Things from this week… My dinners were all topnotch.
Reminder for myself – I did not care for the churro version of these vegan crisps at all.
I did quite enjoy this Mango Chili Truly; it was a bit salty in a very satisfying way.
Fully paired these two IPAs because they both had laser in their name. We preferred the Goose Island.
Insane loaded veggie nachos. Homemade baked toritlla chips with lime and togarashi / nacho cheese sauce / Trader Joe’s vegan soy chorizo / roasted sweet onion, bell pepper, and poblano pepper / roasted zucchini / fresh tomato and tomatillo.
Take-out birria quesadilla with leftover veggies plus green beans.
Broccoli and cheese potatoes. Baked potatoes with soyrizo, cheese sauce, turkey bacon, and roasted broccoli.
Burritos! I stuffed mine with double roasted tomato salsa (two thumbs up!), pickled jalopenos, cheddar, soyrizo, sweet potato tots, and scrambled eggs and topped it with crispy extra-sharp cheddar cheese. Pro tip – I actually used the cheese blanket to seal my wrapped edge and it worked great. Plus roasted cauliflower with taco seasoning.
Adam and I had a really lovely weekend. There were storms Friday night into Saturday morning but afterwards the weather cleared up nicely so we could enjoy some walking dates. We covered a lot of ground, including walks across the Williamsburg Bridge and Queensboro Bridge. Also a trip to the Guggenheim for the Nick Cave exhibit.
Doughnut Project‘s maple cruller is our favorite doughnut in the city.
Lucky Kings Bakery‘s fried mochi stuffed with red bean paste and rolled in sesame seeds. This was amazing.
Banana pudding at Baonanas. Cookies and cream and ube.
Drinks at Dante. Our favorite was this Amalfi Limonata – malfy lemon gin. limoncello, lemon curd, lemon juice, and limonata soda.
I 100% planned last week’s meals so we would have leftover ingredients for homemade painkillers. Pineapple juice, fresh orange juice, and light coconut milk with sweetened condensed milk with dark rum.
Brunch at Loulou. I had a Remy – tequilla, Lillet Rose, and homemade grenadine with lime and sparkling grapefruit.
Also a gruyere omelette.
Lunch at Tacombi. Horchata / hibiscus agua fresca with mezcal and chile.
Corn esquites.
Breakfast taco with eggs, pico, and Oaxaca cheese. <– best dish of the meal
Birria tacos.
Dinner at Super Burrito. We ordered all of this week’s specials with ground beef – burrito, crunchwrap, and nachos. We loved it here!
Epic homemade burrito bowls. Roasted cauliflower rice with roasted onion/bell peppers/poblano pepper, sharp cheddar, double roasted salsa, chicken and chile verde sausage, crispy tortilla strips, and pickled jalopenos.
Highlights from a perfect weekend. Adam and I had a big chunk of time together / we walked thirteen miles from Penn Station around Central Park and through Harlem and back / we tried several spots that became new favorites / we watched the Super Bowl (aka Adam watched the Super Bowl and I cartoons while eating themed snacks).
Flourish. This space is decorated like the inside of my brain and quickly became my new favorite Long Island spot. We shared a salted caramel latte and a fantastic Shakerato.
Bagel sandwich (on a house-made sourdough everything bagel) with fried egg, hashbrown, herby cream cheese, and pickled onion.
House sourdough with miso braised short rib, gruyere, fontina, hatch chiles, and au jus.
Butterfunk Biscuit. We had a fried chicken biscuit with pimento cheese, pickles, and hot honey. And the best cinnamon roll I’ve ever eaten.
Noodle Bar. I love David Chang’s ethos and I read his memoir but somehow this was the first time I’ve visited one of his sit-down restaurants. Sweater Weather – El Buho mezcal, Kraken rum, sweet vermouth, tamarind maple cordial, and lemon.
Tuna crudo with leche de tigre, cilantro, chili, and lime.
Caulini with anchovy crumbs.
Bao with caramelized shiitakes.
Winter salad with pickled golden beets, gochugaru vinaigrette, and pepita sesame crumble.
Crispy potatoes with peppadew sauce, paprika, and salt.
Cumin lamb noodles. These were super numbing and amazing.
Whisps cheese pretzel and honey mustard bites (9/10).
And an egg burrito with extra veggies. This was only ok (who puts carrots on a burrito? And it needed way more hot sauce) but Adam’s egg and cheese sandwich was a work of art.
Cookie x cookie coffee wins. I 11/10 loved the Stew Leonard’s cookie dough flavored coffee and also enjoyed the Califa cookie butter almond milk creamer far more than I was expecting to.
Sliced Hunnyz apple (a new favorite) with honey, cinnamon, and chunky peanut butter.
Yogurt bowl with plain skry, vanilla bean paste, honey, persimmon, passionfruit, chia seeds, and vanilla almond granola.
See also, plain skyr with cinnamon, blueberry jam, persimmon, Mineola tangerine, and granola.
We spent an obscene amount of money on Taco Bell delivery for dinner one night so I tried to bring balance back to the Force with a green juice. Lol, unfortunately I grabbed the wrong bottle because this ended up basically being lemonade with aloe and chlorophyll.
We liked these Zapp’s honey mustard pretzels a lot. Not as much as Dot’s but more than their voodoo variety which ended up being too seasoned for us. Also, I use the adjective “jazzy” at least four times a week so clearly I had to buy these.
We loved these Trader Joe’s lentil and chickpea crisps. Great texture.
