Weekend Wrap-Up; I’ve Been Married For Six Years!

by Emily

Who else is excited for New Year’s Eve? We don’t even do anything fun, but I’m looking forward to 2014. Not that ’13 wasn’t good to me; our move went well and Adam and I both graduated and got good jobs.

And in the final weekend of 2013, I celebrated my 6th/11th year anniversary with Adam, and one of my best friends (from undergrad round I in Miami) came to visit me!

She is a teacher in Florida and we do not get to see each other often enough. We had a blast getting some time together in city this weekend.

When I wasn’t celebrating or giggling, here’s some of what I ate…

breakfast

Our favorite smoothie. Frozen strawberries and chocolate peppermint soy milk.

Whole Foods was having a sale and I was able to grab two final cartons of the soy milk before it disappears for the year. Normally I’m a stickler for sticking to seasonal treats but this smoothie is so good it’s worth breaking the rules for.

Thai leftovers, cold from the container – aka the best way to eat them. I added more (cold) rice after I took that picture.

By the by, these were leftovers from Thursday night, not the Thai food I’m going to show you for Friday’s dinner. Apparently I’ve been doing a lot of Thai!

A lazy Sunday breakfast.

When Adam got home from his night shift, the three of us took a lovely family walk to the grocery stores for supplies and then we whipped up a great meal.

Eggnog french toast (on gingerbread swirl!) with maple syrup and blackberries.

With turkey bacon.

And cold brew coffee with a little skim milk and the last of the ‘nog.

Cold brew is the best! I think I finally found a recipe with a ratio that works for me. {1 and 1/4 cups water and 1/4 cup grounds, soaked overnight then pressed}

lunch

Packed on Friday.

TJ’s Vanilla Bean Greek Yogurt with a packet of Justin’s Chocolate Hazelnut Butter, quite the tasty combination.

Plus a little apple.

I’ve been finding the tiniest apples this year.

On a fancy and romantic date with the husband.

Ha! Yes, that is Whole Food’s hot bar. So not super fancy, but pricy at least. And I think everything we do is romantic; I legit consider going grocery shopping with my husband a date! Besides, hot bar is delicious.

I got veggies, salad with salmon, and mac and cheese.

On Sunday we all met for lunch at PJ Clarke’s near Lincoln Square. I *had* to order a Bloody Mary – “Sister Mary Walks Funny: Juice of Tomato, Huy Fong Sriracha, Worcestershire, Sea Salt, Blue Cheese Olives.”

Sadly it was all tomato, with barely any spice or vodka, but the blue cheese olives were fantastic.

Adam and I split the fish and chips for lunch.

So good! The meat was almost creamy inside the breading. And it came with a Shiner Bock remoulade that we both adored. I want to go back for the lobster roll!

snacks

I was given lots of chocolate to eat my way through. A honey almond praline chocolate from Adam.

And a Smokehouse BBQ Potato Chip dark chocolate bar from my stocking.

I loved the idea of this bar in theory, but the chocolate was just too dark to pair with the chips. Such a shame because I’ve been head over heels for the other Wild Ophelia bars I’ve tried. I think my flavor preference is shifting towards milk chocolate.

I’ve been trying to make a good Greek yogurt “cookie dough” for ages and now that I have almond flour in my kitchen I think I’m finally getting close.

I really dislike chocolate chips though, and always end up eating around them. I need to try to find some other kind of morsel chocolate.

My fizz idea has been a winner from day 1 though.

This was a lemon dulce de leche popsicle in vanilla seltzer with a splash of lavender syrup.

dinner

Mee Thai in Park Slope with my friend and her sister.

This restaurant was new to me (all of our favorite spots from when we lived in PS before have closed) but thankfully we all loved our meals. My Pad See Ew with mock duck was nice and spicy.

Lazy Sunday dinner.

We came home from the city soaked with rain and salad and sandwiches were all we could handle.

Romaine with champagne pear vinaigrette, chia seeds, and smoked almonds.

Smoked turkey and light Jarlsberg sandwiches with dijon and Sriracha mayo, on gingerbread swirl cooked in a little butter.

Nothing too fancy but it did the trick.

I’ll see you next year! {hardy, har, har}

17Dec2013

The Rest Of The Weekend

by Emily

Here is all the stuff that didn’t tie into yesterday’s book review…

Coffee break(fast) on Friday.

