Tag Archives: cucumber

Sandwich Week, With A Twist

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Highlights from the week…

It was an especially successful 2nd week of Apple Month.

These apple rings tie with the Trader Joe’s gummies for best treat of Apple Month. Three different flavors!

Nightingale caramel apple ice cream sandwich is a 10/10.

I also quite enjoyed this crisp apple Olipop.

In other fruits, I tried a chocolate naval orange. It just tasted like a regular orange, but it was the best I’ve ever eaten.

The modern world is a horror-show so you’ve got to make little bits of joy where you can; hence, dinner theme weeks! This one was sandwiches, reimagined. We started out strong with Lido Kosher Deli‘s knishwich with pastrami.

I also had a latke with great applesauce.

Tuna melt nachos. Dill pickle krinkle cut kettle chips / baked with Trader Joe’s Ooey Gooey cheese blend / topped with a mix of canned tuna, Kewpie, Trader Joe’s sweet and spicy jalapeños (plus brine), and bread and butter pickles.

Turkey burger fried rice. Leftover brown rice sauteed with fish sauce and soy sauce / sauteed ground turkey with ketchup, yellow mustard, and pickle brine / eggs / green onions / baby tomatoes / pickles (bread and butter and sweet and sour) / sharp cheddar / sesame seeds / and crispy onion and garlic.

Tofu bahn mi panzanella. Boiled super-firm tofu / toasted day old sub roll cubes / quick-pickled cucumber (thin sliced baby cucs left for 24 hours in a mix of sugar, salt, Milu everything seasoning, rice vinegar, and sesame oil) / pickled jalapeños / Trader Joe’s pickled red onions / cilantro / sauced with a mix of Sriracha, Duke’s, lime juice, rice vinegar, and sugar.

Sips, Sweets, Sandwiches

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It was another great weekend! We stayed local this time, but enjoyed longish walks in Manhattan and Brooklyn. And shared so many sweet treats and sweet treat drinks! I considered including slushes in the title! Like I said, a great weekend! Highlights…

Bean Monger ube biko iced latte.

Moon Coffee Lab salted caramel iced latte with banana milk. Banana is the best coffee milk.

Levain cookie milk iced latte. The cold foam was delicious but my favorite part was the espresso; I had never tried coffee from here before but I definitely will get it again!

The very best coffee of the weekend came from Smiley Coffee – espresso with coconut slushie.

We happened across a street fair that had red sorrel. The spot was serving it with mint which was lovely.

Speaking of things that tasted like home, this soursop infused coconut water was nice and not too sweet.

Tender Crush frozen Diet Coke with vanilla soft serve!

Red Gate Bakery Fudgenutter cookie.

Comfortland + Donut Diva never miss; this guava cheese Linzer tart was exceptional

Perfect frozen drinks at Antojitos BK. 2nd best texture in the city (only beaten by Connolly’s). We had an espresso martini and a Nutcracker.

Sandwich Board duck tsangwich was a 10/10 – bolo bao with roast duck, crispy duck skin, cucumber, scallion, hoisin sauce, and house chili oil.

We didn’t love our ribeye sandwich at Sanwits.

But my Halo Halo was excellent. Not exactly what I am usually used to but so creamy and I loved the caramelized plantain.

We were blown away by our meal at La Fleur Rouge. Really thoughtful, beautiful dishes in a great environment. Guava Plum – tequilla Empirical Ayuuk, pink guava, plum, and salt.

Peking duck bao.

Morel duck soup.

Crispy Chinese eggplant with pineapple, bell pepper, and sweet and sour. These were a can’t miss.

The cheeseburger, which came with pickled cucumbers and seasoned fries. This sounds mean but it is in fact the highest compliment — this tasted exactly like the breakfast sausages you used to get on planes! Doesn’t break my top five but I did love it.

Tai Chi Fried Rice with confit duck, shrimp, and squid ink. This tasted even better than it looked and kept wonderfully leftover.

Finally molten chocolate cake with rum raisin ice cream and Golden Graham crumble.

And egg yolk beignets with apricot marmalade.

The best thing we ate all weekend was the fried rice I made with our James‘ leftovers. White rice and eggs from home plus short rib ragu and charred broccolini with Waygu beef bacon.

Strawberry, Blueberry, Peach

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Highlights from the week…

This “sweet bean snack,” a blend of sugared red kidney, adzuki, navy beans, and green peas.

I wouldn’t have necessarily known peach without the label but these blueberries were extra fruity and floral.

This Barebells peanut caramel bar tastes like an even better take on a Snickers.

Trader Joe’s knocked it out of the park with their Strawberry Fields gummies. The mini mochis were quite nice as well.

