This week’s flavor themes: coffee (always), cheese (almost always), lavender, yogurt, fresh herbs, and tahini granola (<– my newest, greatest recipe!).

We work all weekend – actually we work every day straight until next Friday – and we made the most of our shared Thursday off.  And we went on a dinner date on Tuesday!  Good times.

My seasonal allergies hit hard this week and I was a sneezy, disoriented mess so dinners were basically a disaster but my lunches were on point.  And dinners were fun, just lacking in greens; the “healthiest” meal of the week was veggie-packed nachos!

foods that were good

This week’s coffee – Black Hand with lavender sugar.  Very yummy with fat-free milk and half & half.

Also with the last of the Nutchello.

And paired alongside a lavender kombucha.

Important note – this pomegranate sangria seltzer tastes and smells exactly like Pez candy!

The serenity now blend from David’s Tea also deserves a mention, the spearmint is lovely.

Bonus – maple iced latte from Brooklyn Roasting Company.

My packed lunches were all about the tahini granola.  With plain yogurt and berries.

Though one day I did have Chobani watermelon with fresh watermelon.  If you haven’t had watermelon in a yogurt bowl yet, go for it, the combo is fantastic.

And yesterday we did a lunch date at Madison Square Eats. <– a food tent situation similar to Smorgasburg

It was great to sit outside and eat in the sun.  We shared a salmon belly dosa waffle from Inday.

And a green papaya salad with lemongrass chicken from Hong Kong Kitchen.  Served on a giant bed of lettuce.

But our true raison d’être was the Ice & Vice ice cream and Squish marshmallow collaboration.  We had a scoop of Detention (malted vanilla with brownie and fruity pebble dust) with a toasted Birthday Party (sprinkles) marshmallow.  Yummmm!  Best marshmallow we’ve ever tasted.

The days I didn’t eat granola at lunch I had it as an evening snack!  I’m a woman obsessed; that stuff is delicious.  This was caramel Noosa with granola, melty cookie butter, and blackberries.

Speaking of evening snacks, the cookie butter is a very tempting thing to have open.

Take-out Pad Thai for dinner.  This wasn’t even my weak take-out, this was Adam’s leftovers from a night shift.  Like I said, dinners weren’t fantastic.

Pizza pizza.

Our dinner date at Pok Pok was a win.

That’s a tamarind whiskey sour.  Enjoyed with complimentary chili lime peanuts.

The food is served family-style and the waitress recommended sharing three dishes so that’s what we did.  Khao Soi Kai – Northern Thai mild curry noodle soup made with a secret curry paste recipe and coconut milk.  With chicken on the bone and crispy noodles.  Served with house pickled mustard greens, shallots, and roasted chili paste.

Cha Ca “La Vong” – Vietnamese catfish marinated in turmeric and sour sticky rice, fried in turmeric oil with scallions and dill, served on rice vermicelli with peanuts, mint, cilantro, and mam nem (fish sauce).  The fresh herbs took this over the top!  I have been loving the use of mint in our restaurant dishes lately.

Finally, Hoi Thawt – crispy broken crepe with steamed fresh mussels, eggs, garlic, chives and bean sprouts.  This was my favorite dish, you can’t go wrong with fried eggs.  I only recently started eating mussels but I really enjoyed them served this way.

We also had an amazing dessert.  A clever play on Thai iced coffee, this was a condensed milk ice cream affagato in Stumptown espresso.  With Thai doughnuts on the side.

Our homecooked dinner for the week was loaded nachos.  Corn chips, shredded cheese, shredded chicken, pinto beans, roasted broccoli, sautéed orange bell pepper and onion, avocado, and tons of fresh cilantro.

The dog was pretty pleased with this too, because he got several bites of chicken and avocado during the assembly stage.

three exciting non-food things

{1} How long the dog is in this photo Adam snapped of us in bed.

{2} The Egg and the Spoon.  I’m halfway done and loving it.  All of Gregory Maguire’s books are enchanting but this story is particularly so.  I’m going back and rereading every other page  because the wording is just so beautiful.

{3} I convinced one of my friends to start watching Hart of Dixie and now she texts me regular updates about how great it is!  I’m way too excited to have someone sharing my shame.