An Oatsome Good Time

Highlights from this week include – a day trip into Brooklyn // tons of tortilla chips and salsas // a product review.

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Oatsome sent me a carton of their oat-milk to try {I was provided no additional compensation and all opinions shared are my own}.  I have a three pronged review –

  • 1) Taste: the flavor is similar to skim milk in that it is not strong at all; I could definitely identify that oats were involved but it wasn’t “oat forward.”  It was inoffensive in coffee and cereal which is basically what I’m looking for in my non-dairy milks.  I could not get it to foam for coffee, likely due to its low protein content.  Tastewise, Oatsome is definitely my new favorite non-dairy option.  Typically I won’t order at coffee shops that don’t stock skim milk but I would consider places with oat milk more regularly now.
  • 2) Nutrition: one cup of Oatsome contains 130 calories and 2 grams of protein.  It does not contain dairy, nuts, or added sugars and it is gluten free.  It’s a low sodium option with 60 mg per cup.  Oatsome is fortified with calcium (provides 20% DRI), vitamin D (provides 10% DRI), riboflavin (provides 40% DRI), and vitamin B12 (provides 40% DRI).  For vegans, it is awesome that this is fortified with B12.  However, for anyone who depends on dairy to help meet their daily protein needs at 2 grams per cup Oatsome probably isn’t the best choice (versus skim milk with 8 grams protein per cup).
  • 3) Environmental impact: oats require 80% less water to grow than almonds.

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I had Oatsome in a cup of espresso roast with brown sugar.

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And in a bowl of Heritage Flakes with blueberries.

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Vanilla bean Greek yogurt with blueberries and a honey tangerine.

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An egg sandwich from Golda with muhumarra, kashkaval, dill, sumac’d onion, and beef bacon.  Plus a salted tahini oat milk latte!

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Baby carrots and roasted broccoli dipped in Asian ginger dressing.

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Homemade chilaquiles.  We used yellow and orange bell pepper, serrano pepper, sweet onion, leftover salsa, and tortilla chips.  Topped with eggs, homemade cilantro crema, and Cholula.

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Nacho night.  Tortilla chips, black beans, poached chicken thighs, sauteed onion and poblano pepper, cheese, Trader Joe’s salsa, and sour cream.

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See Food Diet

Two key housekeeping things –

1) I recently kind of randomly started eating sashimi and burgers and I am now obsessed with both.  Also, apparently I’m into cake at the moment.

2) I had an absolutely fantastic time in St. Thomas!  I spent two weeks hanging out with my grandma and swimming in the ocean!

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Thankfully the weather in NYC has been nice enough for us to do a ton of walking (and a ton of cake, coffee, and fancy cocktail consuming!) so the transition has been pretty easy.

Recent highlights include…

Rum raisin iced latte at the Ace Hotel.  Related – I had a rose cold brew at Brooklyn Roasting Co that was mindblowing.

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I am definitely a fan of these new KIND nut butter bars whose product info is weirdly not on their website.

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Brunch at the Fulton in the Seaport District.  I had a smoked bloody mary margarita!

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We shared sashimi with spicy white ponzu.

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And brussel sprouts with mint and pecorino cheese.

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And I had the gruyere cheeseburger with au jus.

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Now that I’m into sushi, a girlfriend suggested we get lunch at Sugarfish.  I got the “Trust Me Lite” which included edamame and tuna sashimi.

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Albacore, salmon, and shrimp sushi.

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And a toro hand roll.

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Adam and I had a giant, epic lunch at Fan Fried Rice Bar in Bed Stuy.  Golden kimchi / cucumber salad / mush-mame fried rice with shiitake mushrooms, edamame, mixed vegetables, and fried shallots.

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Big Gay Ice Cream is my current favorite.  This was yellow cake soft-serve with dulce de leche and rainbow sprinkles in a biscoff lined cone.

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Dreamy cake slices – strawberry Good Humor bar and Oreo – at Little Cupcake Bakeshop.

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Brigadero cake and a cappuccino at Padoca Bakery.

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Leyenda‘s Candy Striper is a frozen blend of Leblon cachaça, coconut, vanilla, maple, lime, peppermint, and cardamom and it is the single best beverage I have ever put in my mouth.  Every sip was so interesting!

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Dinner at the Hi Hi Room.  We started with smashed potatoes with an herb aioli.

