See Food Diet

by Emily

Highlights from this week include…

The salted caramel Perfect bar is perfect.

Black and white cookie. I’ve decided I have not been eating nearly enough bagels or black and white cookies.

If you haven’t tried the hot honey chicken sandwich from Melt Shop yet get yourself there immediately. It has hot honey and jalopeno pimento cheese!

We went with a seafood theme for dinners this week and each night was better than the last! Seared scallops with crispy garlic smashed potatoes and sauteed bok choy and radish greens.

Roasted cabbage with sliced radishes, avocado crema, and Whole Food’s frozen fish fillets.

Broccoli rice with five spice quick pickled cucumbers, furikake, Sriracha aioli, and smoked salmon.

3Aug2020

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.

24Jul2020

Birthday Week

by Emily

Today is my birthday! Woo-hoo to getting another year older!!

We were supposed to be home in St. Thomas to celebrate so Adam and I have actually been on ~~vacation~~ staycation this week. A tropical island is obviously always the preferred option but social-distancing fun in the best city isn’t a bad second choice. We’ve taken several long walks, had lots of cuddling time with Webster, and watched a ton of Seinfeld and The Office. Plus we’ve eaten so many good things! If I was going to name ten of my top favorite foods I’d say Diet Cherry Coke Zero, vodka, espresso, sweetened condensed milk, soursop, nachos, cheeseburgers, ice cream, roasted green beans, and Pad See Ew and I’ve eaten all but three of those things in the past week.

Highlights include…

A ton of yummy things from Win Son Bakery. The standouts were the mochi doughnut and the Fan Tuan (rice roll) with egg and Chinese cruller.

A fancy picnic (from Ellen’s) in our car at the end of the North Fork.

We had a lobster roll and duck fried rice.

Plus a local passionfruit IPA.

Soursop ice creams. I’ve been wanting to go to Taste of the Tropics for a decade and their soursop ice cream did not disappoint.

I actually preferred Island Pops though. Soursop + nutmeg.

IPAs at Greenpoint Harbor Brewing.

Tamarind + mango + tequila = our new all-time favorite homemade cocktail.

East Wind Snack Shop makes our favorite dumplings in the city. Dry-aged beef potstickers // Shanghai vegetable steamed dumplings with ginger scallion sauce // veggie noodles.

Happy birthday to me! 🙂

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!

3Jul2020

Summer Fruits And Veggies

by Emily

It was a very good week in fruits and vegetables here! We went to Whole Foods on Saturday to stock up. With our new, pandemic-induced, bimonthly grocery schedule our first week of dinners/snacks always feels a lot fresher than the second week.

Highlights include…

Could Perfect Bars be any more perfect? They are the optimal balance of sweet and savory. I loved this trail mix flavor.

My parents sent us a box of tamarinds and I found these strawberry cherries at Whole Foods.

I also snagged a bag of genips (<– Caribbean fruit that I grew up picking from a tree near my house but have had an impossible time finding in New York) on the street corner near my hospital!

IMG_20200630_153811_864

Watermelon-themed things since it’s almost July 4th. The winner of the bunch was definitely the Hal’s Seltzer.

This dinner was brought to you by the color orange! Salmon/trout salad bagel melts / local heirloom tomatoes with a bit of salt and pepper / roasted gold zucchini.

We have been loving this black-eyed pea salad combo for almost a decade. This batch was actually made with fancy heirloom yellow eyed beans since BEP were sold out at the store. Beans, green pepper, smoked almonds, sharp cheddar, and green Tabasco. It is such a simple combination but super satisfying.

Roasted green zucchini topped with Moroccan tofu cubes and a simple yogurt sauce (plain skyr, mayo, olive oil, sumac, paprika, salt, and a little water).

Our best meal of the week was this trio – baked tofu (cooked with a mix of soy sauce, rice vinegar, fish sauce, Sriracha, and honey) / Chinese smashed cucumber salad / fancy mushroom medley sauteed with salt, pepper, and butter.

13Apr2020

It’s Not Delivery, It’s Trader Joe’s Pizza Dough

by Emily

I made some damn delicious meals this weekend; all of my dinners were winners. I am midway between my bimonthly grocery trips now though so we’ll see how next week goes.

Highlights include…

Phin coffee. We are head over heels for this system, the results are so velvety!

We ate yogurt bowls as a family. Mine had 2% Fage, honey, candied walnuts, cinnamon, espresso powder, and blueberries.

TJ’s vegan tikki masala. 9/10.

Leftover turkey meatballs. This simple batch – seasoned with salt, pepper, TJ’s umami powder, and Korean chili flakes – turned out so good.

We made Hummingbird High’s small batch brownies and they were hands-down the best brownies I’ve ever eaten. Insane. I added espresso powder and didn’t have any cocoa powder and they were next-level fudgy.

IMG_20200410_105751_383

Greek veggie bowls. Cucumber, baby tomato, roasted chickpeas, olives, fresh mint, TJ’s Greek feta salad dressing, and TJ’s zhoug.

Pizza salad! Romaine, Greek feta dressing, roasted tomatoes, sharp cheddar, and pepperoni croutons (aka turkey pepperoni that I baked until crispy). Plus homemade garlic knots.

I made stromboli! With turkey, turkey pepperoni, and mozzarella. Plus roasted green beans.

