Stick To Your Ribs Dinners

by Emily

Thank you, to all those who have served.

The weather is starting to cool down a bit more – I can no longer comfortably wear my sandals* – and our dinner choices have shifted towards steamy, stick to your ribs meals. *Note – I’m still wearing the sandals, I’m just not comfortable any more.

This was also election week and it’s safe to say that I ate my feelings in the form of booze, caffeine, and sugar. I am a woman, but I’m also cis/straight, white, sans disability or preexisting health conditions, and unlikely to get an abortion, so I know my feelings of disillusionment and heartbreak really pale in comparison to many others’.

On a happy note, here were some of the yummy things I ate this week…

This week’s coffee blend was soooo roasty and good.

I doubled up with train coffee and post-train coffee a few days, but I’ll note that this quad was enjoyed on a day I skipped the 1st coffee.

Starbuck’s holiday spiced sweet cream cold brew is good! It tasted like good tidings and cheer!

Did KIND bar read my blog? Limited edition caramel apple pumpkin spice is right up my alley. With a sweet Ambrosia apple.

I also love LARA’s hazelnut, hemp, cacao option. The crunchy nibs are great.

I was too busy at work for lunch one day and ate this turkey and stuffing sandwich on the way home in literally less than 3 minutes.

Plain Siggi’s with chocolate tahini and grapes with pumpernickel pretzels on the side. Yes, I put the grapes in the yogurt.

Elderflower yogurt (very floral) with persimmons and pumpkin spice Cheerios.

Strawberry cottage cheese plus grapes and pumpkin spice pepitas and granola. I didn’t enjoy this seltzer as much as I expected to.

Stress eating candies of choice –

Leftover turkey bolognaise that continued to knock our socks off. Thanks to turkey bacon, mirepoix, and 2+ hours on the stove, this sauce was packed with flavor.

With ~~wine~~ kombucha. Blueberry Mint was sweet and drinkable.

Leftover black eyed pea cakes. Topped with cheddar, fire-roasted corn, salsa, and a sunny side up egg with smoked paprika.

We’ve loved this chili from Iowa Girl Eats for years. This year I stepped it up a bit with lemon-pepper chicken, carrots and celery added to the base, and an additional hour of cooking time to concentrate the tomato before I added the beans.

Pumpkin beers to keep me company while I cooked. <– Adam and I both thought these two were some of the best of the season.

I topped my bowls with shredded cheese, pickled jalapeño, and plain Greek yogurt. Plus cucumber slices and Trader Joe’s pumpkin soup crackers on the side.

Chili, meat sauce, baked potatoes… what’s your favorite hearty, stick to your ribs food for winter?

2Aug2016

This Weekend’s Best…

by Emily

…breakfast –

A blueberry cheesecake smoothie! Frozen berries with chocolate milk and low-fat cream cheese. Adam and I both loved it.

Plus the new cold brew from Dunkin. Delicious with the Heath Bar syrup and some skim milk.

…brunch

Colonie. I got the duck hash again, because it makes the top five list for best dishes I’ve ever eaten.

…lunch –

Plain Greek yogurt with blueberries and the last of the cookies crumbled on top.

…brinner –

Eggs with swiss cheese, a simple salad, and a towering stack of buttered toast.

…dinner

Sandwich night with roasted broccoli.

Toasted french bread / mayo with Sriracha, fish sauce, and dark brown sugar / baked extra-firm tofu / quick pickled cucumber and shallot / crispy garlic.

…book –

Autumn Balloons, a memoir by Kenny Porpora. It had me laughing and crying, both at an embarrassing volume, on the train. Easily one of the most captivating memoirs I’ve ever read.

15Jul2016

The King

by Emily

The top five things I ate this week…

Birch Coffee cold brew blend.

Chia! Pudding with Hint of Honey almond milk, chopped dates, and chocolate covered cacao nibs.

Yogurt with chopped plum and plucot and the last of the lavender almonds.

This snack combo. If I’d had some bacon jerky to go with my baby bananas and peanut butter cups I would have had a snack fit for The King.

There were a couple of BIG stressful changes at work this week and I mostly ate pizza for dinners but I did make this one fantastic home-cooked meal. A combo of my two favorite salads – Bahn Mi Chicken and Green Curry Turkey.

Chicken with curried mayo and ginger, pickled vegetables, chopped red peppers, etc. Plus honey butter Sriracha toast!

Just today between me and the weekend!

23Jun2016

Similar To Cake By The Ocean

by Emily

I’m mashing last weekend’s post into this week’s – and we’ve done a lot of good eating! – so I had to filter down to only the most delicious things. Here are the best bites from the top five categories…

{1} all the coffee!

We ordered The Unicorn at Box Kite, obviously.

We went to Birch Coffee and loved it so much that we went back at the end of the day to buy a bag of beans.

Then went back again a few days later for another latte!

Locally roasted coffee that comes in cups with trees on them is just too exciting. And there were birch trees etched into the sidewalk out front!

{2} protein-packed salads

Beans, eggs, and lots of fish. At Whole Foods – spring mix with tangerine vinaigrette / salmon / two kinds of bean salads / parmesan / and a hard-boiled egg.