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Other Half Cream Get the Honey IPA.  <– IPAs brewed with lactose are my favorite

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Our reason for being there = hand-cut spaghetti with duck chili, cheddar, and white onion.  I couldn’t get a good photo but it was truly fantastic.

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Our apartment complex lost power for several hours on Friday night and we were forced to go out to a super fun dinner on the Upper East Side.  A friend sent me a list of “the best cocktail spots in NYC” and NR definitely earned its spot!

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Our favorites were the Japanese whiskey sour (above) with brown sugar, yuzu, and egg white and the Pistachio – dry gin, house-made pistachio cream, campari, and clementine!

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We also shared a truffle oil egg salad sandwich.

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And I had the hokkaido ramen with chicken, corn, butter, bean sprouts, and extra seaweed.

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A home-cooked meal!  Trader Joe’s frozen mahi mahi burgers, steak fries, and roasted baby cauliflower with sumac and smoked paprika.  All dipped in a sauce of honey habanero hot sauce, honey, and mayo.

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Ciao, February

Highlights from this week…

Brunch in Brooklyn at Otway, which is gorgeous and amazing.

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I had a soft-scrambled egg sandwich with gruyere, scallion, and green garlic.

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Plus crispy potatoes.

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And a bloody mary.

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Treats at Ciao, Gloria.  Adam and I shared a cortado and a cinnamon roll.

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Snacks this week were all about Trader Joe’s garlic naan and artichoke and jalopeno dip.

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Asian Kit-Kats!  Purple sweet potato and cookies and creme flavored.

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Adam’s work gave him nice champagne around the holidays and we finally drank it in cocktails with mango smoothie.

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Big salad bowls with romaine, Trader Joe’s cilantro dressing, sumac, cucumber, tomato, zhoug, fresh mint, and roasted chickpeas.

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One of my best sheet-pan hash dinners to date – brussel sprouts, grapes, turkey andouille sausage, and gorganzola.

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LES = Let’s Eat Snacks

Adam and I spent both Saturday and Sunday walking around the Lower East Side eating all the things, admiring street art, and just generally having a fabulous time.  Plus we walked back and forth across the Williamsburg Bridge which is one of our favorite activities.

Weekend highlights include…

Smoothie time.  Beary flavored!  Banana, blueberry, blackberry, almond milk, and brown sugar.

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Brunch at Sonnyboy.  Bloody Mary.

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I got the harissa folded eggs with brussel sprouts, mushrooms, and basil.  I traded my avocado for a slice of Adam’s halloumi.

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Malaysian eats at Kopitam.  Bandung – condensed milk and rose syrup.

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Nasi Lemak – coconut rice, fried anchovies, cucumber, peanuts, and hard-boiled egg.

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Criss Cross ‘Shrooms – red chilies, wood ear mushrooms, and lotus.  These were actually a bit too spicy even for me, but I loved the fried basil.

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How exciting is this caffeinated cola flavored seltzer??!  It was basically diet Crystal Pepsi!

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Cookies at the newish Red Gate Bakery.  A caramel brownie and a housemade oreo.

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Ice & Vice always knocks it out of the park and their latest special is my new favorite thing – cream cheese soft-serve with guava white chocolate drizzle!

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A veggie-packed riff on my buffalo chicken baked pasta.  Spinach, riced cauliflower, whole-wheat pasta, ground chicken, cream cheese, honey habanero hot sauce, cheddar, and blue cheese.

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Have a great week!

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Ramen And Tacos

We had a great weekend full of yummy city eats thanks to time spent in Astoria, Cobble Hill, and LIC.  Five highlights include…

{1} Doughnuts from Sugar and Water.  A cake doughnut crusted in sprinkles and a doughnut-croissant hybrid covered in chocolate.

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{2} Coffee from Velvette Brew.  This is my new favorite quad nonfat iced latte in NYC!!

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{3} Brunch at Leyenda.  Their cocktail menu is amazing; my paloma was made with housemade grapefruit soda!  And I had breakfast tacos with scrambled eggs with kale, requeson cheese, avocado, and pickled onion.  They came with an avocado-tomatillo salsa that everyone at the table was wild for.

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{4} Ice cream from Malai.  Rose with cinnamon roasted almonds // non-dairy cinnamon with black salt caramel.

