Sprinkles And Sandwiches

By the time this post goes live I’ll already be on my way to work (wan wan).  I’m working Saturday/Sunday because I have Friday/Monday off, and I’m heading in extra-early because we have family visiting and I need to be done and free to hang out in the afternoon.  The good thing about visitors is that we’ll probably take them to Ample Hills!

Friday was a boring mix of buying new couch slipcovers and filing our taxes (wan wan), but Monday we’ve got some fun breakfast plans lined up.

A few of my dinners were pretty darn weak, but all of this week’s lunches were exclamation point worthy.

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Daytime Eats

This weeks’ coffee – Starbucks espresso blend with skim milk.  With a piñata apple.

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And a chocolate pretzel protein bar.

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Or a wonderfully juice sumo mandarin.

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Or a lavender kombucha.

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Plus buttered toast.

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I also had an Americano with chocolate milk.

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Plus Adam and I split a butterscotch latte while we ran errands.

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With extra espresso, Adam loved it too.

This week’s tea – Roobios.

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Amazingly, this caffeine-free herbal was my favorite tea thus far.  With milk and honey it was downright delicious.

I’m still excited by this gum.

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The flavor dies in about a minute but who doesn’t love a gum with sprinkles?

Oatmeal bowl.  Oats with freeze-dried raspberries and blueberries and peanut butter chocolate chips.

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The oats were great, but I ate much earlier in the day than I usually do (and then stayed for an hour of overtime!) and I ended up also getting a guava cheese empanada on the train home.

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Yogurt bowl.  Plain 2% Greek yogurt with fresh blackberries and pomegranate, toasted pecans, chia seeds, and Heritage Flakes.

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Yogurt bowl.  Maple Chobani with blackberries, pecans, and Heritage Flakes.

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Salad bar.  I love the days when the cafeteria does a Greek section; my salad was loaded with falafel, tzatziki, and taboule, plus black-eyed peas, olives, and cucumber.

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Friday, Adam and I went to lunch at a new restaurant near our apartment.  The meal was underwhelming, but I made a great yogurt bowl for dessert when I got home.

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Plain Greek with peanut butter, honey, cinnamon, maple pecan granola, more pecans, and Luxardo cherries on top!

Nighttime Eats

House snacks included cashews – I’ve been making Adam trail mix bags for work and snacking heartily while I assemble them.

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And chocolate-covered gummies.

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And fun snacks included two girlfriend outings this week.  A coworker and I got drinks at Colonie after an outlandishly frustrating work day.  Bolivian Rose – Singani 63, Aperol, Dolin dry vermouth, Combier, and a super fragrant lemon twist.

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And I introduced a friend to the Korean-style shaved ice at Snowdays.

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They had specialty flavors – Thai iced tea!  Topped with mochi, sweetened condensed milk, and grass jelly.

The mid-week blahs led to some pretty disastrous meals.  Like big salads – baby kale, cashews, chia seeds, pomegranate, and peanut sauce – and horrifyingly cheesy nachos.

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Or a sandwich night where the only veggies to be found were a side of baby carrots.

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My sandwich – with a butter-toasted brioche, roasted turkey, raw milk cheddar, special sauce, and tons of pickles – was delicious but not the healthiest.

But we went on a really fantastic Tuesday night date at Talde.  Now that I know that I like ginger in drinks I could order the Ginger Rose – Four Roses bourbon, Applejack, lemon, and ginger-cinnamon infused grenadine.

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The drink was good but the meal was to die for; truly one of the best dishes we’ve ever had.  Acorn squash rendang with Malaysian grits, fried shallot, pickled shitake, and a six-minute egg.

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The blend of textures and flavors – crispy with creamy, spice with sour – was unbelievably satisfying.  Dessert was sweet with salty.

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Pretzel-potato chip bars with chocolate ganache.

And we started the week with veggie tofu bowls.

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Extra-firm tofu was marinated in stone-ground mustard, lemon juice, honey, and evoo then baked ’til crispy.

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Served on top of honey butter shredded carrots, and sautéed brussels sprouts tossed in the tofu marinade.

And ended the week with veggie packed pasta.  TJ’s spinach tortellini with red sauce.

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We gussied up the sauce with sautéed mushroom and onion and roasted zucchini and graffiti eggplant.  I followed the Serious Eats trick of adding pasta water.

