The King

by Emily

The top five things I ate this week…

Birch Coffee cold brew blend.

Chia! Pudding with Hint of Honey almond milk, chopped dates, and chocolate covered cacao nibs.

Yogurt with chopped plum and plucot and the last of the lavender almonds.

This snack combo. If I’d had some bacon jerky to go with my baby bananas and peanut butter cups I would have had a snack fit for The King.

There were a couple of BIG stressful changes at work this week and I mostly ate pizza for dinners but I did make this one fantastic home-cooked meal. A combo of my two favorite salads – Bahn Mi Chicken and Green Curry Turkey.

Chicken with curried mayo and ginger, pickled vegetables, chopped red peppers, etc. Plus honey butter Sriracha toast!

Just today between me and the weekend!

11Jul2016

A Bunch Of Brunch

by Emily

Chameleon’s Mexican coffee was delightful with a bit of milk. Related – I am in physical pain that I can’t find the Texas pecan near me.

Iced coffee is always good though.

This cup from Colonie was knock-your-socks-off good. There must have been a nitro tap somewhere because it was crazy velvety.

I went for brunch with a girlfriend and we were both blown away by my duck hash. With poached egg, red potatoes, roasted onion puree, and aioli. I’m usually not that excited by potatoes but these were crispy perfection.

Afterwards we went to Grand Army and had {too many!} drinks. We practically tried the whole cocktail menu and everything was fantastic!

Brunch numero dos at Tocolo Cantina. I had the mushroom taquitos – crispy tacos filled with roasted mushroom, corn, and Chihuahua cheese.

This cafeteria lunch wasn’t too bad either. My wrap sandwich had grilled chicken, cheddar, veggies, and cilantro.

Date shake smoothie. Plain Greek yogurt, vanilla almond milk, ice, dulce de leche, and fresh dates.

Lavender caramel. I brought these back from my Philly trip and I wish I’d bought more!

These leftovers eggs were better than they look. With chicken hot dog, baby spinach, yellow bell pepper, and gouda cheese.

A 2nd home-cooked dinner in one weekend?

These – only ok – salmon patties came from the freezer, but I did make the tartar sauce. Mayo, mustard, pickle relish, and dill.

And I assembled the salads myself. Romaine, ranch, heirloom baby tomatoes, pistachios, and an amazing blue cheese from Trader Joe’s.

8Jul2016

Duck, Duck… Bacon!

by Emily

This week Adam and I tried duck bacon and fell head over heels in love.

It’s probably a good thing that that package cost $14 or we’d be eating duck bacon for every meal!

Our other flavor theme was lavender caramelized almonds.

Love Our Nuts sent me a giant bin (<– free sample) and I put them to good use.

In a pan over medium-high heat dry toast 2 cups of raw almonds for 2-3 minutes until starting to brown. Add 1 Tbsp evoo, 2 pinches of salt, and 1/4 cup lavender sugar and cook 1-2 more minutes, stirring regularly, until the sugar is fully melted and the almonds are coated. Spread almonds on a greased cookie pan or sheet of tin foil until fully cooled before storing. If you want to try this recipe at home Love Our Nuts is actually hosting a giveaway right now, all you have to do is visit their social media pages.

I also had a lavender doughnut from Doughnut Plant.

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For this week’s coffee I cold brewed my Birch cold brew blend.

The tasting notes say caramel and chocolate finish so I stirred a dollop of caramel into this cup because why not?

I also had a really fantastic latte from Gorilla.

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And a Starbucks latte that didn’t actually pair that well with savory trail mix.

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Yogurt bowls for lunch. Plain Siggi’s with chopped plum and lavender almonds.

And fig with chopped plucot and KIND maple chia granola. Plus a so-so kombucha from Trader Joe’s.

Chocolate x2.

A coworker and I got tasty drinks at Grand Army after a particularly long day. This Trans-Siberian tasted like an adult Capri Sun! I also had a fantasmic peach sour beer.

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The night Adam was at work I ate Mexican leftovers in bed.

But the other nights were duck bacon extravaganzas!

Like this duck bacon, double cream gouda, and egg toasted croissantwich.

Served with a spinach salad with lavender almonds (dressed in evoo and lavender honey and lavender salt!).

Killer cheese plate.

Envy apple, baby carrots, orange and yellow bell pepper, lavender almonds, duck devils on horseback, gouda, and sharp cheddar.

Have you tried duck bacon yet?

23Jun2016

Similar To Cake By The Ocean

by Emily

I’m mashing last weekend’s post into this week’s – and we’ve done a lot of good eating! – so I had to filter down to only the most delicious things. Here are the best bites from the top five categories…

{1} all the coffee!

We ordered The Unicorn at Box Kite, obviously.

We went to Birch Coffee and loved it so much that we went back at the end of the day to buy a bag of beans.

