Nacho Zip Code

by Emily

My stuff, my husband, my dog, and I all finally live in the same place (New York) again! What a surreal week! I worked Monday-Tuesday, moved Wednesday, and unpacked Thursday-Friday. I am thrilled to be with my amazing family and excited to be back in New York but am deeply mourning leaving Charlottesville, and my fantastic Virginia family and friends, and my unbelievably great job. <– it’s an extremely good problem to have 🙂

My last Cville weekend was low-key because I was a bit under the weather. I mostly watched tv in bed, drank Gatorade, and spent $8 on precut fruit.

Before I knew it it was Tuesday and I was drinking my very last hospital coffee! Sidenote – the coffee stands in the hospital served my favorite iced lattes in Virginia and I am going to miss them greatly.

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Also that afternoon coworkers took me out for coffee and then after work we went to Hardywood for a final round of marshmallow gingerbread stouts and by the time I packed my car I was a drunk, overly caffeinated mess.

My last night my family took me out for nachos – multiple plates! – and margaritas and I got to tell them how unbelievably grateful I am for their hospitality. I lived with my cousin and her fiance for the last 4 months and they could not have made my life easier or more fun. A lot of people thought I was insane for choosing to live apart from Adam and Webster for so long but one of the biggest silver linings of situation was the time I got with my Virginia family.

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And they would be thrilled to know that the very first thing I ate in New York was nachos!

Once we got the car unpacked Adam and I headed to I am Nacho Mama for bbq chicken nachos and fancy honey coffee.

I also had tacos – griddled cheese and salmon.

Last night we had a fancy dinner at our local mall, Tom Colicchio’s restaurant Small Batch.

Little gem lettuce with pecorino cheese, radishes, fried soft-boiled egg, and ceasar dressing.

Local duck breast with honeynut squash, figs, and black garlic.

Chocolate souffle cake with milk chocolate sauce, cookie crumbs, and bourbon-brown sugar ice cream.

6May2019

Vino + Virginia Visitors

by Emily

We had a great weekend being tourists in Charlottesville + the surrounding area because my mom was in town. She came up for a quick visit and we all had a blast!

We celebrated May the Fourth…

Went on wine tastings…

Explored the farmer’s market…

Five fun highlights were –

{1} Charlottesville City Market. We saw someone hand-pressing tortillas so obviously we had to get a chicken taco.

Plus I never turn down Vietnamese iced coffee.

{2} Rocket Coffee in Crozet. I had a great iced latte plus a bagel (<– shipped in from H&H in NYC!) with cream cheese.

{3} Spirits from Vitae. We loved it here! So many Caribbean flavors and they did a theme menu for May the Fourth. I had a taster of paw paw liquor plus a Cantina Punch – golden rum, mauby syrup, pomegranate juice, lemon, and aloe juice.

{4} Dinner at Maya. I didn’t snap any pictures but it was the best meal of the weekend! I had the crispiest, most succulent duck confit of my life and we shared a s’mores torte with housemade marshmallow fluff!

{5} Dinner at Tillmans. Greek salad plus pimento cheese served with red pepper jelly and crostini.

Hope it’s a great week!

1Feb2019

7 For 7

by Emily

Long time no blog! Here were 7 highlights from the past 7 days…

{1} This chocolate chip cookie dough chia bar is quite tasty. With a pinata apple.

{2} We finally went to Paradox Pastry and now it’s my new favorite place. The nutella hand pie and birthday cake macaron we shared were out of this world delicious and I wanted to try pretty much every item on the menu.

{3} We went on a crepe date at The Flat.

Shredded chicken with brie and local Jams by Daniel.

The Owl Man = milk chocolate, cinnamon, and marshmallow fluff.

{4} My mom sent some Rothschild Farms raspberry honey mustard dip in my stocking this year and it’s like snacking on my childhood. Pretzels for dipping are nonnegotiable but baby carrots aren’t bad either.

{5} Dinner bowl #1 – Stir-fried cauliflower rice (with soy sauce, rice vinegar, cashews, and eggs) with Trader Joe’s Mandarin orange chicken-less morsels.

{6} Dinner bowl #2 – Broccoli rice and shredded carrots stir-fried with zhoug sauce // honey garlic chicken thighs – thighs, garlic, honey, and soy sauce put in the crock pot on low for 8 hours // bok choy sauteed in some extra sauce // a fried egg.