I hope everyone has a great weekend!  Let’s cross our fingers for more warm weather!

Wonderful Weekend Walking Weather

Oh my gosh, thank you so much, New York, for the gorgeous weekend weather!  We took full advantage and fit a long walk into our fun on both Saturday and Sunday.

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Daytime Eats

My new favorite ridiculous coffee.

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Butterscotch latte with an extra shot.

Oatmeal bowl.  Rolled oats, chia seeds, freeze-dried blueberries, and toasted walnuts.

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Topped with a chocolate coconut peanut butter packet.  The pb gets so gooey good on the hot oats.

Drinks in my carts while I did a giant shopping trip.

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Green juice with spinach, kale, cucumber, and pineapple.

Sunday was our Brooklyn date.  We saw Deadpool (<– loved it!  loved that it was just funny, hilariously, and not sad at all) and took another long walk, including some exciting food stops.  Iced Vietnamese latte.

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It was so warm out that I enjoyed my iced drink whilst walking along in only a tank top and cardigan!!

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A “hot dog” at the Smorgasburg Industry City location.  Pan con queso is a grilled chunk of marinated white Latin cheese on a hot dog bun, topped with onions, cabbage, crushed potato chips, ketchup, mustard, and guasacaca (cilantro and parsley).  It was scrumptious.

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Amazing, freshly-made cheese and potato pierogis at Baba’s.  These were out of this world, they had the best pierogi dough I’ve ever tasted.

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And an ice cream cone to top it all off.

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Ample Hills’ salted crack caramel (smoky caramel ice cream with hunks of crack candy) and It Came From Gowanus (salty dark chocolate ice cream with hazelnut crack candy, white chocolate pearls, and orange-scented brownies) in a cookie cone.

Nighttime Eats

I hit up my grocery’s deli for a quick meal on Adam’s overnight shift.

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Tortellini salad and crunchy broccoli salad.

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Plus lemon rosemary focaccia hummus with baked garlic pita chips and baby carrots.

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Best store-bought hummus of all time.

A fancy dinner date at Upland.  We really enjoyed our meal here, the menu changes seasonally and we will definitely be back in the summer.

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They brought us a potato bread loaf with chive and lemon zest butter.

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And we started with the whole crispy hen of the woods mushroom, with cloumage cheese and meyer lemon.  This was fantastically meaty and loaded with umami.

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Plus a greatcocktail, Bill Pay Buck – Tito’s, Aperol, ginger, and lime.  I think that I hate ginger in drinks but somehow this felt very balanced.

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And I got the cioppino for my meal, clams, red shrimp, mussels, striped bass, jumbo lump crab, and gochujang.  I have been so brave with my seafood consumption lately, this was my first ever clam! (<– I hated it, but at least I tried)

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My soup came with a thick slice of butter bread and I ordered a can of Genny Cream Ale that just felt right.

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Dessert was the only part of the meal that didn’t blow us away.  Devil’s food cake, milk chocolate ganache, and hazelnut praline, sounded good in theory but was just meh.

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But we ran into a Woop’s so we had our sugar fix covered.

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Good timing too, we found it just before we crossed the bridge back to Queens.

Burger night to end the weekend.

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TJ’s brioche rolls are wonderful.  We made our burgers with ground turkey, whole-wheat panko, eggs, spices, and browned shallots, cooked in a pan with evoo.  Topped with pickle slices, raw milk cheddar, and Sir Kensington’s special sauce.  So delicious we had to go back and split a second one!

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With an easy salad of baby kale, pomegranate, pecans, chai seeds, and lavender salt / lavender honey / evoo / balsamic.

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If the upcoming week is half as good as my dinner I’m in for a good time!

A Week Of Super Bowls

 

I was a bit under the weather last week, nothing too bad, mostly a lot of coughing and headaches, but I just didn’t have it in me on Thursday to blog a recap.  I was not too sick, however, to eat a bunch of yummy stuff that’s worth sharing.  Last Monday through Sunday, here are the highlights*…

*highlights within the highlights, I obviously drank more coffee than this

coffee

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Caramel-flavored Chameleon Cold Brew!  With half & half.  I adore CCB, it’s so smooth.

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Served one day with citrus seltzer and a sumo mandarin.

