Weekend Top Five

{1} Apple picking upstate.

The selections were pretty weak – they only had two varieties!

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We picked small bags and then moved on to the brewery.

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They had housemade cider and wine slushies so that part of the day was a bit more exciting.

{2} Pecan Pie Bar.

Omg, kids, this candy was ridiculous good.

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I’m not even embarrassed that I ate it two months early – pecan pie month isn’t until November on the Emily is crazy calendar – because this is my new favorite thing.

{3} Friday dinner at home.

Leftovers scrambled into easy eggs.

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Turkey hot dogs, roasted broccoli, and spinach.

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With cider from Wolfer Estates.

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It was good but not my favorite.

{4} Saturday pizza night.

TJ’s red pepper, provolone, and pearl mozzarella wood-fired pizza.

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With roasted zucchini.

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I burned the life out of the pizza but roasted squash is our end of summer favorite.

{5} Sunday night Thai food with friends.

We went to Siam Orchid, a tiny little spot that makes the best Thai food in Brooklyn.

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My drunken noodles with vegetarian duck were on point!

This Week’s Top Five

{1} Coffee.

I know this gets repetitive but coffee is just so freaking good!

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The winner this week was the double espresso with ice and cream from a coffee shop near my hospital.

{2} Chocolate with pretzels.

I brought the toffee candy to work and my co-workers lost their minds over it.  We did too; it was a good thing I got it out of the house or I think Adam and I could have finished the tray in a day or two.

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Also yummy pretzel chocolate from Lindt.

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Yes, I had dessert every evening this week.

{3} Apple month stuff.

Apple-pear pouch.  I sprinkled the SuperSeedz on a pretty killer salad from the cafeteria salad bar.

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Salted caramel apple granola (with chia seeds) on my yogurt.

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And this apple explosion lunch.

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Caramel apple oatmeal, TJ’s freeze-dried apples, and Salty Road caramel apple taffy.

{4} Loaded baked potatoes.

These bowls were fantastic.

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Baked potato / roasted broccoli with green onions / homemade baked beans / topped with plain yogurt, sharp cheddar, and green Tabasco.

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For the baked beans: Sauté tons of white and yellow chopped onions.  Add sliced turkey hot dogs, pinto beans, and tomato sauce and let things cook for awhile.  Then season with brown sugar and Gochujang.

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They were so yummy I ate the leftovers cold.

{5} Dinner at Mile End.

Mile End Delicatessen is my new favorite deli, which is a big deal because the place I grew up going to had a pickle bar!  MED did have tasty hibiscus beer…

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And poutine made with smoked chicken gravy.

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And roasted cauliflower with caraway honey, harissa paste, and toasted pistachios.  This had the best texture, crunchy on the outside and silky soft in the middle.

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I ordered the turkey reuben for dinner.

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Did not disappoint.

{Bonus} New CDs.

My parents are amazing, and they send us mixed tapes all of the time.  They both made new ones recently so this is how my mother labeled them –

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Lol!

Royal Weekend; Highlights

Normally I am a Brooklyn girl, but over the three-day weekend I spent some time loving Queens.  One day for Flushing and one for Astoria.  Also Adam and I both had Monday off and we spent the day eating our way from Chelsea to SoHo!

Here are the highlights, minus several ice cream stops and several more coffees…

Doughnut date!

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Chocolate salted caramel from Dough and a latte from Blue Sky.

Fancy yogurt bowls.

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Plain Siggis + 2 types of plucot + chia seeds + crumbled graham cracker pie crust.

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The crust was leftover from a failed s’mores cookie batch I attempted last week.

Brunch with a girlfriend at Burnside Biscuits.  We both got Salty Dogs.

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And I got a classic (duck fat!) biscuit with a sunny side up egg and sharp cheddar.

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Related:: Adam and I went to Sweet Chick for a dimly lit dinner and had duck sloppy joes.  Also two different cocktails with sherry!

Sandwiches at BEC = bacon, egg, and cheese.

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I got a Junior with turkey bacon.

Sandwiches at Blue Ribbon.  I got the pulled bbq chicken with cole slaw on top.

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BRFC feels pretty chain restaurant/fast food but the sandwich was delicious.  The bun was meh (I rarely eat the bun on a sandwich like this anyway) but the chicken was juicy with some perfectly charred crispy bites.

