Weekly Wrap-Up; By The Day

by Emily

This is a short “week” because my weekend technically starts tonight (Thursday night) – my parents are coming into town and I took Friday and Monday off. Woo-hoo!!

And since I managed to photograph every single thing over the past three days (minus tons of water and diet coke), I thought it would be fun to do an old-school recap and go by the day rather than grouping things into meal categories.

Monday

Breakfast at my desk, iced Americano and fat-free chocolate milk for the win.

Lunch was one of those yogurt bowls I’ve been loving lately.

TJ’s 0% Honey Greek Yogurt with strawberries {that I picked myself!} and some granola from my KIND package. I used Raspberry Clusters with Chia Seeds this week and was a big fan; this flavor had some nice tang compared with the first bag I tried.

It was a fabulously busy day at work and I ran around all afternoon. I’m usually not involved with the Labor and Delivery floor, but I’ve recently started following my Gestational Diabetes patients when they go inpatient so there is better continuity of care. Getting out of the clinic is always nice because it breaks up the day. And it’s good to have a little more time to go over the education when we are in a hospital room and not my office where other clients knock at my door right and left.

I ate some of the green curry turkey salad, straight from the container, the minute I got home.

I was feeling snacky, and there were already leftovers for Adam to eat, so I decided to do a series of snack plates for dinner. First, a Jazz apple with Mary’s Gone Crackers Sea Salt Pretzels and TJ’s Teriyaki Turkey Jerky.

I don’t know how TJ’s gets their jerky to stay so soft, but that stuff is delicious.

Next up was a bowl of cucumber salad.

I let some thinly sliced Persian cucumbers hang out with some sugar (1 tsp of sugar per cup cucs) for a bit then folded in tons of Sriracha and crushed peanuts.

And I ended the night with nachos, aka the craving that lead me to a snack-style dinner in the first place. 2 servings of potato chips baked with 2 servings of low-fat three cheese blend.

The chips were part of the rather embarrassing “reduced guilt” line and they were amazing.

I read the bag very carefully before deciding to give them a try; the chips are made using less oil (I have no idea how) but no scary ingredients like Olestra. The flavor was identical to TJ’s normal kettle chips and the texture was slightly crunchier, which I think is an improvement. I will definitely buy them again.

Tuesday

Astonishingly, I woke up early enough on Tuesday to go outside for a quick run. I only had time for 15 minutes of actual running amid my walking, but the weather was gorgeous and getting out there was glorious. I have been on a total workout hiatus since our move (almost a year ago!!) but starting Saturday I have been making a concerted effort to get back into the habit. <– hold me to that, please!

I was home and dressed in time to blend up this swampy smoothie.

It was only slightly better than it looked. Frozen strawberries with honey, unsweetened vanilla almond milk, and Kiss Me Organics Matcha Powder.

Since Tuesday is my inpatient day, I packed a lunch that didn’t need the fridge.

An apple cinnamon oatmeal bowl with Cacao Bliss and a pear on the side.

I always want to tell you guys more about what I’m doing at the hospital but I like my job and want to keep it so it’s best to follow HIPAA.

I can say that I charted on an impressive 10 patients and I left the hospital a little late which caused me to miss my train. While I waited to get home I purchased some fun snacks. A blackberry mojito tea (sans lemonade) from Starbucks.

And a bag of the new York Patty minis.

I had searched for that stupid candy for weeks and was thrilled when I spotted it at Target. Yorks are my favorite chocolate-based candy.

When I got home I made green curry.

I sautéed shredded carrot, green onion, broccoli, and peas in evoo; then whisked together a can of light coconut milk with tons of green curry paste and a little galangal and brown sugar; then let everything simmer for a while. Served on a bed of brown rice.

So flipping good. And I didn’t even follow a recipe so I’m pretty proud of myself. Adam wasn’t home because he was on nights all week but I watched “Longmire” while I ate which was a nice substitute. Are you watching that yet? It is super good; there was a scene in the 2nd episode of this season that made both of us cry!

Wednesday

I slept in until the last possible minute yesterday so I did another breakfast at my desk.

Coffee and a Dark Chocolate Mocha Almond KIND Bar (former freebie). I’m still completely awed by how wonderful this flavor is.

Back to my old standby for lunch.

Fage 2% Greek Yogurt with Meyer lemon curd, granola, and strawberries.

We have no food because we’ll go out to eat with our guests, so I planned on buying food on my way home but ran out of time for anything but coffee (with skim milk and sugar).