At the cafeteria – romaine with blue cheese / veggies / corn / kidney beans / cheddar / egg. Plus my coworker brought me a giant piece of baked salmon and I tossed that on top too.

At the cafeteria when I worked last Sunday and pickings were getting slim – I did the best I could with fried fish and a steamed vegetable mix.

It wasn’t bad, but I did buy a train snack that night.

{3} killer sandwiches

Breakfast: egg and cheese on a croissant with turkey bacon.

Lunch: do taquitos count as sandwiches? I’m including them either way, because this lunch was too good not to share. Tortaria knocked our socks off. Adam and I split a platter with mahi and cauliflower (and pork for him). Plus spicy fries and tons of guacamole. And a tamarind agua fresca.

The sauces sitting on the tables – green salsa, blended salsa, and something creamy and smoky – were astonishingly good. And that ridiculous quantity of food (why include chips and fries in the same deal?!) cost less than twenty dollars.

Dinner: cod bahn mi at a new Vietnamese/taco spot in Park Slope.

Don’t question it, the combo worked, I went with a girlfriend who got tacos and we were both very pleased.

{4} sweet stuff

~~Cake by the ocean.~~ Cookies by the Hudson. We got giant chocolate chip walnut cookies from Levain and enjoyed them in Riverside Park.

Tropical smoothie at home. Frozen mango and soursop with guava paste and vanilla almond milk.

Ben & Jerry’s Empower-Mint flavor is yummy and it supports an important cause.

Siggi’s yogurt with berries and shredded halvah.

Birthday cake croissant from Union Fare. It’s topped with ground sprinkle dust and filled with sprinkle-studded pastry cream!

It was also just one of the best croissant we’ve ever tasted.

{5} hearty homemade dinners

Spanish flavors reigned supreme on the home front this week. Tomato garlic crock pot chicken served with brown rice tossed with garlic, tomato paste, raisins, and chopped olives. Plus roasted broccoli.

I also made fantastic enchiladas.

Whole Foods’ roasted garlic green chile enchilada sauce costs a ridiculous $4+ per can and it is soooo good. Our filling was ground turkey breast cooked with TJ’s vegan chorizo and tons of roasted yellow squash and zucchini. Plus cheese galore.

3Jun2016

It’s Time For BBQ And Hot Dogs

by Emily

Here were this week’s top three…

{breakfast}

Killer breakfast sandwich. Turkey bacon, egg, and cheddar on a croissant. If I could get the cafeteria to scramble me an egg with peppers to put on a sandwich I’d be in heaven.

Coffee always makes the top of the list! Black Hand with chocolate milk.

With a Lavender Love kombucha.

{lunch}

Yogurt bowls for the win. With blueberries and chopped nectarine and modest variation in toppings. 2% Fage with Nature’s Path Heritage Flakes.

4% Siggis with pecans, chia, and cookie butter.

Passionfruit Chobani with Heritage Flakes, pecans, and chia.

{snack}

This kettle corn is some of the best packaged popcorn I’ve ever tasted, it is super crispy.

Another sweet and salty, a pixie tangerine with a chicken Wilde Bar.

My coworker brought me in a grass jelly drink to try after I raved about the jelly at Boba Guys. It was good! Not very sweet at all and mildly grassy in a pleasant way. I mixed it with vanilla soy milk.

{dinner}

Our cooking took place indoors and up North but we still made the most of Southern bbq flavors for two of our meals this week. Nacho night! Carolina bbq chips, sharp cheddar, pulled turkey with bbq sauce, pinto beans, red onion, and roasted broccoli.

A similar concept on salad – arugula with ranch / bbq turkey / pinto beans / red onion / cucumber / bell pepper. With corn on the cob. This was a fun dinner but it desperately needed some crunch and we ended up dumping kettle chips on our salads to act as de facto croutons.

Hot dogs in scrambled eggs sounds low-brow but tastes amazing. Our eggs included ‘dogs, red onion, arugula, and cheddar. With avocado and roasted asparagus on the side.

Now I just need to find myself some watermelon this weekend!

1Jun2016

Bao, Bubble Tea, And A Birthday

by Emily

Three day weekend eats. My third day was Friday, not Memorial Day (hello, healthcare family, Adam and I both worked the holiday).

We managed to fit a lot of fun into the days. Including not one but two types of bubble tea! Plus a trip to Pennsylvania for my middle niece’s birthday party – Adam’s entire family was there and it was great to see everyone together. And a loooong walk in the almost-summer sun that left me burnt to a crisp.

Here were the highlights…

We split an iced latte and a lavender coconut shortbread from Tygershark.

We adored the cute succulents, natural light, and overall vibe in there, we will definitely be heading in for a meal soon.

I packed us great bagels for our mini road trip. Topped with fancy lox and Neufchatel cheese.

Plus toasted marshmallow coffee once we got to PA.

Green juice on a shopping trip at Whole Foods.

Kale, spinach, cucumber, and orange. I went back and asked for ice, green juice is a billion times tastier when it’s cold.

Baohaus.

