Big Happy

by Emily

Adam was free on vacation last week – and I managed a few overlapping days off as well! – and we had a wonderful time. Tons of dinners out, tons of time together (but never enough!), we walked from Williamsburg across the bridge to Koreatown and back, took a long stroll eating around Ridgewood/Bushwick, and spent some time at Rockaway Beach. A great week!

Highlights include —

Breakfast on the beach boardwalk. Nutella iced latte from Rockaway Roaster and an amazing guava cheese danish from Rockaway Bakery (they also have croissant bread loaves and I’m dying to go back!).

Maple oat-milk matcha lattes.

Freeze-dried honeycrisps with a seed bar.

Boozy apple pie milkshakes!

This double IPA from Stone was very drinkable.

Chips with what ended up being the best jarred salsa I’ve ever eaten.

Mochi things from Mochii, mochi stuffed with cookies and cream ice cream and mochi balls with toasted rice powder and peanuts.

Chamoyada from Maya’s Snack Bar – tamarind ice cream with fresh mango and tons of chamoy and tajin.

Leftovers from Mud Club in Woodstock were still great.

Delicious birria burrito and quesadilla from Nene’s Deli Taquiera.

Omakase at Shinn East. Every single bite was perfectly composed and it was so fun to watch the chef up close.

We had one of the best dinners of our lives at Little Mad.

I didn’t take many pictures because I was too busy swooning. Favorites were fried maitake mushrooms with sour cream and onion dip served in an onion(!!).

And this insane, upscale take on corn and cheese – baby corn, fried corn silk, caramel popcorn, and comte cheese fondue.

16Jul2021

Food In Bowls

by Emily

Highlights from the past week include…

S’mores iced coffee! I blended coffee with ice, cold brew powder, chocolate milk, vanilla bean powder, and toasted marshmallows.

Yogurt bowl set up – vanilla skyr with Made Good chocolate granola and Jelly Berry grapes.

I quite liked these crispy onion chips from Trader Joe’s.

Toasted turkey and cheddar sandwich. On sprouted wheat sourdough with mayo and pickled jalapeños.

Mexican-ish vegetarian bowls. Brown rice, cauliflower rice roasted with green onion and poblano pepper, Trader Joe’s soyrizo, cojita cheese, and orange Soss.

Crab fried rice. Leftover brown rice stir-fried (with soy sauce, rice vinegar, and fish sauce) with blue crab, eggs, green onion, peas, and carrot.

Dinner inspired by a dish we loved recently at Llama Inn – sautéed bok choy with grapes, sunflower seeds, and black garlic vinaigrette. Plus tuna cakes made with soyrizo.

12Jul2021

Sort Of Rad

by Emily

I worked the past three days, so no weekend for me, but I did make time for some yummy food! Highlights include…

Deconstructed apple smiles – an apple with mini marshmallows and a peanut butter breakfast bar. <– recommend

A yogurt bowl with peach, plum, and peanut butter.

Leftovers assortment for a work snack – hard-boiled egg, chicken sausage, radish, bell pepper, and Russian dressing.

Chamoy candies!

Egg salad (with mayo, honey dijon, paprika, and horseradish) plus mini cucumbers, radish, and bell pepper.

Leftover sheet-pan hash topped with havarti cheese, Kewpie, diced radish, pickled jalapenos, and Korean chili flake.

Spicy wok-fried green beans with cheesy scrambled eggs, vegan pork floss, and chili crisp.

11Jun2021

Call Me Buffy

by Emily

Highlights from an extra-garlicy, pizza packed week!

Mini cucumbers and Trader Joe’s caramelized onion dip are a very good combo.

As is coffee syrup and brown butter almond ice cream.

Hummingbird High’s Supernatural Brownies are out of this world good (we made the small batch version and it took less than 30 minutes!).

Homemade meat lovers pizza! I made a big batch of sauce by cooking down jarred marinara with yellow onion, garlic, turkey bacon, ground turkey, shallot oil, urfa chili, Korean chili flake, smoked paprika, and fish sauce. On a Trader Joe’s frozen crust with whole-milk mozarella balls. Plus roasted caulilini.

We had leftover sauce with roasted zucchini and Trader Joe’s cauliflower gnocchi.

And I put leftover bacon in some homemade okonomiyaki (eggy cabbage pancakes). I also stuffed it with ginger and chili crisp and topped it with Sriracha, Kewpie, and furikaki.

We also made a sandwich style pizza that was my favorite meal of the week. With mozzarella, cheddar cheese curds, sliced turkey, and a homemade roasted garlic aioli. Plus sautéed snap peas and red bell pepper with tons of garlic and butter.

10May2021

Honey Bear Hijinks

by Emily

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!

5Apr2021

Bunny Bites

by Emily

Our Easter weekend had major Spring vibes, and not just because I wore head-to-toe pastels the past three days. We met up with friends for ramen and a walk in Prospect Park and were too hot in sweatshirts – a dream for April in New York.

Highlights from the past week included…

On-theme pink for Easter, a strawberry milk dalgona iced coffee.

See also – this very spring-y sugar cane and key lime cocktail.

This clementine and vanilla bean milkshake IPA is hands-down our favorite beverage. Adam and I would both choose it over any milkshake.

Usually I am not keen on coconut in desserts but these chocolate peanut butter bites are very satisfying.

Also I brought these seaweed chips I’m obsessed with into work and my coworkers were equally impressed.

Best snack of the week/month/year was this assortment of candies with a decaf iced coffee with salted maple chocolate cold foam.

We made a big batch of this baked rice. I subbed in vegan soyrizo, halved the rice/broth, and added celery, bell peppers, and urfa pepper. <– highly recommend

Leftovers from Win Son are as good as anything I make at home the first night.

12Mar2021

Chili Crisp Galore

by Emily

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!

8Feb2021

Leftover Madeover

by Emily

I did not watch any Super Bowl (instead I started watching Woke!) but I did eat a giant plate of cheese fries! Other highlights from this weekend included…

Salted Caramel Perfect Bar with an iced coffee.

Iced Phin coffee with maple vanilla salted cold foam.

Ice cream for a snow day. Yes, I ate the pretzel swirl out of the entire pint in less than 5 minutes.

Leftover Thai noodles and chicken stir-fried with eggs and extra veggies (Trader Joe’s frozen stir-fry mix) and topped with Nowon chili oil.

Leftover Thai green beans with soft-scrambled eggs, veggie floss, furikake, and chili oil. <– this was the best thing I’ve eaten all month

5Jun2020

Brinner Tacos

by Emily

This week’s best:

{Coffee} Trader Joe’s cold brew with cookies and cream milk.

{Lunch} Leftover buffalo chicken pizza with roasted zucchini.

{Snack} Coca-Cola Tic-Tacs. How did they get the flavor so spot-on??!

{Dinner} Egg tacos. These are amazing; I’ve been eating them all week and I’m still not sick of them! Pan-warmed tortillas // sauteed corn and kale with paprika and TJ’s umami powder // soft-scrambled eggs with gouda // homemade salsa (I made a big batch loosely based on this recipe).