How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria

by Emily

My title is a tongue in cheek joke about how the weather channel is turning me into a crazy person this month. I was having such a good week too. The VI was finally getting some desperately needed federal assistance and national news coverage and my parents got cell service back and I was able to talk to my mom. But now, Maria is expected to hit the Virgin Islands as a category 3 hurricane this week. Fantastic.

I’m still not really feeling up to prattling on about my days, but I did have some fun this week so I’m posting a top five…

{1} favorite work bites

{a} coffee coffee coffee

{b} I am still obsessed with that Trader Joe’s nut and seed mix

{c} I also packed a nice tasting plate – dried apples, TJ’s crispy cheese bites, and a maple salmon bar.

{d} This cafeteria wrap was on point. Chicken / pinto beans / tomato / bell peppers / banana pepper / cheddar.

{2} apple eatventures

{a} I made caramel apple bread from scratch! Basically just pumpkin bread made with apple sauce instead of pumpkin puree and totally just an excuse to use these caramel chips.

{b} Caramel apple oatmeal. Rolled oats / caramel chips / cinnamon / chia seeds / dried apples.

{c} Caramel apple Twizzlers.

{d} Apple pie milkshake. Vanilla ice cream / Greek yogurt / applesauce/ cinnamon and gingerbread spice.

{3} cobb salad pasta salad

Whole wheat bowtie pasta / crumbled fancy aged blue cheese / turkey bacon / chopped chicken breast / hard-boiled eggs / diced avocado / shredded spinach / roasted baby tomatoes.

{4} a Mile End meal recreation

Mile End Deli has a Brussel sprouts dish on their menu that we were over the moon for, so I recreated it at home. Our version was roasted brussel sprouts / tossed with crispy turkey bacon / plus olive oil and honey / sprinkled with sumac / on a base of labne.

While we cooked – which took no time at all – we sipped on Switchel.

Up Mountain Switchel sent me a box for review. The lemon flavor was too spicy ginger for me, but I loved the Yerba Mate. The ingredients list is short and simple (the four things listed on the front of the bottle plus water) and a serving has 54 calories and 10 grams of sugar. It paired nicely with our meal and would be a good alternative option to booze or soda with dinner.

{5} a trip to the South Fork of the Hamptons

{a} Doughnuts and coffee at Grindstone.

I had a Nutella s’mores brioche doughnut and a vanilla latte.

{b} La Colombe black and tan (draft latte and cold brew) at Sag Town Coffee. P.S. Apparently I am obsessed with Sag Harbor, it is so cute!

{c} Lunch at Lunch. Instead of a lobster roll I went with the seafood chili – with a bloody mary – and was quite pleased with my choice.

{d} A cup of birthday cake ice cream at Scoop Du Jour.

{e} And best of all, we got to stick our toes in the sand at the beach.

It was a super foggy day and the crashing waves were gorgeous. Plus we saw about a million seagulls. <– best beach day ever

11Sep2017

Coffee And Eggs

by Emily

Important Things First

I was finally able to speak with my parents and they are alright (and the rest of my island family members are safe as well). Phone service, power, and most cell service are out, so for the foreseeable future I can only talk to my parents when they manage to borrow a working cell phone. Communication on-island is tricky as well, radio stations were down and when I spoke with my parents briefly Friday afternoon they didn’t even know that Jose had been updated to a category four (thankfully that ended up being a nonissue). We got unbelievably lucky and our home’s roof is fully intact. When I got off the train Friday morning I had a voicemail from my dad and I was so relieved I starting sobbing in the middle of the street like a crazy person. It’s been an emotional weekend, I am completely overwhelmed with gratitude for how fortunate my family was.

The United States Virgin Islands as a whole was not so lucky. St. Thomas and St. John were decimated by Hurricane Irma. On St. Thomas, our only hospital, airport, fire station, and post office were destroyed. Looking through my friends’ pictures of the destruction on Facebook is heart-wrenching.

