Lemon Meringue Pie

by Emily

I worked (long days!) Friday, Saturday, Sunday but we still had a fun weekend with amazing date nights! Five favorites were – –

Mekelburg’s rose black halva latte – an oat milk iced iced latte with rose halvah syrup, topped with rose petals and sesame seeds.

Westbrook Brewings‘ lemon meringue pie gose might be even better than their key lime pie gose!

Friday night we cuddled on the couch with nachos and ice cream and (re)watched “Love and Basketball” and it was kind of the best. Chipotle nacho hack – order chips and a rice bowl without rice (this one had chicken, fajita veggies, corn salsa, and cheese (and guacamole on the side!)) and bake.

We got three -epic – sandwiches from Mekelburg’s and had a picnic down by the water near Domino Park. Waygu roast beef for Adam / a bahn mi with Peking duck, duck rillettes, and sambal hoisin mayo for me / a Mekelburger with dry-aged beef, American cheese, grilled onions, fried onions, and tarragon mustard on Hawaiian bun to share.

Chinese take-out to finish the weekend. I got chili oil tofu with cabbage, celery and white rice.

17Jul2020

Soursop And Szechuan Peppers

by Emily

Today is my 1st day back in at the hospital after a day off and a two-day stint of project days at home. I had to recertify in ServSafe and I had a big task to work on (updating the Nutrition Department’s Clinical Practice Guidelines to be more current/evidence-based) so my boss let me work from home, which was lovely. I got to leisurely brew Phin coffee and sip while I worked! Plus I ate a million snacks. <– Normally I sit in the ICUs and wear an N-95 for most of the day so I took full advantage of having a free face!

Highlights included…

The company that makes the instant espresso we love for Dalgona coffees also makes a really good espresso roast.

Plain Greek yogurt bowl with blackberries, peach, cashew butter, and a chopped up Bueno Bar. <– I realize it is ridiculous to stir a candy bar into your lunch but this was breath-takingly good and I’m glad I did it!

Vanilla skyr yogurt bowl with blackberries, black plum, cashew butter, coconut chips, and starry sprinkles.

Adam and I had to go into Manhattan for a doctor’s appointment so we stopped by Bibble and Sip for a cream puff. A cream puff topped with crème brûlée and filled with milk tea cream and boba!

I snacked on nuts every day this week. These sweet Thai chili almonds were a favorite.

Still obsessed with Hal’s caffeinated cola seltzer.

Adam and are both head over heels for these dinner mints. We made it through 12 years of marriage before we realized we are both fans of these guys!

This soursop ice cream was possibly the very best packaged ice cream I’ve ever tasted.

I topped this cheese enchilada meal with more cheese, sour cream, and Crystal hot sauce and it was 10/10. P.S. I highly recommend Amy’s frozen meal options, this one is good even if you aren’t over the top about it.

There’s a newish poke place in our neighborhood that lets you add a thousand toppings. This was white rice with crabcake, tofu, eel sauce, spicy mayo, cucumber, shiitakes, shredded carrot, string bean, green onion, tamago (shredded egg omelet), oshinko (pickled veggies), inari (tofu skin), garlic crisps, and lotus chips.

Blistered green beans – sauteed with garlic, ginger, and chili oil – with Trader Joe’s mini chicken and cilantro wontons.

Have a great – safe, distanced – weekend!

5Jun2020

Brinner Tacos

by Emily

This week’s best:

{Coffee} Trader Joe’s cold brew with cookies and cream milk.

{Lunch} Leftover buffalo chicken pizza with roasted zucchini.

{Snack} Coca-Cola Tic-Tacs. How did they get the flavor so spot-on??!

{Dinner} Egg tacos. These are amazing; I’ve been eating them all week and I’m still not sick of them! Pan-warmed tortillas // sauteed corn and kale with paprika and TJ’s umami powder // soft-scrambled eggs with gouda // homemade salsa (I made a big batch loosely based on this recipe).

15May2020

Espresso In My Cookies And My Granola

by Emily

Wow am I glad it’s the weekend! Even if I don’t get to leave the house it will be nice to get a quick break from my busy work-week. Actually though, we have our bi-weekly grocery trip planned for tomorrow – exciting stuff.

