Weekly Wrap-Up? Yes Please!

happenings

As promised, here is a picture of my gaudy new cell phone –

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I’m liking it more now that I’ve gotten used to the new system.

This week I gave an hour-long nutrition presentation at a women’s shelter near the hospital.  We talked primarily about added sugars, reading nutrition labels, and the plate method.

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I opened with an activity where we compared the sugar content of different beverages.

I started reading Amy Poehler’s memoir, Yes Please.  I am halfway through and completely smitten.

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It is just as hilarious and inspiring as you’d expect it to be.  And her relationship with Seth Meyers – he guest writes a chapter – makes me love both of them more if that’s even possible.

breakfast

Coffee and a chocolate coconut water.

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Latte and an Opal apple.

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Stumptown cold-brew box with turkey jerky and dates.

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Coffee (duh!) and yummy hot chocolate with marshmallows that the hospital administration had for employee appreciation day.

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They also had a bunch of cookies out, but it was 9 o’clock in the morning and one of the midwives brought in bagels for the clinic so I went with one of those instead.

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I definitely made the right choice, my pumpernickel bagel was splendidly chewy.  Also – I poured my marshmallow cocoa into my coffee after it had cooled down and it was ridiculous.

lunch

From home – yogurt bowl.

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Blueberries, Heritage Flakes, and a Dannon butterscotch Greek yogurt.

From the cafeteria – a turkey sandwich and baked fries.

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My sandwich had turkey, provolone, mayo, mustard, lettuce and red peppers and my fries had a side of blue cheese.

From home – another yogurt bowl.

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An Opal apple and plain Fage with amazing 18 Rabbits Caramel Apple Granola.

From the cafeteria – a giant chicken quesadilla.

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With cheese, chopped bell peppers, and sour cream and guacamole on the side.  I planned on only eating half because it was quite big, but it was so good I ended up demolishing the whole thing.

Dinner leftovers (see the scrambled egg night) on top of spinach with ranch, chopped carrot, and cucumber from the cafeteria.

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The salad bar packed lunch mash-up was perfect, I’ll have to remember to repeat it the next time I’m getting tired of my yogurt bowls.

snack

Adorable gummies from last weekend.

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Baby carrots and dip.

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I made an oatmeal chocolate chip mug cookie.  It was quite enjoyable but basically raw so not a recipe for sharing.

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Jarlsberg mini cheese.

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Chocolate milk.

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Coffee with almond milk.

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Sundaes that Adam and I made with this dream team:

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Girl & The Fig’s salted fig caramel is perfect.

dinner

Bibimbap bowls.  I couldn’t get a great picture, but these were sooo good.  Runny egg yolk goes wonderfully with spice.

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Jasmine rice with rice vinegar // baked tofu cubes // broccoli and baby kale sautéed with canola oil, a bit of sugar, and tons of Sriracha // chopped sesame seaweed // and a sunny side up egg.

We used the leftovers the next day for another Asian-ish dinner.

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Leftover rice and veggies stir-fried with sautéed onion, eggs, fish sauce, soy sauce, and rice vinegar.

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Plus “beef and broccoli” aka chicken with broccoli and cauliflower.

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I way overcooked the chicken and this was not very good.

I guess the next day was pretty similar as well.  I sautéed chopped seitan, corn, and spinach in evoo and Sriracha and then scrambled in eggs and part-skim mozzarella.

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It tasted so much better than it looked.

Chipotle in front of the tv on Friday.  We were supposed to go into Brooklyn but it was terrifically cold outside and changing into pajamas just sounded too good.

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Chicken rice bowl with sautéed veggies, three types of salsa, cheese, sour cream, and lettuce.  Plus chips.  There’s a giant diet coke just to the right of that photo ❤

Have you read any actor memoirs that you loved?  I was a HUGE fan of Mindy Kaling’s too and I’m excited for Tina Fey’s next.