If you feel compelled to help the VI, here are some options:

A friend I trust is crowdfunding via YouCaring and will distribute money to local foundations
Tim Duncan vowed to match donations up to $1million
Kenny Chesney also started a foundation
If you are interested in volunteering to help with clean up, here is where you can register

Weekend Eats Highlights

{1} apple adventures

I broke into some of my Trader Joe’s apple goodies – freeze dried Fujis and cereal bars. Along with a coffee Chobani yogurt drink.

{2} delightful drinks

Iced coffee with chocolate milk, my favorite beverage combo. I also loved my lavender mint water.

{3} stupendous snack

Trader Joe’s hit it out of the park with this seed and bean medley. Apparently dried fava beans are my favorite thing, who knew?

{4} eggy eats

I breakfasted at the hot bar before starting my shopping at Whole Foods. Scrambled eggs with potatoes and turkey bacon and an iced latte.

Homemade chilaquiles! Tortilla chips heated in a skillet with olive oil / tossed with green salsa and sour cream / with roasted zucchini folded in / and cheese / topped with two ~~burnt~~ fried eggs.

{5} Brooklyn bites

Brooklyn Kolache Co.

We shared poppy seed, chocolate, and jalapeño egg and cheese.

BKG Coffee Roasters.

This spot was adorable and my latte was yummy.

5Sep2017

Cinnamon And Marshmallow In My Coffee

by Emily

I have eaten some very yummy things over the past four days! Adam and I both worked the holiday, but first we got to spend almost two full weekend days together!!! Good times.

Things [literal things] that made me happy this weekend…

Thanks to all of Target’s cheap “back to school” goodies, we have a jazzy new shower curtain and bedspread.

The sheets underneath are pretty happy-making too.

A Saturday trip to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. Such a fun way to spend a morning. We were expecting things to be sparse due to the season but there was still a ton of beauty to admire.

As of last Friday, it’s Apple Month.

This spiced apple bourbon hand soap is currently the best smelling thing in our house!

Culinary highlights…

I haven’t eaten anything apple yet but I did cram some pretty fall-forward flavors into my coffees. Cinnamon.

And toasted marshmallow.

Though I also had a very summer-y Australian iced coffee with Wandering Bear cold brew and vanilla Curious Creamery ice cream.

Cheddar-chive biscuit and a matcha iced latte at Annex.

Brunch at Maison Premiere. We had a pastry assortment that was out of this world.

Maison Jungle Bird – Hamilton Black Rum, Cruzan Black Strap Rum, pineapple, Campari, and sugar cane.

I had the duck confit hash with bell pepper and poached egg. <– not as good as Colonie, sadly

While at the Garden, we had lunch at the Yellow Magnolia Café. (<– newest venture from the chef/owner of Wilma Jean)

I had wonderfully crispy, lemony fried chicken. Served with habanero honey, collard green slaw, and delicious wild rice. I suspect that there was honey butter in the rice because I don’t even like wild rice.

We took a long post-lunch walk for coffee and ended up also getting ice cream for dessert – blueberry with blue velvet cake from Little Cupcake Bakeshop.

Friday night I met a girlfriend in the Lower East Side for dinner and drinks. Sizzling noodles at The Tang.

I ended up with way too much food because I also couldn’t resist the Chungking Express salad – romaine, soft-boiled egg, honey, black vinegar, and chili oil.

How fantastically ridiculous are the drinks at Mother of Pearl?! My daiquiri – with Campari, grapefruit, and rosemary tincture – was tasty to boot.

We made an oldie but a goodie – buffalo blue cheese black bean burgers. Served with raw carrots and celery the first night.

Our citrus-y sip-while-you-cook line up did not contain any winners, we hated both of these drinks! <– normally I wouldn’t include this in a “highlights” section but they both sound so good in theory that I wanted to make sure I warned you

Sunday night I got fancy with a Southern dinner.

Pan-fried catfish! I made a spice rub with salt, pepper, cayenne, cumin, brown sugar, and smoked paprika and cooked the fish for 3.5 minutes on each side. Drizzled with a lemon butter pan sauce.

Plus sautéed collard greens with shallots, toasted coconut, and avocado (plus lemon, rice vinegar, and liquid smoke).

Flavor themes of the weekend – Campari / eggs / coffee / collard greens.

