Oahu Part III, Fun Places We Ate

by Emily

We were blown away by how good everything we ate on this trip was! Hawaiian chefs are absolutely killing it. The next time we go back to Hawaii I would strongly consider returning to Oahu just to revisit some of these spots!

I really tried to limit my picture taking and this post will be a million pages long if I list out every single thing we ate so this will just be the highlights of the highlights…

** Kona Coffee Purveyors.

Nitro Kona coffee with a black sesame kougan amann (not shown). Affogato.

** Leonard’s Bakery.

This malasada (Portuguese doughnut) stuffed with guava cream was my favorite bite of the entire trip.

** Matsumoto Shave Ice.

This was my favorite shave ice of the trip; the flavors were spot on and the ice cream was wonderfully chewy and a great foil to the ice. Guava, passion fruit, and strawberry on top of vanilla ice cream and topped with condensed milk.

** O’Kims.

Dumplings stuffed with king oyster mushroom, button ear wood, yellow squash, zucchini, and truffle paste, topped shoyu jelly and pickled dikon.

Korean fried chicken with gochujang, housemade gnocchi, brussel sprouts, purple rice, and kimchi.

** The Pig and the Lady.

Midday Run – mezcal, passion fruit, vanilla, habanero, and lemon (not shown). Le Swoon – Kohana rum agricole, Okinawan sweet potato, pandan, coconut milk, cinnamon, lime, and aphrodite bitters.

Chocolate banana tart with Valrhona dark chocolate cremeux, chocolate cookie crust, fresh banana and banana marmalade, toasted hazelnuts, and tamarind caramel.

** Piggy Smalls.

This was hands down our best meal of the trip! We ordered all the things. Brussel sprouts with makrut lime, peanut, fried shallots, cabbage slaw, and pickled red onions.

Stir-fried ramen noodles with aged garlic shoyu, Chinese chives, pickled fresno chile, and shrimp.

Lychee infused milk cake with blueberry compote, lychee chantilly cream, and lemon citrus streusel.

Hanoi egg coffee, Kona dark roast poured on whipped egg yolk and vanilla bean.

** The Surfing Pig.

Best cocktails of the trip. I drank way too much prior to our 10 hour red-eye flight. The bartender was crazy talented and also maybe my new favorite person – she hugged us on our way out. Smoked rosemary mezcal margarita. I also had a spicy paloma with mezcal (not shown).

** Waiola Shave Ice.

Guava and passion fruit with vanilla ice cream, condensed milk, and housemade mochi.

23Dec2019

Coffee Shops And Christmas Pop Ups

by Emily

Adam and I had such a fun weekend! We ate all of the things and saw a million twinkly lights. Sooooooo many holiday pop up bars and holiday themed coffees!!

Holiday things – – –

Ample Hills‘ chocolate peppermint ice cream with white chocolate peppermint bark. It was insane topped with marshmallow fluff!

Maman‘s holiday cookie latte with eggnog ganache.

Stumptown‘s rum raisin latte. <– most exciting latte of the weekend

Leyenda‘s Sleyenda pop up. They have by far the most exciting and intentional pop up menu but unfortunately it was slammed while we were there and we only wanted to hang for one drink. I had a delicious coquito with espolon reposado tequila, oloroso sherry, Braulio, coconut liqueur, coconut, cinnamon, and egg.

Loreley Beer Garden‘s Winter Wonderland pop up. Spiked eggnog with Captain Morgan, whipped cream, nutmeg, and caramel + boozy black and white hot chocolate with bourbon and toasted marshmallows. <– best holiday cocktails of the weekend

The Springs‘ Ho Ho Holiday Lounge pop up. Nog Yourself Out – Mt Gay black barrel aged rum, eggnog, oregeat, and nutmeg + Hot Springs – Cruzan blackstrap rum, hot chocolate, malt, and mini marshmallows.

The lights in Dyker Heights were so wonderful!

But the decorations at Chelsea Market remain my favorite New York holiday thing!

Things that aren’t festive but were still fun – – –

A trip to White Noise‘s Brooklyn location. We had a scrambled egg sandwich on brioche with cheddar, sun-dried tomato, and plum mayo.

