Mint, Matcha, Meatball

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).

12/31/21

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.

See also – rainbow sherbet Hi-Chews.

Whole Food’s peanut butter and jelly bites plus mandarins.

Christmas dinner leftovers – roasted brussel sprouts with duck sausage, sharp cheddar, and chili flakes.

We might actually be addicted to Roast Sandwiches. I’ve been getting take-out from them at least once a week the past month and I think about their roast beef sandwiches constantly. This was a bbq chicken crunch wrap.

Sautéed maple sriracha kale with an herby bean salad. Great Northern beans with green onion, turkey bacon, garlic oil, Sichuan pepper salt, and tons of fresh mint and cilantro.

An even fancier salad. Sautéed kale with garlic and balsamic vinaigrette topped with roasted beets, deglet dates, pomegranate, honey goat cheese, and crumbled beef bacon.

P.S. Starting tomorrow Adam and I are both on vacation together for a week!

Peppermint > Wintergreen > Spearmint

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

Peppermint mochas with Copper Cow.

See also – La Colombe peppermint mocha latte with a chocolate mint Perfect bar.

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.

Festival Of Latkes

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.

Tahini Frozen Cold Brew

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!

And this was my newest favorite bubble tea combo – peppermint tea with herbal jelly and strawberry hearts.

Gooey peanut butter cookie.

Dinner at Pinto Thai. We loved the assemble your Thai iced tea.

Chicken satay.

Green papaya salad.

Crispy chicken with walnut, almond, peanut, cashew, and pumpkin seeds.

Candy Corn – Love Or Hate?

Highlights from this week include – – –

Pumpkin Noosa + candy corn and Halloween mellow creams (I am very pro candy corn, by the way! I also like black licorice and mint candies)

I didn’t like this yogurt but I did quite enjoy the Jones bar.

Still very into these vegan pork rinds. Adam brought some into a work meeting and his coworkers were largely fans.

I scooped homemade caramelized onion, cheddar, and sour cream dip with these chips and that was obviously the best thing I ate all week!

I’d probably buy any Ben & Jerry’s new release but coffee with marshmallow was a no-brainer.

This week’s pumpkin booze was all from Shipyard. I shocked myself with how much I liked that seltzer.

I actually didn’t love this hatch chili mac and cheese and am posting to remind myself not to buy it again.

Whole Foods hot bar. Mac and cheese, green beans, buffalo cauliflower, and curried cauliflower.

Passionfruit vinegar chicken from the crock pot (extremely loosely based on this recipe). With roasted broccoli.

California bowls! Imitation crab sticks with cucumber and avocado / dressed with Kewpie, chili oil, and rice vinegar / and topped with furikake.

Pumpkin, Cinnamon, Squash

Highlights from a nice weekend…

A coffee menagerie.

Drip Coffee has gotten a lot of good press and I see why – this oat milk latte was smooth and delicious!

Bars – pumpkin pie was good, chocolate seed and oats was great.

It was Sweetest Day on Saturday so Adam and I went on a date to Laderach to buy an unreasonable amount of chocolates.

Golden Years in Brooklyn for a classic cheeseburger with fries.

Plus not-so-classic Cuba Libre with fernet and Paloma with mezcal and jalopeno.

Dinner at Kings Co Imperial. Guangzhou Layover – mezcal, plum, Campari, and Strega.

Crispy oyster mushrooms with Sichuan chili pepper.

Chinese eggplant with garlic and kung pow sauce.

Chicken dumplings in cinnamon oil.

Noodles with mushrooms.

Best meal of the weekend was this homemade dinner. Curried chicken salad with celery, toasted almonds, and dried apricots, plus roasted yellow squash and delicata squash with cinnamon, urfa chili, and gochugaru.

Pumpkin And Pizza

Highlights from this week…

Beverage wins – cinnamon vanilla cold brew // pumpkin spice latte // strawberry tonic kombucha.

Pina colada smoothie – coconut milk, pineapple, and banana.

Pumpkin spice skyr with a coffee maple cacao bar.

Pumpkin spice Greek yogurt with Cheerios and pumpkin spice granola.

Very into these cheeze stuffed pretzels this week. They are vegan but I definitely melted regular sharp cheddar onto them.

I also turned them into pizza trail mix! With sundried tomatoes, baru baru nuts, and crispy cheese bites.

Sautéed ground turkey with bbq sauce / roasted broccoli romanesco / sautéed TJ’s cruciferous crunch blend / sharp cheddar / Caribbean beans and rice – brown basmati, pink beans, onion, ginger, habanero, and coconut milk.

A crockpot take on this pineapple chicken / riced cauliflower / roasted butternut squash.

Adam invited me on a dinner date but there was hour+ traffic in all directions so instead we got Whole Foods hot bar and watched Castle… it was perfect!