2Sep2017

Buffalo Chicken Ballyhoo

by Emily

Is it seriously September already?? Actually, don’t answer that; if I think about how fast this year seems to be going it makes my head spin. At least now it’s Apple Month.

Here were eight things from the end of the eighth month…

{1} coffee excitement

A match made in heaven? I put creamy pecan popsicle in my iced coffee.

The lattes at Black Brick are roasty and delicious.

{2} brunch at Loosie’s Café

This space was gorgeous! I had a grains bowl with shitake and king oyster mushrooms, purple kale, quinoa, roasted beets, cucumber raita, mint, and a soft egg.

{3} “milk and cookies” at The Bedford

Adam and I split a The Dude’s Caucasian – house-made vanilla bean espresso vodka on the rocks with a drizzle of cream.

And a Drunken Cookie – underbaked chocolate chip cookie dough stuffed injected with white chocolate. <– omg

{4} lime, mint, and elderflower sparkling water

{5} Curious Creamery ice cream mix

Please note – this product was given to me free of charge to review. I was not provided further compensation for this post. All opinions are my own.

It is mix that doesn’t require an ice cream maker, all you have to do is beat it with the milk of your choice and freeze. It takes about 15 minutes of hands-on time, and we found the ice cream consistency to be enjoyable after 5 hours (and it continued to be good 48 hours later too).

I used 2% cow’s milk but you can also use full-fat, skim, almond, etc – the mixes themselves are lactose-free and have no trans or saturated fat. I made the vanilla packet plain – Adam thinks it tastes like marshmallows! – and the chocolate I mixed with dulce de leche and roasted pecans for a turtle sundae.

We didn’t love the final product, but did quite like it. I’d say the ice cream is better than 7-11 brand, Turkey Hill, or the no-name stuff at cafeterias; on par with most store-bought ice creams; and not as good as Ben and Jerry’s or the ice cream we can get at places like Ample Hills or Ice and Vice in the city. If I’m living somewhere that isn’t NYC in the future I would definitely make it again.

{6} the last of the seasonal summer beers

These ended up being two of my all-time favorite strawberry beers. Shiner Strawberry Blonde / Saranac Strawberry Tart.

{7} out-of-this-world good buffalo chicken tenders

I base all of my “oven-fried” chicken on this recipe from A Cozy Kitchen. I used skinless, boneless chicken breast tenders and baked for 24 minutes at 425 degrees. I mixed smoked paprika and cayenne in with my flour and used panko as my bread crumb.

The final product was tossed with a mix of buffalo sauce, butter, and brown sugar.

Paired with carrots and celery – steam/sautéed and finished with thyme honey balsamic vinaigrette – to keep the theme going.

{8} buffalo chicken and blue cheese cheese fries

Our leftover chicken got to participate in something magical – waffle fries baked with cheddar, blue cheese, and buffalo chicken on top.

Have a great weekend.

14Aug2017

Ice Cream In LA

by Emily

We took full advantage of our week off and took a trip out to the West Coast! This was our first time in Los Angeles and we had a great trip. We rented a car and had enough time to do some exploring. Keeping with vacation tradition, I got sick with a sore throat, but thankfully half of our agenda was ice cream anyway!

some of our favorite things we did – –

Chinatown // Griffith Park Observatory // La Brea Tar Pits

// Malibu

// Rodeo Drive // Santa Monica // Venice Beach

// Venice Canals

some of our favorite things we ate – –

Afters Ice Cream <– this wins best ice cream of the trip

Brioche ice cream sandwich with cookie monster ice cream and sweetened corn flakes. I couldn’t get a good photo in the sun but this was out of this world.

B Sweet

Filipino dessert bars are the best. I got amazing Halo Halo.

Blue Star Doughnuts

The bottom one was terrible but the top one was a fantastic buttermilk glazed. This was our very first stop on the trip and it was a nice start.

Egg Slut

House-made turkey sausage, cage-free over medium egg, cheddar cheese, and honey mustard aioli in a warm brioche bun.

Grand Central Market

There was so much to do here! We got chicken tacos.

And the best pad see eiw I’ve ever tasted. The noodles were a little bit charred and perfectly chewy. We were both in heaven.

