Garbanzo Gang

Highlights from the last week include fruits + grains and Greek-ish homemade dinners.

There is cocoa granola and milk under that mountain of blueberries.

This Guava Squad double dry hopped IPA was lovely.

Baby chocolate milkshake!

One of our best sheet-pan hash dinners. Potato, purple sweet potato, zucchini, and Trader Joe’s sweet apple chicken sausage. I topped mine with zhoug.

Dolmas / homemade roasted garlic hummus / everything pretzel thins / Persian cucumbers / baby carrots / bell pepper.

My favorite take on a Greek salad. Chopped romaine, Persian cucumber, Trader Joe’s Greek feta dressing, sumac, crispy roasted chickpeas, and zhoug.

Trader Joe’s kunefe, aka the best packaged dessert you can buy.

P.S. No post from this weekend – now that I have include sunblock in my bag again it felt too heavy for a camera – but we are living our best lives with a long walk through Central Park and a stop at Butterfield for many desserts yesterday. Today we have a run on the boardwalk in Long Beach planned!

Honey Bear Hijinks

Highlights from this week included great homemade dinners and tons of best-in-their-game-good desserts!

Freddo cappuccino from The Grand.

Coquito iced latte from 787.

We had a giant, insanely good meal at Sunday in Brooklyn. Honeybear on Holiday – rum, Montenegro, sherry, apricot, pineapple, lime, cumin, and honey.

The Tiger Prince – Indian single malt whiskey, pandan, coconut, curry leaves, and lime.

Warm crab and artichoke dip with crusty bread.

Wood roasted mushrooms with salsa verde, peanuts, coriander, and spring greens.

Herb-crusted roasted chicken with butter lettuce and fries with za’atar, chili flakes, and spicy mayo.

Our dinners at home this week were great thanks to the best flour tortillas and a big batch of homemade salsa (loosely based on this recipe). Quesadillas with Oaxaca cheese and sharp cheddar (and salsa and plain Greek yogurt) plus shishito peppers.

Plus flan from Bushwick Taco Company.

And a homemade soursop frozen margarita!

Turkey tacos with ground meat sautéed with poblano pepper and orange yellow bell pepper plus cheese, yogurt, and salsa.

Chilaquiles – salsa, poblano and bell pepper, homemade baked tortilla chips and pico de gallo chips, plus tons of cheese – topped with fried eggs, shredded chicken thighs, yogurt, and hot sauce.

This mochi chocolate chip cookie from Cha An Bon Bon is one of my favorite things I’ve eaten this year! The crispy, slightly savory cookie was the perfect foil for the mochi.

Crepe cake with salted milk foam, boba, and brown sugar syrup from Prince Tea House.

Oddfellows Ice Cream – saffron passionfruit ice cream with apricot and pistachio plus chocotorta (cream cheese ice cream with dulce de leche and chocolate cookie crumb (<–my new favorite flavor!))

Kitsby dessert bar blew our minds. We came for (and loved!) the salted egg yolk lava cake.

But were head over heels for The King – durian cream brulee with banana ice cream, brown butter shortbread, and herbal jelly. If you’re a durian fan in NYC I recommend getting this immediately!

Have a great week!

What’s With Today, Today?

Highlights from the past week include…

I am a total sucker for anything labeled limited edition and I really enjoyed this double dark chocolate Perfect Bar.

Also very pleasantly surprised by the Trader Joe’s chocolate peanut butter mochi.

I made brownies for Rex Manning Day! This is my favorite, most obscure tradition. These guys had tons of chocolate chips and espresso powder in them and were fantastically fudgy.

Bahn mi chicken salad with bok choy with ginger and carrot plus taro coconut chips.

Thai take-out night – spicy chicken and long beans with veggie dumplings.

Roasted green beans with eggs, vegan pork floss, and chili crisp.

Leftover bok choy with the best pizza we’ve ever made. Just a frozen crust topped with tomato sauce gussied up with tons of garlic, chili crisp, and olive oil plus baby mozzarella and bresaola.

Turkey and cheddar sandwich (with black garlic mayo!) on toasted rye with roased brussel sprouts.

Chili Crisp Galore

This was an exceptionally tasty week! My snacks were on point, we tried a fantastic new restaurant, and the dinners we cooked were total successes. Highlights include…

Brunch at Xilonen, a new vegetarian Mexican spot in Greenpoint. We were blown away by the scrambled egg tostada with salsa mache, queso, and a crispy blue corn tortilla.

Heirloom corn tamal, stuffed with sweet potato al pastor, and topped with smoked crema and poblano rajas.

Masa pancakes with maple and butter.

Chocolate cherry cold brew.

Dalgona iced coffee with black sesame vanilla bean milk.