I had to do my best to cobble dinner together. Lean Cuisine stuffed pretzels and baby carrots with hummus.

Not too terrible, but if I’d thought ahead I would have eaten a salad at lunch.

I also ate chocolate-covered gummy bears while I wrote this post.

🙂

Do you guys miss my old style of posting or are you happier with the new wrap-ups?

23Jun2014

Weekend Wrap-Up; Farm Fresh

by Emily

Just the highlights…

<^> I went strawberry picking with a girlfriend on Sunday. This activity has been on my radar for years and it was nice to finally give it a go.

I’m not really sure what the two of us were picturing though, because I definitely rolled up in sandals and a long scarf (with a giant iced coffee and a huge purse).

After we went back to the car to regroup, we got down to business (literally down, strawberry picking meant an hour crouching in the dirt!) and both came away with big cartons of tasty berries.

Glover Farms, if anyone local wants to go themselves. We’d recommend it.

<^> As of June 2nd, Jamba Juice has added a fresh-squeezed juice menu at over 500 locations nationally. They sent me a gift card so that I could try some out. The card got here just in time, because I was at two different locations with Jambas this weekend so I was able to try two options.

Please note – I received a gift card so that I could sample the juice menu free of charge. I was not provided further compensation for this post. All opinions are my own.

Let’s start with the negative – these drinks are not juices. They juice the fruits, carrots, and beets, but then that juice is put into a blender with the greens, making this item a smoothie. I started this argument with an employee and eventually gave up, but fresh-squeezed juice does not involve a blender. Period.

That said, inaccurate marketing aside, the drinks were quite tasty and healthy. Both flavors I tried had a good balance of sweet to green. And every 16 oz “juice” has 2 full servings of fruit and/or vegetables for minimal caloric cost. Tropical greens:

Super greens/apple/pineapple/chia. 210 calories in a 16 oz.

Garden Medley:

Super greens/carrot/apple/chia. 170 calories in a 16 oz.

<^> I haven’t blogged about them much, but I have been loving the almond thins that Nonni’s sent me.

The banana chocolate flavor is legit. And I’m usually annoyed by things that are put in 100 calorie packages but the serving size feels perfect here.

<^> I ate homemade nachos while I watched the 2 hour season intro of Rookie Blue and I practically cried I was so happy. Summer tv at its best.

I also had an episode of Awkward. Best. Night. Ever.

<^> I finally got to try Chinatown Ice Cream Factory.

Now I totally get the hype; I tasted Zen Butter – sesame and peanut butter – and it was worth the buzz. I chose taro and black sesame for my cup though. The black sesame was amazing, super roasty and crunchy.

<^> Saturday’s dinner.

Asian flavors night. Bok choy sautéed with green onions in evoo. Towards the end I tossed in some thinly sliced Persian cucumbers that I quick-pickled in sugar and salt for 20 minutes.

A big pile of green curry turkey salad.

The salad was so good it’s getting its own recipe page. I promise to get that up on the blog tomorrow.

<^> Sunday’s dinner.

Such a summery – vegetarian – plate! Corn on the cob, of course.

With bbq tofu. I rubbed TJ’s super firm extra-protein tofu with a homemade spice blend {brown sugar, smoked paprika, cumin, and curry powder} and baked it off before tossing the slices in a skillet with some bbq sauce.

Plus we had chard sautéed in evoo with salt, toasted hazelnuts and a drizzle of maple syrup.

That teensy pile of greens was what happened when I cooked down this big bunch.

I bought my greens at a tiny farmer’s market that was happening at the farm museum near my house.

My chard was picked the same day I bought it! The only thing fresher is my strawberries 🙂

Have you ever picked your own berries? We have our eye on apples this fall.

9Jun2014

Weekend Wrap-Up; Loki

by Emily

We had a nice, low-key weekend around these parts. Nothing major, though we did manage to get in good food, good beer, and an extra-long walk with the dog.

I spent Saturday afternoon volunteering at my hospital’s health fair discussing body fat percentages and BMI.

And Sunday we spent hours at the mall getting my dress for a wedding next weekend.

Here’s some of what I ate around shopping and volunteering…

Lunch at National Thai in Fort Greene. We shared chicken satay.

And tofu Pad See Ew.

Our noodles were perfectly done; they were nice and chewy. And they gave us a large enough portion that even sharing the meal we had enough leftovers to make dinner the next night.

Lunch at Au Bon Pain at the mall as a reward for finding an appropriate dress. We shared a Caffe Viennese.

And I finally got to try the bbq chicken salad.

