.

The oats were great, but I ate much earlier in the day than I usually do (and then stayed for an hour of overtime!) and I ended up also getting a guava cheese empanada on the train home.

Yogurt bowl. Plain 2% Greek yogurt with fresh blackberries and pomegranate, toasted pecans, chia seeds, and Heritage Flakes.

Yogurt bowl. Maple Chobani with blackberries, pecans, and Heritage Flakes.

Salad bar. I love the days when the cafeteria does a Greek section; my salad was loaded with falafel, tzatziki, and taboule, plus black-eyed peas, olives, and cucumber.

Friday, Adam and I went to lunch at a new restaurant near our apartment. The meal was underwhelming, but I made a great yogurt bowl for dessert when I got home.

Plain Greek with peanut butter, honey, cinnamon, maple pecan granola, more pecans, and Luxardo cherries on top!

Nighttime Eats

House snacks included cashews – I’ve been making Adam trail mix bags for work and snacking heartily while I assemble them.

And chocolate-covered gummies.

And fun snacks included two girlfriend outings this week. A coworker and I got drinks at Colonie after an outlandishly frustrating work day. Bolivian Rose – Singani 63, Aperol, Dolin dry vermouth, Combier, and a super fragrant lemon twist.

And I introduced a friend to the Korean-style shaved ice at Snowdays.

They had specialty flavors – Thai iced tea! Topped with mochi, sweetened condensed milk, and grass jelly.

The mid-week blahs led to some pretty disastrous meals. Like big salads – baby kale, cashews, chia seeds, pomegranate, and peanut sauce – and horrifyingly cheesy nachos.

Or a sandwich night where the only veggies to be found were a side of baby carrots.

My sandwich – with a butter-toasted brioche, roasted turkey, raw milk cheddar, special sauce, and tons of pickles – was delicious but not the healthiest.

But we went on a really fantastic Tuesday night date at Talde. Now that I know that I like ginger in drinks I could order the Ginger Rose – Four Roses bourbon, Applejack, lemon, and ginger-cinnamon infused grenadine.

The drink was good but the meal was to die for; truly one of the best dishes we’ve ever had. Acorn squash rendang with Malaysian grits, fried shallot, pickled shitake, and a six-minute egg.

The blend of textures and flavors – crispy with creamy, spice with sour – was unbelievably satisfying. Dessert was sweet with salty.

Pretzel-potato chip bars with chocolate ganache.

And we started the week with veggie tofu bowls.

Extra-firm tofu was marinated in stone-ground mustard, lemon juice, honey, and evoo then baked ’til crispy.

Served on top of honey butter shredded carrots, and sautéed brussels sprouts tossed in the tofu marinade.

And ended the week with veggie packed pasta. TJ’s spinach tortellini with red sauce.

We gussied up the sauce with sautéed mushroom and onion and roasted zucchini and graffiti eggplant. I followed the Serious Eats trick of adding pasta water.

I hope everyone has a great weekend! Let’s cross our fingers for more warm weather!

22Feb2016

Wonderful Weekend Walking Weather

by Emily

Oh my gosh, thank you so much, New York, for the gorgeous weekend weather! We took full advantage and fit a long walk into our fun on both Saturday and Sunday.

Daytime Eats

My new favorite ridiculous coffee.

Butterscotch latte with an extra shot.

Oatmeal bowl. Rolled oats, chia seeds, freeze-dried blueberries, and toasted walnuts.

Topped with a chocolate coconut peanut butter packet. The pb gets so gooey good on the hot oats.

Drinks in my carts while I did a giant shopping trip.

Green juice with spinach, kale, cucumber, and pineapple.

Sunday was our Brooklyn date. We saw Deadpool (<– loved it! loved that it was just funny, hilariously, and not sad at all) and took another long walk, including some exciting food stops. Iced Vietnamese latte.

It was so warm out that I enjoyed my iced drink whilst walking along in only a tank top and cardigan!!

A “hot dog” at the Smorgasburg Industry City location. Pan con queso is a grilled chunk of marinated white Latin cheese on a hot dog bun, topped with onions, cabbage, crushed potato chips, ketchup, mustard, and guasacaca (cilantro and parsley). It was scrumptious.

Amazing, freshly-made cheese and potato pierogis at Baba’s. These were out of this world, they had the best pierogi dough I’ve ever tasted.

And an ice cream cone to top it all off.

Ample Hills’ salted crack caramel (smoky caramel ice cream with hunks of crack candy) and It Came From Gowanus (salty dark chocolate ice cream with hazelnut crack candy, white chocolate pearls, and orange-scented brownies) in a cookie cone.

Nighttime Eats

I hit up my grocery’s deli for a quick meal on Adam’s overnight shift.

Tortellini salad and crunchy broccoli salad.

Plus lemon rosemary focaccia hummus with baked garlic pita chips and baby carrots.

Best store-bought hummus of all time.

A fancy dinner date at Upland. We really enjoyed our meal here, the menu changes seasonally and we will definitely be back in the summer.

They brought us a potato bread loaf with chive and lemon zest butter.

And we started with the whole crispy hen of the woods mushroom, with cloumage cheese and meyer lemon. This was fantastically meaty and loaded with umami.

Plus a greatcocktail, Bill Pay Buck – Tito’s, Aperol, ginger, and lime. I think that I hate ginger in drinks but somehow this felt very balanced.