One of the doctors brought us all in doughnuts but I stuck with my latte and coffee chia bar (even though this flavor ended up being gross). Later I was laughing with Adam about how much much harder it is to pass things up now that I’ve gotten kind of fat. Before it felt like “this is a time I’m not eating something yummy, but that’s ok because I look and feel my best because I occasionally don’t eat things that are yummy.” Before I started my job I went a little crazy with the sitting on the couch and eating thing and now I’m trying to get back to my old, healthy self. But now it’s like “I’m passing up on this doughnut but I still don’t look like I pass on doughnuts, I look like I rolled around in a pile of doughnuts like Scrooge McDuck and then just put my clothing on over the doughnuts that stuck!”

<— anyone else get what I’m saying there?

Another Friday item, lunch.

The last of the big grapes.

And a salad of romaine with groats, edamame, peanuts, and peanut vinaigrette.

It was so great having the pre-cooked edamame at the ready. Thanks, Trader Joe’s. And speaking of TJ’s…

We tried several tasty cheeses this weekend.

In grilled cheese! On gingerbread swirl bread.

We made one sandwich of each and then split them in half. Chocolate cheddar cheese with Sriracha mayo and English cheddar with caramelized onions with dijon.

So. Freaking. Good. I don’t even plan on being a person who doesn’t cozy up with the husband in front of Gray’s with a plate of grilled cheese. I just need to stop being the person who puts cheese on everrrrrrrrrything.

We cashed in a BOGO coupon at Starbucks and got turkey bacon, egg white, and cheddar sandwiches for breakfast before running errands.

This sandwich is one of the husband’s very favorite things but I ended up sharing the last 1/3 of mine with him. I feel like there must be fake sugar in the English muffins; they have a strangely sweet aftertaste that throws off the whole sandwich.

I was supposed to do a review with Limoneira recently but things fell through at the last minute. They felt bad and sweetly sent me a big box of lemons.

Too exciting! I had so much fun getting to experiment with the meyer lemons. We made another batch of Dulce de Leche Lemon Popsicles, and did something really fun with the leftover “batter.”

Lemon egg creams! Just popsicle mix (lemon juice, scm, and skim milk) with pink grapefruit seltzer.

We also made some lemon bars to bring to a holiday party we attended Saturday night.

My mom always made these bars for me growing up but this was the first time Adam ever tried them and he adored them. Not super Christmasy but they did have powdered sugar snow.

P.S. Don’t forget to enter the cookbook giveaways!

6Dec2013

Weekly Wrap-Up; I Survived!

by Emily

I survived my first week of full-time work! Well, almost; I’ve still got to get through today. And I am very excited to hit the couch as soon as I get home. TV, how I’ve missed you! {Random Note – “Mom” on CBS? So flipping good. I laugh out loud over and over again. Also “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” randomly got really good too. It seemed like a train wreck at first but they’ve pulled it together; it’s another llol situation.}

I do plan on sharing a bit more about work as time goes on. And I’ll definitely post a picture of my office (I have an office!) once I get it all set-up. I have some work outfits at the start of this post though, and I’ll try to keep that going.

Last week’s eats were fairly boring, but I’m proud of how (relatively) healthy I managed to keep things. And I even captured 95% of what went in my mouth on film. What you don’t see is the snacking I did before dinner every night while I packed my lunch. Also there was coffee. So, so much coffee.

fashion friday

New navy, polka dot top from the Loft.

I didn’t realize how similar day 2’s look was to day 1.

My mom got me this mint cardigan on her trip to Amsterdam.

I wish my pictures were clearer so you could see details like this fun neckline.

And Friday’s look will get looped to next week.

breakfast

As of now I’m eating on my train ride so things have to be portable. Sticky Bun Larabar Uber.

Still not my favorite flavor, but I liked it better than the first time I tried it.

Pecan Pie Clif Bar.

Such a fun seasonal flavor. I really hated the gingerbread and spiced pumpkin ones, but this was delicious.

Super smoothie.

Frozen strawberries with plain Greek yogurt and chocolate peppermint soy milk. Adam and I love this blend.

lunch

Lots of repetition here but I changed up little details to keep things interesting. Turkey sandwich round 1.