It was even more delicious than predicted. The bbq chicken was great and there was soooo much of it.

Smoothie time. Frozen raspberries with Justin’s Vanilla Almond Butter, unsweetened vanilla almond milk, and the last serving or so of a can of light coconut milk.

Adam loved it but this was actually too coconut-y for me. I’m slightly amazed by that because later the same day I topped cold cereal with coconut butter and loved it.

Snack ~~plate~~ napkin.

Mary’s Gone Crackers Sea Salt Pretzels, Chocolove Espresso Dark Chocolate, and sliced cheese.

Something cool on our dog walk.

You can’t beat gummi bear cream ice.

Whenever we go to Trader Joe’s we split a coffee and/or giant soda and it makes grocery shopping feel much more like a date than an errand.

That was a clover brew of the Bourbon Brazil blend, with sugar and skim milk.

On Saturday, we were invited back into Brooklyn for a gorgeous bbq for dinner.

Our friend’s sister’s boyfriend is a chef and the food was ridiculous – also poorly lit, and therefore unpictured. We had homemade Cesar salads, grilled radicchio, and grilled leeks and green onions with romesco sauce.

With a little love, our Thai leftovers made us a great dinner on Sunday.

I stir-fried them with shredded carrots, broccoli, and egg in evoo, green curry, and galangal (Thai minced ginger).

Even better than the first rendition.

How many weddings are you scheduled to attend this summer?

27May2014

Weekend Wrap-Up; Frozen

by Emily

Good morning! I’m excited to report a fabulous Saturday and Sunday. Adam had a golden weekend – both days off – and we made the most of it. I only have photos of a fraction of our eats (among other things, we went to Bareburger twice) because I was too busy/excited/drunk to bother, but here are some of the highlights…

The only homemade meal we had all weekend was actually one of the best.

We shared a sandwich of fried egg, fontina cheese, mustard, and the rest of the Sweet Earth vegan bacon on pumpernickel rye swirl. Homemade egg sandwiches are always wonderful, but the sweet and smoky flavor of the “bacon” took this one to a new level.

Plus a lavender lime spritzer.

Fresh lime juice, lavender simple syrup, maple, water, and seltzer.

Another shared sandwich, the shredded chicken from Bahnmigos.

Adam had resisted joining me for Bahn Mi for weeks, but now that he’s tasted it he is completely obsessed. You just cannot beat Srircha, mayo, and pickled veggies on that crusty French bread.

We have to get Ample Hills when we’re in Park Slope.

Butter Pecan Brittle and Salted Crack Caramel for me. I also tasted the peppermint patty flavor and now I’m pretty desperate to go back and get a cup of that.

A trip to Manhattan for the Central Park Zoo.

A lot of exhibits were closed, so that was a bummer, but we loved getting to walk around the park.

Dinner at Farmacy was disappointingly lackluster, especially since it’s our new favorite spot.

My caramel coffee egg cream was nice,

but the grilled cheese was meh.

Maybe it was just me though, Adam liked both of our sandwiches and thought I was crazy.

On Sunday we had brunch right on the water at Sheepshead Bay, then drove over for an afternoon at Rockaway Beach.

We hit up two frozen treats from the Buzzfeed list. {#12} Frozen pink lemonade from Bungalow Bar was a little watery but very pink. The bar was right on the water!

And {#14} Connolly’s Bar made the best frozen piña colada I’ve ever had.

Plus we explored the area and hit up Rockaway Taco, which was pretty much beyond words.

The fish tacos were perfection.

And we both loved our juice.

Pineapple mint for Adam and watermelon for me. Love.

24May2014

Weekly Wrap-Up; Chocolate And Coffee

by Emily

Forget Friday, TGIS! {thank god it’s Saturday} This felt like the week that would never end – I had an allergic reaction to an allergy medicine, Adam and the dog both got food poisoning, and we had plumbing issue that flooded the entire apartment. Yuck, yuck, and yuck.

I would have more pictures to share – we might have drowned our sorrows in melted cheese – but we hadn’t done any dishes for a solid week and a half so I’ve been buying lunch at work and we have been eating lots of take-out off of paper plates. In bed. <– we’re disgusting.

We are getting it together (finally) though. Friday night, just before I wrote this post, Adam did a big load of dishes while I cooked us a tasty, healthy dinner. And with any luck, by the time this scheduled post goes live I will have made it to the gym. Cross your sneakers for me?

breakfast/snacks

An apple and a coffee on the way to work, both fabulous. Sonya apple.