An ideal snack array – sumo mandarin, salted peanuts, and lava cake kisses.

My parents sent us a box of St. Patrick’s Day goodies, including homemade clover sugar cookies.

Peanut butter chocolate chip Perfect Bar + boba milk tea mochi.

Boba-studded popsicles are currently my favorite snack category.

10/10 leftovers from The Meat Hook. The french onion dip was the best I’ve ever had.

Farro / glazed, baked tofu / sautéed bok choy and green onion / chili crisp / fried shallots (which we made in the microwave!!).

Soba noodles / peanut sauce (loosely based on this one) / cabbage / zucchini / ground turkey / chili crisp and smashed peanuts.

Oven-baked crispy chicken tenders (loosely inspired by this recipe) with brown sugar chili crisp sauce + roasted broccoli with fried shallots. I went back for thirds of that chicken!

Destination Charcuterie

Adam and I are both off this Saturday and Sunday, so obviously it’s going to be the best! weekend! ever! Highlights from the week include…

Crispy waffles from Costa Nova. Mine was stuffed with peanut butter, marshmallows, and banana.

Grimm’s Destination Neon double IPA was an absolute delight.

Black sesame ice cream with all the toppings.

Baked cabbage and shrimp with lemon, pepper, and fresh dill (similar to this recipe).

Egg casserole with vegan chorizo, kale, and sharp cheddar (similar to this recipe).

Cheese plate night! Roasted yellow cauliflower / ruby chocolate covered cherries / salted dark chocolate almonds / smoked beef salami / truffle cheese aged in ashes / triple cream blue cheese.

Imperial Marshmallow

Valentine’s Day weekend highlights…

Adam surprised me with a tres leches old fashioned doughnut from Comfortland, i.e., the perfect gift!

We had some crazy good beers. Prairie Artisan Ales Millennial Mansion – imperial sour ale with orange peel, lemon peel, lime, blueberry, cherry, and marshmallow (11/10). Interboro Swoon Units – imperial gose with blackberry, blueberry, lemon, marshmallow, and vanilla salt (9/10).

We got a ton of Chinese take-out. Chicken fried rice, crispy noodles with shredded chicken, garlic baby bok choy, stir-fried string beans, and taro puffs. Plus we had housemade soy milk!

I made a ridiculous take on okonomiyaki with turkey pepperoni and sharp cheddar. The million toppings make it – Kewpie, Sriracha, furikake, and Nowon’s chili oil.

Take Me Out

It was a take-out heavy week and subsequently we ate some really amazing things! Highlights from the week included…

787 Coffee with sweetened condensed milk.

We retried the cola coffee with great success – espresso, Coke, and scm. Yes, I am furiously looking to get my hands on the newly released cans of Coke with coffee.

One of Adam’s friends delivered us amazing nutella, sea salt caramel brownies.

I obviously crumbled one into plain skyr with some berries and cinnamon.

Chicken nuggets with frozen broccoli wok-sauteed with honey mustard and pickled onions.

Plus a broccoli beer! Other Half double dry hopped IPA.

We ordered a ton of Thai take-out. This was basil fried rice, cashew chicken, and string beans.

Plus the hazy milkshake IPA that Sixpoint clearly brewed just for me!

We checked out Roberta’s new classic burger joint. <– Best! Fries!! Ever!!!

And obviously brought home pizza too. Romaine salad with garlic bread crumbs, dill, mint, and pecorino // Lil’ Stinker – tomato, mozzarella, parmigiano, pecorino, double garlic, onion, pepperoncini // Cheesus Christ – mozzarella, taleggio, parmigiano, black pepper, and cream.

Plus a cup of roasted banana pudding with dulce de leche and espresso wafers.

Crisp

I bookended this week with two weekends in a row at work which meant I had Tuesday-Wednesday off and it was just lovely. New York has been too cold for venturing into the city to sound appealing but I did read two books and finish watching Schitt’s Creek!

Food highlights included…

We tried two new apple varieties. Evercrisp > Cosmic Crisp.

We also tried two great, new-to-us gummy candies. The Sour Patch Kids are officially my all-time-favorite cola candy.

An Irish-cream cold brew (enjoyed this far more I was expecting too!) plus espresso-spiked s’mores.

A sweet and spicy mango cocktail.

We found our new favorite Chinese take-out spot and tried a bunch of dishes. Garlic baby bok choy / spicy crispy chicken / rice cakes with cabbage and shredded chicken / scallion pancakes.

One set of ingredients cooked two different ways. First eggs soft-scrambled with maple-smoked cheddar with chicken breakfast sausages and kale sautéed with tons of garlic and gojuchang.

Then all of the above baked into an egg casserole. Plus leftover scallion pancakes. This was the best meal of the week!