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This wins for my all-time preferred citrus, it is sweet and firm, and there are seeds but they are big enough to pop out easily.

oatmeal

In homemade instant bowls for work (just add hot water!).

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Rolled oats, chia seeds, dry milk powder, freeze-dried raspberries, and toasted walnuts.

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And smoothies.

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Vanilla almond milk + chia seeds + oats + frozen banana + brown sugar + cocoa powder.

old-school-style cafeteria lunches

Sliced turkey and cheese with a less than healthy “veggie” side.

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My school didn’t actually have a cafeteria (I graduated in a class of <40 and we had iguanas running the halls) but this is how I imagined the lunches would have been.

pepperoni-ish pizza

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Oh. My. God.  We sliced up a TJ’s turkey summer sausage and put it on the best homemade pizza we’ve ever had.

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Usually I try to overdo it with pizza – lots of veggies, too much cheese – and the crust ends up soggy, but this was a crispy masterpiece.  With a simple side salad.

sugar

Haribo salty licorice.

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Cake pop flavored gum.  There are sprinkles in it!

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We finished this month’s Skoshbox the day it came.

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Tj’s dark chocolate mini cookies.

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These hearts were way better than I was expecting; usually I don’t buy boxed cookies because I’m a pretty great cookie baker myself but there is no way I could make chocolate shortbread this crunchy.

fancy booze in Brooklyn

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Adam met me after work for a fantastic Friday night date in Boerum Hill.  We started at Grand Army for cocktail hour.

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My Alabaster Cavern – blended scotch, Lustau East India Solera, cinnamon, lime, coconut, pineapple, and bitters – tasted like a fancy painkiller.  We liked the space and the vibe (they have a penciled drawing of ET as Mr. T on the wall) and will definitely be back.

The drink menu at Colonie was no slouch either.  My Empire State Sour was American whiskey, NY apples, lemon, egg white, baked apple bitters, and cinnamon.

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Best drink of 2016.  That line of cinnamon stayed in place on top of the egg foam and made every sip smell delectable.

We shared two wonderful, duck-based dishes. Cavatelli with duck ham, béchamel, and soldier beans.

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And wheatberries, mushrooms, and arugula with a duck egg on top.

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I know the pictures are hard to see, but those black bits?  Were crispy mushrooms.  I don’t know how to describe the flavor (truffle? earthy?) but they were the single best thing I’ve ever tasted.

dinner bowls

I did not watch the game yesterday, but I have been eating some delicious bowls of dinner.  All but one include broccoli because apparently it’s our favorite.

We made a variation of our black-eyed pea mix.  Roasted broccoli, edamame, gochujang, smoked almonds, and cheddar.

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A super bowl on Sunday.  Orecchiette with roasted mushroom and baby zucchini, tossed with browned butter and Italian four cheese blend, topped with a sprinkle of smoked paprika.  Served on a bed of roasted green beans.

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Best bowl of the week – farro with ginger, garlic, lemon, gochujang, evoo, and salt and pepper / mackerel with stone ground mustard and a bit of mayo / roasted broccoli / toasted walnuts.

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This was technically a lunch bowl.  The cafeteria had a baked potato bar.

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I swear there was a potato underneath all of that cheese and broccoli.

dog love

I feel like Webster’s adorable mug hasn’t been on the blog much lately, but I have been snapping pictures of him for Instagram.  These are some of the best ones:

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Related – a girlfriend surprised me with this darling dachshund scarf.

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Here’s to a great week!

It’s All Greek To Me!

My four-day workweek helped ease me back into real life after vacation.  I was also assisted by copious amounts of sugar, coffee, and alcohol.  And thanks to the holiday, next week is short too, wahoo!

daytime eats

Cereal and milk coffee.

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Coffee, Fiber One bar, Pink Lady apple.

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Latte and a tangelo.

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We got to sample some of the new desserts that are going to be sent up to patients on their birthdays.

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And our cafeteria’s brownies are always to die for.

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I don’t even really like brownies but these are terrifically fudgy.

Loaded veggie pizza.

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Cafeteria-assembled Mediterranean salad.  Romaine and ranch topped with marinated cucumbers, taboule, chickpeas, and cheese; plus a falafel, pita chips, hummus, and a pickle.

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Oatmeal with chocolate hazelnut butter and a side of fresh melon.

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This was my first time trying steel cut oats and I really enjoyed them.

nighttime eats

Leftover pineapple turkey chili pulled down from the freezer.

