I did not watch any Super Bowl (instead I started watching Woke!) but I did eat a giant plate of cheese fries! Other highlights from this weekend included…
I bookended this week with two weekends in a row at work which meant I had Tuesday-Wednesday off and it was just lovely. New York has been too cold for venturing into the city to sound appealing but I did read two books and finish watching Schitt’s Creek!
Food highlights included…
We tried two new apple varieties. Evercrisp > Cosmic Crisp.
We also tried two great, new-to-us gummy candies. The Sour Patch Kids are officially my all-time-favorite cola candy.
We found our new favorite Chinese take-out spot and tried a bunch of dishes. Garlic baby bok choy / spicy crispy chicken / rice cakes with cabbage and shredded chicken / scallion pancakes.
One set of ingredients cooked two different ways. First eggs soft-scrambled with maple-smoked cheddar with chicken breakfast sausages and kale sautéed with tons of garlic and gojuchang.
Then all of the above baked into an egg casserole. Plus leftover scallion pancakes. This was the best meal of the week!
Is it because in addition to having black eyed peas on the 1st for prosperity in the new year we had tons of sweets for a sweet new year and rose hard candies for a rosy outlook? I made those last two up but I’m running with it!
Highlights include…
I am on my last carton of eggnog for the season and I am still 11/10 enjoying it in coffee.
We obviously bought this Lucy Glo apple because the Trader Joe’s end cap said it was Instagram-famous and it ended up being delicious – crispy and a good mix of citrus and sweet.
We have both cookie butter and fresh berries in the apartment so clearly I’ve eaten a million yogurt bowls.
100% impressed with the newest Reese’s cup variety – pretzel!
These Levain cookies aren’t quite as good as the fresh-baked ones in stores but they are the very best not-from-scratch cookies you’ll ever make at home.
Also loved this crispy Maman caramel, hazelnut, chocolate chip cookie.
A hot take on the black eyed pea salad we’ve loved for years. BEP, green bell pepper, turkey andouille sausage, smoked almonds, sharp cheddar, and green Tabasco.
Eggs scrambled with peas and crushed potato chips, topped with chili crisp.
Brunch from Edith’s, the Jewish food pop-up in Greenpoint. Braised brisket sandwich with labneh cole slaw, spicy pickles, and pickled mustard seed on a house-made Kaiser roll // house-smoked salmon mac and cheese.
Also they served me a cold brew with amaretto that legitimately blew my mind — we ended up adding a liquor store stop on our way home so I can make my own next weekend.
Hope everyone’s year is off to a smooth and happy start!
Last week was great, and filled with great eats. It worked out that I was off from work most of the week, which was just lovely! And Adam and I were both home together for Christmas, which has rarely happened in our marriage. The absolute best part of the week was walking around Manhattan (8 miles!) admiring holiday decorations and checking out the Rockefeller tree – – it was impossible to capture in a photo but even in the daytime the lights were stunning.
Other highlights included…
We obviously had to buy both of these eggnogs to do a comparison taste-test (premium was a bit better!).
Christmas morning dalgona coffee with eggnog.
Max Brenner‘s peanut butter hot chocolate blew our minds.
Trader Joe’s peppermint mini marshmallows are great.
And we loved this peppermint seltzer.
Birthday cake scone from Sweetie Pies on Main. We went out to Cold Spring Harbor to admire their decorations. And yes, we do have a car tree.
This snowball doughnut from Comfortland was insane. It was coated in coconut and stuffed with marshmallow cream.
Plain Greek yogurt bowl with banana, chocolate cashew butter, and cinnamon.
I’ve had my eye on this salmon candy spread for months and it did not disappoint. Paired wonderfully with everything-style crackers.
Still very into this frozen meal. Also fresh mandarin oranges.
Best meal I’ve ever made – crockpot five spice chicken thighs / celery, bok choy, and scallions / rice cakes / gojuchang brown sugar sauce. Topped with chili crisp.
We broiled the leftovers with mozzarella cheese and it somehow got even better.
The best meal we’ve ever eaten came from Milu. Mandarin duck with duck fat rice and marinated cucumbers / brisket with chili garlic mint sauce and tofu seaweed salad / chili crisp fried chicken with scallion mayo. Plus egg tart soft-serve. Every single bite was swoonworthy.
