Super Cups

by Emily

This weekend I – – Did not watch the Super Bowl. Wore an insane amount of red and pink in preparation for today’s holiday. Worked all three days but managed to have crazy good dinners and a date night with Adam. Highlights included…

Two things I adore and eat all of the time but don’t share often because it feels repetitious (on very separate ends of the snacking spectrum!) – Sparkling matcha.

Reese’s potato chip (and pretzel!) peanut butter cups.

Caramel matcha latte with oat milk from a super cute spot in Williamsburg.

BBQ chicken bowls. Sweet potato fries // sautéed collard greens with butter and lemon // chicken breast and red onion cooked in the crock pot, shredded, tossed with bbq sauce, then baked in the oven.

Roasted sheet-pan hash. Pesto chicken sausage, sweet potato, Japanese sweet potato, zucchini, fennel, and sweet onion; topped with pesto. <– this was 11/10 and I really want to make a Super Bowl joke about it

Date Night at Nami Nori. We were thrilled that they had Something and Nothing seltzer and I loved my Cherry Bomb cocktail – cremant sparkling wine, cherry sage cordial, and soju.

We started with furikake fries with mentaiko mayo.

And for my five temaki (a style of hand rolls) I chose: tuna poke with crispy shallots // crispy tofu chimichurri with micro cilantro // crunchy spicy crab // salmon with cucumber // spicy tuna.

11Feb2022

Strawberry, Soursop, Taro, Pine

by Emily

Highlights from this week include – coffee, pastel-colored foods, breakfast for dinner, my favorite Caribbean fruit…

This week’s coffee combo was beans from India with Chobani brown sugar creamer.

See also – espresso with strawberry milk.

I made a smoothie with soursop nectar. Plus Greek yogurt and frozen grapes.

See also – creamy soursop cocktails with rum, amaretto, and brown sugar coffee creamer.

I really loved this Blue Point pine needle IPA. It was interesting without being overwhelming.

Taro milk chia pudding with honey Chobani yogurt and jumbo blueberries.

Take-out Philly cheesesteak with roasted yellow French beans.

Seemore’s chicken, kale, and pesto sausage / jumbo blueberries / hash with shredded potato, leek, red pepper, and kimchi / ketchup + Sriracha.

17Jan2022

Nut Butter Cups

by Emily

Highlights from a low-key weekend…

I made a peanut butter iced latte!

Strawberry cheesecake oatmeal bowl with cream cheese and caramelized bananas.

Yogurt bowl with cinnamon, coffee cake, and blueberries.

Snack highlights; sweet.

And savory.

Our Whole Foods’ hot bar is rarely open so when it is I impulse buy all the things.

Two kinds of takeout sandwiches (brisket grilled cheese with mushrooms on sourdough // chicken panini with truffle artichoke spread) with two kinds of carrots (sautéed with celery // raw baby carrots).

14Jan2022

Mint, Matcha, Meatball

by Emily

For a week of easing back into real life from vacation the past 5 days weren’t too bad! I even managed to cook a few dinners. That said, work has been insane and I am not sad that I’m heading into a three day weekend!

Highlights from the past week include…

Coffee combo – Hudson Roastery with sweetened condensed milk.

See also – we are head over heels for this dulce de leche instant coffee.

Really enjoyed this energy tea; I’ve been loving mint drinks since December.

See also – we made green Thai tea iced lattes.

We also made fruity matcha spritzers. Matcha with key lime La Croix and fresh lime and orange juice.

Berry (beary!) milkshake – Thai tea ice cream mochi blended with vanilla almond milk and frozen strawberries and grapes.

Yogurt bowl – vanilla yogurt with peanut butter, chia, and granola.

These apple pie rice cakes have milk powder in them and a great sweet/savory thing going.

Vegan pepperoni-inspired jerky + everything seasoning chickpea snacks. Both were good but not my favorite. But a nice snack paired together.

Layered halvah. P.S. We also bought halvah-crusted pecans and they were insane.

Leftovers and lettuce wraps converged for the perfect dinner. We used butterhead lettuce to wrap ground turkey sautéed with gojuchang with celery, peanuts, quick pickled cucumber and carrot salad, and pickled radish. Plus leftovers from great take-out we got over the weekend – kimbap and Korean fried chicken.

It’s possible we over-purchased fried chicken… we snacked on it all week long!