Creamy peanut noodles. White rice ramen noodles / sauce – food-processed peanut butter, Sriracha, dark soy sauce, chili oil, sesame oil, lime juice, and silken tofu / roasted zucchini / tempeh stir-fried until crispy with green onions, garlic, soy sauce, maple syrup, Sriracha, and gochugaru / chili crisp.

BBQ chicken. Shredded chicken reheated in a frying pan with with gochujang, tomato paste, rice vinegar, brown sugar, fish sauce, and soy sauce // steamed green beans sauteed with Dijon, honey, sesame oil, and chili crisp.

Larb inspired chicken salad. Shredded chicken with Duke’s, Kewpie, skyr, Sriracha, lime juice, garlic powder, toasted rice powder, brown sugar, shallot, mint, pickled red onion, and crispy fried onion and garlic // salad – tomatoes, cucumber, green onion, and mint with chili crisp, gochugaru, gochujang, sesame seeds, sesame oil, and honey // plus our last frozen Apollo bagel.

P.S. We had a great, unphotographed dinner at The James, a new Long Island steakhouse. We enjoyed everything we ordered, especially the duck fat confit potato with fermented black bean, scallion, ginger, shallot, and lemon.

Hudson 2026

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This was one of my best birthdays in recent memory! We spent a long weekend in Hudson, filled with an excessive amount of handholding, pastries, and cocktails! Some highlights of our favorites …

Hudson Roastery butter pean iced cortado (with an extra shot, this is the best ratio for us here).

Treats at Kitty’s. This cruller was actually only ok, but I had a puffed rice krispy treat with tons of marshmallows.

Treats from Mel the Bakery, all 10/10. Jalapeno cheddar pretzel croissant / blueberry jam and corn cookie sandwich / almond chocolate croissant.

Supernatural Coffee‘s blueberry jam oat bar tasted as good as it looks.

Huckleberry lemonade (this was the best premade lemonade I’ve ever had).

Hudson Brewing Company pink guava sour IPA.

Pez Husker Du – white and Oaxacan rums, Flor de Azul, blue corn, and lime. The incredibly nice bartender gave us a taste of the house-made blue corn syrup and it was amazing.

Hereafter Marigold Weather including gin, lemon verbena tea, meyer lemon, orgeat, and honey.

Breakfast at Cafe Mutton. This restaurant is so special. We shared a perfect meal. Delicious house-made celery soda.

Zucchini, corn, and onion omelet with goat gouda. With toast buttered to near insanity. I asked for hot sauce and they brought out a house-made sungold tomato situation that was one of the best sauces we’ve ever tasted.

Lettuces salad with sungolds, cucumber, corn, scallions, herb dressing, pecorino, and breadcrumbs.

Milk-soaked almond cake with honey and blueberries.

Breakfast at Gracie’s Luncheonette. Chicken biscuit with honey butter and hot sauce and a great hashbrown. This was some of the best fried chicken I’ve ever eaten.

Dinner at Gracie’s Luncheonette (yes, we went twice, it’s that good!). I got the white bbq half chicken – broiled half chicken with Alabama white BBQ (also some of the best chicken I’ve ever eaten; we loved the sauce and rub too), slaw, a biscuit (excellent), and mac and cheese (weak; meanwhile Adam’s fries were swoonworthy). Sadly, we enjoyed neither our iced coffee nor our iced coffee cocktail.

Dinner at Lil Deb’s Oasis. Their upcoming closure is giant loss. I’m showing my three favorite things but we ordered a lot and it was all great. Charred snap peas with tahini sauce / tomatoes and cucumbers with fennel, perilla, roasted peach jam, and sesame chili crisp. <– these were both stunningly good

Burmese crispy tofu lettuce wraps with spicy ginger mustard.

Dessert was my favorite course. We had flan, a surprisingly good dessert cocktail (with vodka, brown butter, dates, orgeat, and nutmeg), and the best – boozy – affogato I’ve ever had (with sweet cream ice cream, grilled pineapple, and coffee caramel tequila). I wasn’t expecting to enjoy the pineapple but it actually made the dish.

Crunch Wrap (Reigns) Supreme

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Posting a day early because it’s my birthday tomorrow and we have fun dinner reservations tonight (Rolos – I am hoping to snag a burger!). Things from this week included…

A bunch of weird birthday cake flavored things. My mom also gave me cake-scented hand soap, body wash, hand sanitizer, and a candle!

Creamy mango smoothie. Frozen mango and banana with water, milk, vanilla protein powder, and malted milk powder.

Two new favors of Wilde chicken chips. Both were good but maple waffle remains my favorite.

More Roast; I obviously had to try their crab rangoon crunchwrap (with crab rangoon spread, jasmine rice, sweet chili cucumber slaw, crispy wontons, and pepper jack cheese — my version was better!). We also shared a buffalo chicken sub and had baby carrots from home.