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Topped with pickled jalapeños and apricot stilton.  With buttered toast and a side of baby carrots and hummus.

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I was majorly thanking my past self for saving some chili for a future quickie dinner.

Scrambled eggs made for another easy night.

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Filled with broccoli, cauliflower, shredded chicken breast, and three cheese blend.

Mediterranean salad at home.  My cafeteria version was good but this was the better of the two; the crispy chickpeas took it to the next level.

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Baby romaine with TJ’s feta dressing / roasted zucchini / hard-boiled egg / crispy chickpeas / taboule / and feta cheese.

TJ’s chile relleno with cheesy eggs and buttered toast.

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This was an arbitrary assortment of foods but it worked.

Adam brought me home a giant salted caramel macaron from our favorite spot in Grand Central Station.  He was on an “away” rotation at NYU that ended yesterday so this was the last of the midweek Manhattan treats.

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I paired a cocktail grapefruit with a sticky toffee beer that was only so-so.

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And chocolates (nonpareils and dipped gummy bears) with a Dino S’mores Imperial Stout.

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Never mind the fact that the label is a mouse in a dinosaur costume making a s’more (<– !!!!!), this stout is brewed with graham flour, fluff, vanilla, and cocoa nibs, and it tastes like a freaking toasted marshmallow.  ♥♥♥♥

P.S. Have you seen the Tatum on Tatum episode of Lip Sync Battle?  I laughed so hard I’m pretty sure I scared the neighbors!

Last Week’s Top Five

There has been a lot of excitement since last Saturday.  We had three days of weather so warm I could hold my iced coffee in bare hands while I walked in my sandals.

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Last Sunday I comfortably walked the dog in shorts and a t-shirt!

And Adam celebrated a birthday.

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His parents came for a birthday visit and we had a great time showing them the tree at Rockefeller Center and the fantastic holiday lights all around Manhattan.

Here are some of the food highlights…

{1} Pineapple Turkey Chili

By Tuesday the weather was back to normal* again and it was cold enough for Chili.  *global warming winter normal, it’s still 50 in December

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I made my pineapple turkey recipe.

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We gobbled it up topped with shredded cheese, sour cream, and pickled jalapeño.

{2} Holiday Fails

It was bound to happen sooner or later, I had not one, but two, holiday themed food flops.

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This years soy nog has way too much soy milk aftertaste for me and the candy cane flavor (in spite of the adorable chips of candy cane) was the first Adagio tea I thought tasted like dirty water.  You win a lot, you lose some.

{3} Restaurant Burgers

Any time we have Long Island visitors we take them to Bare Burger.  Adam’s parents loved it.

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I got a Wiki Wiki on a turkey patty – gouda, duck bacon, fried onions, and pineapple relish.

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The burger was great, and they had a very exciting local brew – chocolate egg cream stout!

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We also took them to Thistle Hill.  I got a falafel burger.

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With tzatziki and hot sauce and salt and pepper fries.

{4} Dinner at The Gander

We are both obsessed with duck, so The Gander quickly made it to the top of our dinner date list.

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The space was gorgeously done up for Christmas – with lights and a giant gingerbread house – but too dark for me to take a passable picture.  Ignore my bad photography though, the food was on point.

We started with local burrata with butternut squash and toast.

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And I ordered the Glasgow Punch, which came from a tap; scotch with citrus and clarified milk.  This was one of the best drinks I’ve ever had, it smelled smoky in an amazing way.

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We split two pastas for dinner.  Gnocchi with shishito peppers and cheddar.

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And tubetti with duck confit and a duck egg yolk.  <– best dish of the night

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Plus cauliflower with capers and anchovies.

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Dessert was salted cajeta cake with maple lace tuiles and pistachio gelato.

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Everything was delicious and you could taste the care that went into each dish.

{5} Birthday Ice Cream Cake

This was my first attempt at an ice cream cake and I was a little nervous but it came out great.  Whenever Adam and I go to a Cold Stone-style ice cream place we always get coffee with Oreos and peanut butter, so that’s what I put together for his birthday.

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An Oreo crust / with a peanut butter layer (I basically make flattened buckeye candy) / a coffee ice cream layer / and a bunch of Oreos, mini Reese’s cups, and sprinkles for topping.

