It was a wonderful weekend to kick off the arrival of warmer weather! Saturday Adam and I drove out to Montauk for some beach walking and lobster rolls. And Sunday we checked out Untermeyer Park and Gardens up in Yonkers.
Weekend highlights include…
A sparkling citrus matcha.
A boozy, frozen, coke coffee (coke ice cubes, amaretto, and espresso).
Espresso (plus chocolate milk) from King’s Coast. <– roasty, delicious, and easily the best coffee we’ve had all year
I worked five days through the last weekend, which is just a normal workweek, but something about the Thursday-Monday schedule is exhausting! Hence the late post. Also all the take-out this week in lieu of cooking!
Adam and I both had the weekend nights off and we went on some great dinner dates! And did some wonderful exploring around Bushwick, aka the best street art neighborhood in New York.
Other highlights from the week included…
Wycoff Star quad iced latte, best coffee of the month.
About Time Coffee‘s Summer Breeze – cold brew with tangerine and cola.
Still very into these Barebell protein bars, the vegan ones in particular are delicious and filling.
New favorite, old favorite – Pazzaz apples are crunchy and juicy / the potato chip peanut butter cups are the best candy of all time and I eat at least one a week.
These new cola Sour Patch Kids are delicious too.
A Spring moment – lavender vodka in homemade rose lemonade.
Caffe Panna affogato special – Candy Chaos; candy-studded ice cream, chocolate ice cream, graham crunch, mini Reese’s cups, Rolos, panna, caramel, and espresso.
Dinner at Faro. I had vodka in a great housemade citrus soda with lime, lemon, and orgeat.
Roasted beets with almonds, ricotta, strawberry and vinaigrette / sourdough sesame focaccia.
Adam had pasta with rabbit (yuck) and we shared bucatini with confit chicken, basil, pecorino, and chili flakes and mafalde with braised short rib and chili pangrattato.
We had the “chocolate” for dessert – hazelnuts, chocolate cremeux, olive oil cake, dulce de leche, and cocoa crumble.
We had a wonderful dinner at Piggyback but it was too dark for photographs. The hands-down best dish was the deconstructed pho – fried rolled noodles, choy sum, soy marinated beef, and a concentrated pho broth sauce. We also had this tuna tartare with yuzu soy vinaigrette, Asian pear, and shisho.
A homemade meal! Hedgehog baked tofu with sauce and sautéed bok choy and celery.
This seed and oat bar was great; it reminded me of one of those old-fashioned sesame bar candies.
Yogurt bowl – plain yogurt with golden nugget mandarin, red plum, honey, Heritage Flakes, and chia seeds.
A taro and salted egg yolk cake from 99 Ranch Market; overall we weren’t impressed with their prepared foods selection but this was fantastic.
Chewy, fruity Japanese candies. The grape ones were the best.
Leftovers of our duck two ways from Glasserie – honey and spice crusted duck breast and braised duck thigh with nuts and raisins in phyllo dough. Plus veggies from home – roasted cauliflower and gojuchang cabbage.
Chicken salad loosely inspired by Waldorf Salad. Shredded chicken with dressing (plain yogurt, mayo, salt, lemon, honey, and horseradish), apple, green onion, celery, toasted cashews, and dried cherries.
Trader Joe’s turkey corndogs and veggie and sunflower seed bites plus roasted orange cauliflower, broccoli, and romanesco (plus leftover fry sauce – which I order every time I get Roast, regardless of if I get fries).
I took a naked food of the Trader Joe’s frozen scallion pancakes so I could show you guys what they look like. Then I dressed them up with Kewpie, Sriracha, and furikake.
Best meal of the week – hashbrown, roasted brussel sprouts, soft-scrambled eggs. Topped with a mix of fry sauce, chili crisp, and rice vinegar.
Chew frozen things. Black sugar boba popsicle and a passionfruit ice cream mochi.
Chewy vegan candies. I loved the tropical ones (grapefruit slices!) and liked the hearts and stars.
Grapefruit beverages. Hard seltzer and kombucha.
Takeout dinner from Roast. A roast beef melt and an on-special salad with arugula, asparagus, cauliflower, parmesan, crispy breadcrumbs, chicken, and pesto vinaigrette.
Easy rice bowls. Brown rice / Trader Joe’s green vegetable foursome frozen veggies / tuna salad with mayo, soy sauce, rice vinegar, furikake, and Korean chili flake / kimchi / chili crisp.