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{5} Dinner at Mu Ramen.  The entire meal was a breathtaking 10/10 but the highlight was these scallion and corn okonomiyaki with smoked trout salad, tobiko, bonito flake, and foie gras syrup.

 

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Toppings

Five things from the weekend…

{1} The best yogurt bowl of the month.  Cinnamon vanilla Greek yogurt with banana, blackberry, and maple almond butter.

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{2} I am loving the crap out of living with a milk foamer.

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{3} Dark chocolate chip peanut butter is my favorite flavor after cookie dough.

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{4} Bona Bona tops their ice cream with toasted Italian meringue.

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I got frosted animal cracker ice cream!

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{5} A homemade take on okonomiyaki with cabbage and roasted corn.

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{bonus} I’ve been putting this dream team on top of everything.

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Souvenir Tastes

Highlights from this week include…

We were missing vacation and immediately ate all of our Hawaiian goodies.

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Taro macadamia shortbread / passion fruit gummies / li hing gummy pineapples.

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Also Hawaiian-inspired goodies, dried baby pineapple and tropical punch kombucha.

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We went to brunch at Comfortland and loved it x10,000.  The space was super cute and I wanted everything on the menu!

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We had a doughnut milk latte!  Plus a nutella creme brulee doughnut.  And a giant bbq fried chicken biscuit that I got too excited to photograph.

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Dinners were awesome thanks to some great H-Mart finds – jumbo puff tofu and Korean rice cakes.

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Stir-fry with tofu, baby bok choy, mushroom, green onion, and cherry tomato.  Sauce = soy sauce, fish sauce, rice vinegar, sriracha, sugar.

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Stir-fry with chicken, egg, rice cake, cabbage, and onion.  Sauce = gojuchang, soy sauce, rice vinegar, garlic, ginger, lime, canola oil, brown sugar.

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Oahu Part III, Fun Places We Ate

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We were blown away by how good everything we ate on this trip was!  Hawaiian chefs are absolutely killing it.  The next time we go back to Hawaii I would strongly consider returning to Oahu just to revisit some of these spots!

I really tried to limit my picture taking and this post will be a million pages long if I list out every single thing we ate so this will just be the highlights of the highlights…

** Kona Coffee Purveyors.

Nitro Kona coffee with a black sesame kougan amann (not shown).  Affogato.

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** Leonard’s Bakery.

This malasada (Portuguese doughnut) stuffed with guava cream was my favorite bite of the entire trip.

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** Matsumoto Shave Ice.

This was my favorite shave ice of the trip; the flavors were spot on and the ice cream was wonderfully chewy and a great foil to the ice.  Guava, passion fruit, and strawberry on top of vanilla ice cream and topped with condensed milk.

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** O’Kims.

Dumplings stuffed with king oyster mushroom, button ear wood, yellow squash, zucchini, and truffle paste, topped shoyu jelly and pickled dikon.

 

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Korean fried chicken with gochujang, housemade gnocchi, brussel sprouts, purple rice, and kimchi.

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** The Pig and the Lady.

Midday Run – mezcal, passion fruit, vanilla, habanero, and lemon (not shown).  Le Swoon – Kohana rum agricole, Okinawan sweet potato, pandan, coconut milk, cinnamon, lime, and aphrodite bitters.

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Chocolate banana tart with Valrhona dark chocolate cremeux, chocolate cookie crust, fresh banana and banana marmalade, toasted hazelnuts, and tamarind caramel.

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** Piggy Smalls.

This was hands down our best meal of the trip!  We ordered all the things.  Brussel sprouts with makrut lime, peanut, fried shallots, cabbage slaw, and pickled red onions.

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Stir-fried ramen noodles with aged garlic shoyu, Chinese chives, pickled fresno chile, and shrimp.

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Lychee infused milk cake with blueberry compote, lychee chantilly cream, and lemon citrus streusel.

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Hanoi egg coffee, Kona dark roast poured on whipped egg yolk and vanilla bean.

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** The Surfing Pig.

Best cocktails of the trip.  I drank way too much prior to our 10 hour red-eye flight.  The bartender was crazy talented and also maybe my new favorite person – she hugged us on our way out.  Smoked rosemary mezcal margarita.  I also had a spicy paloma with mezcal (not shown).

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** Waiola Shave Ice.

Guava and passion fruit with vanilla ice cream, condensed milk, and housemade mochi.

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