Apple Picking Outing

I had to go into work on Sunday but Adam and I fit a weekend’s worth of fun into Saturday.  We drove two hours upstate to Twin Star Orchards for an afternoon of apple picking.

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We did a complimentary cider tasting first.  And enjoyed a wood-fired pizza – with fancy mushrooms and truffle oil – for lunch.

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We came home with fewer than 10 apples (they actually just let us take our bag for free!) because we don’t have any grand baking plans, but had a great time walking around the orchard.

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Date night was a new sushi spot in Great Neck.  We split seaweed salad and edamame to start.

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I got a meh veggie roll and a fantastic spicy crab roll for dinner.

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They were out of the mackerel Adam wanted so they gave us free red bean ice cream with our bill.

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New candy bar for dessert.

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The popping candy didn’t have much get up and go but the milk flavored cream was very pleasing.

New take on an old casserole.  I made smoked trout noodle casserole.

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I loosely followed Martha’s recipe for the sauce.  With whole-wheat rotini pasta, tons of sautéed mushrooms and chopped celery, smoked trout, and dill and smoked paprika.  Topped with smoked gouda and crushed sour cream and onion potato chips.

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Served with a new (to us) beer, coconut caramel chocolate brown ale.  I don’t usually drink ales but this was unique enough to hold my interest, at least for 3/4 of the bottle.

What’s new with you?

It’s Apple Month!

Can I show off my apple-themed haul??  I’m quite excited about it.

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And fittingly, we are driving upstate to go apple picking this afternoon.

So far the gum has been my favorite, though I haven’t tried any of the ciders yet.  I went out for drinks with a friend last night and had a regular (red apple) Angry Orchard that was unpleasantly sweet so I’m hoping green apple has some tartness to it.

Apple pie bar and a Gala apple.

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Caramel apple bar with green apple sparkling water and some honey peanut butter.  With an Asian pear.

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Caramel apple pie cheesecake from work.

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I did eat a few things that weren’t apple-flavored.  Like a giant plate of buffalo chicken pizza!  With salads from the Whole Food’s bar, Caesar, kale, and corn.

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Blueberry cheesecake smoothie.  Frozen berries, vanilla almond milk, cream cheese, and lemon syrup.

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Green bean dinner bowl.  This turned out way better than I was expecting, especially because the green beans were a bag of fresh beans that got tossed into the freezer last week when they started getting old. They would have been too mushy roasted, but were perfect with an egg on top.

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Sautéed green beans tossed with turkey bacon, mustard, and lemon juice // pan toasted whole-wheat panko // fried egg // smoked paprika.

Everyone go eat an apple!

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Road Trip Adventure

Two of our favorite people recently moved out of Brooklyn for Traverse City, MI and our last three days were spent on an epic journey road tripping to their gorgeous wedding.  We spent two full days in the car and only one day in Michigan but it was totally worth it to see one of my oldest childhood friends get married.

We were a bit worried about the 30+ hours we had to spend driving but it honestly ended up flying by.  We had my fully-stocked i-pod, a funny book on tape, and brand new scenery outside our windows.  Plus we are stupid in love with each other and probably could have just talked for 28 hours (I definitely fell asleep towards the end!) and had a good time.

Five out of six meals Friday and Sunday were eaten in our car, mostly junk food.  Here were a few of the culinary highpoints…

Apples with peanut butter.

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Carrots and dip.

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Not one, but two, marshmallow flavored lattes!!

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Cola gummies.

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This total throwback.

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The gas station cashier got such a kick over how excited we were to find Surge.  Unsurprisingly, it didn’t taste as good as I thought it did as a kid.

We ate very well in Traverse City too.  Breakaway for coffees.

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Espresso that actually happened to be roasted in Brooklyn!

Lunch and drinks at Rare Bird Brewery.

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Adam and I split macaroni and cheese with roasted duck and salad with roasted beets and spiced pepitas.

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The food was good but the drinks were better, I had a locally brewed ale that tasted like key lime pie!  Plus an apple sour beer.

Ice cream at Moomers.

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White chocolate Oreo and black cherry.  We actually had this twice in one day because our friends did an ice cream cake for the wedding.

Late bar food dinner at Workshop Brewery our first night in town.

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Nachos with beans and ancho chicken.

I’m off to spend the day with my husband!

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Four Day Week Top Five

I’m not at work today!  Or tomorrow, or the next day, or the next!!  Even better, I get to spend every second of the next four days with my husband, who just came back from a trip out of town.

Nothing is as exciting as this long weekend, but here are five foods from the week that were thrilling in their own right…

{1} Compartés bars.  They are crazy expensive but I am completely obsessed.

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The Salty Malty bar was one of the best chocolates I’ve ever eaten.

{2} Taco salad.

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Romaine, carrots, chopped tomato and onion, corn, cheddar, salsa, sour cream, olives, and hard-boiled eggs.

{3} Junky fast-food style chicken wrap from the cafeteria.

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Totally delicious and definitely not nutritious; this is why I mostly pack my lunches for work even though I eat for free in the cafeteria – the salad bar is available but nine times out of ten I’m going to pass it up for something I can eat with fries.

{4} A product review from Sonoma Syrups, whose goods contain no perservatives or artificial flavors or colors.  The syrups can be used in alcoholic drinks and baking, but no one is surprised that I tried them out in iced coffee.  Sea Salt Caramel isn’t quite as robust as a scoop of dulce de leche, but it definitely made a better coffee than the Starbucks’ caramel macchiato.

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The Vanilla Hazelnut was tasty too.  A 2 Tbsp serving of the syrups has </100 calories and is strong enough to flavor a 10 ounce cup of dark coffee.