Then went back again a few days later for another latte!

Locally roasted coffee that comes in cups with trees on them is just too exciting. And there were birch trees etched into the sidewalk out front!

{2} protein-packed salads

Beans, eggs, and lots of fish. At Whole Foods – spring mix with tangerine vinaigrette / salmon / two kinds of bean salads / parmesan / and a hard-boiled egg.

At the cafeteria – romaine with blue cheese / veggies / corn / kidney beans / cheddar / egg. Plus my coworker brought me a giant piece of baked salmon and I tossed that on top too.

At the cafeteria when I worked last Sunday and pickings were getting slim – I did the best I could with fried fish and a steamed vegetable mix.

It wasn’t bad, but I did buy a train snack that night.

{3} killer sandwiches

Breakfast: egg and cheese on a croissant with turkey bacon.

Lunch: do taquitos count as sandwiches? I’m including them either way, because this lunch was too good not to share. Tortaria knocked our socks off. Adam and I split a platter with mahi and cauliflower (and pork for him). Plus spicy fries and tons of guacamole. And a tamarind agua fresca.

The sauces sitting on the tables – green salsa, blended salsa, and something creamy and smoky – were astonishingly good. And that ridiculous quantity of food (why include chips and fries in the same deal?!) cost less than twenty dollars.

Dinner: cod bahn mi at a new Vietnamese/taco spot in Park Slope.

Don’t question it, the combo worked, I went with a girlfriend who got tacos and we were both very pleased.

{4} sweet stuff

~~Cake by the ocean.~~ Cookies by the Hudson. We got giant chocolate chip walnut cookies from Levain and enjoyed them in Riverside Park.

Tropical smoothie at home. Frozen mango and soursop with guava paste and vanilla almond milk.

Ben & Jerry’s Empower-Mint flavor is yummy and it supports an important cause.

Siggi’s yogurt with berries and shredded halvah.

Birthday cake croissant from Union Fare. It’s topped with ground sprinkle dust and filled with sprinkle-studded pastry cream!

It was also just one of the best croissant we’ve ever tasted.

{5} hearty homemade dinners

Spanish flavors reigned supreme on the home front this week. Tomato garlic crock pot chicken served with brown rice tossed with garlic, tomato paste, raisins, and chopped olives. Plus roasted broccoli.

I also made fantastic enchiladas.

Whole Foods’ roasted garlic green chile enchilada sauce costs a ridiculous $4+ per can and it is soooo good. Our filling was ground turkey breast cooked with TJ’s vegan chorizo and tons of roasted yellow squash and zucchini. Plus cheese galore.

17Jun2016

Wrap Up, Guava Cheese Week

by Emily

Important things first, check out this fantastic photo I snapped of the dog:

He is my favorite!

This week’s meals were themed around one of my culinary favorites – guava and cheese. We put this carton of guava paste to very good use.

There’s some leftover and we have big plans for tropical smoothies.

I didn’t do the best job of taking photos this week – there’s at least one day missing from each meal category – but I did capture the really yummy stuff…

I didn’t make coffee at home so I had to get my fix from Starbucks and the coffee shop at work. We had a freebie ready on our registered Starbucks card so I got to go a little crazy.

Have you registered your Starbucks card yet? Do it! Even if you only stop in occasionally the rewards and perks add up quickly.

With an eggtastic sandwich.

With cheddar and turkey bacon on toasted whole-wheat.

And a really fantastic Larabar.

Hazelnut, hemp, and crunchy bits of cacao

This kombucha and seltzer were both on top of their game.

Sadly the mango coconut chia pudding from Trader Joe’s was not to my taste at all. I threw it out two bites in and headed to the cafeteria instead.

Oatmeal day. Chia, cashews, freeze-dried berries, and cookie butter on top.

Plus a sweet and juicy Smitten apple.

I even brought guava for lunch one day.

With white nectarine, granola, and the last of some plain Greek yogurt.

It was a very snacky week but the only thing I managed a picture of were these mini pb cups.

I recommend them highly.

Guava cheese week win – quesadillas!

We spread flour tortillas with guava pasta, smothered them in low-fat shredded mozzarella, and pan cooked them with a bit of evoo.

Plus roasted green beans.

These were basically the un-fried version of the empanada I’m obsessed with from the truck in downtown Brooklyn.

We also made pizza.

On TJ’s frozen thin crust (our favorite) with turkey summer sausage on top. Amazing.

Yesterday we happily skipped guava and cheese in favor of a date night dinner at Pig & Khao. This Burmese eggplant salad was one of the best dishes we’ve ever put in our faces.

Grilled eggplant, peanuts, dried shrimp, and mint, scooped with shrimp chips. Umami. Neither of us could stop raving about it.

