Buchi, Boba, Bacon

Highlights from a yummy week…

Coffee combo = Brooklyn Roasting Co with sweetened condensed milk, shakerato style.

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This pineapple + mint Buchi is my new favorite kombucha.

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Kung Fu Tea served me a fantastic bubble tea, rosehip milk tea with coconut jelly and boba.

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Chipotle salads are possibly one of my top five favorite foods.  Romaine, chicken, fajita veggies, pinto beans, hot salsa, corn salsa, sour cream, cheese.

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Homemade green curry.  Chicken sausage and zucchini / on cauliflower rice / with green curry paste, coconut milk, fish sauce, brown sugar, and lime.

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Tasty egg sandwiches.  Seeded challah rolls with fried eggs, sharp cheddar, turkey bacon, and mayo and gojuchang.  Plus the simplest salads – romaine with ranch.

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Dinner out at Bebedero.

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We had great drinks – a paloma with mezcal, rosemary, and black sea salt and tepache, a fermented pineapple drink.

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And I had nachos with cheese sauce and house-pickled jalopenos.

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Pizza Pizza

Flavor themes from the week – cherries and cheese.  These were the highlights…

Brooklyn Roasting Co coffee.  After this I have one last tin left from NY… guess we need to take another trip soon!

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It was a good week in snacks, thanks in part to a fun package full of goodies from my parents.  Including cherry cola Mike & Ikes and delicious chocolate-covered dried cherries.

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Two new to us snacks, salted caramel Somersaults (<– best flavor yet!) and Sweet Sapphire grapes.

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Another new flavor, sesame bbq chicken Epic bar.

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I cooked salmon for dinner one night.  Roasted coho topped with a vegan scallion pesto – food-processed pine nuts, parsley, sauteed green onions, and evoo.  Plus homemade cole slaw.  The sauce was great, but sadly the salmon was fairly flavorless without it.

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The rest of the week dinners were all about pizza!  I loosely followed this recipe for pepperoni pizza macaroni and cheese.  Whole wheat shell pasta > macaroni pasta.  Pro tip – any time I make macaroni and cheese (or any roux thickened sauce) I always substitute low-fat condensed milk for the recommended liquid.  The results always taste fantastic and it means we don’t have an open container of whole milk in the house which is great because both Adam and I dislike it.  Plus roasted zucchini.

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Meat lovers pizza.  Frozen crust from Trader Joe’s / we added tomato paste while we sauteed some chicken sausage and added that to our marinara sauce / topped with turkey pepperoni and turkey bacon / plus mozzarella and cheddar.  With roasted green beans.

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What is your favorite pizza topping?  Apparently mine is bacon!

Dachshund Diaries

Top five from this weekend…

{1} It was the seventh anniversary of Webster’s buyday! <– click that link for some amazing baby dachshund photos

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We ate some bacon-flavored wet food.

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And frolicked in the dog park.  There were no other dogs there, so it was basically Webster’s ideal afternoon

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{2} We found our new pizza spot – Dr. Ho’s Humble Pie.

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Such tasty crust!  We had the Annie Oakley – spicy buffalo chicken breast, pineapple, pickled jalapeno, mozarella, and cheddar.  I did not know that spicy pizza was what was missing from my life!  Plus we had a pink lemonade sour.

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{3} Wegman’s bakery bar now has caramel stuffed brownies and cookie dough stuffed brownies and they are damn good.

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{4} We also loved this caramel pecan ice cream.

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{5} Simple salad dinner.  Sweet baby lettuce / baby carrots / pine nuts / ranch / herbed turkey.  With homemade cheesy garlic bread.

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Tahini Rose

Highlights from this week…

The coffee stand at my hospital makes a fantastic iced latte.

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I put rose water and cream (and red food coloring) in my home-brewed coffee this week and it was pretty exciting.

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I bought these protein cookies expecting to hate them (but I can’t pass up anything that is supposed to taste like birthday cake!) and was very pleasantly surprised.

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Still loving this Trader Joe’s olive medley.

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Milk-filled snacks are the best.  Israeli chocolates and Korean cookies.

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I went to a bbq at my cousin’s house and brought flourless chocolate tahini cookies.  Just chocolate tahini, sugar, and egg.

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My buffalo blue cheese black bean burgers for dinner.

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With roasted broccoli, baby carrots, and a side of ranch.

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Plus two super fun summery and fruity beers.  Watermelon and pina colada goses.

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Buffalo chicken cheese fries = sweet potato fries / blue cheese and cheddar / shredded chicken with buffalo sauce / ranch.  Plus roasted green beans.

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A salad from Cooking Light.  We did arugula, shredded chicken, cucumber, roasted chickpeas, and parsley pesto.

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Weekend Top 5

{1}  High Brew Double Espresso = a packaged coffee option I actually enjoyed.

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{2}  My first Mezeh experience.  I went with Kath!  It was great to catch up with her and the food was great too.  Caramelized eggplant should be on every menu.

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{3}  Creamy honey mustard skillet chicken.  Served with brussel sprouts.