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And Meyer Lemon was yummy enough that I didn’t even wish this iced tea was coffee!

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Heads up PSL addicts, they do have a pumpkin spice syrup.

{5} Meze meal.  I met a girlfriend for drinks and dinner mid-week.

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I ordered spanakopita, smoked cremini mushrooms, and hummus with warm chickpeas and hard-boiled eggs.  The spanakpita was meh (we both thought it tasted like something you’d buy frozen at Trader Joe’s) but the hummus was great.

Enjoy your weekend!

Food To Stay

I’m posting a day early because my week ends a day early – I’m off today and then working through the weekend.  Unfortunately at 6:30 am I am already behind on my long to-do list, so I’ll try to keep this post short.

Highlights from this week…

Cafeteria sandwich day.  A wrap with turkey, cheddar, and veggies.

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Plus fries.

Coworker potluck lunch to celebrate the three of us with summer birthdays.

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My plate had sweet Filipino spaghetti with tofu, rice pilaf with dried fruit, and homemade falafel.  We also had 1 million +1 desserts.

Yogurt bowl with vanilla Siggi’s, chopped plum and nectarine, and maple peanut butter.

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The peanut butter is fantastic, we’ve been eating a lot of toast.

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Usually paired with these sugar crunch grapes.

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A final snack highlight was these dill almonds.

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I just tossed almonds, evoo, a pinch of salt, and several shakes of dried dill in a skillet until they were toasty.

Chipotle.  We may have eaten Chipotle 2 out of 3 days this week.

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I’m not exactly winning at dinnertime meal prep motivation lately.

I did make this yummy tossed-together dinner though.

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Leftover pasta with TJ’s turkey summer sausage, peas, red bell pepper, and sharp cheddar.

You guys know that I don’t often do beauty product reviews on the blog, but this pitch was sent the week I turned 31 and I was feeling vulnerable.

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I’m so glad I accepted because I ended up being impressed with the ToGoSpa products.  Rather than creams or gels – which, let’s be real, I’m too lazy to deal with – their active ingredients are packed in collagen gel pads you stick on your face.  P.S. they are paraben and dye free.

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I was afraid to smile when I took my selfies (see the horror show below) but I soon realized that the EYES pads actually stay put really well, I spent the 15 minutes with them on my face working around the house and they didn’t budge.  Bonus – the wording on the packing made me smile: “for best results, take them out of the package and put them on your face!”

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per usual, I was not provided further compensation for this post and all opinions are my own

I’ve tried the Ice Water and Green Tea ones so far, because I definitely sport dark circles thanks to my NCIS obsession.  True fact – it is really, really hard to take a flattering picture sans makeup, on a camera (so no front-facing option), and afraid to smile.

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You get the idea.  I can’t say that my face looked markedly different but the area under my eyes certainly felt much nicer.  I definitely plan on continuing to use the treatments.

Last Week’s Top Six

Better late than never?  I spent my weekend in a malstrom of giant bowls of stovetop popcorn and NCIS episodes and couldn’t pull myself away to blog.  I’m currently watching NCIS but it will probably be awhile before I eat any more popcorn!

Last week’s top six…

{1} Australian iced coffee.

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Cold brew concentrate, chocolate milk, ice, and a scoop of ice cream.  I started several mornings this way.

{2} Product samples from Viki’s Granola.

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They sent me some tasty granola to review.  Banana walnut was my favorite.  The granolas are gluten-free and have </160 calories per 1/4 cup.  The texture was unique, they were much softer and less clumped that most of the other granolas I’ve tried.

Very nice in my yogurt lunches.

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Especially with sugar crunch grapes.

{3} Compartes Birthday Cake Bar.

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White chocolate with sprinkles and three types of vanilla bean, it tasted like cake!  These bars are so worth the $10 price tag, I want to try more.

{4} Pasta salad, served cold.

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Whole wheat bow ties / spinach pesto / heirloom baby tomatoes / baked tofu with balsamic / cubes of swiss and sharp cheddar.  We almost never eat cold pasta salad and this felt fun and summery.

{5} Pimento cheese nachos.

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Our favorite meal, with a southern spin.  Zapp’s sweet pimento cream cheese chips, shredded chicken, red bell pepper, and candied pecans.

{6} Fantastic oven-fried chicken.

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We made a version of this chicken from A Cozy Kitchen and it blew our freaking minds.  With a garlic butter sauce instead of the spicy one.  We plan on making another batch this week.

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This Weekend’s Best…

…breakfast –

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A blueberry cheesecake smoothie!  Frozen berries with chocolate milk and low-fat cream cheese.  Adam and I both loved it.

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Plus the new cold brew from Dunkin.  Delicious with the Heath Bar syrup and some skim milk.

…brunch

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Colonie.  I got the duck hash again, because it makes the top five list for best dishes I’ve ever eaten.

…lunch –

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Plain Greek yogurt with blueberries and the last of the cookies crumbled on top.

…brinner –

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Eggs with swiss cheese, a simple salad, and a towering stack of buttered toast.

…dinner

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Sandwich night with roasted broccoli.

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Toasted french bread / mayo with Sriracha, fish sauce, and dark brown sugar / baked extra-firm tofu / quick pickled cucumber and shallot / crispy garlic.

…book –

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Autumn Balloons, a memoir by Kenny Porpora.  It had me laughing and crying, both at an embarrassing volume, on the train.  Easily one of the most captivating memoirs I’ve ever read.

Weekly Wrap Up

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.

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Chocolate Cheesecake felt appropriate with this coffee combo –

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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Served with simple side salads.

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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).

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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.

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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.

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

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

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

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Duck, duck, good!