Tag Archives: fruit

Taco Tour

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This lovely weekend’s food themes were pastries and tacos. Some highlights…

Culture Espresso. Coffee granita with oat milk and agave topped with espresso whipped cream. Best frozen coffee we’ve had this summer.

Foreigner. Baklava iced latte.

Papa D’Amour. Chocolate brioche with marshmallow and a mochi doughnut with taro and guava strawberry jam.

Fan Fan Doughnuts. Passionfruit and guava cheese.

Dinner at Gertrude’s. I had a crisp diet coke but Adam had the best martini I’ve ever tasted. Latkes with celery creme fraiche and trout roe.

Whitefish toast – smoked whitefish salad (the best I’ve ever tasted; it was so vinegary!), pickled shallot, watercress, and herbs on rye.

I ordered the eponymous burger. It doesn’t make my top five but was objectively solid (comes with Swiss cheese, caramelized onion, lettuce, and special sauce, on a toasted milk bun). And it came with a mountain of perfectly crispy fries and dipping mustard.

Our favorite dish was dessert – seven layer cake.

We did a Manhattan walking taco tour – four stops and we shared a bunch of different things. All were great! Our first stop was actually a burrito joint – Son del North. Breakfast burrito with scrambled eggs, rajas, and pico de gallo. This was my favorite tortilla of the day.

Santo Taco. Chicken thigh with pineapple marinade, avocado salsa, and pickled red onions / shiitake and cremini mushrooms with squash blossom.

Tacos 1986. The combo came with red rice and pinto beans. Carne asada / mushroom. The mushrooms were my favorite filling of the day.

Taqueria by El Prieto. Chicken taco / nopal mulitas.

We also got carne asada fries with my favorite meat of the day.

ApPEELing

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Food themes from this week were – fun fruits / limited edition snacks / and tortilla dinners (we used Mission Carb Balance flour tortillas and were big fans). Highlights…

Skyr bowl with blueberries and mamey.

In addition to my ongoing blueberry obsession I was also into golden kiwis this week. I’ve been scooping them out of their skins with a grapefruit spoon!

The Marshmallow Peanut Road Barebells flavor was good but not mind-blowing like I was expecting. P.S. I also tried a David bar this week and now I’m in love with those.

This El Guapo strawberry syrup was not very good in iced coffee but quite nice in an iced Diet Coke.

Liquid Death Cereal Criminal sparkling water really does taste like Fruity Pebbles. P.S. I also found the A&W zero sugar ice cream sundae root beer!!

Adam knocked it out of the park with my birthday gift this year by hunting down the newly released Ben & Jerry’s – Fudgy Flan.

The newest peelable candy flavors – kiwi and lemon – were a 20/10. The lemon ones easily make my top three all time favorite candies; they are so creamy.

Big salads – romaine, house sauce dressing (mayo, honey, yellow mustard, Dijon, lemon juice, and bbq sauce), baked chicken (marinated with yogurt, pickle brine, and pickled jalapeno brine), cucumber, Bahama Bomb tomatoes, pickles, smoked almonds.

Breakfast burritos – eggs soft-scrambled with extra-sharp cheddar, chopped green chilis, roasted green onions, and potato tots. Plus yummy eggplant – roasted and then sauteed with gochujang, peanut butter, white miso, sesame oil, honey, and rice vinegar.

Buffalo chicken quesadillas – extra-sharp cheddar, baked chicken nuggets, and a mix of roasted cauliflower rice with Duke’s mayo and Frank’s hot sauce. Plus roasted purple cauliflower.

Nachos – baked tortilla chips, extra-sharp cheddar, ground turkey (sauteed with taco seasoning, green chilis, and cauliflower rice), and roasted poblano pepper, orange and yellow bell pepper, and green onion.

A Few Of My Favorite Favorite Things

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We spent the weekend doing all of my favorite things in celebration of my birthday! That included long Brooklyn walks, a trip to Caffe Panna, a trip to Evil Twin, and a run on the boardwalk!

