BEC, FTW

Big life change alert – I have a new job.  As of Monday this week I officially transferred over to the inpatient nutrition team full-team.  I am very sad to no longer be working with prenatal clients on an outpatient basis but the job opened up I knew that it was time for me to get back to my roots with acute care.  My new job lets me work with and learn from other Dietitians on a daily basis and gives me exposure to a much greater scope of practice.  I’m excited about it.

My new job comes with a nice perk – free meals from the cafeteria, so you are going to see some big changes in my weekly lunches.  And this transition week was unbelievably busy so there were a lot of bites that missed the camera.  You’ll just have to picture a lot of snacking, both candy at my desk and copious taste-testing while preparing dinners.  Plus a lot more coffee, of course.  Here the bites I did capture…

breakfast

Coffee!  With a SweeTango apple.

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Or a Nonni’s caramel apple biscotti and a persimmon.

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Or a Fiber One cheesecake strawberry bar and a persimmon.

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This week’s coffee masterpiece was Grady’s Cold Brew with skim & vanilla almond milks.

lunch

My old team brought in a giant cake on my last day.  So sweet!

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I ate a serious amount of frosting.

Now that I’m “buying” lunch instead of packing my yogurt bowls {tear!} you’re going to see a lot of salads and sandwiches.  Romaine / ranch / cheddar / chickpeas / veggies / cole slaw.

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Romaine / ranch / corn salsa / peppers / maple pumpkin seeds.

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Plus chocolate a new coworker brought me.

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Yesterday I had a simple sandwich.  Toasted wheat bread, mayo, turkey, pepperjack.  Plus a carton of chocolate milk.

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Apparently I’m six.

dinner

In spite of the fact that Adam and I both had crazy weeks, our dinners were all winners.  We let the crockpot help out one night.  Chicken breasts topped with bbq sauce and fresh cranberries and set on low for 8 hours.

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We’ve made this dish three winters in a row now and it is always wonderful.  Served with roasted green beans and TJ’s sprouted California rice.  And a Warlock pumpkin stout.

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We used leftovers in our BECFR, aka Bacon, Egg, & Cheese Fried Rice.

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Rice stir-fried in olive oil with turkey bacon and chunks of cheddar and eggs.  Roasted cruciferous veggies on the side.

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I’ll toot my own horn – cheese in fried rice is freaking genius.  We tried to watch “Fresh Off the Boat” while we ate but I was mmmning so loudly that we kept having to pause.

Finally, a quick salad.

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Baby spinach / feta dressing / cucumber / pumpkin seeds / roasted coconut chips / avocado / turkey bacon / and goat’s milk Brie.

It’s been an exciting work-week but I am feeling ready for the weekend!

Weekend’s Best…

{Brunch} Adam and I had a great meal at Burnside Biscuits.

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A great, giant meal.  The Full Ration = 2 pieces of black tea, lemon, and thyme brined fried chicken; pimento cheese biscuits; and sunny side up eggs.

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Plus a salty dog.

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Everything was yummy, the chicken was both succulent and crispy.

{Lunch} Yogurt bowl.  Honey Greek yogurt with pumpkin puree and maple pecan granola.

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Plus a persimmon.  Plus an apple and a cup of earl grey moonlight as a snack.

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{Dessert} Birthday cake frozen yogurt with Nutella sauce.

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Plus mochi and Reese’s cup.

{Dinner} Cheeseburger fried rice.

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This was a homemade success.  Brown jasmine rice stir-fried with eggs, tomato, basil, onion, cheddar cheese, and lean ground turkey.

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Broccoli on the side.

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The addition of cheese to the fried rice was a good one.  We have a similar meal planned for next week now.

Last Week’s Top Five

{1}  Time with my husband.

Adam has been on his break for the past two weeks and we have had the absolute best time going out on date nights after my work days.  I love every single minute with him!

We loved the minutes so much that I couldn’t be bothered to take out my camera most of the time.  We ate some really fantastic meals over the past week and this post only has photos of three of them.  Plus an Instagram shot of the best ice cream of all time –

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Ice & Vice rocked our freaking faces off.  We got a fantastic trio: Milk Money = toasted milk, sea salt, dark chocolate ganache; Splinters = smoked whiskey barrel wood, cracker jack brittle; 9 am = vietnamese coffee, doughnut truffle.    All three were amazing (Milk Money was best) and they went together perfectly.

{2}  An eggcellent meal at Egg Shop.

I got the drink special – Vodka, St. Germain, fresh lemon juice, watermelon, mint, and a prosecco float.

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And we started with the poached burrata -yolk stuffed burrata cheese, crispy chickpeas, tomato agrodolce, and truffle toast.  This was our first time trying burrata and it was wonderful.

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For dinner I got roasted Brussel sprouts with lemon vinaigrette and two poached eggs.

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This dish was so simple, just veggies with eggs, and so delicious, one of my favorite restaurant plates of all time.  I was literally shoveling it into my mouth.