Weekend Wrap-Up

random facts

  1. I finished reading my latest book on Friday – Fairyland, a memoir about growing up with an openly gay father in San Francisco in the 80’s.  (Not much of a)spoiler alert – he dies of AIDS related complications.  I was wracked with sobs for the last quarter of the book.  Steve Abbot was a published author who kept detailed journals his entire adulthood and wrote copious letters to Alysia while she was in college, so she had a lot of source material to pull from which was nice; it was practically a biography within a memoir.
  2. A big chunk of Saturday is missing because we went on a fun foodie tour and I am devoting a whole post to it.  (coming tomorrow)
  3. We upgraded our phones on Sunday.  My new Galaxy is giant and tacky, obnoxiously gold.

breakfast

Adam and I tried the new raspberry white chocolate coffee from Dunkin’.

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Our opinions ranged from good to meh.  I still want to try the Starbucks version.

Cereal bowl.

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Cocoa Pebbles and Nature’s Path Heritage Flakes.  Pebbles have absolutely no flavor and were deeply disappointing.

Oatmeal bowl.

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Rolled oats – cooked in the microwave – with 1 heaping Tbsp each chopped pecans, raisins, chocolate chips, and brown sugar.  Plus milk on top.

Coffee from 7-11 with wasabi almonds.

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Yes, that was a terrible combination.

lunch

Chipotle!

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White rice / chicken / black beans / sautéed veggies / fresh salsa / tomatillo salsa / sour cream / cheese.  I would normally get lettuce but I split this bowl with Adam and he didn’t want it.  I’ve stopped putting the corn salsa on my bowls in general because even though it’s tasty it isn’t really necessary to pile another carb on top of a rice bowl.

Adam went to a post-ABSITE surgical exam party and brought home leftover mini pizzas.

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Paired with green juice.

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NYC Jamba Juices recently introduced a new line of 12 oz Cold-Pressed Juice bottles and they sent me a $10 gift card so I could try them out.

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I was not provided with further compensation for this post.  All opinions are my own.

The juices contain no preservatives and three servings of fruit and/or vegetables and each full bottle has between 140 to 190 calories.

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Citrus Kick was way too spicy for me – Adam liked it but I just can’t do ginger – but I found Tropical Greens to be nicely balanced, neither two sweet nor too grassy.  (There are four flavors in total; the two I didn’t try were Orange Reviver and Veggie Harvest).

dinner

We had another stupendous meal at Russ & Daughters.

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The Breakfast Martini = Beefeater gin, jam, lemon juice, egg white, Pernod Absinthe, Angostura Bitters.

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I adore cocktails with egg white.  <– I was about to type that they will be hard for me to give up if I get pregnant!  I guess the alcohol may also be an issue.

I ordered the Eggs Benny, which came with Scottish smoked salmon and sautéed spinach on challah.

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No surprise, the eggs were perfectly poached and the hollandaise was loaded with flavor.  <– more reasons I’m not chomping at the bit for a baby

Sunday night we made a nice, but less exciting dinner at home.

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We were helped out by a jar of Sepo Sauce, a creamy garlic and horseradish spread that’s meant to be used as a dressing, dip, and/or sandwich spread.

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Sepfonifiq sent me a jar of sauce free of charge to review.  I was not provided with further compensation for this post.  All opinions are my own.

The sauce has 150 calories and 2.5 grams saturated fat per 2-Tbsp serving, so it’s not any healthier than most typical dressings, but it packs a lot of flavor so you would rarely need to use any more than a serving.

We decided to go the bread and lettuce route.

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A sandwich of part-skim mozzarella cheese, thick-cut uncured turkey ham steak, and whole-wheat cinnamon swirl bread spread with Sepo Sauce and oven-toasted.

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A salad of baby kale tossed in Sepo Sauce and topped with roasted broccoli and sweet and spicy pecans.

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Plus we split a sumo mandarin on the side.

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Sadly, we hated the thick cut turkey, which kind of ruined the sandwiches.  We both got rid of the meat halfway through and ended up eating big desserts instead.  But we loooved the Sepo as a dressing and were both blown away by the salad.  I will definitely look forward to making that again.

Please cross your fingers that it’s not actually snowing in NYC right now?