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Yum!  It was gone by the end of the weekend!

S’Mores And S’more

Since I worked the weekend, I had Tuesday off this week, woo-hoo!  I used the time to get my holiday gift shopping 100% purchased, wrapped, and packed for shipping, woo-hoo x2!

daytime eats

This week’s tea – Chestnut.  This was my favorite flavor yet; not as good as coffee, of course, but still pretty sweet and roasty.  And the smell is unbelievable, I got a yummy whiff every time I opened my desk.

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With an almond cookie from my co-worker.

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Or s’mores trail mix.

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Wheat squares cereal, salted brown butter dark chocolate, sweet and spicy pecans, and these fancy marshmallows my aunt and uncle sent me for Hanukkah.

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That s’mores box was gone within 24 hours.

This week’s coffee:

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Also I enjoyed a Winter Cheer (Stumptown cold brew with mulling spices!) with a cocktail grapefruit (a mandarin and pomelo hybrid that has the tang of a grapefruit without the bitterness).

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And one morning I made us pink smoothies – plain Greek yogurt and orange juice with frozen grapes, blackberries, and pomegranate.

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I only have one work lunch photo this week, we have been slammed and I ate hurriedly at my desk while I worked so I mostly stuck to pizza.

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But Tuesday at home I did eat a tasty yogurt bowl.

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Plain Greek yogurt with the last of the cranberry sauce, fresh pomegranate, chia seeds, and Maple-icious Pecan Granola.  I’m going to miss that sauce.

nighttime eats

First things first – I started almost every dinner this week with an appetizer of a big hunk of ciabatta schmeared with Smart Balance.

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Also cocktail hour with this dream team:

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Adam bought me those ridiculously exciting Luxardo cherries for my birthday and I’ve been hoarding them for winter cocktail hours ever since.

Monday night we harnessed the power of the soft-cooked egg yolk and made easy but amazing bowls.

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Mine was roasted green beans, maple chicken breakfast sausage, and a sunny side up egg on top.  Best meal of the week!

The leftovers weren’t half bad though, scrambled eggs with chopped sausage, frozen spinach, and TJ’s sticky toffee cheddar cheese.

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Speaking of, I know it sounds a little a lot weird, but if you see that cheese a Trader Joe’s, buy it, the sweet and savory combo just works.  Full disclosure though, it does have dates and raisins in it.

Wednesday and Thursday we ate giant Chipotle-style salad bowls.

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Baby romaine base // sautéed onions and peppers // sautéed chicken that was marinated in ginger, garlic, chipotle, lime, honey, and canola oil // avocado // shredded cheese and sour cream.

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If I could figure out how to make those fabulous lime-y chips at home we’d be able to stop going to Chipotle!

P.S.  Happy birthday to my (funny, handsome, smart, kind) husband!!!

“Weekend” Top Three

I can’t really call it the weekend because it was my turn to work Saturday and Sunday and I go in today as well (boo).  But I then I have Tuesday off (yay).  Every 4-6 weeks I will be working S/S in exchange for two free weekdays.  It was a little strange to be in the diet office all by myself but I got a ton of work done and saw some really interesting patients.

Here are the top three food highlights, I enjoyed the weekend work but it certainly was tiring, you can safely assume that I ate chips in bed for dinner on Saturday…

{1} Sweet breakfasts to lure myself out of bed.

Not only did I work on the weekend, I went in an hour earlier than usual!  <– because the thought of being at work until 5 on a Sunday was just too much.  I had to bribe myself out the door.  Nonfat iced eggnog latte.

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Fried dough for Hanukkah.

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My marzipan doughnut and roasty coffee were both delicious and were fantastic together.  FYI, Brooklyn people – Doughnut Plant also has a few Hanukkah special doughseeds this week.

{2} Fresh tamarind.

My coworker brought us in tamarind last week.  I haven’t eaten it fresh in years.

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Enough time had passed that I forgot how obnoxiously stringy it is.

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I think I will stew the rest of my share.

{3} 1st night of Hanukkah dinner at Mile End.

ME is quickly becoming one of our favorite spots.  I love how inventive the menu is (modern takes on traditional Jewish dishes all made on a tiny grill and fryer behind an open counter) and the meats and vegetables are expertly prepared.

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We started with blintzes with apple maple crumble on top.  The chef whipped these up from scratch a foot in front of us!  They were outstanding, obviously.