{3}  Emily loves pizza at Pizza Loves Emily.

<– actually our meal was only ok, but the wordplay was too great to pass up.  Our Modern (double sauce, mixed herbs, garlic, basil, double pecorino, onion, and Sichuan oil) was light on cheese and a little burnt.

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My drink was great though.

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Dune Deck – Rum, Luxardo Maraschino, lime, and spiced grenadine.  I’ll love you if you stick a Luxardo cherry in my drink.

{4}  Dinner at home.

I’ll pat myself on the back, this was one of the best meals of the week.

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Roasted green beans and Naan from La Brea Bakery.

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Scrambled eggs with shredded chicken breast and sharp cheddar.

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I cooked the eggs on high heat so they were almost burnt and we loved them.

{5}  Yogurt bowls for lunch.

Strawberry Fage with pumpkin o’s, pecans, blackberries, and pomegranate.

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A very spring-y blackberry and lemon mix.

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And then it was back to fall with pomegranate, chia seeds, pecans, and maple pumpkin seeds.

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Now it’s back to work.  I hope everyone has a nice week!

Last Week’s Top Five

{1} Date night in Chelsea.

Last Friday we went on a fabulous Manhattan date after work.  The High Line at sunset.

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Gansevoort Market for an Oreo whoopie pie(at The Bruffin).

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Chelsea Market for Ramen (at Mok Bar).  Vegan miso ramen – Kombu shiitake doenjang broth / tofu / triple seasonal vegetable / crispy potato.  Made un-vegan with a poached egg on top.

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And finally a trip through the Whitney Museum.

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The 6th floor was my favorite.

{2} City desserts.

The Fat Witch is making sparkly green Emerald City Witches, aka mint chip brownies.

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And Brooklyn Cupcake‘s cakes are on point.

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We tried french toast, tres leches, and guava cheese!!

{3} Pota-topia potato bowls.

I got waffle fries with all of the veggies, smoked gouda, and truffle aioli.

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We were very impressed.  Our mall’s food court has gotten downright fancy.

{4} Pumpkin yogurt bowl lunch.

Whole Foods pumpkin spice yogurt, chia seeds, maple pumpkin seeds, and TJ’s pumpkin o’s.

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Fun, but I pretty much hate the texture of regular (not Greek) yogurt.

{5} Pumpkin beer on Halloween.

We spent Halloween afternoon in Williamsburg checking out the fantastic hipster costumes.  We enjoyed mead and a Chelsea Brewing Company pumpkin pie beer while playing games at Barcade.

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Plus we had a very taste lunch at Sugarburg.  <– we will be back!

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St. Thomas, October 2015

Adam and I took a long weekend and went home to visit my parents last Friday.  It was great!  We hit the beach, tried some new restaurants and ate at old favorites, caught up with family, and just had a fabulous time.

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Here were some of the highlights…

Lots of fancy coffee.

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Including an almond joy iced latte from Barefoot Buddha.  Alongside a Bigfoot Bagel Sandwich, aka the – egg frittata, smoked turkey, turkey bacon, cream cheese, sharp cheddar cheese, chipotle aioli, tomoto-onion coulis, fresh spinach – sandwich I ate on my wedding day!

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Bailey’s Delight milkshake from Udder Delight.

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Rum and cokes from Woody’s happy hour.

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Maple shortbread cookies my mom makes every year.

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Pumpkin Chobani with homemade chocolate chip cookie and candied walnuts and ground flax.

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Fish tacos on the beach at Iggy’s.

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Quick dinner at home for board game night.

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Turkey Reuben with smoked turkey, gouda, and cole slaw on rye.  Plus green beans sautéed with almonds.  And we had locally made chocolates for dessert.

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A delicious dinner at The Long Board in St. John.  The Carib Sour = Bullet bourbon, Luxardo amaretto, lemon juice, honey, egg white, and whiskey barrel aged bitters.

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We started with fried plantains and chicken wings with mango glaze and garlic-lemon aioli.

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And my dinner was a salad with romaine, red cabbage, shredded carrot, wakame seaweed, sriracha, crispy wonton, ginger mandarin vinaigrette, and Korean bbq chicken.

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Everything was wonderful, just like our trip!

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Last Week/End’s Best Eats {Pumpkin Beer Galore}

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I have just not had the blogging bug lately.  I’ve been eating yummy foods (duh!) and making some great new recipes but recently I have not been able to make myself sit down and write.  This week I have a Redux post due so you’ll be hearing from me at least once.  And below is a quick round-up of the very best bites from last week…

Pumpkin beers.

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I totally get why Kath is obsessed with Schlafly, it’s amazing.  The Leaf Pile was pretty fantastic too.

Yogurt bowls.

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More pumpkin.  That orange thing that looks like a mini pumpkin is a persimmon.

Lobster rolls.

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Luke’s never fails.  I took a girlfriend for her very first cold lobster roll and it was love at first bite.

Brooklyn Bagel.

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Coconut bagel with pumpkin cream cheese.

Pizza.