These Ben & Jerry’s s’mores cookie dough bites are my favorite thing I’ve ever eaten. I love everything about them but the truffles specifically are mind-blowing.
Leftover jalopeno cheddar hushpupies from Sweet Chick with honey and leftover crab dip.
The Burrito Blvd near our apartment has the best toppings; this rice bowl was 40% rice and 60% chopped zuchinni (my ideal burrito bowl ratio). Also chicken, corn, tomato, cheese, and mild salsa.
Homemade laab. I followed this recipe. We quite enjoyed it and were not sad to have sourced toasted rice powder. Plus sauted bok choy with ginger and sesame seeds.
Spicy, tomato-y chickpea bowls. I sauteed graffiti eggplant and sweet onion with fire-roasted diced tomatoes, harissa, and chickpeas. Topped with plain yogurt and fresh mint.
Homemade cashew chicken. I followed this recipe except that I swapped breasts for thighs and added red bell pepper. With brown basmatti rice and roasted broccoli.
P.S. We have exciting dinner reservations tonight for Omakase at Koyo. I’m not bringing my camera but from what I can tell online everything should be gorgeous (and delicious!).
Some highlights from an exceptionally yummy week! We had some bonkers-good snacks and dinners the past few days…
Sumo mandarins and new Hunnyz apples – perfectly sweet and with a balanced texture, not super crisp but not at all mealy.
Yuzu beverages, both winners. I mixed the High Tide sparkling water with iced matcha and the Lunar hard seltzer with vodka.
Crispy lentils. I loved how roasty these were.
Snack Mates pizza and chicken and waffle flavored meat sticks. These were great.
Strawberry chocolate mochi. This was definitely the best packaged mochi I’ve tried.
The Reese’s Big Cups continue to be the ultimate candy; this new Reese’s Puffs variety was a 10/10. My personal ranking is potato chip > puffs > pretzel. Meanwhile, we liked these so much we bought a box of Puffs and I was very underwhelmed by them in cereal bowl form.
I don’t accept many product samples for the blog these days but this was truly the perfect fit – Prospector Popcorn. The flavors were delicious (the Belgian chocolate toffee was my favorite), they were super fresh, and none of the coatings contain palm oil. We truly loved these and have already ordered more bags with our own money. Huge bonus – this company is a non-profit dedicated to employing people with disabilities (74% of their current workforce).
Korean chicken bowls. Sliced chicken thighs marinated in gojuchang, soy sauce, garlic, and brown sugar and sauted in canola oil. With green onion, sesame seeds, and chopped roasted baby cauliflower.
Salads. Green lettuce with balsamic vinaigrette, crispy lentils, roasted carrots (rainbow baby carrots roasted with butter, evoo, honey, cinnamon, smoked paprika, and urfa pepper), and a fried egg.
Pizza bites (this recipe – we loved it!), garlic turkey meatballs, and roasted romanesco with pizza sauce for dipping.
Pizza-inspired tteokbokki. Rice cakes / roasted cabbage and red onion / green onions / shredded chicken breast / pizza sauce with gojuchang, gochugaru, sugar, evoo, and water / pizza blend shredded cheese.
Typing that year still throws me! I’m sure I’ll adjust by next November!
Some highlights from the weekend…
Starbuck’s iced espresso with their new pistachio cream cold foam. I’m a fan.
I liked not loved this new (to me?) cherry cola Olipop flavor.
Also new to me – Fonio chips. With caramelized onion dip.
Delicious tiramisu affagato from White Noise. We had forgotten how cute/wonderful it is there.
Adam and I had a great dinner at When in Bangkok. This was tequila, triple sec, and guava juice with a Thai-style chili salt rim.
We shared Giaw Tod – fried wontons stuffed with fish balls and served with a spicy tamarind sauce.
And Chinese broccoli with garlic, chili, and a fermented soy bean sauce.
I ordered the Pad Thai special that came topped with jumbo prawns and wrapped in an egg net. I also stole some wonderful bites of Adam’s Tom Kha and chicken Pad See Ew.
Our leftovers made the perfect easy Sunday dinner!
Adam and I ended the year on a celebratory note with our fifteen year wedding anniversary! I thank my lucky stars everyday – realistically about 20 times a day! – that he’s my person! We had two fun nights that unfortunately I didn’t take a single photo of – at trip to Sundays in Brooklyn for their Snow Days pop-up (including themed cocktails, upscale popcorn, a giant burger, and fantastic roasted honeynut squash) and an evening of pizza take-out and tv in bed (an activity so wonderful I mentioned it in my wedding vows!).
Other highlights from last week included…
Jelly doughnut iced coffee for the last day of Hanukkah. Iced coffee with blueberry preserves and skim milk frothed with cinnamon, cocoa powder, and brown sugar.
Yogurt bowl – plain Greek with kiwi, persimmon, and vanilla almond granola.
Even more exciting than fresh persimmons is the start of citrus season; this Cara Cara was delicious and I also just bought a bunch of Sumos.
Snacks we brought home from Hawaii. Honolulu Cookie Company makes the best shortbread I’ve ever eaten.
Mochi and furikake seasoned popcorn.
Also these vegan gummies my mom put in my stocking were 10/10.
I’ve been seeing this ramen all over Instagram and I had to try it. Even with the addition of Kewpie and an egg it was almost too spicy for me!
A homecooked dinner. Roasted cauliflower and chopped onion / roasted chickpeas / fresh mint / tossed in honey, rice vinegar, and smoked paprika.
Eating Chalk 