The best vanilla iced latte we’ve ever had from Cafe d’Avignon. It was sweet and roasty and perfect and full of vanilla bean flecks.
Take-out dinner. Fries and a spicy chicken biscuit from Sweet Chick plus roasted cauliflower and garlic green beans from Whole Foods’ hot bar.
Dinner out at Kyu. Hamachi with ponzu, basil, and mint.
Tuna crispy rice.
Japanese sweet potato with butter and black sugar. <– best thing we ate all weekend
Beef tenderloin with garlic soy butter and housemade kimchi.
Burnt end style duck.
And a Lowrider cocktail with mango infused tequila, amaretto, almond, mango agave syrup, and orange bitters. The amaretto seemed like it was clarfied; this drink was so unique.
P.S. No photos but we also went on an epic bar crawl! Highlights were – Doctor Daniel the Milky Cola from Bandit’s, gin, rum, mezcal, scotch, coffee liqueur, chocolate, vanilla, walnut, angostura, lemon, and a coke on the side AND the hibiscus limeade with vodka and grapefruit soda from Pokito.
Some highlights from an exceptionally yummy week! We had some bonkers-good snacks and dinners the past few days…
Sumo mandarins and new Hunnyz apples – perfectly sweet and with a balanced texture, not super crisp but not at all mealy.
Yuzu beverages, both winners. I mixed the High Tide sparkling water with iced matcha and the Lunar hard seltzer with vodka.
Crispy lentils. I loved how roasty these were.
Snack Mates pizza and chicken and waffle flavored meat sticks. These were great.
Strawberry chocolate mochi. This was definitely the best packaged mochi I’ve tried.
The Reese’s Big Cups continue to be the ultimate candy; this new Reese’s Puffs variety was a 10/10. My personal ranking is potato chip > puffs > pretzel. Meanwhile, we liked these so much we bought a box of Puffs and I was very underwhelmed by them in cereal bowl form.
I don’t accept many product samples for the blog these days but this was truly the perfect fit – Prospector Popcorn. The flavors were delicious (the Belgian chocolate toffee was my favorite), they were super fresh, and none of the coatings contain palm oil. We truly loved these and have already ordered more bags with our own money. Huge bonus – this company is a non-profit dedicated to employing people with disabilities (74% of their current workforce).
Korean chicken bowls. Sliced chicken thighs marinated in gojuchang, soy sauce, garlic, and brown sugar and sauted in canola oil. With green onion, sesame seeds, and chopped roasted baby cauliflower.
Salads. Green lettuce with balsamic vinaigrette, crispy lentils, roasted carrots (rainbow baby carrots roasted with butter, evoo, honey, cinnamon, smoked paprika, and urfa pepper), and a fried egg.
Pizza bites (this recipe – we loved it!), garlic turkey meatballs, and roasted romanesco with pizza sauce for dipping.
Pizza-inspired tteokbokki. Rice cakes / roasted cabbage and red onion / green onions / shredded chicken breast / pizza sauce with gojuchang, gochugaru, sugar, evoo, and water / pizza blend shredded cheese.
The year’s been good so far! I started my 1/1/23 with a quick run before work to get things started on the right foot and had cold brew with sweetened condensed milk next for a sweet year. <– I made those traditions up but I love them. I also worked several lucky-for-the-new-year foods into our meals this week – cabbage, greens, noodles, and black eyed peas.
Highlights from the 1st week of the year included…
Coffee from Hawaii.
Surprisingly wonderful mochi doughnuts from Paris Baguette. The cinnamon one was stuffed with red bean.
Homemade popcorn with butter, furikake, togarashi, white sesame seeds, and salt/sugar.
Another hit from my favorite beer company (Abomination Brewing). This marshmallow IPA was great, though not as good as Fog Nog. I drank it on a date walk with Adam to get froyo topped with marshmallows, so that was perfect.
We also enjoyed this Mai Tai inspired sour from Mast Landing.
We celebrated New Year’s Eve by eating tons of Chinese take-out and falling asleep before 10pm (my very favorite way to spend NYE!). Zouji Dumpling House is my new favorite Chinese spot – we ordered a million things and loved it all. This leftovers dinner plate was scallion pancake / house chili oil / pan-fried lamb dumplings / veggie dumplings with cabbage, radish, and rice noodles / dry stir-fried cauliflower with onion, pepper, and garlic / Kung Pow chicken / and a scoop of sourkraut for luck.
