Meatball subs. I made baked turkey meatballs packed with garlic, parmesan, and urfa pepper. Plus Trader Joe’s crispy crunchy mushrooms which were 10/10.
Did I plan breakfast for dinner so that this iced macchiato milk stout would be on theme? Yes, 100%.
With cinnamon, pecan, banana pancakes. Plus turkey bacon, blueberries, sumo mandarin, and tons of maple syrup.
This was an exceptionally tasty week! My snacks were on point, we tried a fantastic new restaurant, and the dinners we cooked were total successes. Highlights include…
Brunch at Xilonen, a new vegetarian Mexican spot in Greenpoint. We were blown away by the scrambled egg tostada with salsa mache, queso, and a crispy blue corn tortilla.
Heirloom corn tamal, stuffed with sweet potato al pastor, and topped with smoked crema and poblano rajas.
Boba-studded popsicles are currently my favorite snack category.
10/10 leftovers from The Meat Hook. The french onion dip was the best I’ve ever had.
Farro / glazed, baked tofu / sautéed bok choy and green onion / chili crisp / fried shallots (which we made in the microwave!!).
Soba noodles / peanut sauce (loosely based on this one) / cabbage / zucchini / ground turkey / chili crisp and smashed peanuts.
Oven-baked crispy chicken tenders (loosely inspired by this recipe) with brown sugar chili crisp sauce + roasted broccoli with fried shallots. I went back for thirds of that chicken!
Last week was great, and filled with great eats. It worked out that I was off from work most of the week, which was just lovely! And Adam and I were both home together for Christmas, which has rarely happened in our marriage. The absolute best part of the week was walking around Manhattan (8 miles!) admiring holiday decorations and checking out the Rockefeller tree – – it was impossible to capture in a photo but even in the daytime the lights were stunning.
Other highlights included…
We obviously had to buy both of these eggnogs to do a comparison taste-test (premium was a bit better!).
Christmas morning dalgona coffee with eggnog.
Max Brenner‘s peanut butter hot chocolate blew our minds.
Trader Joe’s peppermint mini marshmallows are great.
And we loved this peppermint seltzer.
Birthday cake scone from Sweetie Pies on Main. We went out to Cold Spring Harbor to admire their decorations. And yes, we do have a car tree.
This snowball doughnut from Comfortland was insane. It was coated in coconut and stuffed with marshmallow cream.
Plain Greek yogurt bowl with banana, chocolate cashew butter, and cinnamon.
I’ve had my eye on this salmon candy spread for months and it did not disappoint. Paired wonderfully with everything-style crackers.
Still very into this frozen meal. Also fresh mandarin oranges.
Best meal I’ve ever made – crockpot five spice chicken thighs / celery, bok choy, and scallions / rice cakes / gojuchang brown sugar sauce. Topped with chili crisp.
We broiled the leftovers with mozzarella cheese and it somehow got even better.
The best meal we’ve ever eaten came from Milu. Mandarin duck with duck fat rice and marinated cucumbers / brisket with chili garlic mint sauce and tofu seaweed salad / chili crisp fried chicken with scallion mayo. Plus egg tart soft-serve. Every single bite was swoonworthy.
A roasted sheet-pan meal with brussel sprouts, cave aged blue cheese, turkey sausage, dried sweet cherries, yellow raisins, and sweet and spicy pecans.
Soft-scrambled eggs with roasted broccoli rabe and purple cauliflower, cucumber salad, and hot-smoked salmon.
Adam and I had time together on Friday, Saturday, Sunday and we had just the best weekend ever! We got super lucky with nice weather which makes all of the difference this time of year.
Friday night we met up with friends for distanced fun in Brooklyn. Dinner and some stand-up comedy. Ample Hills does shows on their rooftop and each $10 ticket comes with a giant cup of ice cream! I got Coffee Toffee and No Sleep ‘Til Pumpkin – coffee ice cream with pumpkin gooey butter cake pieces.
Saturday we took a sixteen mile walk around the Upper West Side and Central Park.
And Sunday we visited the Brooklyn Botanic Garden.
Food highlights from the week include…
Rainbow cookie iced latte with edible glitter and pink whipped cream(!!!) from Crave.
Snacks from H-Mart. Oreo bubble tea candy and durian chocolates. Plus seaweed and salted egg potato chips.
A two chip chocolate chip cookie from Levain (newest best cookie ever) and a Campfire Cappuccino from Orwashers (with toasted marshmallow and hickory smoke, newest best marshmallow coffee ever).
Dinner at Tradisyon. I had Kare Kare – stewed oxtail and brisket in peanut sauce with eggplant, green beans, and bok choy and shrimp paste.
Plus we got delicious popsicles. Soy milk with mochi and brown sugar and calamansi cheesecake with meringue.