Magpies Soft Serve <– this was the best soft serve we’ve ever had

I got a swirl with cherry cola(!!!) and sweetened cream.

Mr. Holmes Bakehouse

It was adorable in here and we almost came away with some gold pins. California croissant with smoked salmon, ginger, wasabi, and nori.

Philz Coffee

The mojito iced coffee lived up to expectations. I do have to mention that it makes me crazy that they call this “mojito” though, mojitos have mint and sugar but they also have rum and lime and without the second two ingredients you have a mint iced coffee, not a mojito.

Salt and Straw

It’s as good as they say. We had salted, malted, chocolate chip cookie dough and almond brittle with chocolate ganache.

Son of a Gun <– this was our best meal of the trip

This tapas-style seafood restaurant pretty much blew our minds. I drank a Ruby Red Julep – Angels Envy Bourbon, ruby red grapefruit, hibiscus, lemon, and mint.

We had the lemonfish poke with black radish escabeche, citrus, and crispy sunchoke.

Maple cream with smoked steelhead trout roe and pumpernickel flakes.

Heirloom tomato salad with avocado, chili, lime, miso, and corn.

Blackened rock cod with tomatillo salsa, fried tortilla, and crema.

And for dessert, Italian Hamburger: a brioche ice cream sandwich with caramel and maldon sea salt.

And now it’s back to work, wish me luck!

31Jul2017

New York Staycation

by Emily

To finish out my birthday week, my parents came into town for a quick visit. It was great to get to spend time with them, and we had a tons of fun in the city.

With travel, we got to spend about four days together. Our big walking day started in Brooklyn and included a trip across the Brooklyn Bridge, through Brookfield Place and the Occulus, Chelsea Market, a stroll through Greenwich Village, and time in Washington Square Park.

We also had a fantastic northern Long Island day, complete with the Roosevelt House, Lavender by the Bay, a fresh raspberry pie, and a sunset on the water.

Our meals were all wonderful, but sooo poorly lit, so sorry in advance for the blurry photos. Here were the food highlights, alphabetically…

Brigadeiro Bakery. My parents loved them as much as we do! Adam and I shared coffee, oreo, and key lime pie.

Crabby Jerry’s.

We shared coconut shrimp. And I had a surprisingly delicious blacked salmon Cesar salad.

Mile End Deli. You have to get poutine.

We also had an heirloom tomato salad with avocado and pistachio ramp pesto.

And I had the grandpa sandwich – smoked turkey, turkey leg rillettes, pickles, and mustard, on rye.

Pineapple Express. The dairy-free pineapple soft-serve was wonderfully creamy.

Russ and Daughter’s Café. Kippered salmon and smoked salmon spread with everything bagel chips.

Latkes with sunny side up eggs and the best ever Nova smoked salmon.

And we shared halvah ice cream with sesame and caramel for dessert.

Savauge. We shared sourdough with house-cultured butter.

Roasted cauliflower with broccoli pesto and spiced pistachios.

And I had the single-best chicken of my life. With hen of the woods mushrooms, broccoli rabe, and brown butter.

Thomas’ Ham and Eggery Diner. I had a wonderful egg sandwich with swiss, avocado, and housemade chicken sausage.

Van Leeuwen for ice cream. We also had a great scoop at Ample Hills.

Enjoy the rest of your week!

27Jul2017

Virginia Vacation

by Emily

My week off from work has been pretty great so far!

Monday was my birthday. I kept tradition going and enjoyed my free Starbucks birthday drink (quad nonfat iced latte) with sprinkles on top.

Adam and I took a quick three day trip to Virginia. Road trip essentials include…

Snacks (highlights were sweet chili Doritos and Koru apples).

Coffee (mojito black tie from Peet’s aka cold brew with sweetened condensed milk and mint).

Music. I full-on head banged down the highway for a few hours thanks to our excellent music selections, including Betty Who, The Offspring, and this Regrettes song I’m obsessed with –

Richmond food highlights…

The coffee at Black Hand might be our all-time favorite. We swooned over our choices and left with several bags of beans.

Lunch at Urban Farmhouse. I had a pimento cheese grilled cheese with local tomato and salad with cucumber, mint, and feta.