A roasted sheet-pan meal with brussel sprouts, cave aged blue cheese, turkey sausage, dried sweet cherries, yellow raisins, and sweet and spicy pecans.
Soft-scrambled eggs with roasted broccoli rabe and purple cauliflower, cucumber salad, and hot-smoked salmon.
The number one weekend highlight was walking around Bushwish for a bit; there is so much street art it is practically like visiting a museum!
Other highlights included…
On its own this Sleigh Ride coffee can was more ho-hum than ho-ho-ho, but mixed into eggnog it was wonderful. Who knew that pepperminty eggnog is what my life was missing?!
I had a black bean and pepperjack kolache and a soft taco with cheese, eggs, and hot sauce.
We went to L’imprimerie to get a loaf of bread for next week and ended up with a fantastic lunch. 10/10 sandwich with duck pate, cornichons, and arugula.
Poppy seed and marzipan croissant.
The whole family enjoyed a lovely afternoon at Evil Twin.
Best brews (in my opinion) were the “Sour Pepper Cherry Vanilla Float” soda-style sour ale / the “I always Look Forward to Outdoor Dining in My Snowsuit” triple IPA / and the “How Much Cheese is Even More Cheese” raspberry cheesecake sour ale.
Also we had the Sweet Revenge, the most “me” cocktail of all time – a frozen blend of vodka, aquavit, Aperol, pink guava, cinammon, citrus, and milk punch.
An easy homemade dinner. Trader Joe’s frozen kung pow chicken zhuzhed up with added celery and extra peanuts.
Hot chocolate and a Mont Blanc – French meringue under a dome of whipped cream covered with chestnut paste. It was one of the most enjoyable things I’ve eaten all year and definitely the best meringue I’ve ever tasted.
Cocktail hour.
Cocktail hour snacks.
I bought a pack of Coldstone’s peanut butter chocolate ice cream cups because I have no chill (they’re amazing).
Whole-wheat matzoh brei + roasted baby cauliflower. We had totally forgotten how satisfying matzoh brei is, it’s going to be on the menu a lot more often now.
Roasted green beans and scrambled eggs with Korean chili flake, sriracha, mayo, and vegetarian pork floss. <– best dinner of the bunch
Early Thanksgiving dinner a la Trader Joe’s frozen section.
Adam and I had a delightful weekend! We spent time in Williamsburg, walked across the bridge to the Lower East Side, and drove out to Huntington and enjoyed the changing leaves.
My five favorite things were…
{1} Fantastically chewy treats from Alimama. A creme brulee mochi doughnut and a Vietnamese coffee and mini boba filled cream puff.
{2} Our first time eating – and adoring- fresh rice noodle rolls. Stuffed with egg, crab meat, and chicken.
{3} There’s a new Whole Foods near our house that serves reuben pizza and it’s possible we’ll never cook dinner again.
{4} Oddfellow’s holiday flavor line-up is insane. We tried coquito this weekend, topped with concord creme pie (concord jam infused sweet cream ice cream with chunks of pie crust), swoon.
{5} Epic take-out from Lazy Siu’s – vegan burnt ends, snow peas cooked with duck fat and shallots, and skin-on fries.
I had a both personal day and a weekend comp day off this week which meant that I had a nice short and easy work-week. The weather was mostly beautiful too, so I got to maximize my time off with fun days in Brooklyn! And while I was at work I gave a presentation on critical care nutrition to all of the medical residents that went well.
Highlights include…
This remains my favorite coffee combo. So much fun that I can make *real* Vietnamese iced coffee at home!
This coffee – with brown sugar syrup, boba, tiger jelly, and cream mousse – from Tiger Sugar was pretty good too!
We almost never buy pre-cut fruit (Adam brought this home from work) but it is so luxurious to have in the fridge.
A girlfriend and I went to Williamsburg for spicy ramen… with lobster!
P.S. We took a walk afterwards – for milkshakes — in tank tops — in November —- and were a bit too hot which was both completely horrifying and also quite lovely.
It rained my other day off but Adam and I got take-out from Mission Chinese and had a fantastic time picnicing in the back of the car. Rice cakes with inari and bitter melon + Kung Pao with home fries, chili, peanuts, and pastrami.