Presso Coffee is the cutest and their maple lattes are on point.

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Related:: another day I got a quad nonfat latte from Kinship Coffee Cooperative that was super good.

Oreo milk tea with boba and pudding from Kung Fu Tea.

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We explored the New World Mall food court and want to go back asap.

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We didn’t stop to eat that day though, our hearts were already set on Xi’an Famous Foods.

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Their spicy hand-torn noodles make the most satisfying dish you’ve ever tasted.

Trader Joe’s chile relleno is the best frozen meal ever.

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I would give this dish two thumbs up if I thought a restaurant had made it fresh.

Important note – you can buy cups of edible cookie dough.

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Just fyi.

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Enjoy the rest of your week!

This Week I Loved…

the start of apple month

September 1st means I go crazy eating all things {caramel} apple!

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And breaking into this stash makes me feel less awkward about my growing pile of pumpkin items.

everything by George Ezra

But especially “Blame It On Me.”

my breakfast combo

Fiber One reached out to me about sending samples of their newest product – Cheesecake Bars!  I am not one to turn down something that has 5 grams of fiber and tastes like cheesecake.

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They come in strawberry and salted caramel and they are freaking delicious.  Each moderately sized bar has 150 calories.  They certainly aren’t as healthy as a bowl of oatmeal, but I can handle the 3.5 grams of saturated fat occasionally for something quick that keeps me full through the morning and really does taste like dessert.

I paired a caramel bar with a caramel macchiato one morning and it was a bit too much but also amazing.

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But most mornings I kept my coffee pairing low-key, Community Coffee with cream and milk.

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Yum, I love it when we have (fat-free) half and half in the fridge.

yogurt bowls

2% Fage with strawberries and Heritage Flakes.

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Plain Skyr with cotton candy grapes(!!!) and sea salt caramel apple granola.

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Omg, kids, the granola was insanely good.  It took a lot of self-control not to go through and pick out all of the caramel bits.

salads

Loaded from the cafeteria.

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Greens with ranch, peppers, tomato, cucumber, black bean and corn salsa, green olives, cheddar, and Sea Salt SuperSeedz from home.  The pumpkin seeds gave this just the right amount of crunch.

At home.

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The little strawberry glass is holding strawberry beer – Abita’s* deliciously juicy Strawgator.

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And my “salad” – which had no greens because we ran out of spinach – was tons of chopped cucumber and sweet red pepper topped with TJ’s insanely spicy Sriracha ranch, shredded cheddar, roasted pecans, and a huge pile of pulled chicken with roasted garlic and honey bbq sauce.

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Also I ate Chipotle salad two days in a row.  No shame.

* apparently Abita makes a milk stout?!  I want it so badly I can practically taste it.

Weekly Wrap-Up, Weddings Have Great Food

breakfast

Coffee.  With Hint of Honey Almond Milk and a GoMacro Bar.

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Or seltzer and an applesauce.

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Or chocolate milk.

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Another morning I tried to do the coffee + chocolate milk combo but my cafeteria was out of milk so I just drank it black and I had a stomach ache for the rest of the day.

lunch

Yogurt.  Strawberry Fage with plucots and pumpkin seeds on the side.

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Oatmeal.  Quaker Summer Berry oats with Justin’s Chocolate Hazelnut Butter on top and plucots on the side.

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Sandwich.  A monster from the cafeteria with spicy turkey and fresh mozzarella on a brioche roll.

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Leftovers.  Egg salad (see below), TJ’s Crispy Broccoli – which I dumped into the egg salad! – and an apple.

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snack

Salty.

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Sweet.

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dinner

I am missing many photos from the start and end of this week, but I did a pretty good job capturing the middle days.

Monday my camera was dead all afternoon and through the evening.  You didn’t miss much though, I ate two grilled cheese sandwiches in bed.  Then I ate a second dinner of Thai take-out.  Also in bed.  Related fact – I have been burning through episodes of “Body of Proof” at an alarming rate.  It’s bad; not just the fact that I’m watching the show obsessively, but the show itself, is bad.

Tuesday was frozen shrimp goyza from Trader Joe’s.