Weekend Wrap-Up; My Camera Went MIA

Moving to Long Island has done something to my brain!  <– real talk, please let’s just pretend that this problem is a LI thing and not the fact that I turn 30 this year

Prior to 2013, I had lost/seriously misplaced one item in my entire life: a pair of flip-flops at a party in high school.  Also I had to have my dorm keys replaced in college after Adam kicked them into a lake, but those weren’t technically missing, they just weren’t accessible.  But lately?  I’m an absentminded disaster.  Last year, on my very first day at the hospital, I lost a brand-new scarf.  This December, I lost a brand-newish i-pod somewhere between my apartment and the gym.  And this weekend I misplaced my camera.  Not lost, thankfully, because it turned out that I had just left it in the husband’s car, but since he then drove that car to 30 hour shift this is my long-winded way of telling you that I don’t have a ton of pictures from this weekend.  I am missing a lot, especially since I didn’t deem things like the four slices of cinnamon toast I ate for dinner on Saturday instagram-worthy.

How often do you lose track of your stuff?  Someone tell me they left their baby on the bus so I’ll feel better!

breakfasts and lunches

Coffee!  This was a freebie so I went a bit crazy – a large iced latte with extra espresso.

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Those Starbucks workers get very snarky once you start asking for that much espresso.

Yet another good reason to have coffee at home instead.

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Starbucks iced (but from home!) with Hint of Honey Almond Breeze and fat-free half and half.

Fruit and yogurt bowls ruled my work lunches.  Grape Chobani with pomegranate and a Zing Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip bar on the side.

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Stonyfield Chia and Red Berry Greek Yogurt with fresh strawberries and the last of the TJ’s Pumpkin O’s.

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Several coworkers commented on this lunch; I guess they aren’t used to chia?!

The best was clearly brunch at Rabbit Hole with a girl friend.  I got the Eggs Norwegian, aka a Benedict but with lox instead of bacon and served on a biscuit.

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Sooo good.  But the drink in the background was even better – Champagne, St. Germaine, and grapefruit.  We both got one and thought that they were just great.

snacks

We tried some fun drinks while we were in Chinatown.

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Yeeech!  The sugar cane was terrible.  But we only spent $1 so it was worth a shot.

Adam bought Gushers!!

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They weren’t as good as I remembered, but it was still a fun throwback.

Coffee is always good.

blue bottle

The Blue Bottle in Williamsburg made me my New Orleans with skim milk.  Frankly, I would have accepted almost anything at that point though – first my friend and I stopped at one coffee shop that was out of ice and another that poured me a giant glass of whole milk with a smidge of coffee in it.

dinner

I made us great pasta bowls one night.  Box mac and cheese gussied up with canned smoked trout, chopped spinach, sautéed bell peppers and garlic, and tons of caramelized onions.

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I doused my bowl in green Tabasco.

Adam and I finally got to try Pies and Thighs for dinner.

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I got the Chicken Biscuit.

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Fried cutlet with honey butter and hot sauce on a biscuit.

Plus a really amazing salad.

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Collard greens with avocado, pickled red onions, and smoked coconut.  Adam and I could not get over how delicious it was; I really want to remake it at home.

With banana cream pie on Nilla Wafer crust for dessert.

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Yum.   ♥

Weekly Wrap-Up; On The Mend

I am still a teensy bit sick, but thankfully I am feeling much, much better than last weekend.  Hopefully by the end of this weekend I’ll be back to 100%!

breakfast

My first day back, when I came in feeling just terrible, my coworker surprised me with a bagel with lox and cream cheese.

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So sweet of her, and very serendipitous since I hadn’t managed to get coffee, let alone breakfast.

Adam drove me into work on Wednesday since he had errands to do in Brooklyn, so we went in early and made a date of it.

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Doughnut Plant!

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I got a coconut cream filled and a Valrhona hot chocolate.  Plus we stopped for an iced coffee along the walk.

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This was so much fun, I cannot even tell you; morning date for the win.

Yesterday I randomly woke up feeling sooo hungry so I pieced together a big breakfast in the cafeteria.

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Coffee with chocolate milk,

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and scrambled eggs, veggie sausage, and a croissant.

lunch

Veggie pizza from the cafeteria.

This was good, but it had corn on it which I found to be an incredibly strange topping choice.  Not that I don’t love corn, but on a pizza??!

Wednesday I brought an apple and a Jarlsberg Cheese Mini (more on that in a minute…) from home.

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Plus a salad from the cafeteria that I apparently don’t have a picture of.

Yesterday was another apple, plus an Apricot Ancient Grains Chobani with TJ’s Pumpkin O’s and KIND Banana Nut Clusters.