And I got the cioppino for my meal, clams, red shrimp, mussels, striped bass, jumbo lump crab, and gochujang. I have been so brave with my seafood consumption lately, this was my first ever clam! (<– I hated it, but at least I tried)

My soup came with a thick slice of butter bread and I ordered a can of Genny Cream Ale that just felt right.

Dessert was the only part of the meal that didn’t blow us away. Devil’s food cake, milk chocolate ganache, and hazelnut praline, sounded good in theory but was just meh.

But we ran into a Woop’s so we had our sugar fix covered.

Good timing too, we found it just before we crossed the bridge back to Queens.

Burger night to end the weekend.

TJ’s brioche rolls are wonderful. We made our burgers with ground turkey, whole-wheat panko, eggs, spices, and browned shallots, cooked in a pan with evoo. Topped with pickle slices, raw milk cheddar, and Sir Kensington’s special sauce. So delicious we had to go back and split a second one!

With an easy salad of baby kale, pomegranate, pecans, chai seeds, and lavender salt / lavender honey / evoo / balsamic.

If the upcoming week is half as good as my dinner I’m in for a good time!

19Feb2016

Raisins, Ramen, Ready For The Weekend

by Emily

This week’s food themes were…

—Coffee

Always. TJ’s cold brew (<– super strong and bold) with skim milk and vanilla almond milk.

Starbuck’s new smoked butterscotch latte is fantastic. I’m a total sucker for any limited-edition release and a butterscotch fanatic in general.

Iced latte from Milk Bar that was unexpectedly the best latte I’ve had all year. Usually I have to request an extra shot of espresso to feel like I’m having coffee with milk instead of milk with coffee, but this was perfect even untampered with.

The compost cookie didn’t suck either!

—Old-school turkey sandwiches

Old-school = white bread with cheese and mayo and mustard, i.e. super unhealthy with no redeeming nutrition qualities. From the cafeteria with tons of pickles and banana peppers.

And at home on a raisin roll with carrots on the side.

Speaking of dehydrated grapes, I also had this raisin brown sugar Chobani.

The yogurt was meh, I don’t care for the texture of the oat line, but the mix-ins were great – yellow raisins, walnuts, chia seeds, and fresh blueberries.

—Ramen

I went out on two ramen dates this week, thankfully it’s been good weather for soup! Chuko (<– my favorite ramen in the city) with work friends for veggie miso with a soft egg.

And Ramen Yebisu in Williamsburg with girlfriend. I was adventurous and got the seafood special, with seafood broth, prawn, snow crab, mussel, scallop, scallion, and seaweed.

I was super brave (the scallops were a different variety than the diver scallops you usually see and we didn’t even know what they were until we tasted them) and it paid off in the form of a giant crab leg in the middle of my bowl.

One more day and then I’m free for weekend fun!

12Feb2016

Top Ten Loves Before Valentine’s

by Emily

Here are the past week’s top ten eats –

{1} This breakfast.

Cashew date granola bar, grapes, and string cheese.

{2} And also this breakfast. Cold brew.

Plus a Ruby Frost apple (<– crisp and juicy!).

And rice cakes.

My co-worker brought in rice cakes and candy for the Chinese new year.

{3} Raspberry cinnamon lassi and a pretzel roll.

An unconventional snack combo but a good one.

{4} Strawberry vanilla smoothie. Adam and I shared, I didn’t actually finish a Big Gulp of smoothie.

Inspired by my lassi, I added a big shake of cinnamon.

{5} Killer yogurt bowl.

Fage pineapple yogurt topped with chia seeds, toasted walnuts, blueberries, and Luxardo cherries.

Why am I not putting cherries on top of everything I eat??

{6} Cafeteria salad bar. Toppings included cheese, olives, and white beans. With a side of tortellini salad.

I totally ate pizza the other 3 days.

{7} Super leftovers soup.

Whenever we make extras of a dish that would go well in soup, we toss them into the freezer for an easy dinner at a later date.

The bag included bok choy, shallots, red pepper, and shredded chicken, the broth was TJ’s miso ginger, and we had a Tupperware of orecchiette pasta in the fridge from the night before.

{8} Sandwich #1, Bareburger date. Plus fries.

My turkey burger was loaded with pimento cheese, spinach, tomato, pickles, mayo, and mustard.

{9} Sandwich #2, Thai chicken crunch.

Toasted bread with tons of melty peanut butter, Sriracha-mayo chicken salad, and pickled cucumber and carrot.

Served with roasted green beans.

The sandwiches were quick to assemble and very tasty and fun.

{10} Valentine’s-themed love, because I’m a sucker for anything limited edition.

I bought a Starbucks molten chocolate latte the first day they came out, because of course I did (only available until February 14th). It was freaking delicious.

{bonus} A mid-week date with Adam! We both had Thursday off and we spent the day in Manhattan. We ate giant sundaes at Serendipity 3 and took a frigid but fabulous 4 mile walk in the 17 degree weather.

Aaaaand now I work all weekend. Think warm thoughts for me, please!

Eating Chalk

Tag Archives: carrots

Ocean 362 {Dinner In St. John}

Last Week’s Top Ten

I’m Alive!

daytime eats

nighttime eats

Short And Sick

Sprinkles And Sandwiches

Daytime Eats

Nighttime Eats

Wonderful Weekend Walking Weather

Daytime Eats

Nighttime Eats

Raisins, Ramen, Ready For The Weekend

Top Ten Loves Before Valentine’s