Tag Archives: meat

Chopped Cheese, Peanut Butter Tofu

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Highlights from a yummy week…

Equator remains some of the best bottled cold brew I’ve tried.

Ube and pandan simple syrups. They were good-not-great in iced coffees but nice in Diet Cokes.

The best yogurt bowls = plain skyr with tons of blueberries and chopped marzipan.

Durian ice creams. These were both so flavorful and the Mavens was some of the creamiest ice cream I’ve ever tried.

I went to Duck Island Bread Company for bread and ended up with a great pistachio croissant.

We used the bread to make wonderful sandwiches. Sourdough pullman / ginger miso mayo / shredded, baked super-firm tofu tossed with peanut butter, gochujang, lime juice, brown sugar, and veggie broth / sliced baby cucumbers marinated in white sugar, Sichuan peppercorn, Milu everything spice, and rice vinegar. Plus roasted baby broccoli.

For Five‘s chopped cheese sandwich was surprisingly good. Even these leftovers were delicious.

Congee bowls. Brown rice slow-cooked with chicken stock / mustard greens and scallion sauteed with soy sauce, rice vinegar, garlic, and pepper / ground turkey sauteed with peanut butter, lime, brown sugar, Sriracha, dark soy sauce, fish sauce, and chicken broth / chili crisp.

Tuna noodle casserole. This came out so well! Brami radiatori protein pasta, canned tuna, and canned trout / mushrooms, leek, and red scallions sautéed with flour, corn starch, veggie broth, gochujang, fish sauce, and sesame oil / baked topped with a mix of crushed honey butter chips and seaweed chips. Plus roasted broccoli.

My Rex Manning day tradition is rewatching Empire Records with pizza and brownies and this was our best year yet! Brownies = Hummingbird High’s small batch brownies. These are even better than my go-to brownie recipe (I did add a bit of espresso powder and topped them with cinnamon maple pretzels).

Pizza = a variety of slices from Tori T’s. This is some of the best pizza I’ve eaten; the crust is perfect.

Milk Mochi And Coconut Flan

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Things from the weekend, mostly fancy snacks…

Buzzd’s latte of the month was their best yet – banana brulee.

Chip City‘s Peeps cookie, obviously – marshmallow flavored dough with sprinkles, marshmallow filling, vanilla buttercream, and a Peep! It was good but not as good as it sounds.

We didn’t like it, but I’m thrilled someone at McDonald’s thought to put blueberry in a Flurry.

My two top favorite treats from 99 Ranch.

Salty Lunch Lady‘s (always a joy!) Chicky-smashed chicken meatball, charred onion, feta, arugula, and smoked paprika mayo on a seeded bun.

Leftovers. Turkey and black bean meatballs and zucchini. I added a lot of green Choloula.

Shanghai You Garden. We shared chicken and broccoli and rice cakes with beef.

Rincon Crillo. Vaca Fritta, grilled chicken with onions, and maduros.

And coconut flan.

Marchmallow

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Some things from the weekend…

I made graham cracker pie crust for some baking next week so of course I put crumbles in a skyr bowl with jumbo blueberries.

Reese’s marshmallow peanut butter cup is a 1000/10, obviously.

Trader Joe’s ranch cottage cheese dip is great, especially scooped with their ranch flavored rolled tortilla chips and some bell pepper slices.

Diner dinner date at Laurel Diner. We adore it there and not just because they give you a pickle plate!

I had a Broadway – an egg cream with a coffee ice cream float.

And a mac and cheese burger with sweet potato fries. Plus some of Adam’s great pancakes. And they sent us home with muffins they were going to throw out that ended up being outstanding!

3.1426

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This week we were both getting over a cold and went to a mid-week work-night concert – Rainbow Kitten Surprise at Brooklyn Paramount, it was great! – so we did a lot of boring foods and take-out. Here were some of the fun highlights…

Good snacks. Passionfruit Peelerz.

Trader Joe’s black sesame mochi are perfectly done.

Lucky Ox’s mango toasted rice sparkler is objectively good and not too sweet but ultimately not for me.

Our version of the viral pickle dip is a scoopable dinner bowl situation. A mix of chopped baked chicken, dill pickles, spicy pickles, scallion, extra-sharp cheddar, mayo, plain skyr, sweet and spicy jalapeño pickle juice, and ranch seasoning. Scooped with bell pepper, baby carrots, and Nufs hot honey crackers.

I made a batch of gussied up red sauce – Trader Joe’s pizza sauce cooked down with evoo, tomato paste, gochugaru, dried basil, and tons of roasted garlic. Served once as a dip with sauteed ground turkey and crispy baked bow-tie pasta. Plus sauteed fennel, leek, red chard, and garlic (a 10/10 combo).

And once in meatball subs. With provolone cheese and baked turkey cheese meatballs (with panade, egg, hoisin sauce, garlic powder, onion powder, pepper, and sharp cheddar in the middle). Plus sauteed asparagus with lemon, basil, and pepper.

Pizza pie for Pi Day. I also had a slice of pie from Milk Bar on the train!

Brunch at Naks. Our favorite dish was the vinegar fries.

I had the kare kare omelette with braised beef cheeks, peanut stew, eggplant, bok choy, and garlic toast. Plus bites of Adam’s Filipino platter and we shared a (spicy!) mushroom noodle.

They were out of the salted egg yolk pancake and as a consolation prize they sent out their ube cheesecake which ended up being fantastic.

P.S. We have fun dinner reservations we are jazzed about tonight at the new Third Times the Charm in Red Hook.

Glowy Day

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The three best things from the weekend…

A nice IPA at Formosa Dumpling.

Brunch at Roberta’s. I had a solid Bloody Mary.

We loved the marinated cucumber with garlic, chili, chrysanthemum greens, and spicy seeds.

Buttermilk pancake with butter and syrup.

The burger (made from a house-blend of meat) didn’t make my top five but was good. Plus it came with crispy potatoes.

The best coffees of 2026 so far at Dayglow. A Warhol (orange and cream with espresso) and a coquito latte. We also had a fantastic cocktail.

Coffees And Doughnuts

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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!

Dinner By Diner

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Three things I loved this weekend —

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.

Hello, 2026!

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Some highlights from the new year…

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.