{7} My cousin introduced us to Peter Chang’s. We had sweet glutinous rice cakes and I had numbing shredded duck. Szechuan chili is such a fun spice sensation.

I hope everyone has a great weekend!

19Nov2018

A New York Weekend

by Emily

Adam and I went on a quick vacation and just had the best weekend in NYC! We got super lucky with weather that was warm/dry enough for a long day of walking (including two trips across the Williamsburg Bridge and a spin around Washington Square Park). We tried a some new spots that totally knocked our socks off (see below). We met up with friends for a fantastic dinner at Bellwether (highlights included duck liver mousse with ramp mustard, strawberry preserves, and crostini and a Oaxacan Sour cocktail with mezcal, luxardo, agave, egg white, and lime).

The best Thanksgiving item and the entire impetus for this trip = Milk Bar‘s Thanksgiving croissant stuffed with turkey, stuffing, and cranberry sauce.

The best coffee = a quad, non-fat, iced latte of Stumptown at Black Brick.

The best doughnut = Alimama‘s sweet and savory mochi doughnut. It was topped with salted caramel and Nutella and was unbelievably, perfectly chewy. Plus we had a great ube cream puff.

The best brunch = Bricolage. There were so many things that sounded amazing we ended up ordering/sharing three entrees! Duck bahn mi with chicken liver pate, shallot mayo, pickled daikon, carrot, and herbs // five-spice fried chicken and waffles with red cabbage and fennel slaw, sriracha butter, and maple syrup // croissant french toast topped with Vietnamese coffee whipped cream, condensed milk creme anglaise, and blueberries.

The best ice cream = Morganstern‘s papaya guava ice cream alongside a scoop of American egg. P.S. the new location was beautiful and the line was far less out of control.

I ♥ New York.

8Oct2018

1st Week Of Pumpkin Month

by Emily

It’s Pumpkin Month! Check out this year’s stash –

Here is some of the gourdy goodness I’ve eaten so far…

Pumpkin milk iced coffee.

Chobani pumpkin with maple Cheerios.

Trader Joe’s pumpkin yogurt with Justin’s maple cashew butter, plus a rave apple and a chocolate chip cookie.

Other tasty things from the past week include…

Duck confit hash from Farm Bell Kitchen.

Mexican candy with guava paste and dulce de leche.

Grapefruit yogurt drink with mango jelly and popping grape boba.

Vietnamese caramel chicken with jasmine rice and sauteed bok choy and shredded carrot.

Shrimp fried rice, cooked on a sheet pan. <– this is such a fantastic idea! We will definitely use this method again

Spinach and artichoke chicken (similar to this recipe) with roasted cauliflower.

23Jul2018

A New York Weekend

by Emily

We just had the best! weekend!! ever!!! Or at least that’s what Adam and I told each other multiple times each day. It’s my birthday tomorrow (the 24th) and he took me back to New York to celebrate.

We got super lucky with the weather and managed to do a million fun things, including try out a few new restaurants that we missed going to before the move, eat all the ice cream, and drink all the coffee (and put ice cream in our coffee!).

Here were the highlights…

Staying in Williamsburg in the Pod hotel, which was adorable and totally big enough for us. And they had games and a bar in the lobby with Grimm Icing on the Cake on tap.

Brunch at Fausto, our new favorite spot. I had a cocktail with ontratto aperitif, aperitivo select, grapefruit, and tonic. Polenta with braised duck, poached egg, and pea greens. And hashbrowns with chili aioli.

Quad, non-fat, iced lattes from Black Brick.

Aussie iced coffee from Sweatshop. Basically a quad, non-fat, iced latte with a scoop of ice cream in it.

West Side Story from Paper Plane Coffee = guava, sweetened condensed milk, and espresso. It was surprisingly delicious, and pink!

Running along the East River.

Lunch at Sauvage. We split baked eggs and a salad with arugula, charred corn, pistachio, and whipped chevre.

Smorgasburg! We got fantastic okonomiyaki and a scoop of mint ice cream with toasted Swiss meringue on top. <– my favorite iteration of marshmallow of all time

Ice cream at Milk Bar. I got a babyquake (aka mini blizzard) with birthday cake truffles and the best sprinkles.

Stocking up on Japanese goodies at Midoriya.

Buying an adorable bear t-shirt for me and a succulent pin for Adam at Brooklyn Flea.

