Despite the weather this weekend we enjoyed a walking day in Manhattan! Highlights…
We didn’t enjoy this marzipan cap iced latte from Smiley Coffee (they don’t have skim so I used macadamia milk and it felt greasy) but we LOVED the experience of getting it.
On the other hand this coquito iced latte from Cafe Colmado was delicious.
I get the hype around the newly opened Homie’s doughnuts, our maple glazed was solid.
They can’t compete with the crueler though. The monthly special is lemon poppy.
Deux Luxe does make a delicious burger. We got ours with pickle and a side of fries.
Mimi Cheng‘s current dumpling collaboration is with Katz’s Deli and it’s fantastic. Dumplings filled with hand-carved pastrami, Swiss cheese, house-cured sauerkraut, and Reuben dressing.
Our favorite meal of the weekend was this dinner at home. My personal best egg sandwich – Stone and Skillet roasted herb and garlic English muffin toasted with butter / tangy dijonayo / sharp cheddar omelet. Plus steamed green beans sauteed with Milu Everything Spice, chili crisp, honey, and rice vinegar.
I bought the sando sauce almost entirely because of how it looks but it turned out to be delicious!
Frozen banana protein coffees. Coffee blended with frozen banana, skim milk, vanilla protein powder, cinnamon, vanilla bean powder, and the last of the Trick Pony maple crunch peanut butter (we both ate it pretty much every day until it was gone!). I drank mine in almost empty marshmallow fluff container for a fluffernutter vibe.
Barebells Coco-Caramel Almond. The coconut was in the form of a cream layer and it was delicious!
A fantastic dinner at Laurel Diner. Adam generously shared chocolate egg cream and matzoh ball soup.
I got the Goldburger – double smash patties with smoked gouda, crispy onion strings, fire-roasted peppers, and hot honey truffle sauce on a dark pumpernickel bun. I loved it; doesn’t make my top five list but definitely top ten. With solid but not perfect waffle fries.
My New Years Eve plan was fancy cheese plates and an early bedtime. We ended up eating deranged snack boards but I was in bed by 9:30! Pimento cheese, baby carrots, deviled eggs, and extra-crunchy Southwest chicken taquitos.
The best part was the homemade deviled eggs because we topped them with this delicious everything spice from Milu.
We started our new year with the Buzz’d monthly special, obviously; salted brown butter iced latte with brown butter cold foam.
P.S. The alternative title for this post was “Drinks on Drinks” because in addition to drinking my weight in hot chocolate I also tried several canned beverages. Huxley tangerine energy drink – good not great; I would not buy again but I would try in other flavors.
Liquid Death sparking strawberry energy drink – good not great; I would not buy again but I would try in other flavors.
Protein Pop watermelon clear protein drink – good not great; I would not buy again but I would try in a sour flavor.
NYC has a thousand hot chocolate options right now but I only have my eye on four. We hit three this weekend (our final/upcoming stop is the one I’m most excited for). Good – Lost Borough. Topped with torched marshmallow fluff, whipped cream, and a cinnamon Graham cracker.
Better – Frenchette Bakery. French-style hot chocolate topped with a toasted green chartreuse marshmallow. This was solid hot chocolate but it wasn’t a drinking chocolate.
Best – Rigor Hill Market. Rich and thick chocolate topped the best burnt marshmallow I’ve ever eaten.
I’ll never get tired of my usual plain skyr and blueberries bowl but I did particularly enjoy this one I smashed a hunk of cheesecake into.
The best thing we’ve eaten in 2026 came from Apollo Bagels – lightly toasted sesame bagel with cream cheese and jelly.
Brunch at Holy Water. This was a weird meal – we probably wouldn’t go back but we adored several items. We despised both of our drinks but the vodka lime Jell-o shot was the best I’ve ever had. We also had solid hushpuppies with honey butter and Tabasco.
Adam’s lobster roll was ho-hum but my (very solid) pancakes came topped with praline and bourbon maple syrup and with a side of their Nola fried chicken — some of the best fried chicken we’ve ever eaten.
We ordered take-out from Primehouse – (too much) sushi and these sort of insane Waygu meatballs. I didn’t take a photo until I realized how fantastic the leftovers were, they started out with three huge balls and a bunch of melty burrata.
A much-needed veggie(tarian) meal from Little Beet – charred broccoli, hot honey roasted carrots, green beans, and miso tofu with Chimichurri and cranberry harissa sauce.
Trader Joe’s frozen veggie pancake topped Sriracha and pimento cheese.
My favorite meal of the week was homemade! Collard greens sauteed with mined garlic, salt, pepper, gochugaru, rice vinegar, maple syrup, and smoked poblano bbq sauce. Agi’s Counter-inspired potato salad – with hard boiled egg, smoked canned trout, chopped pickles, celery, green onion, celery seed, salt, white pepper, smoked paprika, horseradish, rice vinegar, Dijon mustard, Duke’s mayo, and plain skry.
Holiday Jenni’s flavors are some of the best ice cream I’ve ever tasted. Boozy eggnog and white chocolate peppermint are both divine!
Ground Up salted eggnog cashew butter is delicious in yogurt or just on a spoon.
Adam’s birthday request was zucchini bread. We adored this recipe (with Ghirardelli’s unbelievably good milk chocolate chips).
Somedays Bakery new Manhattan location is knocking it out of the park. Black sesame tahini croissant and a triple chocolate pastry.
Brunch at Dante’s West Village. I had the steak and scrambled egg burrito and a boozy affogato.