Bananas Foster cappuccino from 7-11.

The banana coffee was surprisingly delicious. But the Dream caramel almond milk latte I had the next day was even better.

This Extra cinnamon roll gum is so tasty. I’ve enjoyed the other Dessert Delights but tire of them quickly, but this flavor is enjoyable to the end.

Peppermint candy my parents sent me from STT’s food fair for Carnival. It is basically sugar and peppermint oil smashed together – eating one is like chomping your teeth together during a cleaning at the dentist – and it’s one of my favorite things.

Venti iced non-fat latte with my rewards freebie. 4 shots of espresso / 2 shots of white mocha / one very judgy look shot my way when the barista repeated back my order.

Cheese and chocolate. A mix of what you’ll see below.

Adam and I checked out the gorgeous Whole Foods on 3rd Ave in Brooklyn and came away with a couple of treats to share. Iced coffee.

And a honey nougat chocolate bar.

I’m not sure you can really call something a “turtle” without caramel, but this new Uber Larabar was good.

What is this?

Iced coffee + lavender simple syrup + chocolate milk

= lavender iced mocha {for the win}.

lunch

Last Sunday, a girlfriend and I went to Smorgasburg in DUMBO.

It was even better than Saturday’s in Williamsburg. It is right on the water and there is a wonderful walking path.

My friend and I were food twins all day and we both quite enjoyed everything we chose. Coffee, obvs.

A duck bun that had the most succulent meat I’ve ever tasted.

And bubble tea. Honey and lavender tea with boba and lychee jelly.

Cheese plate. Pear / apple / Chocolove Dark Chocolate Coffee Crunch / Kerrygold Dubliner Cheese.

The only lunch I managed to pack for work.

Passion fruit Chobani.

Plus a Blueberry Oat Almond Thin and a few dates.

Supplemented with a guava cheese empanada from the truck near my work.

Oh. My. God. The empanada was too fabulous. I grew up loving guava paste, but I’ve never had it paired with cheese before. The sweet and savory combo was insane.

I ended up buying an empanada for my train-ride home the next two days in a row.

dinner

From the sea.

I made fish salad out of leftover baked tilapia; shredded fish, Miracle Whip, relish, fresh dill, and Old Bay. On a pretzel roll, topped with roasted spring onions.

Plus roasted green beans with Old Bay on the side.

And a Southern Tier milk stout for sipping.

Adam had the day off on Monday so he picked me up at work and we walked over to Fletcher’s BBQ for an awesome dinner.

They had Genesse Cream Ale.

And this tray was the best bbq I’ve ever had, including what we’ve tried in the south.

We split mac and cheese,

and fridge pickles,

and each got a chopped chicken sandwich with slaw on top.

We smothered our sandwiches in bbq sauce and were absolutely swooning. And one of the men behind the counter saw how thrilled we were and sent us home with a container of sauce to go!

We topped off our night by moseying next door for pie.

A rosemary shoefly slice that was interesting but not quite sweet enough for our tastes.

My healthy/easy/tasty Friday dinner.

Roasted broccoli.

And ridiculous melts.

A maple French toast bagel topped with sweet and spicy pepper jam, smoked turkey, sliced Brie, and Hickory and Sage Smoked Seitan Bacon.

The “bacon” was part of a sample I received from Sweet Earth. This vegan, non-gmo, no nitrate bacon has 10 grams of protein, 90 calories, and 0.5 grams of saturated fat per serving. The ingredients were all things I could recognize, like buckwheat groats, coconut, and maple. We were big fans.

Hope everyone’s having a great weekend!

18May2014

Long Week Wrap-Up; The Perfect Date? I’d Have To Say April 25th.

by Emily

Woah! It’s been almost two weeks; this is going to be a loooooong post, and that’s after I cut out a whole bunch of stuff. I left in lots of coffee, dinners in bowls, and tasty medjool dates. I’ve had a bad case of the Blogging Blahs recently and I just can’t get myself to sit down and write. Even though I’m not talking about it much, we have been eating fancy meals and doing fun things. Like spending last Saturday in Manhattan…

On our way to the theatre!

We saw Bullets Over Broadway and loved it. Zach Braff – one of my idols – played the lead and the show was super funny.

Here is some of what’s gone on {my plate} since I last posted – –

breakfasts and lunches

Amazing hot chocolate and a vanilla almond KIND bar.

Smoothie = frozen banana, dates, vanilla almond milk, vanilla almond butter, cinnamon-maple sugar, and vanilla bean paste.