The “Uncle Jesse Bao” is fried tofu served with Haus Seasoning Salt, crushed peanuts, Taiwanese red sugar, cilantro, and Haus Sauce. P.S. I am ashamed about how much I am anticipating “Fuller House” season 2.

Boba is the our favorite. Black rose tea with tapioca and housemade almond jelly at Boba Guys.

Plus I have been Instagram-jealous of this treat from Vivi for months.

Black milk tea with boba on the bottom and a cloud of cotton candy – sprinkled with pop rocks!! – top. So much fun!

Best for last – a picnic with my boys!

We shared grilled cheese sandwiches and a long nap on a blanket in the grass.

We’ve made it to Wednesday, enjoy the rest of your week!

14May2016

Back At It

by Emily

We are back at the old grind. The first week of real life after vacation felt loooooong. It’s good to be back at work though, and great to be back with the dog!

Here were some of the best bites this week…

This week’s coffee was fan-freaking-tastic! Blackhand that I brought home from my trip to Richmond. It was super strong and roasty.

With strawberry watermelon Polar that’s my new favorite flavor.

I also tried the caramel almond Nutchello. It was pleasant but not as strongly flavored as I was hoping for.

Midmorning snack of baby carrots and wonderful red cherries.

Cafeteria lunch. They are making a fancy new hybrid burger that is half turkey half veggie; it was good! My korma veggies were not so good, I ended up swapping them for fries.

Yogurt bowl. Salted caramel noosa (<– yum!) with blueberries and blackberries and awesome gorp-style trail mix my aunt gave us. Plus a golden nugget mandarin orange on the side.

Better yogurt bowl. Plain Greek yogurt, berries, red plum, Nature’s Path Heritage Flakes, nature’s sprinkles (chia) for healthy fat, and Amy Sedaris’ sprinkles for joy.

This ridiculously adorable cookie from Starbucks made for a fun end of the day snack.

And carrots with caramelized onion dip was the perfect thing to crunch through while I cooked this week.

We also really enjoyed lemonade with pink lemon! Perfect with mint sparkling water. The lemons were orange on the outside, pinkish on the inside, and sweeter than their yellow counterparts.

Brinner for the win. Banana pecan pancakes, berries, and amazing turkey bacon, with maple syrup poured on after the picture.

Breakfast for dinner is always a good idea, but it’s a great idea when your drink and dessert are also on theme. We planned the pancakes because we both had coffee-flavored beers to try.

And we tried the crazy expensive, crazy good Compartes donuts & coffee bar. I thought it was totally worth the price.

Our other dinners were also winners. Nachos! Maple bacon kettle chips with TJ’s low-fat three cheese blend, turkey bacon, shredded turkey breast, broccoli, and green pepper.

And Greek salad night. Greens with Greek feta dressing, cucumber, tabouli, TJ’s stuffed grape leaves, and crunchy roasted chickpeas.

Last night we ate Chipotle and caught up on TV. <– kind of the best date night

6May2016

Ocean 362 {Dinner In St. John}

by Emily

St. Thomas has to be my favorite island because it’s where I was born, but during our trip home our absolute best meal was enjoyed in St. John.

One of the boys from my high school class grew up to be an amazingly cool chef who opened a restaurant in Cruz Bay. Ocean 362 does modern takes on traditional Caribbean dishes using ingredients that are fresh, local, and sustainably sourced. It’s a total 10/10.

The space is pretty and open and we got a seat on the patio with a progressively more beautiful view of the sunset.

The setting sun also means that my photos get progressively less lovely!

Adam and I went alone for a date night and ordered a truly ridiculous amount of food for two people. We started with a local fish dip with citrus, herbs, and cream cheese, served topped with crispy capers, with radishes and crostini on the side.

We also had fresh bread with delightfully sweet butter and the chef sent out an assortment of pickles that were stunning. The mushrooms were good and the dilled cucumbers were the best I’ve ever tasted.

Cocktails included the Bean-a-colada with pineapple and vanilla infused vodka and pineapple juice. That dollop on the top is coconut milk and lime foam.

Plus a sparkly Seaplane with cava, orange bitters, and housemade hibiscus flower liquor. The foam is thanks to vegan “egg” powder. You can never go wrong ordering a cocktail with egg and especially not ordering one with hibiscus.

Adam said his pork tenderloin was scrumptious, but I’m sure it couldn’t have been better than my duck. Cast iron seared duck breast / duck confit / buttermilk dumplings / maple glazed carrots / crispy brussels sprout leaves. The dumplings were perfectly seasoned all the way through but the best bites were obviously confit.

We couldn’t choose so we got two desserts – torched brie with rum raisin conserve and a chocolate tart with a plantain crust, a passionfruit marshmallow, and dulce de leche.

We were swooning from the first bite to the last. Plus we continued to gush about the meal while we rolled ourselves back down the hill to the ferry!

Eating Chalk

Tag Archives: cucumber

Stick To Your Ribs Dinners

This Weekend’s Best…

The King

Similar To Cake By The Ocean

It’s Time For BBQ And Hot Dogs

Bao, Bubble Tea, And A Birthday

Back At It

Ocean 362 {Dinner In St. John}