Homemade cashew chicken. With red bell pepper, green onion, and extra cashews. Served on roasted broccoli slaw.
This is an early post because it’s a short week – I am heading to Ohio today to visit my grandma! And my mom will be there too!
Pre-vacation highlights included…
This week’s coffee combo.
We brought home brigadero balls from Cafe Patoro and they were great. The caramel was my favorite.
I made a batch of milk crumbs and obviously put them on everything. Like an ice cream sundae with the last brownie.
And an insane yogurt bowl sundae with vanilla bean Greek yogurt, nut butter, and chocolate peanut butter granola.
Simple but great dinners this week. From the Trader Joe’s freezer section – veggie and sunflower seed bites and turkey corn dogs. Plus roasted baby cauliflower.
It was a very tasty week! Adam and I had a weekday off and a few evenings together (woo-hoo!) and we made the most of them. Some of the best highlights included…
I worked six of the last seven days so we’ve eaten a lot of take-out chicken nuggets but also managed to go on a few nice dates! Highlights from the past week include…
Mint pour-over with chocolate sweetened condensed milk.
Drinks and snacks at The Linwood. I had a cocktail with tequila, sage, honey, lime, blood orange, and grapefruit soda.
Plus housemade chips with onion ranch dip.
Caribbean-inspired food at Coastal. My jerk chicken rice bowl was great.
But we were there for the drinks! Like a painkiller made with Soggy Dollar Bar rum (aka rum from the place that invented painkillers).
I also had a lovely drink with vodka, butterfly pea flower, chamomile, guava, pineapple, lemon, and soda.
Homemade chilaquiles with Trader Joe’s guajillo salsa, tortilla chips, shredded chicken, sweet onion, and bell peppers. Topped with sharp cheddar, sour cream, hot sauce, and a fried egg.
We made the best salads. Local lettuce with dijon balsamic dressing / stir-fried/charred snap peas / crunchy mung beans / cheddar / bbq chicken – shredded chicken breast and thighs from the crockpot tossed with homemade bbq sauce and roasted in the oven.
Adam and I had both weekend days off together (!!!) and we ate ALL the things and had a glorious time! Saturday we wandered around Williamsburg, over the bridge, and into the Lower East Side (almost 9 miles!) and Sunday we did a foodie tour loop around Woodside/Elmhurst/Jackson Heights. Some highlights included…
Coffee Booth‘s March special – birthday cake iced latte. I’d like all of my coffees to have an icing swirl!
We tried two different kinds of pandan and coconut pudding. A creamy one from Pata Market.
This strawberry guava alcoholic Topo Chico is basically all of my favorite things in one.
We went to L’Industrie for the first time and now I totally get the hype. Our cheese slice was both crispy and chewy.
Plus we had a lemon cream doughnut.
Miss Lilly‘s jerk chicken was so juicy! With rice and peas and mango chutney.
Fantastic Thai food at Ayada. Thai iced tea and Thai iced coffee.
Green papaya salad with salted egg.
Crab and chicken dumplings in tofu skin.
10/10 chicken pad see ew; wok hei galore.
We made great breakfast for dinner bowls. Hashbrowns, roasted riced cauliflower, soft-scrambled eggs, avocado, heirloom tomatoes and red onion sautéed with butter, sharp cheddar, sour cream, and sweet and spicy jalapenos.
A yogurt bowl with tons of fresh mango. Plain skyr with honey, granola, and chia seeds.
This week’s fizzy, fermented drink line up. Pineapple mint kombucha (too sweet – I prefer other flavors from this brand) / strawberry ginger prebiotic soda (too ginger spicy) / grapefruit lime tepache (just right!).
I made a mule at home and it was delicious. I tossed in a splash of pickled jalapeno juice too.
This Trader Joe’s cinnamon dragons are good but not quite strong enough for me.
We made a batch of simple but tasty chili with black beans and shredded chicken. Topped with sour cream, TJ’s sweet and spicy jalapenos, and sharp cheddar.
The chili was even better leftover (duh!) on loaded baked potatoes. With tons of cheddar, sour cream, and hot sauce. Plus roasted baby cauliflower on the side.
In my ongoing quest to turn every dish into fries and/or nachos – bagels with lox. This was fries and roasted cauliflower topped with TJ’s smoked salmon dip, hot smoked salmon, capers, quick pickled red onion, and chopped cucumber and tomato.
Eating Chalk 