Passionately Crabby

Good things from this week…

Yogurt bowl. Plain Greek with blueberries, passionfruit, and chocolate cookie granola.

Cookie dough protein yogurt bowl. Plain Greek with peanut butter, brown sugar, vanilla bean powder, vanilla protein powder, and chocolate chips. Blueberries on the side, of course.

Hojicha tea with yuzu curd and passionfruit syrup.

Bougie candies. Candy Kitten raspberry + guava (7/10) and Jom cola (10/10).

I really enjoyed this Buldak cheese spicy chicken ramen. This flavor wasn’t too spicy and the noodles were so bouncy! I added an egg and a slice of cheese to my bowl and it was great.

A take on callaloo. Frozen spinach cooked down with light coconut milk, yellow onion, habanero pepper, ginger, urfa pepper, salt, pepper, turkey bacon, and crab.

I topped my bowl with soursop hot sauce and paired it with hot mustard Doritos.

Sushi roll bowls. Brown rice and roasted riced cauliflower with furikake, white sugar, and rice vinegar / imitation crab with green onion, Greek yogurt, mayo, soy sauce, and Sriracha / cucumbers tossed with white pepper, Sichuan pepper, and rice vinegar / avocado / pickled ginger / seaweed snacks on the side.

Crab fried rice. Leftover cauliflower/rice stir-fried with soy sauce, fish sauce, ginger, green onion, crab meat, and eggs. Plus fairytale eggplants that I roasted and then sauteed with gojuchang, tahini, and sesame oil. We want to remake this eggplant immediately.

Mishmash

Our dinners all knocked it out of the park this week. Highlights…

This week’s coffee combo. Note – I give both a 7.5 for flavor but I did have to add half and half with the creamer to get it as creamy as I’d like and dark roast to the coffee to get it as roasty as I’d like.

This drink started out butterfly pea tea blue, then turned purple when I added lemon juice and seltzer, then turned swamp monster when I added matcha.

I have no idea where I found this Jamaican cookie-flavored protein drink but it was tasty and I would buy it again if I found it.

Grapefruit sodas; these both made for great cocktails.

Fun Asian Kit-Kats my cousin sent me from a trip.

Bubbie’s passionfruit ice cream mochi. Hands-down my favorite mochi brand.

Adam and I have both been loving yogurt bowls lately. This one was plain skyr, sugar cookie granola, chia seeds, persimmon, and blueberries.

Congee made with brown rice and turkey broth. Topped with meatballs (turkey with panade, garlic, gochugaru, and fish sauce), sauteed red chard, and chili crisp.

This bowl was a wonderful mishmash – leftover congee / sauteed fairytale eggplant / Korean steamed eggs / vegan tuna salad / green onion / sesame seeds / chili crisp.

Amazing tofu (Trader Joe’s sprouted extra-firm tofu, baked until crispy and then tossed in toasted rice powder, white pepper, and Sichuan pepper salt) / Ming Bings plant-based sausage egg and cheese bing (10/10 – will buy again) / roasted romanesco.

Apple Of My Eye

Things from the past week – So much Apple Month fun. Adam was out of town at a confernce and amazingly I served myself an adult meal almost every night. Highlights…

Apple pie sundae. Vanilla ice cream with caramel sauce and apple pie granolas.

Caramel apple cider doughnut cookie. I am actually not a Chip fanatic but this one is perfection! It’s a brown sugar cookie made with apple butter, with a carmel apple filling, topped with butter and cinnamon sugar.

Caramel apple boozy milkshake. Michigan apple whiskey with vanilla ice cream, ice, cinnamon, and caramel sauce.

Still loving the caramel apple Sugar Babies.

These fruit bites were good not great; something about the mango flavor was a bit gaggy to me.

A bowl of blackberries and Sumo mandarin delicious enough to document.

Homemade take on okonomiyaki. I filled mine with crumbled super-firm tofu, cabbage, cauliflower rice, and green onions (plus ginger, eggs, flour, and ginger lime seltzer – I always use seltzer here instead of water). Topped with Sriracha, Kewpie, and furikake.

Korean steamed eggs on a bed of roasted cabbage and cauliflower rice with chili crisp. Topped with sesame seeds and way too much gochugaru because my shaker broke.

Red curry salmon cakes (there was green onion, panko, egg, and cauliflower rice in there too) and rainbow cauliflower with water chestnuts, stir-fry sauce, and Trader Joe’s chile and garlic cashews.

Pizza night (this was a successful too good to go order so I don’t know exactly what they were, fried eggplant and ??). Plus more cauliflower rice; it was a big bag for one person!

Tonight we have a fun couple date – dinner reservations at Hav & Mar!

Magical Fruit

Highlights from the week…

I tried another new-to-me protein coffee. This one was a 7.5/10, I’d prefer a stronger coffee taste but the flavor was nice.