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I liked the Chobani much more than the one with oats I tried previously.  The pieces of apricot were quite nice.

snack

I don’t usually drink coffee after 4 pm but I ended up getting iced decafs twice this week because I was so obsessed with the idea of coffee flavor in the evening.

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With skim milk and a splash of cream.

Another night we had smoothies for our creamy drink fix.

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Chocolate peppermint soymilk with frozen strawberries and plain Greek yogurt.

Back to that cheese…

Jarlsberg mini

Jarlsberg recently started making minis and they sent me some to try.

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For full disclosure I will tell you that Adam didn’t like the flavor (“too mild”) but I did, and I thought the texture was great (firm bite – you could squeeze it between your fingers and the wheel held its shape – but very creamy).  70 calories per mini wheel, for a nicely portable snack.

Caramel apple plate,

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Caramel pecan popcorn and apple slices sprinkled with caramel cinnamon sugar.

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I brought that adorable shaker back from San Francisco’s Japantown.

Related note – this salted caramel hand sanitizer smells beyond amazing.

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Another souvenir from our SF trip, Ruby Grand dried nectarines from Frog Hollow.

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Served on with vanilla shortbreads for a very fancy, only slightly Georgia O’Keefe-y snack plate.

dinner

An easy dinner for the first night I cooked after take-out for every meal all weekend.

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Salad with honey mustard dressing, parmesan, dried blueberries, and sweet and salty pecans.

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Eggs with sautéed onion and TJ’s canned mackerel scrambled in.  Plus turkey bacon.

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I cooked the bacon first so everything in my eggs was infused with that flavor.

Date night at Pequeña in Brooklyn.

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We started with an order of the fried sweet plantains.

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Pretty good, but I think I would have to go back home to really get my plantain craving satisfied.

I ordered veggie quesadillas for my entrée – Pan Fried Tortillas Stuffed with Oaxacan String Cheese And Zucchini, Peppers, Mushroom, Onion, and Squash. Topped with Salsa Roja, Queso Fresco and Cilantro.

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I always cook my quesadillas in a pan, but apparently “pan fried” here meant legit deep fried quesadillas.  They were tasty but also a bit ridiculous; I ate one plus the filling out of the other.

I’m writing this post before dinner on Thursday, but it’s gotten pretty late and I’m leaning towards a big salad and an old-school pb&j.  🙂

Two By Two…

…hands of blue  <– name that show!

A short weekly wrap-up since my pictures were terrible, the two best from each category…

breakfast

I made wonderful coffee this week with the help of Grady’s Cold Brew Bean Bags. DSC04887 Paired with 1) A coconut berry smoothie. DSC04853

Hint of honey almond milk, frozen strawberries and blueberries, and coconut butter. I love the way the coconut doesn’t totally blend in and you end up with little pockets.

2) A surprisingly good omlette from the cafeteria. 20150106_094337

Eggs with onions and peppers.

lunch

1) A mix of seafood items from the caf made me feel fancy. 20150107_134558(0)

Tuna salad sandwich, lobster bisque, and a honey tangerine from home.

2) A snack plate that was actually the first half of lunch; I had Vietnamesse food at a party later. DSC04898

Pretzels, turkey jerky, and cinnamon apples.

snack

1) The party was a goodbye party for my boss. I brought in cookies.  Lavender chocolate caramel chip and my Smore’s Monster Cookies.

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I ate way too much dough then stayed up half the night with a stomach ache/sugar high finishing the latest Kathy Reichs’ book.

2) More sugar?

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I enjoyed these crispy m&m’s much more than I was expecting to.

dinner

1) Chipotle is always good.

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White rice, pinto beans, veggies, corn and mild salsas, cheese, sour cream, and lettuce.

2) This salad, sans chips, was good too.

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My take on a copycat of TGIFriday’s pecan-crusted chicken salad.

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Copycat TGIF Pecan-Crusted Chicken Salad

  • chicken tenders
  • honey mustard – I used cranberry honey mustard which I highly recommend
  • chopped toasted pecans
  • baby spinach
  • dried cranberries
  • crumbled blue cheese
  • canned mandarin oranges
  • balsamic vinegarette
  1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees Farenheit. Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray. Pour mustard and pecans into wide, shallow bowls.
  2. Dip chicken into mustard, then into pecans, pushing gently to help set the nuts (I only coated one side of my tenders).
  3. Place chicken on prepared baking sheet, naked side down. Bake for 27 – 30 minutes, until chicken is cooked through. Allow to cool before slicing.
  4. Assemble salads with toppings.