We were easing ourselves back to work so we kept my birthday weekend pretty low-key. Adam and I made super exciting, sprinkle-packed coffees and walked around Cold Spring Harbor admiring the flowers in the morning and then got sushi take-out for dinner and I video-chatted with my parents while opening presents. And the next night we met up with friends for drinks/dinner/a long walk around Park Slope. It was perfect!
An epic yogurt bowl – – plain Greek yogurt with cashew butter, plum, plucot, apricot, and Bueno Bar.
I left key lime pie off of my list of favorite foods the other day, but it’s definitely in the top fifteen! Westbrook’s Key Lime Pie Gose is fantastic. I also made a wonderful key lime pie cocktail with lime juice, vodka, sweetened condensed milk, and key lime seltzer.
Birthday sushi. I got seaweed salad, a roll with egg and pickled vegetables, and a roll with king crab, crunch, avocado, and spicy mayo.
Chuko Ramen. I got the kimchi ramen with soy eggs. It was so great to see friends for the first time in months… we were sitting outside and only took our masks off to eat and we all felt pretty safe about it.
Cross your fingers for me that it’s an easy transition back to work, please!
Highlights from this week (mostly beverages that blew my mind!) include…
Starbucks vanilla sweet cream nitro cold brew can gets a 7.5/10. Not as good as a freshly made nitro but better than many canned coffees.
Wendy’s new cold brew with chocolate Frosty creamer gets a 7/10; a great score for a fast food coffee. It was not too sweet and the coffee was vastly more robust than Dunkin Donuts’.
I always enjoy Health Ade Kombucha and their passion fruit tangerine flavor is my new 2nd favorite (it comes in behind their holiday spice flavor).
AHA = my new favorite sparkling water. This was the surprisingly fantastic flavor combo of cherry and coffee! And it’s caffeinated!!
My favorite yogurt (Trader Joe’s plain skyr) with my new favorite oatmeal cookies (Stella’s easy one bowl recipe) and some mandarinquats (which I actually didn’t enjoy because they were impossible to eat).
Crazy good take-out from Cheng Du. I got kung pow tofu and Szechuan chili oil tofu and it was some of the best Chinese food I’ve ever tasted.
This was hands-down the best sandwich I’ve ever made. I could not stop raving out it.
Brioche bun with Kewpie mayo / chicken thighs marinated in pineapple juice, brown sugar, sriracha, minced ginger, soy sauce, and rice vinegar then roasted / bbq sauce made with the reduced marinade plus ketchup / topped with sauteed sweet onion, poblano pepper, and pineapple. Served with roasted broccoli.
Highlights from this week include – a day trip into Brooklyn // tons of tortilla chips and salsas // a product review.
Oatsome sent me a carton of their oat-milk to try {I was provided no additional compensation and all opinions shared are my own}. I have a three pronged review –
1) Taste: the flavor is similar to skim milk in that it is not strong at all; I could definitely identify that oats were involved but it wasn’t “oat forward.” It was inoffensive in coffee and cereal which is basically what I’m looking for in my non-dairy milks. I could not get it to foam for coffee, likely due to its low protein content. Tastewise, Oatsome is definitely my new favorite non-dairy option. Typically I won’t order at coffee shops that don’t stock skim milk but I would consider places with oat milk more regularly now.
2) Nutrition: one cup of Oatsome contains 130 calories and 2 grams of protein. It does not contain dairy, nuts, or added sugars and it is gluten free. It’s a low sodium option with 60 mg per cup. Oatsome is fortified with calcium (provides 20% DRI), vitamin D (provides 10% DRI), riboflavin (provides 40% DRI), and vitamin B12 (provides 40% DRI). For vegans, it is awesome that this is fortified with B12. However, for anyone who depends on dairy to help meet their daily protein needs at 2 grams per cup Oatsome probably isn’t the best choice (versus skim milk with 8 grams protein per cup).
3) Environmental impact: oats require 80% less water to grow than almonds.
I had Oatsome in a cup of espresso roast with brown sugar.
And in a bowl of Heritage Flakes with blueberries.
Vanilla bean Greek yogurt with blueberries and a honey tangerine.
An egg sandwich from Golda with muhumarra, kashkaval, dill, sumac’d onion, and beef bacon. Plus a salted tahini oat milk latte!
Baby carrots and roasted broccoli dipped in Asian ginger dressing.
Homemade chilaquiles. We used yellow and orange bell pepper, serrano pepper, sweet onion, leftover salsa, and tortilla chips. Topped with eggs, homemade cilantro crema, and Cholula.
Nacho night. Tortilla chips, black beans, poached chicken thighs, sauteed onion and poblano pepper, cheese, Trader Joe’s salsa, and sour cream.
Eating Chalk 