Excitement in yogurt. A very sweet, very tasty soursop drinkable yogurt.

Did you know Haagen Dazs makes yogurt now?!

I’m glad I tried it but it’s too sweet to be a new staple. I topped the coffee flavor with aprium and peanut butter banana granola.

Fruity booze for the end of summer. I disliked the rum punch hard seltzer and greatly enjoyed the paloma sour.

Guava caramel candies. These are so good, the crunchy sugar is perfect.

This edible cookie dough is a 12/10. I warmed some up and made the best sundae of my life.

Bean week dinners; I am always looking to top my weirdest theme week! Buffalo blue cheese black bean burgers. With roasted broccoli, leftover fried tofu, and spicy ranch dipping sauce.

A take on our favorite black eyed pea salad. With green pepper, hearts of palm, peanuts, extra-sharp cheddar, and Caribbean hot sauce.

Spicy saucy chickpeas. Sauteed with sweet onion, orange bell pepper, eggplant, tomato sauce, spices, and harissa. I didn’t cook the eggplant enough and I actually hated this but it’s a good idea for the future if I pre-roast the eggplant.

Crispy butter beans. Tossed with evoo, cornstarch, panko, salt, gochugaru, furikake, and ranch seasoning and then roasted in the oven. Plus roasted baby cauliflower.

We Had Fun-Fetti

Highlights from a very wonderful weekend…

Cafe Grumpy iced latte with oatmilk and blackberry syrup.

Are you admiring my sleeve? Last weekend Adam and I bought a $10 kit from Target and tie-dyed our own shirts!

Caffe Valencia Roosevelt – iced latte with frothed milk and vanilla and toasted marshmallow.

Green protein smoothie. Premiere Protein cake batter with frozen banana, grapes, and spinach.

Taiyaki. I got custard-filled, hojicha ice cream, condensed milk, and sprinkles.

Best cake ever from Butterfield. Super dense funfetti with two kinds of frosting; the cookies and cream layer was life-changing.

Lunch at Kayle.

Beef sliders on ube rolls.

Beef Tapa meal – seared tri-tip marinated with soy sauce and garlic with chili plus rice and a fried egg. And a side of roasted eggplant.

Plus, of course, halo halo. (10/10, best I’ve had in the city)

Dry-aged cheese burger from Mighties.

Spicy cumin lamb hand-torn noodles from Xi’an Famous Foods. These noodles are a large part of why I feel like I can never live outside of New York; 1,000/10.

Tennessee, Tahini

The five best things I ate this weekend…

Strawberry bites cereal with chocolate peanut butter banana granola and fresh aprium.

Paris Baguette jalopeno cheddar crossaint and a chocolate foam cold brew. 10/10s.

Vanilla ice cream with homemade tahini caramel. Plus pecans and mini peanut butter cups.

Chicky’s fried chicken and fries with garlic sauce and Tennessee hot sauce.

Saucy chickpeas. Sauteed with tomato paste, harissa, spices, onion, bell peppers, and eggplant.

Double Chip

Five favorites from the weekend…

New York Beanery s’mores iced latte.

Nectarines. Summer fruit is so good!

Giant double chocolate chip – white and milk! – cookies (this recipe).

Thai take-out! I got chicken Pad See Ew and Ma Khue Puang (stir-fried eggplant with chili sauce and lime leaves).

Mish-mash but it works salad. Baby kale with honey chipotle vinaigrette / leftover eggplant / baby bell pepper / cashews / crispy tofu – marinated in pickle juice, breaded in Cheez-Its, and baked.

Snickers Or Salad

Highlights from this week…

I took myself on a sunny coffee date to Wired on my day off. Espresso with marshmallow and Oreo cold foam.

Blackberries and a blood orange. So pretty!

Snack plate – corn nuts, smoked almonds, cacao almonds, blackberries, vegan jerky, and salmon jerky.

Loved both of these summer-y seltzers; the Polar was so pineapple-forward!

These marshmallows were so asthetically pleasing and so terrible (crumbly and very odd tasting).

But I used the vanilla ones to make homemade Snickers! This nougat recipe with salted peanuts and caramels folded in, topped with milk chocolate.

I was actively grocery shopping when I saw this week’s Roast specials and I changed my list to accomodate a night of take-out. Crunchwrap with honey Sriracha fried chicken, cheddar, coleslaw, french fries, and sweet chili aioli / buffalo chicken mac and cheese balls / roasted zucchini from home.

Filipino-ish dinner bowls. Ground turkey sauteed with tons of sisig seasoning, red and sweet onion, eggplant, and crispy baked shredded tofu. On a base of rice noodles tossed in chili crisp.

Bagel and lox inspired salad – romaine (with ranch, I was too lazy to figure out a cream cheese dressing), tons of fresh dill, quick-pickled red onion, hot smoked sockeye salmon, and everything seasoning roasted chickpeas.