One of my cousins lives in Charlottesville and she drove down for the day to spend my birthday with me. We had an amazing dinner at Saison. My Fuentes Fizz was smoky and delicious – Mezcal, Velvet Falernum, Cherry Herring, lime, grapefruit, egg whites, and soda water.

We shared grilled okra and peaches to start.

And I had the crispy rice bowl with fermented chili sauce, oyster mushrooms, pickled vegetables, and a poached egg.

Dessert was just ridiculous.

Panna cotta with honey glass and honey powder!

Charlottesville food highlights…

Bagels at Bodo’s, where they ship in New York water for their dough. I had an everything bagel with olive cream cheese and it was wonderful.

Froyo at Arch’s. Dulce de leche and cake batter with Oreos and a huge scoop of gooey brownie batter on top.

We had dinner at Mas with my cousin and her boyfriend.

I was too busy enjoying the company to take pictures (plus we ordered a million different plates!) but everything was fantastic. The shrimp were out of this world.

Now TODAY, I get to go pick up both Webster and my parents! Enjoy the rest of your week!

24Jul2017

Freedom!

by Emily

I’m on vacation! Friday was my last day of work for 11 glorious days! I prepped for vacation by eating all of the ice cream last week 🙂

For a work-week this past week was not a bad one. Adam and I were off together on Wednesday and got do some Lower East Side wandering. And over the weekend we did some Long Island exploring. Plus I met with friends for brunch. And ate all the aforementioned ice cream.

Last week’s flavor themes: (Stumptown) coffee // ice cream // cheese // corn // egg. Highlights…

Brunch at The General Greene. I had the farro bowl with pesto, roasted sweet potato, avocado, and a poached egg.

Black Brick Coffee just might be our new favorite spot. It’s a neat space and my Stumptown latte was ridiculously good.

Trader Joe’s new coconut cold brew coffee is pretty tasty, especially with chocolate milk.

Vanilla bean yogurt with blackberries, granola, and chocolate tahini.

Plain Greek yogurt with black plum and Oreo cheesecake.

Sandwich with curly fries. Spicy chicken / mayo and mustard / lettuce / pickles.

Because I don’t eat enough nachos at home, they were a special in the cafeteria this week. Pinto beans and cheddar with olives, corn, bell pepper, and onion.

Our Long Island exploration took us to both Farmingdale and Babylon. We had a flight of craft beers at Lithology. My favorite was the honey rye with rosemary, followed closely by the sour farmhouse ale.

We also did lunch at Swell Taco.

My burrito was giant and packed with grilled chicken, refried pinto beans, rice, veggies, salsa fresca, sour cream, and Monterey jack.

I’ve seen multiple foodie instagrammers try to say that Ben’s compares with Levain <– NO. PSA – this was not good. These cookies were greasy and terrible and I threw mine out after two bites and still had a stomach ache.

We checked out the Filipino goodies at Johnny Air Mart and snacked on calamansi soda and Polvorón shortbread.

Bubble tea from Vivi. Grapefruit Yakult with crystal boba and coconut jelly.

Brigadeiro Bakery taught me that I actually don’t like ice cream as much as I think because apparently brigadeiros are my favorite dessert. <– they are a condensed milk candy so that’s not that surprising

Stumptown coffee soft serve with sprinkles and cookie dough at Scoops.

Birthday cake soft serve with sprinkles at Milk Bar.

Cookie dough with toasted coconut soft serve at Stew Leonard’s. This was both the best soft serve and the best edible cookie dough we’d ever tasted.

Sweet milk and browned butter pecan ice cream at Malai.

BBQ chicken salads. Baby romaine with ranch / cheddar / cucumbers / leftover cole slaw / shredded chicken with Korean bbq sauce.

Bean and chicken bowls. Sautéed onions and green pepper / cheddar / shredded chicken with cilantro sauce – cilantro, roasted jalapeño, canola oil, honey, and salt / pinquito beans from Susie Q.

The beans were a kit sent to me to review. They came with a premixed seasoning packet (mild red chili, onion, garlic, and select spices) so they were a snap to prepare, and much tastier than canned beans. They kept their shape after cooking and were firm but not chewy or mealy. <– I would buy these with my own money