Our favorite black-eyed-pea salad. With Kerrygold Dubliner cheese, Crystal hot sauce, and diced green bell pepper. Plus some roasted baby cauliflower.
Whole-wheat vermicelli noodles with zoodles, shredded chicken, and nước chấm. Topped with Sriracha.
Congee (brown rice cooked for an hour and a half in turkey stock) / layered with collard greens sauteed with green onion and ginger / and ground turkey sauteed with white onion, garlic, and Korean pepper / topped with chili crisp and green onions.
Popeye’s take-out with roasted broccoli from home. Biscuit, fries, nuggets with great sauces, and some of the best mac and cheese I’ve eaten in the States! Is Popeye’s my favorite restaurant? I want to be embarassed to be considering that but I probably should be more embarassed by the fact that this wasn’t the only time I ordered this this week!! The nuggets are shockingly good leftover.
This week’s eggnog plus coffee we brought back from Hawaii.
Sugar cookie kefir from Lifeway. Good, though not as good as I thought it would be.
Cosmic Crisp apple. It was good but hard to describe, somehow firm and juicy but not crispy?
Mountain Dew’s fruit cake soda is my new favorite mixer! Downright delicious with spiced rum.
This week’s dinners were all a) great, and b) bar food themed! We covered tacos, nachos, cheeseburgers, chicken tenders, and pickles! Taco salad. Chopped romaine / Sugar Bomb tomatoes / avocado / black beans / extra-sharp cheddar / ground turkey sauted with white onions and taco seasoning / cracked pepper / homemade ranch dressing – sour cream, lime, Crystal hot sauce, and ranch seasoning. I would have said that I don’t care about ranch dressing but this stuff was fantastic.
Pickled oven baked tofu tenders plus roasted broccoli. Sprouted extra-firm tofu / marinated in pickle juice, soy sauce, Sriracha, and garlic / dipped in a mix of flour, cornstarch, sugar, and smoked paprika – then egg – then panko bread crumbs / baked at 375 degrees for 30 minutes. So crispy.
Cheeseburger inspired nachos plus roasted green beans with ranch. Trader Joe’s dill pickle chips / extra-sharp cheddar / ground turkey sauted with garlic, ketchup, and yellow mustard / Kewpie / chopped Sugar Bomb tomato, white onion, and dill pickle.
Traditional nachos, actual bar food. I worked a 10.5 hour day on Thursday (!!, coming back from a vacation means extra work, being short-staffed near the holiday means extra work, and training an intern means things move more slowly, and all three factors converged horribly this week) so I grabbed take-out for dinner on my way home. Nachos with cheese sauce and cheddar, chicken, corn, tomatoes, peppers and onion, and zucchini.
Adam and I just returned from six fantastically glorious days in Oahu! Best vacation we have taken yet.
Everything was beautiful (of course!), we got incredibly lucky with the weather, we loved our hotel (Hotel La Croix – amazing staff, beautiful views, and perfectly walkable to the beach and downtown), and we swooned over every activity and meal! And we saw a seal!! I did not pack a camera but couldn’t stop myself from Instagramming incessantly.
Some of our favorite activities – – –
Hiking. We went on four hikes this visit. Makapu’u Light House Trail / Kuliouou Ridge Trail / Diamond Head / Ka’ena Point State Park.
We went to Green World Coffee Farm and walked through the coffee plants. We also got a fantastic tour (with tastes) of the Old Sugar Mill Brand Waialua Coffee where they grow coffee and cacao.
Some of our favorite bites – – –
Flavor themes of the week – ahi, malasada, mochi, musubi, passionfruit, poke, taro, and yuzu. I lost my photo but we had a wonderful traditional meal at Helena’s – my first time trying poi!
We walked over to Kona Coffee Purveyors several times. Also to the Starbucks Reserve for this delicious americano con crema with demura sugar and cinnamon.
Guava malasada from Leonards. Also my favorite thing I ate all trip was a taro mochi malasada from a convenience store.