Dinner at Dez. We shared cauliflower and crispy capers and chimichurri and I had a chopped vegetable salad with roasted potato, crispy eggplant, a seven minute egg, umbah, zhough, and tahini.

Beating our favorite team shooting game (Ghost Hunter) at Barcade.

Getting drinks with old friends at Freemans.

Beers at Greenpoint Brewery.

Walking across the Williamsburg Bridge.

I love New York.

21May2018

Claro, Cake, Carrots

by Emily

I worked Friday, Saturday, Sunday (and I keep working Monday, Tuesday!) but I ate enough sugar the last three days to keep me Energizer Bunny-ing through.

Highlights from a tasty weekend…

Birthday cake iced latte from Milk Bar.

Trader Joe’s cold brew bottles are the 3rd best packaged cold coffees, beat only by Chameleon and Grady’s.

Fresh alphonso mango. In strawberry lingonberry yogurt with bran flakes cereal.

Desserts from House of Inasal. Halo halo with the best leche flan of my life.

And ube tres leches!

Ice cream from Van Leeuwen. A vegan flavor that was terrible and a s’mores flavor that was my new favorite.

Dinner at Sauvage // French food.

Lemony marinated olives.

Charred heirloom carrots with labne, pistachio, vadouvan, and pistou.

We shared all the entrees with mushrooms. Salmon with sorrel, shiitake mushrooms, lentils, and buttermilk sauce.

Poulet au Vin Jaune with morels and fava beans. I don’t eat chicken skin that often but it was by far the best component of this particular dinner!

Dinner at Claro // Oaxacan food. I had the housemade tepache (a fermented, sweetened pineapple beverage) with a shot of mezcal – they separated my cocktail for me so I could taste the tepache on its own.

The menu was meant to be enjoyed family style so we ordered all of the things. Too many things in fact, I wish they had stopped us one or two dishes earlier. Asparagus and avocado tostado with queso freso, radish, and spring onion.

Tacos with chipotle shrimp and quesillo cheese.

Garnachas (like an open quesadilla) with rabbit and duck confit, pate, fermented vegetables, and cojita cheese.

Memela (masa cakes) with wild mushrooms, espazote, goat cheese crema, and pasilla.

Goat’s milk chocolate ice cream with goats milk caramel, peanuts, and toasted marshmallows.

Happy Monday!

11May2018

Three Things

by Emily

Three things I liked this week:

{1} Mint iced coffee! Irving Farms espresso roast / half and half / homemade vanilla mint simple syrup.

{2} Kefir and apple work snacks.

{3} Starbucks’ prepared sandwiches that I’m weirdly obsessed with. Chicken and artichoke flatbread with provolone and sun-dried tomato pesto.

Three things I loved this week:

{1} Homemade turkey cheeseburger fried rice.

Leftover brown rice stir-fried with soy sauce and liquid smoke / sauteed onions / roasted cherry tomatoes / ground turkey sauteed with fish sauce, ketchup, and mayo / eggs / cheddar cheese.

{2} Dinner at Pig and Khao. I went with a girlfriend for her first visit and she loved it!

I ordered not one, but two, new to me dishes that were amazing. Mushroom salad with shrimp and fried garlic and green papaya salad with chicken and crispy taro.

{3} Dinner at Freeks Mill that knocked our socks off.

We started with roasted baby carrots with marcona almonds and herbed goat cheese.

And we ordered all the poultry on the menu for dinner. Chicken for Adam, smoked Poulet Rouge with wild mushrooms and spinach.

Duck for me, dry aged duck with fried cranberry beans, fennel, and rosemary honey. <– this was the singe best thing I've ever eaten!

Three things I’m obsessing about that you don’t know about yet:

{1} Nonfat quad iced lattes from Hungry Ghost. There are three HGs on my walk to work and it is becoming a problem.

{2} Stolen Dance by Milky Chance. This song is basically magic – I listened to it on a run and I swear my legs moved 50% more quickly than usual.

{3} Moving??! I’m not sure how I haven’t blogged about this yet, but yes, we’re moving! Adam is doing his Surgical Critical Care Fellowship at UVA next year. So we’re moving to Charlottesville. In 50 days. !!!

Eating Chalk

Tag Archives: duck

Nacho Zip Code

Vino + Virginia Visitors

7 For 7

A New York Weekend

1st Week Of Pumpkin Month

A New York Weekend

Claro, Cake, Carrots

Three Things