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TJ’s whole wheat crust topped with bbq sauce, tons of sautéed onions and mushrooms, and two kinds of mozzarella.

Tamarind candy from home.

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Perfectly sweet and sour.  When I was a little girl I rode horses and we could pick tamarind pods from our saddles and snack our way through Pony Club so the flavor makes me very nostalgic.

Brunch at Thirsty Koala.

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Australian coffee = an iced latte with a scoop of ice cream.  I also got a stack of Jaffles.

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“The Bergs” had cheddar, manchego, goats cheese, fruit chutney on sourdough.

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Aka an insanely gooey grilled cheese.  Yet another Astoria spot we now love.

It is weird for me to be taciturn, hopefully I’ll have more to say in a few days!

Weekend Wrap-Up

I know this post is running a bit late but it was a damn good weekend that was worth blogging.  We drank, we brunched, we explored – all of the important stuff!  Here are the highlights…

breakfast

7-11 iced coffee and a protein bar.

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Starbucks iced coffee and a doughnut.

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Doughnut Plant‘s pumpkin doughseed is a plain doughnut with pumpkin cream filling and super spicy cinnamon icing.  It was interesting.

The best breakfast of all was spread out to include some city time.  We got coffee in DUMBO.

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Took the train in to the LES and walked two miles west.

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To the gorgeous Brookfield place.

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Where we headed to famed Black Seed Bagels.

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Poppy with honey butter for me.  It was wildly disappointing – no chew.  But then we spent way too much money on candy at Le District.

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And after a quick train ride we had a great walk back to the car through Cobble Hill.  We got so lucky with the weather.

lunch

Yogurt bowl at work.

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Pumpkin Noosa with a TJ’s pumpkin bar and a snap dragon(!!) apple.

Yogurt bowl at home.

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Plain Fage with maple syrup, red grapes, granola, chia seeds, and maple pumpkin seeds.

The day I skipped the yogurt bowl I went big – lunch at Miriam in Park Slope.

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I had Burekas, or puffed pastry pocket stuffed with feta & olives, served with poached eggs, labneh cheese, Israeli salad and tahini sauce.  Everything was amazing, super fresh and flavorful.  We want to go back for dinner immediately.

With ridiculously giant froyo bowls for dessert.

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All of the toppings.

dinner

{Friday} Dinner appetizer – Kale chips.

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Dinner drink – Rogue Pumpkin Savior, best pumpkin beer so far this season!

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Dinner – roasted veggie fall forest gnome food.

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Browned mushrooms // shredded chicken // turkey bacon // shredded Brussels sprouts // roasted butternut squash // baby spinach // pecans.

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We make some iteration of this dish every fall, it’s one of our favorites.

{Saturday} Dinner appetizer – Shrimp, crab, salmon, and tofu skin fritters from Laverne.

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Dinner drink – yummy root beer beer.

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Dinner – turkey sandwich, red grapes, and fantastic seaweed salad.

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{Sunday} Dinner, drinks, and appetizer were all wrapped up in one – I had beer with chips and dip… while watching bad tv… in bed.  It was fabulous.

Enjoy the rest of your week!

This Week’s Top Five…

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Eats

{1} My coffee combo.

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Grady’s is the best.

{2} This yogurt bowl.

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Siggi’s pumpkin / giant red grapes / TJ’s pumpkin o’s, chia seeds, and maple sea salt pumpkin seeds.  With a persimmon on the side.

{3} An old-school turkey sandwich.  Applegate Farms smoked turkey with mayo, sharp cheddar, and caramelized onions on a brioche bun.

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Plus chips and grapes.

{4} Pumpkin pie smoothie.

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Pumpkin puree, plain Fage, almond milk, pumpkin pie spice, and maple syrup.  We both loved these!

{5} Nacho night.

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Chips with low-fat Mexican cheese blend, roasted broccoli, and ground turkey sautéed with onions and red pepper.

Obsessions

{1} Movie I’m oddly excited for: The Krampus.

I am really not a horror movie girl but something about a Christmas horror movie appeals to me, probably the fact that Adam Scott is in it!

{2} TV show I can’t wait to start: Supernatural.

Season 11 started the same day that season 10 finally released on Netflix so our entire plan for this weekend is season 10.  If we catch up we can watch the latest season as it airs.

{3} TV shows that continue to rock our world: our line up from last year is still solid.

Chicago PD, Rick and Morty, Fresh off the Boat, and The Middle all started off their seasons quite strongly.  We’re also loving Longmire’s Netflix debut.  Rosewood, on the other hand, was un-freaking-watchable.

{4} Book I need to buy: Mindy Kaling’s Why Not Me?

I read Is Everyone Hanging out without Me? in about a day and reread it a day later so I know I’m going to love her newest book.

{5} Song I’m playing on repeat:” Jump Into the Fog” – The Wombats.

Bonus:  I’ve had ODB’s “Shimmy Shimmy Ya” stuck in my head all week.  <– don’t play it if you’re at work!