A quick and easy dinner – chicken burgers from the freezer with sautéed bell peppers and green onion, mashed avocado, a fried egg, and fantastic hot sauce from back home.

The best dinner of the week/month/new year! I made buffalo chicken meatballs (with ground turkey since we were shopping during a winter storm, hot sauce, cream cheese, and blue cheese) with sautéed carrot and celery, and homemade garlic bread (garlic, butter, spices, and tons of parmesan baked on everything ciabatta rolls).

31Dec2021

12/31/21

by Emily

Last week of 2021! Here were some highlights…

The week after Christmas is still an acceptable time for eggnog coffee.

See also – I made a chestnut iced latte. Strong espresso plus half and half with chestnut paste, sugar, vanilla bean, cinnamon, and mace.

This grape kombucha was wonderfully juicy.

Peppermint > Wintergreen > Spearmint

by Emily

Favorites from this week included – tons of peppermint, eggnog flavored drinks, citrus, Asian-inspired dinner bowls…

Peppermint mochas with Copper Cow.

Eggnog Nutrament and a Lady Alice apple. This is such a childhood throw-back treat for me.

Still loving the Kishu mandarins and also this satsuma was juicy and seed-free.

Sesame seaweed sheets.

Milk Bar candy cane ice cream. You’ll never go wrong adding marshmallow to peppermint.

Very surprised by how good these seasonal white chocolate pretzel m&m’s were. I shared them at work and my coworkers were all also impressed.

My mother-in-law bought us chocolate covered pretzel sticks that are also dipped in caramel!

This egg nog beer was obviously the most “me” booze I’ve ever purchased, but also one of the best beers I’ve had all year! Abomination Brewing‘s Fog Nog – a double IPA brewed with lactose and spices.

Trader Joe’s sriracha shrimp bowl frozen meal. Topped with tons of extra sriracha, Kewpie mayo, and maple almonds.

Salmon roll inspired bowls. Farro topped with spicy salmon salad (canned fish with mayo, sriracha, and rice vinegar), sautéed zucchini spirals, chili flakes, and furikake.

Udon noodles // sautéed celery, bok choy, and green onion // sautéed ground turkey // stir-fried with egg and a homemade sauce including tomato paste and spicy bean paste.

A take on this cheesy rice porridge. We added extra broth and shredded chicken and topped it with urfa chili paste.

Trader Joe’s spicy Mexican-style riced cauliflower stir-fried with eggs and garlic olive oil. Plus roasted green beans and garlic knots.

3Dec2021

Festival Of Latkes

by Emily

Happy Hanukkah to my readers who celebrate! Highlights from this week include…

My new favorite citrus – Kishu Mandarins. They are as juicy as they are small and adorable.

Fat Orange Cat double IPAs.

The most “me” beer I’ve ever purchased – Evil Twin’s cola sour with marshmallow and cinnamon.

A fun thing for this December – we bought a marshmallow advent calendar. Our first two flavors were cranberry and maple pancake.

My parents sent us an assortment of mint candies, including homemade buttermints!

A take on the New York Times’ cheesy white bean bake – I added shredded chicken, onion, chili flake, and urfa pepper.

Trader Joe’s cheese blintzes. Topped with cranberry sauce and a brown sugar vanilla yogurt sauce.

Chicken burger, roasted broccoli and cauliflower, and Trader Joe’s latkes and cauliflower latkes.

Takeout from Roast – chicken taco sandwich / roast beef melt / crispy chili brussel sprouts – with leftover latkes.

25Oct2021

Tahini Frozen Cold Brew

by Emily

Highlights from a weekend with a lot of Brooklyn walking (Prospect Heights to Cobble Hill // Greenpoint to Williamsburg) – – –

Coffee from home – iced phin-brew with ube and chocolate milk.

Edith’s has a brick-and-mortar now and their tahini and oat milk frozen cold brew officially made it into my top five lifetime favorite coffees!

Our spicy everything bagel with smoked mackerel salad and labneh was not bad either.

A very summery sandwich and seltzer from Campbell’s. Smoked chicken, pimento cheese, green apples, pickled onions, mayo, and arugula on sourdough + hibiscus and rose.

We went big for our last Smorgasburg visit of the season. Cookies and cream ice cream with toasted Italian meringue.

Duck Season royal poutine – duck fat fries, duck bacon, cheese curds, and duck gravy!!

This frozen daiquiri from Elsa is my new favorite cocktail. I would like all of my drinks to be served with butterscotch and date molasses from now on!