My dinners were largely (unphotographably) lame this week but I did have some really exciting beverages and yogurt bowls…

This week’s coffee included homemade malted milk creamer!

Plain skyr with maple, blueberries, and kiwi.

Plain skyr with apples cooked with cinnamon and brown sugar plus espresso vanilla granola.

Honey vanilla Greek yogurt with granola and plum.

I made an amazing batch of chocolate chip cookies with sprinkles, espresso powder, and malted milk powder.

We got a super exciting delivery from Evil Twin – a pink pineapple sour IPA and a chocolate egg cream hard seltzer!

Our nonalcoholic options were pretty fantastic too – Watermelon La Croix, LimonCello La Croix, and Starfruit Lemonade Polar Seltzer.

I really enjoyed this frozen enchilada.

Trader Joe’s mini chicken and cilantro wontons on a bed of peas, celery, and green onion, topped with chili oil.

Have a nice/safe weekend!

1May2020

Double Dry Hopped

by Emily

Highlights from this week include…

Cafe Bustelo with chocolate milk, aka one of the best espresso-roast coffees with the best chocolate milk.

Yogurt bowls! Working from home means I can make a fresh yogurt bowl every day and I have been loving the crap out of having berries around. Very excited that we are going to the store tomorrow and can restock. Icelandic-style coffee yogurt with blueberries, blackberries, and coconut chips.

Plain Greek yogurt with cinnamon, berries, honey maple granola, and TJ’s flax and chia seed peanut butter.

Plan skyr yogurt with cinnamon, maple syrup, berries, and almonds and candied walnuts.

Korean snacks from this month’s Snack Crate.

Vanilla pineapple IPA brewed with lactose. I’m pretty sure I want every single beer that Collective Arts sells.

Other Half Double Dry Hopped Broccoli. This was insanely drinkable and mellow.

Buffalo chicken pizza.

Ground turkey with shiitake mushrooms, onion, tomato paste, and sour cream on a bed of roasted cabbage. This dish had so much umami!

The best dish of the week = roasted cabbage // topped with seasoned baked tofu // and esquites.

27Apr2020

Shaken And Blended

by Emily

Five things from the weekend:

Chipotle chicken nachos. With fajita veggies, corn salsa, and sour cream.

A really good double IPA.

Yogurt bowl with blueberries, blackberries, banana, cinnamon, and TJ’s flax and chia seed peanut butter.

Shaken coffee with ice, cinnamon, espresso powder, and sweetened condensed milk.

We took dalgona coffees to-go on a walk!

Figuring out how to make really excellent coffee at home has made the quarantine infinitely more bearable. Also this guy –

2Mar2020

Tacos And Tahini

by Emily

Highlights from this weekend…

Yogurt bowl with Heritage Flakes cereal, blueberries, and chocolate chunks.

An afternoon in Bushwick. Including stops at Millers and Makers for cake – vanilla and chocolate with coconut, caramel, and chocolate buttercream.

And Taqueria Al Pastor for delicious tacos with chicken and nopales (cactus).

Cups on cups. My current favorite type of candy is nut/seed butter cups and these two types are great. Sunbutter from Trader Joe’s.

Vanilla tahini from Raaka.

Our homemade dinner bowls were both eclectic and wonderful. Roasted riced cauliflower with smoked paprika and sumac / chicken salad with chicken thighs, sour cream, caramelized onion and garlic, and fresh parsley / topped with Cholula.

Roasted broccoli / sauteed corn and baby tomatoes / baked tofu (seasoned with smoked paprika, gochugaru, honey, and olive oil) / homemade salsa / sour cream.

13Jan2020

Toppings

by Emily

Five things from the weekend…

{1} The best yogurt bowl of the month. Cinnamon vanilla Greek yogurt with banana, blackberry, and maple almond butter.

{2} I am loving the crap out of living with a milk foamer.

{3} Dark chocolate chip peanut butter is my favorite flavor after cookie dough.

{4} Bona Bona tops their ice cream with toasted Italian meringue.