A Sandwich Thin with Applegate Smoked Turkey, Crofter’s Grape, and a TJ’s goat cheese medallion.

With a cameo apple.

And a baggie of Angie’s Iced Gingerbread Kettle Corn.

The husband and I both love this popcorn; not too sweet or spicy. It’s not on their website but I found my bag at Target.

Butternut squash round 1.

Roasted butternut squash with chopped spinach and craisins with WF’s Korean BBQ Sauce on top.

On the side,

another cameo apple and a baggie of Salty Pepper Somersaults.

Turkey sandwich round 2. This time with a slice of light havarti, banana peppers, and a bit of Miracle Whip.

Plus a pair of tangerines.

And Twix Gingerbread.

This meal was the week’s winning lunch.

Butternut squash round 2.

With TJ’s Champagne Pear Vinaigrette in place of bbq sauce.

And a side of tasty mango.

The flavors here were good but this meal was a little too mushy overall.

dinner

These are all single girl dinners; I was on my own every night this week. Adam had a week straight of night shifts and with my new schedule we literally saw each other for less than 30 minutes a day. I miss him!

Soup night.

My box of pumpkin soup from TJ’s was terrible.

It was weirdly sweet and I ended up throwing out the majority of my bowl. My side made up for it though.

The last of the tortilla chips with fancy cheese microwaved on top.

Sandwich night.

My sandwich was a little burnt, but oh-so-good. I mashed together a can of Smoked Trout with Miracle Whip and smoked paprika and then put it between two pieces of gingerbread swirl bread with a slice of light havarti and cooked the whole thing in a pan with a little butter.

With a giant pile of kale chips on the side.

The smokey-sweet combo on my sandwich was amazing.

Egg night.

Two eggs scrambled with evoo, frozen roasted corn, chopped jalopeño, sugar, and Sriracha.

Another kale pile.

With popcorn.

For the whole grains, of course.

Fun night. Yesterday I met up with a friend who works in Park Slope for dinner. I had some time to kill before she got off so I walked a ton (my feet are still killing me!) and got the best cup of frozen yogurt.

Eggnog and praline yogurts with pralines, toffee, and malt balls. Fan-freaking-tastic!

Then we went to Song for Thai food.

My “Spicy Noodles” weren’t spicy at all, but they were nice and chewy and I came home with leftovers for lunch. It was great to see a friend on a “school night.”

P.S. Don’t forget to enter my coffee giveaway. You’ve got until 2 pm Saturday to comment.

2Dec2013

Weekend Wrap-Up; Hello, December!

by Emily

This weekend I…

…Walked around Manhattan with my family to check out the window displays.

This was such a great way to ring in the season, even if the tree wasn’t lit yet. It was the perfect way to spend my parents’ last day. My mom snagged me a milk and white truffle from the Lindt store.

And I came home with a really exciting candy assortment from a place in Chinatown.

I am really looking forward to trying the new varieties.

…Ate lunch at Carnegie Deli.

The bites I took of my dad’s matzoh ball soup were great.

We all shared strawberry blintzes.

And I drank the best chocolate egg cream of my life.

Though the very best bites were those my cousin shared with me of matzoh brei. I don’t know how they make theirs so chewy.

…Shared some exciting drinks with the husband while we explored the city. A Belvoir Fruit Farms Elderflower and Rose Lemonade.

It was very tasty, and how gorgeous is the packaging? We also shared a black sugar bubble tea.

Yum!

…Discovered Cafe Dada, a new coffee-house in Park Slope.

I had a cafe au lait which was delicious,

but the espresso in Adam’s cortado was hands-down the best I’ve ever had.

It was so velvety! And the pistachio mousse we shared was great too.

It was a blend of pistachio and raspberries and the flavors went great together.

…Met up with friends from Buffalo. They were visiting family for the holiday and we all met up to share a meal. We took them to our two favorite places – Freeman’s Restaurant {the smoked trout plate}.

sugar, Sweet, sunshine {more pistachio}.

Such fun. We love it when they come into town.

Tried the Eggnog Jubilee from Jamba Juice.

It tasted exactly like I wanted it to – eggnog and nutmeg blended with ice – but I still didn’t need enough of the flavor to drink the whole thing. I’m glad I tried it though.

