Smoked Cheddar To Chocolate Almond

Flavor themes of the week: coffee, cauliflower, seltzer, croissants.

White Noise.  Iced latte and black sesame and milk frozen yogurt swirl fantasticness.

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Home coffee for the week.  Starbucks espresso roast with chocolate milk.

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Breads Bakery.  Smoked cheddar croissant.

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Orwashers.  Almond and chocolate croissant.

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Yogurt bowl.  2% Fage with pomegranate, golden raisins, and luxardo cherries.

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Snack time.  Soursop yogurt drink / red walnuts and marcona almonds with rosemary / pinata apple.

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Kakigōri from a pop-up at Canal Street Market.  Japanese-style shave ice with black currant chocolate sauce, smoked almonds, and torched meringue.  Toasted meringue is one of my all-time favorite flavors.

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Luke’s Lobster.  Lobster rolls taste like butter squared.

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Pelicana.  Korean fried chicken is the best fried chicken, period.

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Not a winner dinner.  Cauliflower rice / sauteed bok choy with rice vinegar / ground turkey sauteed with chopped kimchi and gojuchang / soft boiled egg.  This had so much potential but I ended up stopping halfway through and eating fried chicken leftovers instead.

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Another night we were supposed to have cauliflower soup for dinner but I couldn’t deal with the blender so at the last minute I ended up making… whatever the hell this is.  At least it was tasty!  Sauteed yellow onion and leeks with celery seed and smoked paprika / roasted cauliflower / turkey bacon / sharp cheddar.

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Have a great weekend!

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Fresh On The Blog

Gotta love a three day weekend!  I don’t work today (hence the late post) and my plans include the dog, my bed, and The Office, the end.

My Friday, Saturday, Sunday were all pretty great too.  Friday, Adam drove me into work so we had before-work breakfast date and after-work dinner date (plus we basically consider the time driving in the car to be a date too!).  Saturday, I met up with girlfriends for brunch and discovered that Bayside, Queens – which is about 10 minutes from my house – is actually kind of great.  And Sunday, we had friends in from out of town and we got to show them the magic of Grand Central Whispering Gallery; plus the magic of coffee from Cafe Grumpy!

highlights…

Apertif.  I had a croque canard sandwich with duck rillettes, apple, brie, and béchamel.

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F.O.B.  A newish Filipino spot in Cobble Hill people have been (rightly) raving about.

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We got so much good food!  Corn bibingka – rice cake with farmers cheese, kesong puti, and coconut butter.

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Overnight chicken adobo and pechay – sautéed Chinese cabbage with chili and garlic.

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And Halo Halo – shaved ice with nata de coco, red beans, tapioca, mango, jackfruit, and ube ice cream!

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French Workshop.  We split something with white chocolate mousse, and hazelnuts, and milk chocolate ganache but there were about a million other things that looked good too.

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Joyce Bakeshop.  We’ve decided that we don’t love their coffee, but their kouign amann is my all-time favorite pastry.  Seriously, I like it more than filled croissants from Union Fair and cronuts from Dominique Ansel, and that bar is set pretty damn high.

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Kame Ramen in Nomad.  I had spicy chicken miso with sesame oil and a soft boiled egg.

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I did manage to cook one meal at home – loaded baked potato casserole / shredded chicken with bbq sauce / spinach salad with pomegranate, marcona almonds, and Trader Joe’s cilantro salad dressing.

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Have a great week!

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Heart On My Apron

It’s hard to believe that the Valentine’s celebration of love fell on a week when America really needs some extra love <– but more importantly needs better gun control legislation.

– – There is no good segue from my opening thoughts to blathering about my lunches so I’m just going to abruptly start talking about food here. – –

Highlights from this week…

Chocolate covered strawberry smoothie – plain Greek yogurt, frozen strawberries, and chocolate milk.

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Chocolate covered cherry iced coffee – espresso roast with chocolate milk and Luxardo cherry juice.

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There is a snazzy new Hungry Ghost location near my work and their fantastic iced lattes have not been a good thing for my coffee budget.

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Seriously though, the best coffee of my life was Sunday while grocery shopping – the frozen moolattas from Stew Leonard’s are unreasonably delicious.

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Birthday cake flavored protein bar.

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Sumo mandarin // conversation hearts // sweetened dried lemon and dried persimmon.

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Lavender yogurt with blueberries // dark chocolate heart.

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Vanilla bean yogurt with blueberries and a jaffa murcot mandarin.

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Coffee and chicory yogurt with blueberries // cinnamon churro crispy treat.