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instagram share

1) I bought these cards to brighten up my office for only 99 cents at Trader Joe’s.

cards from trader joes

2) I made up a joke! Adam hates me.

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Could you identify the tv show from the quote?

Seven Year Celebration

Sunday was our seven-year wedding anniversary. Adam and I got married on our fifth dating anniversary, so that means that we’ve been together for twelve years now. <– holy cow! I seriously thank my lucky stars every day that I get to be married to that man! {sap over, I promise}

We had a great weekend to celebrate. Both sets of parents sent gift cards and we had dinner out both nights, old friends of ours (who are new parents to a ridiculously adorable little girl) came into town for a visit, and we even went to a movie. P.S. we haaaaated “Into the Woods,” anyone else?

Iced coffee (7-11 for the win) with chocolate milk.

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Rabbithole in Williamsburg for brunch with friends.  I got the Rabbithole Florentine with poached eggs on wilted arugula, carmelized onions, sharp cheddar Mornay sauce, and a baguette.

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They bought me an amazing lavender iced latte at the cafe next door afterwords.

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We got take-out from Cheesecake Factory for dinner that night. Chopped vegetable salad and spicy cashew chicken.

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Plus candy and our favorite champagne for dessert.

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Sunday morning we made brunch at home. Eggnog french toast with blueberries and mimosas.

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In the afternoon we spent some time in Grand Central Station.

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Cafe Grumpy for cold brew.

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And Ciao Bella for fig toasted almond honey gelato.

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Prune was new to us for dinner and we loved it. I

talian Greyhound for me.

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And we started with sardines with Triscuits and mustard.

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We split two dishes and a side for dinner. Grilled pigeon with warm parsley dressing and seeded toast. The (buttery, seedy, sauce drenched) toast was pretty much the best thing ever.

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Duck breast with cipollini onions, dandelion greens, and agrodolce dressing.

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And hen of the woods mushrooms in brodetto.

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Dessert was marscapone ice cream on a salted caramel brioche crouton.

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Delish!

Season’s Eatings; Christmas Wrap-Up

Merriment and good cheer all around!  I hope my readers who celebrate had a merry Christmas.  Adam, Webster, and I cuddled around the fireplace (Netflix had a fireplace video complete with crackles!) and had a grand time.

It’s been a busy week of eating, so instead of the typical wrap-up I’m just going to share some of the amazing seasonal goodies I enjoyed…

Lump of Coal dark holiday stout.  So good, we were impressed.

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Yes, you see crackers in the background.  We made a cheese plate for Christmas dinner and it was just wonderful.

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Stumptown Winter Cheer Cold Brew split with the husband on Christmas morning.  Also so good, festive but not too spicy.

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A big batch of cold brew which I mixed with low-fat eggnog for ahh-mazing breakfast coffees all week.

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Paired with holiday bars.

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Mint sparkling water from Whole Foods that rocked my face off.  Not as good as the strawberry variety, but a close second, especially when paired with a candy cane that my coworker delivered.

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Gingerbread Greek yogurt for lunch.  I enjoyed this even more than I was expecting to because it was sooo thick.

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Awesome pasta.  Leftover snow-shape pasta tossed with turkey bacon, sautéed mushrooms, onion, and kale, and hunks of creamy blue cheese Cambozola.

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Egg ‘n’ Grog pie from Four and Twenty Blackbirds.  Basically creamy, sweet rum in a gingersnap crust.  Heavenly.

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Growing up, for as long as I can remember, my family would open stockings and then eat scrambled eggs with red and green peppers before opening Christmas presents, so you know what we ate for brunch on Thursday.

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Bonus – two off-theme snacks that were too good not to share.  The juice bar at Whole Foods is great, unsurprisingly, but the make-your-own option was surprisingly cheap.  I recommend this combo.

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This Crispy, Crunchy, Mixed Fruit – coconut, pineapple, mango, and jackfruit – is fan-freaking-tastic!  I seriously could not stop eating it.  Crunch City.

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Does your family have a Christmas food tradition?