…Ate lots and lots of cheese. We were shopping in Trader Joe’s one evening when the idea for nachos struck and our eyes lit up. We got Wisconsin Sharp and New York Extra Extra Sharp Cheddars so we could do a blend.

Adam put pastrami on his (leftover from Carnegie) but my chicken ended up being moldy so I got my protein in the form of extra cheese. Plus candied jalopenos.

Swoon! We kept it going with grilled cheese for lunch the next day.

On thick slices of cibatta.

With apple slices on the side.

I probably should have tried to get some veggies in there too.

…Finally got some veggies in with a homemade dinner.

We topped this cous cous with roasted butternut squash, craisins, smoked almonds, champagne pear vinaigrette, and a sunny side up egg.

Runny yolk is the best sauce.

…Decorated for Christmas.

We’re ready for December!

29Nov2013

Weekly Wrap-Up; Thanksgiving

by Emily

I hope all of my American readers had a great Thanksgiving! Among many other things, I am thankful for you guys. My holiday (and Wednesday) included –

Lots of Starbucks.

That was a Joy tea with skim milk, but not to worry, coffee was consumed both before and after.

On Wednesday we had lunch at a diner near the hotel.

My veggie frittata was giant. No one else has access to a fridge and the amount of leftovers Adam has accumulated is insane.

That night everyone came over to our place to celebrate the first night of Hanukkah {and drink Rumchata!}.

The dog was loved by all. My family always gives the best gifts…they are much cooler than I am! Including awesome pumpkin spice brittle that my cousin brought from Cville.

We had a great Italian meal that night but the lighting made pictures impossible.

You know I got photos of Turkey Day. Sort of. My dad’s Long Island cousin hosted us for an amazing meal. Appetizers.

My uncle Brian makes the best latkes ever.

I had a coke with single-barrel Cruzan from home and a caramel apple martini that was ridiculous good.

My dinner plate had cranberry, turkey with gravy, peas, green beans, and sweet potato casserole. For dessert I chose peanut butter smores bars that I brought and pecan and apple crumble pies. With Kaula whipped cream! I took pictures of all that, but have none to blog. ← blame the husband, who touches things that don’t belong to him.

What’s your favorite pie on Thanksgiving?

25Nov2013

Weekend Wrap-Up; A Fabulous Date

by Emily

This weekend was downright fabulous! I’m still not feeling quite 100% from my cold – you’ll notice that fruit and veggie consumption was still abysmal – but I felt well enough to have lots of fun. Having Adam home on break has been indescribably wonderful❤. And tomorrow my parents come to visit (and will be joined later in the week by two sets of aunts and uncles) for Thanksgiving and Hanukkah!

breakfast

Yogurt bowl.

TJ 0% honey Greek yogurt topped with two sliced kiwis.

Sunday breakfast.

We toasted the last of the garlic and cheddar beer bread in the oven with some Smart Balance Light.

With a sliced Cameo apple on the side.

And a cup of cafe con leche.

The coffee was part of a sample that Maison Camus sent me.

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

I had not heard of Maison Camus before they reached out to me, but apparently they are an independent, family owned Cognac house. Their coffee is grown sustainably – no herbicides, fungicides, or pesticides, and they stick to a strict growing process to minimize environmental impact and preserve biodiversity. The beans are grown at high altitudes (primarily in Costa Rica and Guatemala) and they use small-scale farmers who they pay fair wages.

I haven’t opened the French Roast yet but we loved the Signature Blend. My first tasting thought was “smooth,” and it was fun to see that match the company’s description (the French Roast is described as bold and I’m quite looking forward to it). I did put a bit of SCM in my coffee but I took a few sips black and was thrilled with the lack of bitterness. I drank two big mugs. Adam, who drinks at least 3 cups of coffee a day and is a much more discerning drinker than I, was very impressed as well.

lunch

Breakfast for lunch but not brunch.

Seedy bread with Smart Balance Light,

and eggs scrambled with tons of corn (cooked with evoo, tons of Sriracha, and a bit of sugar).

Don’t turn your nose up at the sugar; I realize it’s something I’m not exactly short on in my die,t but with the chili sauce it makes the corn perfect.