I got frosted animal cracker ice cream!

{5} A homemade take on okonomiyaki with cabbage and roasted corn.

{bonus} I’ve been putting this dream team on top of everything.

18Oct2019

A NY Weekend > A New York Minute

by Emily

I spent Friday night – Tuesday afternoon in the city enjoying a New York long weekend with my boys! So much fun! We ate ice cream at least once a day, took long walks around Williamsburg, the Lower East Side, and Long Island City, and had a great night with friends at a delicious dinner (Baoburg – I don’t have photos but it was fantastic!) followed by a trip to Barcade!

Highlights include…

A malted cold brew.

Is one of my favorite things about NYC the ability to find weird and amazing drinks absolutely everywhere? 100% yes. And we took full advantage of that this weekend. New canned coffees from Chameleon Cold Brew, churro and cinnamon dolce.

Strawberry sparkling water and a soursop and sea moss drink.

Cinnamon Coke with rum. <– strongly recommend!

Baohaus‘ spiceland bao is a thing of beauty! 24-hour brined fried chicken served with lemon-garlic aioli, an 8-ingredient Szechuan chili oil, pickled cabbage, crushed peanuts, Taiwanese red sugar, and cilantro. Their menu is limited because the things they do they do exceptionally well.

Great ice cream at Four Winters. They make each cup individually with liquid nitrogen. This was brown sugar speculoos with fudge, biscoff cookies, and extra sprinkles.

Even better ice cream at Caffe Panna, the best ice cream I’ve ever eaten, in fact! I got a cone with housemade whipped cream – panna – on brown butter straciatella and chocolate berry crunch (<– this flavor was the best ice cream we’ve ever tasted).

Plus we got an affagato special – ice cream and espresso with whiskey caramel and cacao nib hazelnut brittle.

Adam and I had an incredible dinner at Case Enrique – a Michelin starred, traditional Mexican spot in Long Island City. I went for the drinks and they did not disappoint. I had a soursop caipirnha!

Plus a tamarind margarita.

We started with the rojas con crema – roasted poblanos with onion, corn, cheese, and cream. Scooped up with tortillas that were out of this world.

And I ordered the mole de piaxtla – mole sauce over chicken and rice.

Dessert! Tres leches, flan, and cafe con leche.

Other fun things… I pulled out this St. Thomas bag my parents got me. It makes me happy every time I reach into my purse.

And Adam bought me this gorgeous bracelet at a shop in Brooklyn.

🙂

23Sep2019

Quality Time

by Emily

It was the best weekend ever; my boys came to visit me!!!!!

The three of us had just the absolute best time. It helped that we ate and drank such yummy things but mostly it was great to hold Adam’s hand while Webster sat in my lap.

We really made the most of Charlottesville too, we went to our two favorite restaurants and our two favorite drink spots, walked a ton downtown, ran at Riverside Park, and even went to a polo match with a group of my coworkers.

Highlights (including some random things I ate on Friday) include…

An Apple Month breakfast, Trader Joe’s caramel apple yogurt with cinnamon cereal.

Brunch at Quality Pie. We split an egg and cheese biscuit and salmon with scrambled eggs and cream cheese on rye.

Also a chocolate chip cookie.

Hail Merry cookie dough bites.

Beers at Hardywood. Tropic like it’s Hot sour with dragon fruit, blueberry, passionfruit, and pineapple // Tropication IPA // The Great Return IPA // Raspberry Short Kate milkshake IPA brewed with milk sugar and fresh raspberries.

Cocktails at Vitae. S’mores = smoked rum, chocolate bitters, marshmallow simple syrup, orange, and a graham cracker rim.

Hawaiian take out from Mochiko. Mochiko fried chicken with cucumber kimchi, slaw, and rice. Plus a passionfruit shortbread bar.

A simple salad at home. Romaine with champagne vinaigrette, celery, cashews, and curried chicken salad.

Dinner at Little Star = the best meal of the weekend and also maybe the best thing I’ve eaten in 2019. We ordered all of the things but it was serendipitous that we overordered because now Adam has dinner for tonight after his long drive.