My Khao Soi wasn’t bad either. Red curry, coconut milk, chicken, egg noodles, pickled mustard greens, and red onions.

Slurping long noodles meant I ended up head to toe covered in red curry but it was worth it.

I cooled down my mouth with the Ginpo.

Gin, grapefruit, cinnamon, and prosecco.

While we were in the neighborhood, we finally checked out the Magnum store. It’s the famous ice cream bars hand-dipped in chocolate and sprinkled and drizzled with your 3 choices from the toppings bar.

We got vanilla / dipped in milk chocolate / topped with gold flake, rose petals, and espresso sugar / drizzled with dark chocolate. It was good, the shell was wonderfully thick, but I was definitely glad Adam was there to share with me.

6Jun2016

Lilia, Looking Glass, Loves

by Emily

In spite of the rain, Adam and I had an absolutely lovely weekend. Let’s be real though, we think going to the grocery store is a hot date, so pretty much anytime we’re together is considered lovely!

We tried a new restaurant, explored Prospect Heights a bit, spent a rainy morning running errands, saw “Alice Through the Looking Glass” (<– only ok), got in a long walk with the dog before the rain, and caught up on TV. I even managed to get in a short run before the skies opened. I was up and out of bed before 7:30 on Sunday which gave us a much earlier start than usual.

Here are the highbites… <— ahahahaha

Did everyone celebrate National Donut Day on Friday? Doughnut Plant gave out free mini sprinkle doughnuts with all purchases.

I got a tres leches cake doughnut and a super strong Vietnamese iced coffee. The freebie was actually my favorite part.

Soursop (my favorite fruit!) juice from Gloria’s.

It smelled amazing in there and we want to go back and get a meal soon.

The movie may not have been great but our cola-themed snacks were on point.

We weren’t expecting much from 7-11 brand pop rocks but they were the fizziest I’ve ever had.

Saturday night we tried out a new restaurant in Williamsburg – Lilia.

Our meal ended up being fabulous! We started with housemade mozzarella on toasted garlic bread with lemon and bottarga (salted, cured fish roe).

Plus roasted trumpet mushrooms with arugula, balsamic, and toasted almonds. The ‘shrooms were too chewy for my taste, but Adam adored them.

And I had an Aperol Spritz that was fantastic with our appetizers.

My dinner was the best plate of the night, sheep’s milk cheese filled agnolotti pasta with saffron, honey, and dried tomatoes. The creamy filling and (wonderfully) chewy pasta were wonderful with the slightly sweet and spicy (thanks to a bit of pepper) sauce. We were both swooning.

We had to go to dinner quite early to ensure we could score a table as a walk-in so we had time afterwards for more date night fun. Brooklyn Cupcake – oreo cheesecake and flan filled.

And beers at Barcade.

Adam and I had an absolute blast playing a two-player game where you hunted ghosts. I never played arcade games with guns growing up but I think I got the hang of it pretty quickly.

Sunday’s dinner made use of a former freebie – Popkoff’s Chicken Pelmeni. The dumplings were delicious, the chicken was perfectly seasoned.

We tossed them with sautéed onion, shredded brussels sprouts, and chicken hot dog, and Neufchatel cheese and smoked paprika.

I have one more Popkoff’s coupon and then I will definitely be buying the products with my own money.

3Jun2016

It’s Time For BBQ And Hot Dogs

by Emily

Here were this week’s top three…

{breakfast}

Killer breakfast sandwich. Turkey bacon, egg, and cheddar on a croissant. If I could get the cafeteria to scramble me an egg with peppers to put on a sandwich I’d be in heaven.

Coffee always makes the top of the list! Black Hand with chocolate milk.

With a Lavender Love kombucha.

{lunch}

Yogurt bowls for the win. With blueberries and chopped nectarine and modest variation in toppings. 2% Fage with Nature’s Path Heritage Flakes.

4% Siggis with pecans, chia, and cookie butter.

Passionfruit Chobani with Heritage Flakes, pecans, and chia.

{snack}

This kettle corn is some of the best packaged popcorn I’ve ever tasted, it is super crispy.

Another sweet and salty, a pixie tangerine with a chicken Wilde Bar.

My coworker brought me in a grass jelly drink to try after I raved about the jelly at Boba Guys. It was good! Not very sweet at all and mildly grassy in a pleasant way. I mixed it with vanilla soy milk.

{dinner}

Our cooking took place indoors and up North but we still made the most of Southern bbq flavors for two of our meals this week. Nacho night! Carolina bbq chips, sharp cheddar, pulled turkey with bbq sauce, pinto beans, red onion, and roasted broccoli.

A similar concept on salad – arugula with ranch / bbq turkey / pinto beans / red onion / cucumber / bell pepper. With corn on the cob. This was a fun dinner but it desperately needed some crunch and we ended up dumping kettle chips on our salads to act as de facto croutons.