Here were the highlights of the highlights…

Paloma the Bakery‘s black sesame croissant.

Ciao Gloria‘s tahini and jam bar.

Little Cupcake Bakeshop‘s carrot cake.

Elsa‘s guava daiquiri.

Elder Greene‘s Cherry Bomb – tequila, muddled luxardo cherries, amaretto, agave, and lime juice. Sadly we do not love their burger anymore.

Chuko Ramen‘s kale salad. With raisins, miso, and fried kale! And their ramen is this the best in the city.

Rolo’s cheeseburger. The best in the city! But honestly the wood-fired polenta bread and stracciatella cheese gave it a run for its money. This whole meal was fantastic; my favorite of the year!

Summer Salad

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Things from the week…

It is my birthday month so I, of course, opened my stash of birthday cake coffee concentrates.

Trader Joe’s sparkling matcha lemonade. Not too sweet but the flavor was weak.

Fruity candies. The freeze-dried orange slices were okay (good texture but the flavor was off) but we loved the strawberry gummy assortment from Trader Joe’s.

We are head over heels for protein peanut butter cups this week. 2 tablespoons of peanut butter mixed with 1 Tbsp malted milk powder, 1 Tbsp vanilla protein powder (for texture), 1 Tbsp total maple and/or honey, and a pinch of salt; topped with chocolate shell.

Summer salad! Heirloom tomatoes with plum, peach, nectarine, pan-fried paneer, and crispy roasted chickpeas, topped with salt, chili oil, honey, and balsamic vinegar.

We paired our mostly fruit salad with a side of roasted romanesco, which was delicious.

This meal was a watery fail and I am blogging it to remind myself not to put cold silken tofu on top of dumplings again. Silken tofu / pan-fried Trader Joe’s Thai shrimp gyoza / celery and green onion sauteed with garlic, Sichuan pepper, and white pepper / homemade dumpling sauce – rice vinegar, soy sauce, dark soy sauce, rice wine, sesame oil, chili oil, sugar, sesame seeds, green onion, and chopped smoked almonds.

BBQ plates. Mashed potato salad (we overcooked our potatoes so we leaned into the mashed vibe and made them extra creamy) with celery and cornichon pickles, dressed with plain Skyr, Duke’s mayo, Dijon mustard, pickle brine, garlic powder, and smoked paprika. Turkey meatballs with panade, egg, ranch seasoning, bbq sauce, and shredded sharp cheddar. And roasted green beans.

I don’t know what to call this bowl but the combination worked! Roasted zucchini and orange sweet potato topped with pan-fried paneer and tempeh sauced with Dijon, rice vinegar, and apricot jam.

Pistachio, Passionfruit, Pickles

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Some things from the weekend…

This pistachio butter was perfect in an iced latte.

Also in an ice cream sundae! Jeni’s darkest chocolate with pistachio butter, Heritage Flakes, and Trader Joe’s chocolate shell.

Yogurt bowl – plain Greek with blueberries and tons of fresh passionfruit.

We did not care for this Trader Joes tarragon chicken salad wrap. The flavor was hollow; we split it and neither of us wanted to finish our half.

But I did quite enjoy their packaged southwest salad.

We got take-out from the Burger Spot for the 1st time so we ordered a bunch of things to try — Country Veggie salad – chopped kale, cabbage, avocado, cucumbers, cranberries, red onion, and a homemade veggie patty with cilantro ranch dressing / fries and onion rings (their sauces were all a 10/10!) / chicken parm sandwich – chicken fillet with marinara and mozzarella on ciabatta / and the special chicken burger with pickled jalapenos, pickles, coleslaw, cheddar, and bourbon sauce. We will be back!

We also had a shockingly good meal at Little Beet – herby rice with charred broccoli, smoky maple carrots (some of the best vegetables I’ve ever eaten!), baked tofu, and chimichurri.