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We sautéed broccoli and bok choy with ginger, garlic, rice vinegar, and soy sauce and served our pan-fried goyza on top.

I woke up early Wednesday morning to hard-boil eggs for salad.

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This was eggs with minced red bell pepper, mayo and a healthy dollop of sesame gojuchang which gave the salad a great spice and a little bit of smokiness.

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With roasted green beans on the side.

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Roasted green beans have always been one of my favorite foods but now that I’ve started topping them with sliced shallots they’re on a whole new level.

Thursday night I was way less pathetic, but I still don’t have any pictures.  A Buffalo friend came into town and took me to a wedding.  The event was in LIC at The Foundry and it was beyond gorgeous but way too dark for food pictures.

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I ate hummus, cocktails, mini cupcakes, and all the other wedding trappings but the only photo I have is a blurry shot of my friend and me.

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Fun fact – I met her straight from work and I had to get dressed in a Barnes and Nobel bathroom.  I am the classiest.

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I took today off to spend the morning with my girlfriend before she drives home so I have this whole Friday ahead of me to watch Body of Proof do fun stuff in the city!

Weekend Highlights – Rockaway Beach And Roberta’s

We have got to squeeze every last drop of fun out of this summer before fall hits.  We made the most of our weekend with a beach trip and ice cream all day every day.

I’ve been crazy hungry lately so these pictures are just a drop in the bucket, but here are the highlights…

Coffee!  While I made my grocery list.

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The Vietnam blend from Starbucks is great with cocoa, cinnamon, and sugar.

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And the maple latte at Caffé Bene is on point.

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Toasted turkey cheese sandwich.

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Multi-grain bread with smoked turkey, colby jack, mayo, and lots of pickles.

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Plus roasted broccoli on the side.

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More roasted broccoli (and more of that plate).

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This time with truffle salt.

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And Applegate chicken nuggets with a Sriracha honey mustard dipping sauce.

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Frozen yogurt.  Birthday cake topped with chocolate stuff and Nutella.

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Pizza from Roberta’s.  We will definitely be back!  Cheesus Christ = mozzarella, taleggio, parmigiano, black pepper, and cream.

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Sunday afternoon we went down to Tacoway Beach.  They put rum in our watermelon juice and guacamole on our fish tacos.

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Plus we got Tostilocos, a big back of chips, black beans, seasoned cabbage, cojita, and Japanese peanuts.

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Then we spent some time on the beach.

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And stopped by Connolly’s for the all-time best frozen piña coladas.

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Have a great week!

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Left My Heart In Montana

I’m missing a lot of photos this week but the meals I do have to share were off the charts good.

lunch

Mostly I did lunches from the cafeteria this week, like a tasty broccoli and cheese baked potato whose cell-phone photo was an absolute horror.  Packed lunches featured a great fruit salad – Cara Cara Orange, strawberries, and 3 varieties of pluot.

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With plain yogurt and Nature’s Path Heritage Flakes.

notable snacks

Fresh mint in sparkling water is my jam.  This “mojito” rocked our socks off.

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We’ve kept the dessert every day thing going.  One morning Adam took me to work and we tried the doughnuts at Elsie’s Parlor.  I got the Confettura Di Fichi – filled with fig jam and topped with mascarpone and toasted almonds.

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I loved the idea of this, especially because the fig jam and mascarpone were delicious, but the texture was terrible, way too dense.  If I thought of it was a muffin it was great, but as a doughnut I ate half and we moved on to a tried and true.

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Now that’s a doughnut!  My peaches and crème doughseed had just the right balance of fluff and chew.  Plus it was perfectly tangy and sweet.

Vegan ice cream from Sky Ice.

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Thai iced coffee and Thai young coconut went great together.

Ice cream from Oddfellows.

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S’mores with amazing caramelized white chocolate with toasted almond.

Guava-cheese empanadas.

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Enjoyed with Ruth Reichl’s novel, which I read in a day and a half and enjoyed even more than her memoir.  She is such a good story-teller and her food writing makes your mouth water.

dinner

Leftover Korilla knock-off bowls were still yummy.

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I stir-fried mine with eggs to make up for the missing one on top.

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Also I kind of burnt the life out of it, but this was still good.