The best meal of the week was this chicken jalapeño popper dip – cream cheese, skyr, Duke’s, Kewpie, Trader Joe’s sweet and spicy pickled jalapeños (plus brine!), baked chicken breast, and sharp cheddar. Scooped with roasted broccoli and Trader Joe’s new sweet chili black eyed pea tempeh crisps (which are fantastic).

Bean salad. I sauteed onion, orange bell pepper, poblano pepper, baby tomatoes, and black beans with lime juice and more brine; added diced avocado and sharp cheddar once it cooled; and added Love Corn corn nuts just before serving. We made this in advance and ate it cold and it was delightful.

Accidentally Vegetarian

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Things from the weekend…

King’s Coast coconut iced latte with coconut cold foam. 100/10.

See also – Beanmonger‘s strawberry white chocolate iced latte. A little too sweet for me.

Paris Baguette Dubai chewy cookie. Nowhere near as good as Bear Donut but still delicious (obviously).

Veggie cheese fries. Baked fries tossed with furikake, garlic powder, and onion powder / poblano pepper, corn, green onion, and honey goat cheese / six-minute eggs tossed in a skillet with butter, evoo, gochujang, chili crisp, maple syrup, soy sauce, and lime.

Bean salad. Great Northern beans, celery, cucumber, tomatoes, peanuts, sesame seeds, and sharp cheddar tossed with evoo, sesame oil, chili crisp, honey, and rice vinegar.

Kimchi Migas

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Things from a yummy week…

Yogurt bowl – plain Greek with honey, blueberries, and two types of kiwi. I started scooping kiwis out of their skin with a grapefruit spoon (rather than trying to clumsily peel them) and now I eat them all the time.

“Mountain city spicy flavor” rice snacks.

We had leftover pandan white chocolate blondie from Chim Chim in our freezer and I blended it into a great milkshake with vanilla ice cream, milk, pandan syrup, and malted milk powder.

Passionfruit smore’s! Effie’s pecan biscuit crackers, oven-roasted Malvi passionfruit marshmallows, and Chocxo dark chocolate passionfruit cups.

Dinners listed in order of how much we liked them. Satay-inspired tofu (just ok-good). Tofu – sauteed extra-firm tofu that was marinated in Jamaican curry powder, red curry paste, fish sauce, lime juice, and coconut milk / lackluster peanut sauce – peanut butter, Sriracha, lime juice, rice vinegar, soy sauce, sugar, and coconut milk / marinated cucumbers – with rice vinegar, sesame oil, sugar, Milu everything crisp, and sesame seeds / on a packet of Ben’s Original coconut jasmine rice.

Tuna joomukbap (very good). We’ve made this Cafe Maddy recipe before and will definitely make it again. I used leftover brown rice, two cans of tuna, and a poblano pepper instead of a bell pepper. Plus chopped baby broccoli roasted with salt, pepper, and garlic powder.

Red curry beans (excellent). Great Northern beans sauteed with garlic and ginger and cooked in a curry sauce (coconut milk, red curry paste, fish sauce, lime juice, dark soy sauce, and Sriracha). Served on a mix of roasted cauliflower rice and brown rice.

Kimchi migas (best meal of the week!). Sauteed kimchi, green onion, and tomatoes with gochugaru, gochujang, honey, sesame oil, and sesame seeds, plus kimchi flavored kettle chips, eggs, and sharp cheddar.

Cozy, Rosy

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Things from this week — NYC was cold again (after being HOT last week) and we leaned into cozy foods. I had a weekday off – just for fun – and took myself on a walk in/to Chelsea. Highlights…

Rose iced latte from Terremoto. They make the best floral coffee I’ve tried.

Tall Poppy‘s sugar cookie croissant is stupendous. It is stuffed with marzipan!

Not cozy – a smoothie. Frozen peaches and blueberries with water, vanilla bean powder, and vanilla protein powder.

Very Fresh Noodle‘s very spicy vegan Dan Dan Mian. I love everything about this dish but especially the spice level and cold pops of cucumber salad.

Turkey chili. We have several beans on our meal plan for next week so I skipped them here and added some riced cauliflower for extra fiber instead. Plus onion, bell pepper, poblano pepper, diced tomatoes, and tons of spices. I made cheddar jalapeño bread on the side (my go-to dumb bread recipe plus sharp cheddar and Trader Joe’s sweet and spicy jalopenos).

Homemade pasta sauce. In the blender – roasted baby tomatoes, canned peeled tomatoes, tomato paste, silken tofu, parmesan cheese, fish sauce, and dark soy sauce. Served on whole-wheat bowtie pasta with roasted zucchini and more parmesan (plus I added some Milu Everything Spice). The tofu adds protein and creaminess.