Yogurt bowl. 2% Fage topped with cooked strawberries, chopped date, and pecans.

Yogurt lunch.

Dannon coffee Greek yogurt,

plus dates with sweet and spicy pecans, and an apple.

Super salad. I packed spring mix topped with blue cheese, sweet and spicy pecans, and chopped apple, then added some Italian dressing from the salad bar at work. P.S. The cafeteria was on point this week; I bought several cheesy slices of pizza and had creamy lobster bisque with giant pieces of meat.

Lunch with Au Bon Pain. They sent me some coupons to try out their new late spring menu.

We tried the Sriracha Chicken Sandwich—all-natural chicken with Sriracha sauce, pickled banana peppers, arugula, tomatoes and lemon aioli on a baguette. Interesting, but not too spicy for the husband.

A Lemon and Sweet Cheese CroisBun – flaky croissant blended with butter bun, filled with sweet cheese and lemon curd.

And an Arnold Palmer with their black currant iced tea.

Everything was really yummy, but we were pretty annoyed because the location we chose was out of the new salads, both of which sounded amazing.

[BBQ Chicken Salad—all-natural chicken marinated in barbecue sauce, romaine, roasted corn, tomatoes, cucumbers, three-cheddar blend and light ranch dressing. Fresh Fruit & Baby Kale Salad—fresh watermelon, strawberries, mandarin oranges, feta and sliced almonds on a bed of baby kale and balsamic vinaigrette.]

I will not be going back to that location, but I will be heading to ABP for a salad asap.

drinks and desserts

Many iced lattes with my magic milk straws.

Also the cookie dough iced coffee from Dunkin is still great.

And this double espresso over ice – with skim milk and sugar – from Café Dada that filled me with joy.

We are officially giving two thumbs up to Rice Dream’s Horchata.

Adam actually liked it even more than I did.

Still working my way through Buzzfeed’s Frozen Treat’s list; #33 was cholado from Las Americas Bakery.

We got Raspado, shaved ice with homemade fruit syrup and sweetened condensed milk.

Caramel date shake – sea salt caramel gelato blended with dates and skim milk.

Frozen hot chocolate from Tim Horton’s. Please note – they sent me a free coupon so I could sample this new product.

It wasn’t as good as the frozen hot chocolate, but it was definitely delicious. We would plan on purchasing them again this summer. The fudge on top was out of control.

This cookie dough candy was as good as you’d expect it to be. <– i.e. if that sort of thing sounds good to you then you’ll probably like it but if you thought“dear god, why would you dip cookie dough in chocolate” then you’ll probably think it’s too sweet. I thoroughly enjoyed half and then was happy to throw the rest away.

Brooklyn Farmacy is officially our new favorite place.

A family restored the 1920’s pharmacy and turned it into a soda fountain heaven. The music, fixtures, and staff wardrobe are all throw-backs to the ’20s but in a way that is touching and kitschy rather than cheesy (think classy, not Johnny Rockets).

We shared a hibiscus float and a maple egg cream that were both indescribably good.

We practically ordered a second round!

dinners

Farro bowls. Leftover farro tossed with soy sauce and rice vinegar / sautéed shiitake mushrooms and shredded carrots / sauerkraut sautéed with Sriracha and sugar / sliced cucumber / and a fried egg.

Here it is before the egg went down.

Pasta bowls.

Whole wheat linguine / spinach and roasted broccoli / sauce made of a raw egg cracked into the hot pasta plus a splash of milk and huge handful of shredded swiss cheese / topped with panko fried with evoo, smoked paprika, and truffle salt.

Burrito bowl at Calexico. Rice / black beans / guacamole / cojita cheese / avocado sauce / and jalopeños.

Old-school burger and fries at Bareburger. Turkey burger – on a bun! – with pickle chips, tomato, lettuce, mayo, and ketchup. Just like a McDonald’s burger from when I was a kid.

Cheese plate! Assembled entirely of items from Trader Joe’s.

Dates, salmon jerky,

orange slices, pear,

rosemary crackers,

and Italian truffle cheese.

The cheese was an early appetizer for our sushi night.

I got a pickle veggie roll and a non-authentic fried stuff roll. Both were only ok. We had sushi a couple of times over the past weeks and none of it has been very good.

A fancy dinner, after our date at the theatre, at Stone Park Café.

We started with a salad of baby arugula, toasted pecans, artichoke hearts, and blue cheese vinaigrette.

And the scallop and marrow tacos. Uggggh. These were insane.