Important update – this is how the dog likes to spend most of his time, on my lap, under a pillow.

24Feb2020

See Food Diet

by Emily

Two key housekeeping things –

1) I recently kind of randomly started eating sashimi and burgers and I am now obsessed with both. Also, apparently I’m into cake at the moment.

2) I had an absolutely fantastic time in St. Thomas! I spent two weeks hanging out with my grandma and swimming in the ocean!

Thankfully the weather in NYC has been nice enough for us to do a ton of walking (and a ton of cake, coffee, and fancy cocktail consuming!) so the transition has been pretty easy.

Recent highlights include…

Rum raisin iced latte at the Ace Hotel. Related – I had a rose cold brew at Brooklyn Roasting Co that was mindblowing.

I am definitely a fan of these new KIND nut butter bars whose product info is weirdly not on their website.

Brunch at the Fulton in the Seaport District. I had a smoked bloody mary margarita!

We shared sashimi with spicy white ponzu.

And brussel sprouts with mint and pecorino cheese.

And I had the gruyere cheeseburger with au jus.

Now that I’m into sushi, a girlfriend suggested we get lunch at Sugarfish. I got the “Trust Me Lite” which included edamame and tuna sashimi.

Albacore, salmon, and shrimp sushi.

And a toro hand roll.

Adam and I had a giant, epic lunch at Fan Fried Rice Bar in Bed Stuy. Golden kimchi / cucumber salad / mush-mame fried rice with shiitake mushrooms, edamame, mixed vegetables, and fried shallots.

Big Gay Ice Cream is my current favorite. This was yellow cake soft-serve with dulce de leche and rainbow sprinkles in a biscoff lined cone.

Dreamy cake slices – strawberry Good Humor bar and Oreo – at Little Cupcake Bakeshop.

Brigadero cake and a cappuccino at Padoca Bakery.

Leyenda‘s Candy Striper is a frozen blend of Leblon cachaça, coconut, vanilla, maple, lime, peppermint, and cardamom and it is the single best beverage I have ever put in my mouth. Every sip was so interesting!

Dinner at the Hi Hi Room. We started with smashed potatoes with an herb aioli.

Other Half Cream Get the Honey IPA. <– IPAs brewed with lactose are my favorite

Our reason for being there = hand-cut spaghetti with duck chili, cheddar, and white onion. I couldn’t get a good photo but it was truly fantastic.

Our apartment complex lost power for several hours on Friday night and we were forced to go out to a super fun dinner on the Upper East Side. A friend sent me a list of “the best cocktail spots in NYC” and NR definitely earned its spot!

Our favorites were the Japanese whiskey sour (above) with brown sugar, yuzu, and egg white and the Pistachio – dry gin, house-made pistachio cream, campari, and clementine!

We also shared a truffle oil egg salad sandwich.

And I had the hokkaido ramen with chicken, corn, butter, bean sprouts, and extra seaweed.

A home-cooked meal! Trader Joe’s frozen mahi mahi burgers, steak fries, and roasted baby cauliflower with sumac and smoked paprika. All dipped in a sauce of honey habanero hot sauce, honey, and mayo.

31Jan2020

Ciao, February

by Emily

Highlights from this week…

Brunch in Brooklyn at Otway, which is gorgeous and amazing.

I had a soft-scrambled egg sandwich with gruyere, scallion, and green garlic.

Plus crispy potatoes.

And a bloody mary.

Treats at Ciao, Gloria. Adam and I shared a cortado and a cinnamon roll.

Snacks this week were all about Trader Joe’s garlic naan and artichoke and jalopeno dip.

Asian Kit-Kats! Purple sweet potato and cookies and creme flavored.

Adam’s work gave him nice champagne around the holidays and we finally drank it in cocktails with mango smoothie.

Big salad bowls with romaine, Trader Joe’s cilantro dressing, sumac, cucumber, tomato, zhoug, fresh mint, and roasted chickpeas.

One of my best sheet-pan hash dinners to date – brussel sprouts, grapes, turkey andouille sausage, and gorganzola.

4Oct2019

It’s Pumpkin Month!

by Emily

It’s Pumpkin Month! Check out my exciting, gourd-y stash:

Related note – my coworkers know me so well!

This week’s eats highlights were all about burritos, bowls, and tasty take-out…

I go in a bit later on Wednesdays (so my timing works for after-work yoga, which I actually made it to this week, whee!) so I took myself on a breakfast date to Marie Bette for one of their outstanding pretzel croissants.

This Trader Joe’s breakfast burrito – with eggs, cheese, chicken sausage, and potato – was pretty great.

And this adobo chicken burrito from Whole Foods wasn’t half bad either.

Pumpkin spice latte from La Colombe.

Pumpkin spice bar with pumpkin jellies! Those gummies were such an exciting find from H-Mart.

Lunch from the food trucks/farmers’ market that sets up at the hospital. I got nachos with spicy chicken.

Roasted shredded brussel sprouts with hot smoked salmon, pumpkin seeds, spicy peanut vinegarette, and zhoug.

Roasted broccoli slaw with sesame ginger baked tofu, honey butter almonds, spicy peanut vinegarette, cucumbers, and zhoug. And when the zhoug ran out I topped it with sriracha.

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.