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{4}  Strawberry rose frozen dessert.  This stuff was so good!  And all I did was food process strawberries, sweetened condensed milk, and rose water and then freeze.

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Related note – this shampoo has been rocking my face off.

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{5}  Related note 2 – while I had scm open in the house I made a shakerato and it was the best coffee to ever come out of my kitchen.

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Hell Of A Halvah

Highlights from this week…

It’s really lovely to have a husband who arranges me flowers and buys me cupcakes when I’m cranky!  Related note – it’s also really nice to live walking distance from Sweethaus because apparently they are our favorite cupcakes on the planet.

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Random drink assortment from work, the lemon rose blossom water was surprisingly delicious.

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Weirdest/most exciting snack award goes to – this Japanese candy we brought home from NY.  It was like a fun dip but with a cola flavored lollipop and fizzy milk powder.

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Fantastic product sample – Absolutely Gluten Free sent me their newest snack item: TahiniBARs.  Halvah is a candy made of sesame paste and it is both Adam’s and my very favorite treat.

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The TahiniBARS come in vanilla, pistachio, and cocoa nibs.  They are certified kosher, dairy free, and gluten free.  Each serving has 100 calories.

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We LOVED them!  They absolutely stacked up to the halvah I grew up eating and the artisinal varieties we’ve had in NY.

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One of my favorite ways to eat halvah is crumbled up in yogurt, so one day I made an absolutely ridiculous snack – plain Greek yogurt / vanilla TahiniBAR / Soom chocolate tahini spread / red plum and green pluot.  Delicious.

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We had some tasty dinner too.  Like bbq chicken fried rice.  Fried rice / carmelized red onion / shredded rotisserie chicken / fresh corn / collard greens cooked with rice vinegar / bbq sauce / eggs.

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Jalopeno popper pasta, loosely inspired by this recipe.  We used whole-wheat shells, turkey bacon, no cream, and less cheese; plus I topped mine with panko.  With roasted zucchini.

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Leftovers with an assortment of baby wines.  I do NOT recommend the rose.

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Homemade buffalo chicken dip / scooped with baby carrots and potato chips / celery sauteed with butter, salt, pepper, and celery seed.

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I’m trying out a recipe that sounds super fun this weekend, so please cross your fingers for me that it turns out!

Supermoon And Sprinkles

It was my birthday!

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The day itself was pretty ho-hum – I worked an extra-long day, it rained like crazy, the cupcake shop I planned on visiting closed early without warning – but it’s always nice to have survived another year!  And my pre-birthday trip to New York was pretty fabulous; I am glad I got my good weather then.

Highlights from the week…

Pathetically, I ate this strawberry Airhead as my birthday-day dessert.

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But later in the week we splurged on this $9 pint of marshmallow and violet ice cream.  <– best ice cream I’ve ever tasted, including the stuff I ate at a Jeni’s in Ohio last fall

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Lately in coffee, I’ve tried and been disappointed by several packaged options.

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At least I fulfilled my favorite birthday tradition – freebie Starbucks quad iced latte with sprinkles on top.

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I made a cocktail with this dream team –

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We got salad bowls at Chipotle with so much cheese on them it was almost too much, almost.

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My birthday dinner was our first – mightily successful – trip to Beer Run.  They’re kind of famous for their nachos.

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And I had a salmon bahn mi (with pickled strawberries!) that was pretty good.

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Plus a key lime brown sugar margarita and a key lime pie tart ale.

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Yesterday we slow-cooked a delicious dinner.  Brown sugar garlic chicken thighs.  I added smoked paprika, but otherwise followed the recipe.  With roasted broccoli with crock pot drippings and Sriracha.

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Less than 12 hours to the weekend!

Let’s Taco ‘Bout The Weekend

Booze, tacos, doughnuts, and iced coffees… it was a good weekend!  Here were the highlights…

Cookie dough milk iced coffee.

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Cinnamon vanilla iced latte.

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Iced latte with toasted marshmallow syrup.

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Also I had a caramel macchiato doughnut.  Sugar Shack makes some of the best doughnuts I’ve ever tasted!

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Brunch at Marie Bette, a European-style bakery.

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I had a ho-hum grapefruit hibiscus cider.  <– I need to stop ordering ciders, I think I really am not a fan!

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And the quiche of the day – tomato and white cheddar.

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Sandwiches at Hot Cakes, another super cute bakery.  Rye, smoked turkey, muenster, and cole slaw.  I think cole slaw on sandwiches is the best.

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Take-out from Silk Thai.  Fried tofu and chicken pad see ew.

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Saturday night, we got tacos with my cousin and her boyfriend.  Brazos is dog-friendly, which is fantastic, and our tacos were delicious.  Triple pickle = refried black beans, mushroom bruja, roasted pepitas, chopped jalapeños, red onion pickles, jalapeño pickles, and pickled watermelon // tres quesos = Oaxacan cheese, manchego cheese, and queso fresco, with refried black beans, sliced avocado, roasted corn pico, and pickled watermelon // and a hibiscus margarita.

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Then we went to Three Notched and I had vodka (with mint limeade) and a dog in my lap – aka all my favorite things!

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