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Pinch of Yum’s bourbon chicken.  I used breasts instead of thighs, roasted shredded cabbage instead of rice, and upgraded to maple bourbon.

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Cheesy baked crab dip – with shredded crab, cream cheese, cheddar, green onion, Old Bay, minced ginger, and fish sauce.

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Scooped with orange bell pepper slices and Trader Joe’s coconut shrimp.

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Spiralized zucchini sauteed with lemon and pepper topped with  extra-firm tofu crusted in peanut sauce (peanut butter, soy sauce, rice vinegar, lime juice, fish sauce, canola oil, sugar, garlic, and ginger).

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I hope everyone has a fun, safe, love-filled weekend.

 

Emily Of Sandwich

This was a short week for me on the work front, I was off Monday from the weekend (with Adam!!) and off Thursday for a doctor’s appointment.  Wear your sunblock, kids – I have to have two moles surgically removed, one on my chest and one on my back, complete with stitches, giant gross scars, and a month straight of no gym and no normal showers.  At least I got a good lunch in Manhattan out of the deal?

Highlights…

We finally made it to Doughnut Project!  The Malter White was great, malted milk chocolate with a malted chocolate chip mini cookie and cookie crumble.

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We got a gift certificate to the Russian Tea Room for Christmas this year and we enjoyed a super fancy lunch.  We had vodka, of course.

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And caviar.

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And I had delicious Kulebiaka for my entree –  salmon with slow cooked onions, mushrooms, and vegetables wrapped in pastry, served with braised caraway cabbage and mustard beurre blanc.

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Yogurt bowl wins.  Greek with fresh strawberries and caramel almond butter.

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Strawberry Icelandic style with a fancy tangerine.

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Chicken quesadilla from La Esquina.

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Best ever ice cream from Ice & Vice.  Malted vanilla with sea salt caramel.

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Dessert at Vanilla Bean.  Banoffee tart for me and a crazy good iced latte.

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Caramelized banana peanut butter cups.

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It was sandwich week for dinners!  Croque Madame – rye bread, smoked turkey, sharp cheddar, strawberry jam, french toasted – with roasted broccoli and shishitos.

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Jalopeño popper turkey burgers with smoked gouda and roasted green beans.  We didn’t have buns but I’m still counting this as a sandwich.

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Asian-style turkey reubens – with gojuchang mayo and kimchi – with roasted shredded brussel sprouts.

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May The Schwartz Be With You

^^^ That’s a Spaceballs quote for my title because this post includes a lot of meatballs!

Best bites this week…

Coffee combo from heaven, Birch cold brew roast and chocolate milk.

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Even better, chocolate milk with a Grady’s cold brew.

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Yogurt bowl wins.  Chobani mango with blueberries and doughnut cereal.

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2% Greek with blueberries and a big scoop of MaraNatha caramel almond butter.

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Important note – this is my new all-time favorite nut butter.  If you eat it straight out of the jar (as I’ve been doing all week) it tastes like delicious frosting!

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Ball!  I made a batch of baked turkey meatballs with sage, lemon, and whole wheat panade.

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Served on lemon pepper broccoli rice / with gussied up tomato sauce – with tomato paste, shredded sweet onion, garlic, anchovy, and oregano.

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Plus we made toasted meatball subs!  With smoked gouda and Parmesan.

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And a side of roasted broccoli.

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I also did another round of hot dish.  This time an Asian take with shredded turkey, ginger, gojuchang, peas, shiitake mushrooms, bok choy, and sweet potato tots.

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And you can never go wrong with pizza.  What am I even going to do when I don’t live walking distance from buffalo chicken?!

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I work the next three days but I hope everyone else enjoys their weekend!

Quesadillas, Chilaquiles, And Burritos, Oh My!

As I flip from one classical musical references in my title to another in my opening line… This week these were a few of my favorite things

Favorite breakfast – This incredibly excitingly pink coconut water.

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One of my coffee combos – Birch Cold Brew roast with vanilla cashew milk.  <– good idea in theory but the mouthfeel and taste were both sort of “empty” to me and I ended up having to add a splash of cow’s milk.

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Favorite yogurt bowl – Vanilla & Cinnamon Chobani with Brown Sugar Cinnamon peanut butter.  Plus a Kanzi apple.

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Favorite snack – an assortment of nuts and dried fruits from Trader Joe’s.

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Pears, persimmons, and sweetened dried lemons plus TJ’s nut and seed medley.

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I can’t choose one favorite dessert, they were all so good!  We were surprised by how tasty these TJ’s churro bites turned out to be.