I had seared Catham cod with Odessa eggplant, baby bok choy, and lemon gremolata. Apparently this was the first time I tasted cod outside of fish and chips?! SPC is one of our favorite restaurants in the city so I know this was good, but I wasn’t a big fan.

Adam’s dinner blew mine out of the water. Butternut squash and thyme ravioli with brown butter, pine nuts, and mixed mushrooms.

Thankfully he was very generous with shared bites.

Are you sick of this post yet? That’s all she wrote!

11Apr2014

Weekly Wrap-Up; All By Myself

by Emily

Adam is on spring break right now so I gave him my free ticket voucher and he spent a week in St. Thomas with my parents. They are all disgustingly in love with each other and had a fabulous time. Meanwhile I was home alone but at least I had the dog.

Furry cuddles totally got me through. And I definitely took advantage of meals as a single lady.

breakfast

Fruit and yogurt bowl.

A strawberry Fage topped with fresh pineapple and cara cara orange.

A lackluster morning.

A bottle of iced coffee that I thought tasted artificial and threw out halfway through.

And a NuGo bar that was nowhere near as tasty as their salted pretzel variety.

Smoothie.

Coffee greek yogurt with frozen blackberries, toasted coconut, and chocolate milk. <– Fantabulous

Smoothie 2 was frozen mango, blackberries, and spinach with coconut water.

Have you tried the ice cream coffees from Dunkin? This was butter pecan.

I tried the cookie dough last weekend too and it was legit amazing.

lunch

Salad day.

Arugula with carrots, pea shoots, honey roasted almonds, buckwheat groats, blue cheese, dried blueberries, and vinaigrette.

Plus a cara cara orange and tamarind balls from home.

My coworkers are mostly all from the Caribbean as well and they were thrilled that I shared my tamarind shipment.

Oatmeal and apples.

Cherry Pistachio from Quaker.

And Cherry Vanilla from Big Slice.

This was the first flavor of these kettle cooked apples that I didn’t like.

Sandwich spread.

An everything bagel thin with strawberry jam, sharp cheddar, smoked turkey, and banana peppers.

Plus spicy peanut cucumber salad.

And raspberry candies and the last orange.

snack

Paper bag popcorn.

Prune chocolates my Russian coworker shared.

I ate this entire bag of Inner Peas in one sitting.

It was pathetic but also delicious.

I topped with cool tub of fig yogurt with white chocolate chips and toasted coconut.

Cookie mugs rocked my face of this week.

I use this recipe, but swap the ratio of white to brown sugar.

Do ittttttt.

dinner

Salad night.

I had a TJ’s pretzel bread in the car as an appetizer.

Then topped a giant bowl of arugula and pea shoots with medium-boiled eggs, blue cheese, turkey bacon, shredded carrot, yogurt blue cheese dressing, and truffle salt.

And now medium-boiled eggs are my new favorite thing.

A combination of nibbles. Pretzels straight from the bag.

A granny smith dipped in peanut butter and lavender caramel.

And baby carrots with red pepper hummus.

Green eggs ~~and ham~~.

Eggs scrambled with okra, arugula, and swiss cheese.

Soup’s up.

This poblano and corn chowder was delicious.

And now we’re off to do fun spring break stuff!

6Apr2014

Weeklong Wrap-Up; The Top Five

by Emily

It took a week longer than I’d hoped, but I’m back to feeling 100%! The alternative title for this post was “Cough Drop Chronicles.”

In the interim between this post and the last, I ate a ton of food but didn’t have it in me to capture most of it. Adam and I made amazing, ridiculous nachos – maple bacon kettle chips baked with a blend of eight cheeses – but I shoveled them into my mouth before there was time to let them cool, let alone be photographed. On Saturday I went to a wedding shower that served lunch – awesome lobster ravioli with big shrimp on top – but the only person I knew beforehand was the bride-to-be so I was too embarrassed to get out my camera.

Instead of a full post, here are my “top five” from the past week.

1. Liquid breakfast. I was feeling my sickest on Monday and these three beverages were all consumed over the course of the same morning.

Green smoothie. Frozen spinach, mango, and coconut water.

Lavender GT Kombucha. I shared this with Adam and he actually liked it even more than I did.

“Mocha.” Hospital coffee with a chocolate soy milk.

2. Sweet stuff. These three desserts were the very best of the week but only the tip of the iceberg in terms of consumption. I made it through by having a cough drop or hard candy in my mouth pretty much all waking 12 hours a day.

Nunu caramel dark chocolate bar. <– made in Brooklyn