Savory oatmeal bowl. Trader Joe’s rolled oats with ancient grains and seeds / frozen broccoli sauteed with gochujang, ginger, fish sauce, and gouda / fried egg / chili crisp.

Cheese And Bread

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We did Caribbean-ish dinners this week so of course I pulled out some fun on-theme drinks. Sparking pina colada energy drink (I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this favor), passion fruit soda (made into a fun coffee with espresso and sweetened condensed milk), coconut soda (not as tasty as it was aesthetic), and soursop juice (blended into a great smoothie with frozen banana, peaches, and cherries, and vanilla protein powder)

And you can assume every meal this week got topped with my favorite hot sauce from back home – Blind Betty’s.

Chopped chicken salad with homemade dumb bread. I shaped my bread too thin to slice so we ate these deconstructed which was actually perfect. Baked chicken chopped with extra-sharp cheddar, mayo, and garlic sauteed collard greens.

A loose take on callaloo. Spinach, yellow onion, habanero pepper, crab meat, beef bacon, coconut milk, and spices. Served with dumb bread with butter and cheese.

Baked salmon cakes (Trader Joe’s canned pink salmon, sockeye salmon, and lightly smoked salmon with panko, yellow bell pepper, mayo, Dijon, eggs, salt, white pepper, and curry powder) with rice and beans (brown rice with coconut milk, yellow onion, habanero pepper, and dark kidney beans), and roasted zucchini.

Unbrielievable

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Some things from the weekend, two sweet and two savory. My savory items had a brie and sourdough theme going (and as I write that I really want a sandwich on sourdough with brie!). We also did some out of the house stuff that I didn’t bring a camera for – treats and lattes at a local coffee spot that we hated and will keep unnamed and our 1st trip to Dave’s Hot Chicken which we loved.

Marzipan! I saved a few to put in a yogurt bowl.

Passionfruit and chocolate is a surprisingly good combo.

Baked brie with honey and walnuts. Served with roasted baby zucchinis and Trader Joe’s sourdough rye chips.

Sourdough fusilli pasta with chicken breast, caramelized sweet onion, and sauteed baby spinach tossed with tons of lemon juice and zest and melted brie.

Pierogi, Calzone, Hot Pockets

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This week’s dinner theme has to be my most unhinged — foods in an edible package. I am mentally categorizing “edible packages” as packets, by the way (i.e. no turducken!).

Mochi-wrapped ice cream. This milk tea flavor from Bubbies was fantastic and these are possibly the best ice cream mochi I’ve ever eaten.

Gummy mangos in an edible candy peel. The peelable gummies from Walgreens are top tier. It was a yummy week!

Rice noodle rolls with shrimp. From Trader Joe’s.

Soup dumplings. We went to Nan Xiang to try their chicken soup dumplings and thought they were great.

We also had their mustard greens with tofu skin and edamame which were good.

And their stir-fried rice cakes with shredded beef which were only ok.

And ube bao stuffed with red bean paste (more packets!).

Potstickers. Trader Joe’s chicken and vegetables. Paired with roasted broccoli and a dumpling salsa inspired by Leah Cohen (crushed peanuts, sesame seeds, gochugaru, sugar, Fly by Jing Sichuan chili oil, sesame oil, soy sauce, dark soy sauce, rice vinegar, Shaoxing wine, garlic, ginger, and green onions).

Tortellini. Whole Foods kale and cheese. We tossed them with orange baby tomatoes, roasted zucchini, baked chicken, sharp cheddar cubes, and a green sauce (fresh baby spinach food-processed with evoo, chili oil, sesame oil, salt, garlic, and walnuts).

Samosas. Trader Joe’s mini vegetable ones. Paired with curry cauliflower (roasted cauliflower sauteed with evoo, salt, pepper, smoked paprika, and Jamaican curry powder) with pickled red onions and fried eggs.

P.S. We’re going to Queens for empanadas tonight. Other than the other thousand varieties of things stuffed into pastas, did I miss any??