It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas! Weekend Wrap-Up

It’s only 10 days ’til Christmas!  And Hannukah starts tomorrow!  And it was Adam’s 29th birthday on Thursday!  We had a lot to celebrate this weekend.  The last three days have been fabulous.  Lots of great meals, several at fancy restaurants, and they were usually followed by dessert!

Friday

Friday was a regular work day for me, but I had the excitement of knowing that the husband was coming to pick me up at the end of the day.  The switch to an electronic medical record system has gone fairly well, by the way; fingers are still crossed.

I ran out the door late in a flurry so breakfast came from Starbucks.

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Iced latte and a fruit pouch that was not great.

Lunch was pretty much the same thing, since I didn’t pack anything and made it down to the cafeteria late in the day.

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Iced coffee + chocolate milk, an apple, and a Gingerbread Larabar.

Plus some of the RDs came up to visit me – they liked my tiny office! – and brought me candy.

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I don’t know where my Russian coworker gets those caramels but they are great.

Adam met me after work and we spent the evening in the city.  Our dinner reservations weren’t until 8:00 so we did dessert first on a visit to the Winter Village at Bryant – Brrrryant! – Park.

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We got a dulce de leche cookie,

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then warmed up with a lusciously thick drinking chocolate – and a marshmallow! – from the from the Max Brenner stand.

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OMG.  We have been buying and hating hot chocolate since San Francisco but this liquid gold was exactly what we’ve been searching for. Super thick and rich but not sickeningly sweet.

We had a mile-ish walk to dinner and I’m terribly sad that it was too cold for my camera because I was basically dying at the gorgeous lights along the way.

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Tavern on the Green, Adam’s pick for his belated birthday dinner, was seasonally stunning as well.

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I got a Queens cocktail – Bootlegger vodka, Velvet Falernum, sorrel hibiscus liquor, pomegranate molasses, and lemon juice.  Yummy, and perfectly balanced.

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We shared the scallops with citrus butter, capers, and fried shallots to start. I’ve been having a love affair with fried shallots lately.

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None of the entrees jumped out at me so I ordered two veggie sides, crimini mushrooms with blue cheese and basil and broccoli rabe with lemon, garlic, and sea salt.

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It was a great night.

 Saturday

We had errands to run in SoHo on Saturday, so we parked in Brooklyn and took the train in and spent the day in the city.

There might have been booze in my coffee.

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I bought a snickerdoodle lattee from Dunkin and added a healthy pour of Rumchata (aka the snickerdoodle shot) and it was damn good.

While we were in Brooklyn, we split a sardine Bahn Mi from Bahnmigos.

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It was great! The little me who grew up in the Caribbean shunning seafood (whyyyy??) can’t believe I eat things like sardines and scallops now.

We did linner (super late lunch) at Freemans Restaurant.

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Blue Ridge Fizz = apple brandy, maple, allspice, and champagne.  Freemans is our favorite brunch spot in the city and their cocktails are always magnificent.

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I got poached eggs with tomato stewed kale, crispy shallots(!!), and hollandaise on sourdough toast.

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My eggs ended up being overdone but I forgave them because the kale was so good.

We went next door to Morganstern’s for dessert.

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We shared a cup of American egg custard and durian banana ice cream. Soo creamy! And the flavors were very true to life.

After a bit more exploring, we did round 2 at Sugar Sweet Sunshine.

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I got a shot of The Nog – pumpkin cake layered with eggnog pudding and whipped cream.

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SSS never disappoints.

Sunday

Sunday was all about hanging out at home.  We would have stayed in our pajamas all day, had my dinner plans gone better.  We cuddled, watched tv, and got up some holiday decorations.

I woke up starving from our early dinner the night before so I made a big plate of eggs for breakfast.

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Scrambled with chopped jalapeno, corn, sliced turkey, sour cream, and goat’s milk cheddar.

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Plus Silk soy nog on the side.

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Instead of toast, I snacked on a bag of salted caramel popcorn.

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The plan for dinner was pasta with sun-dried tomato pesto but something went horribly wrong and my pesto was pretty much inedible.

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Instead, we salvaged our veggie side,

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and ventured out for Thai, stopping for mint chocolate froyo along the way.

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Much better. Enjoyed in front of Scrubs – which we are rewatching for the millionth time – it was a great end to a great weekend.