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And we didn’t do latkes but we did have French fries in chicken gravy poutine.

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I got the sprouts kugel for dinner.  Egg noodles with steamed and fried brussels sprouts, cottage cheese, and a soft egg on top.

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I grew up eating sweet kugel with raisins and this savory iteration is the best I’ve ever had.  In fact, this was simply one of the best (top 5) dishes I’ve had all year!

Happy 2nd night of Hanukkah to my readers who celebrate!

It’s Beginning To Taste A Lot Like Christmas!

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December 1st hits and right on schedule my head fills with thoughts of sugar plums!  Or rather thoughts of eggnog and hot chocolate, I’ve never actually tasted a sugar plum.

It’s not as big as my pumpkin bounty, but I was still pretty excited to pull out my holiday goods stash.

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I’ve marked all of the eats in this post that qualify as holiday foods with a ** for classification purposes, also because it feels me with glee.  I’m missing a lot of photos (I ate a ton this week) but here are the highlights…

breakfast

This week’s coffee – Breakfast Blend with TJ’s low-fat eggnog**.

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Plus I had an “original” eggnog iced latte**.

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This week’s tea – Gingerbread**.

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With a caramel apple biscotti (former freebie).

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Or a gingerbread biscotti** (meta!) and a juicy pear.

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Or a slice of carrot cake my coworker brought in.

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It was a good week for workplace treats, another coworker brought me Filipino-style ambrosia from her Thanksgiving.

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It was out of control good; I made myself ill scarfing down that container.  Less sugar than the American version and loaded with palm seeds and fresh coconut.

snacks

Maple leaf iced latte from Sweet Leaf.

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Yummy, but nothing can top the Voodoo Child (their take on Vietnamese iced coffee).  We also had a really yummy Spanish iced latte at a café in Park Slope later in the week.

Holiday doughnuts** from Doughnut Plant.

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Chestnut and a marzipan star.

Holiday milkshakes** from Shake Shack.

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We tried gingerbread and chocolate peppermint.  They weren’t all that good but the penguins on the cup make my day.

Mini cupcakes from Sweet Haus Cupcake Café.

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We shared red velvet, salted caramel, and cookie dough.  Cookie dough = a literal scoop of cookie dough!

Hot cocoa Hubba Bubba** as an after lunches palate cleanser.

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I don’t know how they managed to make the gum so chocolatey!

Mug cookies for the win.

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Number 2 Pencil’s winner recipe with salted brown butter dark chocolate.

lunch

Brunch with Adam on Sunday.  We went to Greenpoint for Five Leaves.  I got a so-so Bloody Mary.

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And we shared an amazing braised duck pot pie.

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And an egg sandwich.

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The pot pie was succulent duck, root vegetables, and parsnip veloute, in an herbed crust with wilted brussels sprouts leaves.

Cafeteria food is listed from least to most enjoyable –

One day there was nothing that looked appetizing so I ate a spicy tuna salad package from the snack stash in my desk.  Plus cafeteria baked fries.

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Another day I ate Asian tofu and steamed squash and wished I’d stuck with my desk snacks.

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This tossed salad – with lettuce, ranch, pickles, olives, cucumbers, tomatoes, cheese, and pinto beans – was pretty good.

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And this taco salad was a winner.

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From the salad bar and the taco bar I assembled lettuce, veggies, cheddar, sour cream, salsa, and black bean and corn salsa.

dinner

Pizza-pizza.

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Turkey pepperoni and mozzarella balls on top of marinara sauce and a TJ’s frozen crust.

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With salads on the side.

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Arugula / roasted broccoli / balsamic, honey, evoo, and lavender salt / sweet and spicy pecans.

Pasta with veggies and sauce.  We topped whole-wheat penne with Bertolli mushroom and truffle sauce mixed with browned mushrooms, chopped spinach, and TJ’s vegan chorizo.

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With huge hunks of ciabatta slathered with Smart Balance.

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This meal was good several nights in a row.

Veggie miso ramen from Chuko.  With scallions, bamboo shoots, butternut squash, shredded chicken, soft boiled egg, and their fantastic sesame greens.

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I had a sore throat all week and this – plus a big scoop of honey ice cream at Ample Hills – was just what the doctor ordered.

I hope you’re enjoying your weekend!

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