On Saturday I took Adam on a date that ended up being one of our best days ever. We decided the last time we had such a good time was on our last trip to Toronto. We drove up through Long Island to Port Jefferson.

The town was gorgeous and quaint, and we even came across a fire pit offering free marshmallows for roasting!

After we licked all the burnt sugar off our fingers we headed over to C’est Cheese for lunch.

My girlfriend (who lives in Buffalo but grew up in LI) used to babysit for the owners and recommended it to us. We were grateful for the intel because we had an amazing meal.

Adam and I shared… A beer sampler.

{South Hampton Double White, Smuttynose Brown Dog, Frambois, Port Jeff Porter}

The Smuttynose was his favorite and the porter was mine, which was funny because we both didn’t care for the others selection. The frambois was enjoyed by all though and was an excellent palate cleaner.

A bowl of New England Clam Chowder.

Adam ate this all on his own but he said it was excellent.

The Somerset sandwich – Melted aged cheddar, sun-dried tomato pesto, black olive tapenade, and fresh basil.

The aged cheddar on our sandwich was actually our very favorite cheese of the day, though it had a lot of competition.

A cheese sampling.

{Truffle Tremor, Taleggio, Pecorino Toscano, Scharfe Maxx, Vlaskaas, 2 year Grafton, Harbourne Blue}

The sampling is a plate of seven assorted cheeses that changes each day. We loved our selection. And we came home with leftovers so the fun could continue the next day. The fun continued that day as well; we finished out our date with a trip to “Thor” and popcorn for dinner.

On Sunday we had leftovers to look forward to.

We chopped up the last of our cheese plate and put it on top of crockpot cranberry chicken (scroll down to dinner) and jasmine rice.

This was so good we both wished we had leftovers of our leftovers.

dinner

I only have one meal in this category! The other days we did big, late lunches and just snacked (popcorn and bananas foster!) for dinner. Thankfully this one meal was a winner, though not very photogenic.

Crockpot Cranberry Chicken = put 1 lb of boneless, skinless chicken breast into the crockpot and top with 14 oz fresh cranberries and bbq sauce (we used Whole Food’s Korean style) to cover, then cook 4 hours on “high.”

So simple, but so good. Adam raved about this meal and went back for both 2nds and 3rds. The green on the bottom was frozen spinach that I cooked with evoo, lemon juice, craisins, and smoked almonds.

drink & dessert

The gingerbread cookies from Cheryl’s (thanks again, Barb!) are perfectly soft and spicy.

I’ve already bought a whole slew of gingerbread flavored goodies and I’m excited to announce that I’ve decided tomorrow is the perfect time to start opening them.

Grande, non-fat, eggnog latte.

I got this with a 50% off coupon and I was glad because I didn’t love it this year. Somehow it wasn’t sweet at all, which was very strange with the eggnog flavor.

Another sample, Rave Review Original Culinary Spirits sent me a box of booze for cooking.

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

We had a lot of fun setting up a bourbon tasting.

Bourbon isn’t my favorite kind of whiskey, and on first taste I preferred Rave Review to the competitor. I rarely give a bad review (I’m excitable and pretty easy please), but I have to say that after heating I hated it! The flavor was almost savory?! which we think was related to the blend of spices. That said, I could see how it could be good in a savory dish, and I do plan on cooking with it.

On the positive side, we made Bananas Foster with the Rum and I’m giving that two thumbs up.

I basically followed Alton Brown’s recipe, except I skipped the banana liquor and used cinnamon instead of all spice.

Served over vanilla ice cream, this was wonderful. I’m pretty sure we’ll be making another batch next weekend.

Finally, have you seen the new limited edition winter flavors from Polar?

Toasted coconut was good but champagne strawberry is out of this world. The flavor is great and the scent is just ridiculous. I will also be searching high and low for fudge cheesecake, obviously.

Do you ever cook with booze, or do you just drink booze while you cook?

4Nov2013

Weekend Wrap-Up; A Visit From The In-Laws

by Emily

We had a lovely family weekend! Laughs were had, great food was eaten, and lots of celebrating was completed. Adam’s parents drove up Saturday morning to check out our Long Island life. The weather is just starting to get cold, but we kept things climate-controlled with driving tours of the city (Central Park and spins down Park Ave and Lexington) and the Long Island (the coast!). I’ve been dying to take pictures of our gorgeous, changing leaves so it was especially nice to have Adam behind the wheel.

breakfasts

Breakfast by buffalo.