It was fitting that I put this dinner on my heart plate because I loved-loved-loved it.

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A tiny roasted pile of every single okra I could find at the stores this weekend.

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Plus I snacked on this for extra veggies.

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Toasted ciabatta sandwich with turkey, turkey bacon, Colby jack, and Smart Balance.

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The cheese was extra-thin sliced and it melted to perfection.

We checked out Bushwick’s Montana’s Trail House and our best meal of the week ended up being the best meal of the year!

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Adorable décor, amazing service, and freshly made food – most of it local – with well-balanced flavors.

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Captain Stormalong – Standard Heartcut White Whiskey, Campari, Demerara & Topped with Downeast Cider.

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Riff Randell – Vodka, Krupnikas Honey Liqueur, Contratto Aperitif, Luxardo Maraschino, Acid Phosphate, Sparkling Wine.  This was the best drink we’ve ever had.  It was like drinking pure honey but in an amazing way.  Similar to a great honey meade I had in SF.

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We started with the charred green beans – which were topped with browned garlic and soft-cooked eggs and served on top of housemade ricotta.  This was the best dish of the year, the lemony ricotta was fantastic with the drippy eggs and charred greens.

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Then we shared the dinosaur kale salad – with feta, roasted carrots, and kale that was grown in the restaurant’s rooftop garden!

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And the fried chicken with honey butter and housemade hot sauce.  Best fried chicken ever; super juicy and every bite had a whiff of honey.

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Dessert – aka the course I saw on Instagram that made me move this restaurant to my “must-eat” list – was banana bread s’mores.  <– squee!

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Also they brought us complimentary shots with our bill because we’d been raving about every bite we took.  Love.  NYC people – get yourself to Bushwick, you won’t regret it!

Weekend Highlights… A Bevy of Beverages

notable snacks – –

Froyo again.  Can’t stop, won’t stop.

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Plain tart and Nutella yogurts with Nutella, mini peanut butter cups, chocolate-covered pretzels, and rainbow sprinkles.

Pizza-pizza.

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Buffalo chicken.

We bought the new brownie batter Oreos.

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Pretty good, especially when you smush two together for a double-stuffed.

Fresh mint in bubbly seltzer is delicious.

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Best of all the many, many beverages we enjoyed this weekend.  There were also several iced coffees that didn’t make the photos cut.

Long Island City – –

Saturday morning I picked up a very tired husband from a long shift at work,

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and we finally hit up LIC Flea and Food.

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We got mac and cheese and chicken empanadas.

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And a Nutella gelato and macaroon ice cream sandwich from Bakeshop by Woops.

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We explored LIC a bit with a walk on the waterfront.

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A stop at the gorgeous newest Sweet Leaf location for an intensely creamy Vietnamese iced coffee.

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And finally a flight of beers from Rockaway Brewing Co.

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#2, 4, 7, & 8.  We were very impressed.  The cream ale was the best.

Williamsburg – –

Matchabar.

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Iced matcha on fresh watermelon juice.  It was good, but not something I’m dying to go back for again.

On the other hand, lunch at Meatball Shop will be repeated very soon.  I need to make an ice cream sandwich.

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I got the jello shot special – Jack and Rosé.

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And chicken meatballs with pesto.

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They were served on an assortment of veggies – fennel, salad with apple, roasted squash, cucumber, and fresh green beans – that were tasty but literally dripping with oil.

a doggy date – –

On Sunday Webster took his first ride on the subway.

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We went on a family trip to Central Park!

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He was a total trooper for 3 hours of walking around the park.  We cooled down with a honey iced tea,

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and a double caramel Magnum bar.

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And some of us had bowls of water that we stomped in and spilled all over the place.

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Webster was beyond tuckered out when we got home and spent most of the rest of the day curled up in my lap!

homemade Korilla knock-off bowls – –

I made knock-off chicken and rice bowls and the husband said I did as good of a job as Korilla!

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  • brown rice with chopped kimchi and turkey bacon
  • roasted broccoli
  • quick pickled carrots and cucumber
  • chicken that was marinated in Gochujang paste, garlic, ginger, brown sugar, soy sauce, and rice vinegar
  • shredded cheese and a fried egg on top

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So good.  I am excited for the leftovers.