Hot dogs in scrambled eggs sounds low-brow but tastes amazing. Our eggs included ‘dogs, red onion, arugula, and cheddar. With avocado and roasted asparagus on the side.

Now I just need to find myself some watermelon this weekend!

20May2016

Eating Madison Square

by Emily

This week’s flavor themes: coffee (always), cheese (almost always), lavender, yogurt, fresh herbs, and tahini granola (<– my newest, greatest recipe!).

We work all weekend – actually we work every day straight until next Friday – and we made the most of our shared Thursday off. And we went on a dinner date on Tuesday! Good times.

My seasonal allergies hit hard this week and I was a sneezy, disoriented mess so dinners were basically a disaster but my lunches were on point. And dinners were fun, just lacking in greens; the “healthiest” meal of the week was veggie-packed nachos!

foods that were good

This week’s coffee – Black Hand with lavender sugar. Very yummy with fat-free milk and half & half.

Also with the last of the Nutchello.

And paired alongside a lavender kombucha.

Important note – this pomegranate sangria seltzer tastes and smells exactly like Pez candy!

The serenity now blend from David’s Tea also deserves a mention, the spearmint is lovely.

Bonus – maple iced latte from Brooklyn Roasting Company.

My packed lunches were all about the tahini granola. With plain yogurt and berries.

Though one day I did have Chobani watermelon with fresh watermelon. If you haven’t had watermelon in a yogurt bowl yet, go for it, the combo is fantastic.

And yesterday we did a lunch date at Madison Square Eats. <– a food tent situation similar to Smorgasburg

It was great to sit outside and eat in the sun. We shared a salmon belly dosa waffle from Inday.

And a green papaya salad with lemongrass chicken from Hong Kong Kitchen. Served on a giant bed of lettuce.

But our true raison d’être was the Ice & Vice ice cream and Squish marshmallow collaboration. We had a scoop of Detention (malted vanilla with brownie and fruity pebble dust) with a toasted Birthday Party (sprinkles) marshmallow. Yummmm! Best marshmallow we’ve ever tasted.

The days I didn’t eat granola at lunch I had it as an evening snack! I’m a woman obsessed; that stuff is delicious. This was caramel Noosa with granola, melty cookie butter, and blackberries.

Speaking of evening snacks, the cookie butter is a very tempting thing to have open.

Take-out Pad Thai for dinner. This wasn’t even my weak take-out, this was Adam’s leftovers from a night shift. Like I said, dinners weren’t fantastic.

Pizza pizza.

Our dinner date at Pok Pok was a win.

That’s a tamarind whiskey sour. Enjoyed with complimentary chili lime peanuts.

The food is served family-style and the waitress recommended sharing three dishes so that’s what we did. Khao Soi Kai – Northern Thai mild curry noodle soup made with a secret curry paste recipe and coconut milk. With chicken on the bone and crispy noodles. Served with house pickled mustard greens, shallots, and roasted chili paste.

Cha Ca “La Vong” – Vietnamese catfish marinated in turmeric and sour sticky rice, fried in turmeric oil with scallions and dill, served on rice vermicelli with peanuts, mint, cilantro, and mam nem (fish sauce). The fresh herbs took this over the top! I have been loving the use of mint in our restaurant dishes lately.

Finally, Hoi Thawt – crispy broken crepe with steamed fresh mussels, eggs, garlic, chives and bean sprouts. This was my favorite dish, you can’t go wrong with fried eggs. I only recently started eating mussels but I really enjoyed them served this way.

We also had an amazing dessert. A clever play on Thai iced coffee, this was a condensed milk ice cream affagato in Stumptown espresso. With Thai doughnuts on the side.

Our homecooked dinner for the week was loaded nachos. Corn chips, shredded cheese, shredded chicken, pinto beans, roasted broccoli, sautéed orange bell pepper and onion, avocado, and tons of fresh cilantro.

The dog was pretty pleased with this too, because he got several bites of chicken and avocado during the assembly stage.

three exciting non-food things

{1} How long the dog is in this photo Adam snapped of us in bed.

{2} The Egg and the Spoon. I’m halfway done and loving it. All of Gregory Maguire’s books are enchanting but this story is particularly so. I’m going back and rereading every other page because the wording is just so beautiful.

{3} I convinced one of my friends to start watching Hart of Dixie and now she texts me regular updates about how great it is! I’m way too excited to have someone sharing my shame.

Eating Chalk

Tag Archives: fruit

The King

A Bunch Of Brunch

Duck, Duck… Bacon!

Similar To Cake By The Ocean

Wrap Up, Guava Cheese Week

Lilia, Looking Glass, Loves

It’s Time For BBQ And Hot Dogs

Eating Madison Square

foods that were good

three exciting non-food things