A cup of coffee (a buttered rum blend from Target that had a rubbing alcohol taste we both hated) sweetened with SCM and lightened with skim milk.

And a very nice, pumpkin-pie-esque yogurt bowl.

TJ’s low-fat pumpkin Greek yogurt topped with some Nature’s Path Heritage Flakes and a dollop of sour cream whisked with brown sugar.

The cereal bites were my favorite.

Breakfast in the leaves and on the go.

Iced coffee with maple syrup and Silk Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk. For some reason I enjoyed the buttered rum far better leftover the 2nd day.

Overnight oats.

A nearly empty Biscoff jar was filled with raw oats, almond milk, and chia seeds and then pumpkin Greek yogurt was stirred in the next morning.

Very good, but I finally decided that this yogurt is a bit too sour for me, and I’m glad it’s gone now.

I normally try to stop after 1 (large) coffee so I don’t lose sleep, but I couldn’t turn down a 2nd when I received this e-mail:

Free? Yes, please!

I got a non-fat caramel brulee latte and loved it before ultimately determining that this flavor is too sweet, even for me. When December rolls around I’ll stick to eggnog lattes.

Cereal squared.

A packet of Vanilla Blast Snackimals that I got “trick or treating” at Whole Foods. <– such a good marketing idea; I loved it and now plan on buying a box and if I hadn’t tasted it I definitely would not have thought to purchase this particular cereal

And a serving of Adam’s Boo Berry. <– not gonna lie, I liked this layer quite a bit too!

I topped my big bowl with raspberries and skim milk.

I almost went back for seconds, I enjoyed this so much.

lunches

Sunny side salad.

Baby spinach dressed with pink salt and 1 tsp each evoo and honey, topped with TJ’s 90 days aged crumbly Gorgonzola (a cow and sheep’s milk blend) and a sunny-side up egg.

I made that egg myself and was so proud, usually Adam has to make them if we eat anything but scrambled! And a Sweet Tango on the side.

This variety might be topping Honeycrisp this season.

Bareburger.

I got a small Cobb salad. Baby romaine / Wisconsin blue / turkey bacon / hard-boiled egg / Hass avocado / grape tomatoes / raw red onion / buttermilk ranch

I had them sub in aged fig balsamic for the ranch, but I ended up not even using it because the salad was so good naked. I need to find better lettuce for salads at home!

Plus Adam and I split a side order of spicy pickle chips.

Out of this world, nice and crunchy. His parents loved their burgers as well; Bareburger is becoming our go-to place to take out-of-towners.

Señor Nacho.

I ordered another salad. Iceberg (boo nutritionally but nice and crispy) topped with pico de gallo, lime, queso fresco, and avocado.

Plus a plate of Maduros which I shared with the table.

I love sweet plantains. We were all impressed with SN, and plan on going back.

dinners

Leftovers magic.

We turned our Halloween mac & cheese leftovers into something magical by ~~burning~~ cooking them in a skillet with evoo, soy sauce, rice vinegar, and eggs.

Topped with sour cream and Sriracha, the former of which was a big mistake.

I didn’t have to cook.

My MIL always brings Adam pot roast when she visits and this time she made me a dish too. Seasoned chicken on spaghetti with tomatoes and balsamic vinegar.

For our vegetable component we ate the rest of my salad, topped with honey, evoo, and tons of blue cheese.

Those big chunks of cheese were outstanding.

desserts

Cookie ~~monster~~ ghost.

My MIL delivered sugar cookies that had been beautifully decorated by our nieces.

Cake(s). There was a lot to celebrate this weekend. My MIL’s birthday is today {Happy Birthday, Barb!} so Adam and I fulfilled her life-long tasting dream and picked up slices of cheesecake from Juniors.

Traditional and chocolate swirl.

But since they weren’t sure when we’d get together next, my in-laws also came prepared to celebrate Adam’s December birthday (plus Christmas and our anniversary!) too.

Look at the giant slice of cake Adam served me alongside my cheesecake tastes!

I left behind most of the cake, but you better believe I ate all of the frosting.