Rose Wolf in Williamsburg is the cutest newish coffee shop. And we had the best cake and coffee. An extremely caffeinated and sugared cold brew with espresso, maple, caramel, cinnamon, and foamed milk + a chocolate funfetti cake.

A cute and yummy sparkling lime hibiscus tea.

Cookies and cream cookie with caramelized white chocolate from Mah Ze Dahr.

Sour cream and brown sugar strawberry ice cream with lemon jam and black walnuts from Morganstern’s.

Ramona is our favorite cocktail bar at the moment! Vivian Darkbloom – charcoal mezcal, pineapple, mint, lime, Falernum, and lime bitters + Cloudbursting Daiquiri – Flor de Caña 4 year rum, passionfruit, lime, and grated cinnamon.

New Yorkers, Chuko makes the best ramen in the city! And their chili oil is amazing.

The veggie dumplings at East Wind Snack Shop are next level delicious. Crispy, chewy, plump, and topped with a ginger scallion sauce.

I love NY – – –

30Aug2019

Coconut, Coffees, And Chickpeas

by Emily

Excitement from last weekend: I hung out with my extended family! At their cabin on the river in Maryland where we went boating and ate fresh crab!! And my boys were there!!!

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Upcoming this weekend: Nothing as exciting as seeing Adam and Webster. Actually, I am working on Sunday. And on Saturday I am signed up for a 4 mile race with several of my coworkers.

Food highlights from the week:

Trader Joe’s coconut cold brew. The coconut is nice but this is too sour for my tastes.

Triple Draft La Colombe cans are kind of ridiculously frothy.

Yogurt bowl win. Vanilla Siggi’s with chocolate hazelnut and almond butter and blackberries.

This was a I got hungry while grocery shopping and couldn’t wait snack but it ended up being quite tasty.

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This double IPA is my favorite beer I tried all summer. Honestly all of the things from True Respite look amazing right now, they have a sour beer brewed with Gushers?!!

The best dinner I ate all week was the night my cousin had friends over and we had crab cakes and salad with fresh corn. But this Greek-style salad wasn’t bad either. Romaine / TJ’s Greek feta dressing / green olives / cucumber / roasted chickpeas / dolmas.

And one night I made a yummy tasting plate. Dubliner cheese / chicken and maple jerky hard-boiled eggs / dolmas / roasted green beans.

5Jul2019

5 + 5

by Emily

Five random life updates –

{1} We took some stuff to Goodwill last weekend and now we are living in an empty apartment (minus a blow-up bed and all of my clothing). Literally the only things in our living room are boxes of seltzer!

{2} Last weekend was the first time in 5 weeks that Adam and I were both home and not traveling. Phew!

{3} This weekend we’re on the move again – we are heading to Solomon Island Maryland to spend some time with my family, including my youngest cousin who I haven’t seen since Thanksgiving!

{4} We finally saw “Late Night” and loved it. If it’s still in theaters in your area I recommend going if you haven’t already.

{5} Then we watched “Always Be My Maybe” on Netflix and loooooooved it! It’s officially our new favorite movie. Super funny and touching. Ali Wong is one my favorite comedians and she was fantastic as a leading lady.

Five things I ate and loved the last week –

{1} Yogurt bowl. Wegman’s chocolate Greek yogurt with pluots and Nature’s Path coconut chia granola.

{2} Dehydrated rainbow carrot snacks from Trader Joe’s.

{3} Cheese tea (aka bubble tea that you sip through foamy layer of milk and cream cheese sprinkled with salt) with strawberry heart jelly.

{4} Marshmallow! We shared a cup of carnival cake and marshmallow at Kirt’s Ice Cream. And I was living my best life with this snack combo – Kilwin’s caramel chocolate marshmallow with iced coffee.

{5} BBQ. No Limits Smokehouse is a new-ish spot in Belmont and it’s wonderful. I had a fried chicken sandwich (<– super juicy!) and collard greens, plus we got smoked mushrooms that were my new favorite savory thing I’ve ever eaten!

31May2019

Berries In My Sandwich And My Beer

by Emily

Five fun things from this week…

{1} Blanchard’s holiday blend coffee with sweetened condensed milk. And the next day I made a shakerato!