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I made a batch of snack attack brownies!  This recipe, minus marshmallow, plus crushed potato chips, pretzels, and m&ms.

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And I was killing it in the dinner department this week.  Baked burritos – whole wheat tortillas / shredded chicken breast / sauteed onions and orange and yellow bell peppers cooked with cumin / shredded sharp cheddar cheese / TJ’s double roasted salsa.

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Chilaquiles, mostly from scratch.

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I made chips out of the whole wheat tortillas / cooked in salsa and diced tomatoes / with leftover onions and peppers / shredded chicken / lime / cheese / topped with a sunny side up egg and a dollop of plain Greek yogurt.

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Egg and cheese sandwiches with homemade sausage.

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Whole wheat hamburger buns toasted with mayonnaise / cheese / fried egg / turkey sausage made with smoked paprika, fresh sage, and maple syrup.

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Plus roasted green beans.

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And yesterday I had a late doctor’s appointment in the city so I grabbed dinner at La Esquina.  I had a ridiculously delicious chicken quesadilla with salsa verde.

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I am off of work today with a three-day weekend and we’ve got super fun dinner plans tonight, woo-hoo!

Good Coffee, Bad Coffee

Weekend coffee round-up:  The cold brew roast from Birch is fantastic.

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This Vita Cafe vanilla coconut water coffee is pretty darn good.

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And the vanilla iced latte from Panera is no good, terrible, very bad.  <– it was so sweet it was practically caustic, and that was with “light on syrup” and extra espresso!

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Saturday, Adam and I spent the day in Astoria.  We finally got to check out the Museum of the Moving Image, which had a great Jim Henson exhibit running.

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Plus we got a sprinkle cookie from Chip.

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Spent some time at the gorgeous newer, bigger Kinship.  <– maple cold brew, for the win

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And got brunch at Queens Comfort.  We shared the cornflake crusted chicken and waffle with maple tabasco glaze.

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And the Super Marios Benedict – cheesy cheddar chicken patty, home fries, poached egg, and hollandaise.

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Home-based highlights include a yogurt bowl for work – lemon Chobani, sour lemon raisins, blackberries, and strawberry granola minis.

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Cocktail hour.  Sprite, grapefruit seltzer, and vodka.

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Chicken hash bowls.

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Duck fat / shredded chicken / yellow onion / spring onion / red bell pepper / arugula / tater tots / cream cheese / smoked paprika / and a fried egg.

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Spicy Cherry Coke Chicken

This past week was extra-strength lengthy.  I stayed late at work a few days and had several issues with my train and the end result was that I was home more than two hours late almost every day this week – yuck!  I did manage to eat some good dinners still, but I did not manage to get this post up on time.

Best bites {or really should I be writing “superior sips” here because I always start with coffee?!} –

Iced coffee with sweetened condensed milk.

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I also had a yummy iced latte from Birch.

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And I tried the new blonde espresso from Starbucks.  <– quite good, felt like it should be paired with vanilla

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Peach Siggi’s with a Cara Cara orange and strawberry granola minis.

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Plain Icelandic style yogurt with maple taffy, Page mandarins, and sprinkled donut crunch cereal.

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I am a marketer’s dream; I don’t eat cereal all that often, and I hate Captain Crunch, but I still bought this because it was adorable!

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Adam and I both had Monday off, so we got to go on a lunch date!  Serendipity3.

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It was our best meal there to date, we were both swooning over our entrees.  I had curried chicken casserole with almonds and many bites of Adam’s sandwich.

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We came home with two-full-meals-worth of leftovers and were still almost too full for dessert.  Almost.  This sundae is the best thing ever – humble (peanut butter) pie / vanilla ice cream / sliced bananas / hot fudge.

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Bonus – we stopped at Dylan’s next door before our walk across the Queensborough bridge and bought a candy bar on a whim that ended up being fantastic.

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I made a big crockpot of Spicy Cherry Coke Chicken for dinners.  Basically this recipe but with Coke instead of Dr Pepper and chicken instead of pork and I diced up my cherries, chipotles, and jalapenos.

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Served on a sandwich with brioche bun and mayo.

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And roasted zucchini on the side.

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And served on top of nachos!

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My other dinners were brinners.

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Breakfast bowl with sauteed kale with tons of garlic and onion, Trader Joe’s meatless breakfast sausages, and two fried eggs.

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Scrambled eggs with tons of onion, chipotle, and sharp cheddar and roasted green beans on the side.

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Hope everyone is having a great weekend!