The new best thing ever. I reheated my leftover plantains in a skillet with a bit of butter and brown sugar and then cooled them down on a bowl of Ben & Jerry’s Honey Vanilla Caramel Frozen Greek Yogurt.

Surprisingly, this dish was Adam’s idea!

leaves

28Oct2013

Weekend Wrap-Up, Tres Días

by Emily

This weekend was nice and quiet, with an emphasis on the nice. We kept things very low-key, with one day of errands and one day around the house, but had a nice time just being with each other. I’m not saying we didn’t bicker {oh gosh, did we ever!} but we did really enjoy one another’s company.

On Saturday, we went on the best, most ridiculous, dinner date to the Cheesecake Factory. I started out not being able to take pictures but by the end of the meal I didn’t even want to take pictures because it would have distracted from my time with the husband. Sidenote – am I just getting old or do they keep it really dark in there?! We were making each other laugh so hard. We shared several things and came home with tons upon tons of leftovers. Dessert (our second (third?!) of the day) was the best part. The waitress came over to tell us about a s’mores cheesecake with ganache and toasted marshmallow fluff and I interrupted to say that we were exploding, but by the time she got back with the bill Adam ordered us a slice! Ridiculous. And delicious.

Here are some of the bites that I did manage to photograph…

Fall flavors yogurt bowl.

0% plain Fage topped with pumpkin butter, toasted pecans, and a drizzle of maple syrup.

Fage is so nice and creamy.

Tropical trip yogurt bowl.

Muller Pineapple Passion Fruit Greek Corner topped with half a banana and some chopped mango.

I am very excited about the mango left in the fridge.

Brinner, aka breakfast for dinner.

Potatoes, sliced and roasted in pink salt, dried rosemary, and olive oil.

For the eggs; frozen spinach cooked in chicken broth with eggs scrambled in – eggs whisked with low-fat sour cream and smoked paprika – and a 2% Mexican 4-cheese blend tossed in towards the end.

Lately I’ve been loving adding something creamy like cottage cheese or sour cream to my scrambled eggs.

Pumpkin beer.

Sam Adam’s Fat Jack Double Pumpkin.

Unfortunately I haven’t been loving the pumpkin brews this season; they all start to taste a sour to me a few sips in. Adam got the lion’s share of this bottle.

Ice cream. Ben & Jerry Chocolate Peppermint Crunch.

I bought this to make a milkshake for the husband with but I ate several bowls of it this weekend. The chocolate is so dark and the mint swirl is just like the inside of a Jr Mint.

Tres Leches!!

From the Buttercooky Bakery. They served it with fruit on top and a layer of dulce de leche in the middle.

Tres Leches is both of our number one favorite dessert (usually we prefer different sweet things, though I have gotten him sucked into my s’mores obsession).

Hot bar from Whole Foods.

I did roasted broccoli, a small scoop of Cesar salad, a big scoop of kale salad, and two fried plantains for dessert.

With a fancy bottled drink. Plan Tea Organic Black Tea with Vanilla and Basil.

The tea made this meal feel extra special!

Cheese plate.

We each had our own. Adam got asparagus and matzoh with his basics and my extras were green beans and persimmon. Honeycrisp.

TJ’s Cheddar and Gruyere Mélange Cheese.

Alter Eco Dark Velvet Truffle.

Roasted green beans.

And a nice, mushy persimmon.

I really liked the flavor of the flesh (I’ve tried an unripe persimmon and it sucks all of the moisture out of your mouth), but I’m still not sure whether or not I was supposed to eat the hard skin. I picked it off with my fingernails but it didn’t make for the nicest eating experience.

Next weekend my in-laws are coming for their first LI visit! I just hope we have some nice week days in between.

Eating Chalk

Tag Archives: eggs

Weekend Wrap-Up; I’ve Been Married For Six Years!

breakfast

lunch

snacks

dinner

The Rest Of The Weekend

Weekly Wrap-Up; I Survived!

fashion friday

breakfast

lunch

dinner

Weekend Wrap-Up; Hello, December!

Weekly Wrap-Up; Thanksgiving

Weekend Wrap-Up; A Fabulous Date

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lunch

dinner

drink & dessert

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

Weekend Wrap-Up; A Visit From The In-Laws

breakfasts

lunches

dinners

desserts

leaves

Weekend Wrap-Up, Tres Días