{2} A duo of fruity ales. I did not care for the tea taste of the Suncrush but the Troegs bosenberry tart ale was super interesting and packed with flavor.

{3} A toasted pb&j with this winning combo. FYI: toasting your peanut butter sandwiches is the way to go.

Served with the classic pb&j sides – baby carrots and apple slices.

Plus a new favorite – chicken and waffle chicken chips.

{4} Dinner from Got Dumplings. Tofu dumplings, kimchi, and peanut noodles. Plus guava and mango tea with boba and lyche jelly.

{5} I made tom kha gai. And it was good!

15Apr2019

Bowls On Bowls

by Emily

Seven wins from the past seven days…

{1} Peeps coffee creamer!! It tastes like vanilla marshmallow!!! But they should have made it pink.

{2} Speaking of marshmallow, I made cereal bars with Trader Joe’s neapolitan cereal. I brought them to a work event and they were a hit. I used my go-to recipe but took things up a notch with the addition of vanilla bean paste.

{3} I placed a super exciting order with the Mexican Candy Lady. The standout so far has been these flan gummies.

{4} Berry breakfast bowls. Liebe strawberry quark (<– this was 10/10, btw, super creamy and delicious!) / fresh blackberries / granola / cacao bliss.

{5} Cava bowls are currently our favorite take-out, there are a ton of toppings to choose from. This was greens / tzatziki / crazy feta spread / harissa / roasted vegetables / grilled chicken / pickled onion / cabbage slaw / chopped cucumber / kalamata olives / and green harissa dressing. Plus a side of really yummy house-made pita chips.

{6} I made my own bowls too. Roasted sweet potato / bok choy sauteed with garlic and green onion / candy salmon / fried egg.

{7} A take on okonomiyaki – pancakes stuffed with roasted cabbage and corn. Topped with mayo and Sriracha.

25Feb2019

Cheese In All Its Forms

by Emily

Highlights from a lazy weekend…

Chocolate Stumptown cold brew + a peanut butter chocolate chip Perfect Bar. <– my two favorite flavors from each company

Mild cheddar Just the Cheese snack. <– my official favorite flavor from my box of samples

Garlic and chive cheese + a chicken sesame bbq Epic Bar. <– my favorite flavor from Epic

Grilled cheese + maple vanilla coconut chips.

Plain Icelandic yogurt with yellow plum and chocolate caramel sunflower butter honey. <– do NOT recommend those honey packets

I am still having a Brazo’s Tacos obsession.

Chicken and Mexican-style street corn frozen meal + a guava kombucha. <– my favorite Synergy flavor, other than grape chia

I made the quickest nachos dinner ever, by buying bbq chips and then filling a box at the Whole Food’s hot bar with shredded cheddar cheese, black beans, corn, red onion, and roasted bell peppers. 5 minutes in the oven later…

22Feb2019

I Like My Snacks Like My Jokes – Cheesy

by Emily

There was not a lot of excitement in dining the past week – I was fighting a cold over the weekend and my taste buds were out of whack, plus Adam has been out of town at a surgical conference the past week and I am unable to adult without an audience. All that is to say I mostly ate take-out and crackers the past seven days. I didn’t bother taking photos of my “meals,” but I did have several snacks worth sharing!

Snack themes include: cheese / coffee / chocolate + nut butter / yogurt bowls.

This Suju Uber Greens juice was the closest I got to a vegetable over the weekend.

I received a verrrry exciting box of samples {these products were provided to me free of charge / no other compensation was provided / all opinions are my own} this week – Just the Cheese, aka 100% Wisconsin cheese baked into bars and mini bites. They are gluten-free and trans-fat free and damn delicious. Paired with an apple or some nuts they feel like a solid mini meal, the bars especially are quite satisfying.

I believe I have tried every crispy cheese product on the market at this point and I can confidently say Just the Cheese is the best. Per the company – “While most “cheese crisps” are air-dried, Just the Cheese® is oven baked, caramelizing the cheese which results in a cheesier flavor and crunchier texture.” <– it’s true!

Aged Cheddar (my favorite flavor so far!), Grilled Cheese, and a honeycrisp apple.