There was a great Japanese store near our hotel and between that and the well-stocked 7-11 I tried some very exciting things.
Passionfruit mochi bar.
Salted cod roe and cheese musubi.
Halo halo.
Local fruits from a roadside stand. Starfruit, passionfruit, and coconut.
Shave Ice! We went to Waiola Shave Ice and Matsumoto Shave Ice. The boring looking one was actually white cake and yuzu (!!!) with vanilla ice cream and sweetened condensed milk.
Poke! So much fresh tuna. We went to Maguro Brothers and Ono Seafood.
Dinner at O’Kims. Fried chicken and purple rice with the best kimchi I’ve ever eaten.
Lunch at Piggy Smalls was our favorite meal of the trip! And dinner at Pig and the Lady was a close second. Twice fried brussel sprouts, tea leaf salad, brisket with pancakes and eggs, great cocktails (Adam had a POG slushie!), and an egg coffee.
I’m not ready for eggnog yet (make that – I am always ready for nog but I am not releasing the eggnog floodgate yet) but I have fully embraced peppermint! Like the limited release Wendy’s peppermint frosty.
Or Minter Wonderland ice cream.
Brooklyn Cupcake! Cojito, tiramisu, and guava cheese.
Best iteration yet of the butternut squash we make every year. This year we served it as a warm salad. Roasted butternut squash and shredded brussel sprouts, Trader Joe’s sweet and spicy pecans, dried cherries, and homemade dressing (3 T lemon juice, 3 T maple syrup, 2 T stone ground mustard, 1 T Kewpie, 1 T crystal hot sauce.
A meta dinner win – cobb salad egg salad in endive lettuce cups. Eggs with mayo and mustard, chives, avocado, turkey bacon, and blue cheese.
Buffalo chicken salad (shredded chicken with mayo, Franks, vinegar, blue cheese, and chives) with roasted broccoli and Japanese sweet potato.
This was a weirdly busy and stressfull week and I did not adult very well. I mostly ate take-out and candy and nary a picture was taken. I am also very overdue on laundry!
That said — Adam and I had an impromptu Manhattan date night that was so fantastic I just have to blog about it, photo-free post be damned.
I was supposed to have a doctor’s appointment on the Upper East Side that got cancelled at the last minute leaving us time to try two new-to-us spots that we want to return to immediately!
Kjun NYC – a newish Korean Cajun spot. We had fantastic fried chicken (marinated in buttermilk and gojuchang) that came with pickles, potato salad, and a gojuchang honey sauce. My favorite dish was a take on deviled eggs with soy-marinated eggs, wasabi aioli, and fried chicken skin.
53 – a restaurant with a stunningly gorgeous cocktail bar. Also the most amazing bartender, he was knowledgeable and innovative and when he saw how much we loved our drinks he even gave us a sample of their newest cocktail. We head over heels loved our two drinks. Electric Feels; mezcal with guava, sichuan pepper, calmansi, and Himalayan salt. Coke de Blanc; clarified milk rum and coke punch, rum, champagne, and vanilla.
This upcoming weekend I am scheduled to work but we also have some exciting dinner reservations – I’ll bring my camera!
Fun things from this weekend – we early voted and it only took a couple of minutes! The weather was gorgeous and we took a bunch of long, beautiful walks.
Food highlights included…
In a fit of out-of-season joy I bought and loved a peppermint mocha ice latte.
Brunch at Emilia’s Bakehouse in Melville. We had great lattes.
And a preztel croissant.
Loved this Aura Bora flavor. They have two new seasonal flavors I am dying to get my hands on.
I also tried and loved two new boozy seltzer cans. The June Shine passion fruit vodka soda has all my favorite things!
Great new flavor from Chip – a brown sugar cookie made with apple butter, stuffed with a caramel apple filling, and topped with cinnamon sugar.
Desserts in Astoria. Baklava and Knafeh.
Thai food in Astoria. I got extra-spicy drunken noodles with extra veggies and mock duck.
Plus we shared great crab rangoon.
Trader Joe’s pumpkin-shaped pasta with homemade meat sauce (pizza sauce with ground turkey and ground chicken, garlic, salt, pepper, urfa pepper, smoked paprika, and three cheese blend). Plus rainbow cauliflower.
Eating Chalk 