Monday’s dinner was some of our (many) leftovers from wonderful dinners with my parents. We had a fantastic time while they were here! Broccoli rabe, woodfired honeynut squash, and stracciatella cheese from Rolo’s / woodfired pita bread and roast chicken from Sunday in Brooklyn / Pizza, chicken parm, broccoli rabe, and salmon from Il Gufo / also unphotographed tater tots from Sonder.
Umami baked turkey meatballs with roasted cauliflower. Ground turkey, salt, tons of pepper, urfa chili, panko bread crumbs, and mushrooms (sauteed with green onions and butter then food-processed).
Cold egg tofu and roasted broccoli with a spicy sauce (soy sauce, sesame oil, chili onion crunch, sugar, garlic, and rice vinegar).
It was a wonderful long holiday weekend! We spent time with family, took a very cold long walk in Manhattan, and had a million weird drinks and delicious desserts…
Birdee‘s brigadeiro cake and excellent guava cheese tart.
Milk Bar‘s marshmallow brownie is their second all-time best item (after the anniversary cake).
Fantastic brunch at Win Son. Their Bloody Mary had so much umami. I also really enjoyed their green tea shot.
We came for the boba pancakes and were not disappointed.
Three pepper lamb with cabbage, rice, and egg.
Soft-scrambled eggs.
The pea shoots were my favorite dish of the weekend; with bean paste, sesame, and fried garlic.
Mommy Pai was a hit for us. This concord grape salty coconut frozen drink blew our minds.
We did fried fingers with Muy Thai sauce. I, of course, got extra dipping sauces. Sweet soy mustard was my favorite. The fries were great! And I loved the taro tapioca doughnuts with pandan custard.
Leftover stuffing fried rice with cranberry sauce and pimento cheese.
I have so much to be thankful for, the least of which is a very exciting cache of Thanksgiving-themed foods! All were great but the stand-out was the sweet potato peeling candy; it was delightfully strange!
See also – cranberry hot sauce my parents sent me from home. I added this to every plate this week.
And hot honey flavored Uglies sweet potato chips. These were surprisingly great, definitely the best sweet potato chips I’ve ever tried.
One of the best yogurt bowls of the year – plain skyr with cranberry sauce and Tom’s Perfect 10 creme brulee granola. Plus a very exciting bowl of berries – Super Jumbo and Sweetest Batch blueberries and Lolliberry strawberries.
Chicken salad with miso honey sweet potatoes. Shredded baked chicken tossed with celery, green onions, diced cucumber, Sichuan pepper salt, white sugar, minced garlic, onion chili crunch, peanuts, and sesame seeds. The potatoes were roasted then sauteed with honey, white miso, gochugang, and rice vinegar.
Stuffing-style fried rice. Brown rice seasoned with rice vinegar, soy sauce, and sesame oil / roasted riced cauliflower / sauteed mushrooms with butter and smoked paprika / sauteed yellow onion and celery with salt, pepper, and celery seed / sage / Trader Joe’s sweet and spicy pecans / dried cranberries / maple pecan smoked turkey / stir-fried with egg.
Roast‘s Thanksgiving crunchwrap is one of their best specials – with roasted turkey, white cheddar, cranberry jam, mashed potatoes, stuffing, green beans, and crispy onions. Plus a French onion grilled cheese for good measure – sourdough with short rib, gruyere, caramelized onions, mustard aioli, and garlic butter. And fries and wonderful homemade green beans – steamed then sauteed with toasted pecans, rice vinegar, brown sugar, horseradish, onion chili crunch, and cranberry sauce.
Thanksgiving nachos are our favorite holiday tradition! This year we did Trader Joe’s stuffing seasoned kettle chips / extra-sharp white cheddar / smoked turkey / green onion / sweet and spicy pecans / topped with cranberry sauce (and cranberry hot sauce!) / and fried sage. Plus sauteed brussels sprouts with a spicy fish sauce caramel (brown sugar, Sriracha, soy sauce, fish sauce, water, and cornstarch).
This week was very long. Also the 2nd to last week in the 2nd to last month of 2025??! Some things…
Yogurt bowls. Plain skyr with cinnamon granola and blueberries. We buy Sweetest Batch and Super Jumbos every week now and I am hooked.
French onion dip. Speaking of things we buy every week, we have both been having a dip obsession lately!
Juicy chewy candies. The Nerds are a 100/10, even better than the original gummy clusters.
Also in chewy things – these grape, green tea, and cheese ice cream bars.
Cheesecake Factory’s pecan pie pumpkin cheesecake is obviously going to be my Pie Month peak.
Take out dinner from Shanghai You Garden in 99 Ranch. Red bean sesame ball (and a pork floss mochi for Adam) / rice cakes with shredded chicken / fantastic scallion pancake / edamame with pickled cabbage and tofu // beef and rice from the Vietnamese spot next door
Fast-food style chicken sandwich. Brioche buns / house sauce – mayo, skyr, honey, yellow mustard, Dijon mustard, dill pickle mustard, roasted poblano bbq sauce, and lemon juice / baked chicken marinated in skyr, hot sauce, and dill pickle mustard / tons of pickles. Plus roasted yellow cauliflower and broccoli.
Double egg sandwich. More brioche and house sauce with a fried egg and a cheesy soft-scrambled egg.
Tuna salad with an Eastern European vibe. Canned tuna and smoked trout / mayo, skyr, Dijon, and tons of horseradish / green onion / pickled beets / hard-boiled eggs. Plus sauteed asparagus and Trader Joe’s cornbread crackers.
Eating Chalk 