Tag Archives: meat

Kingston

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The highlight of our weekend was a trip upstate to Kingston! We thrifted, admired the wildflowers, and ate some truly fantastic food…

Rough Draft. Adam got a delicious tea latte and my coffee was just perfect – iced espresso with housemade concord grape syrup and vanilla cold foam.

We found a new-to-us flavor of Something or Nothing.

Pinkerton’s. This was the best breakfast sandwich we’ve ever eaten. Scrambled eggs, sharp white Cabot cheddar, and herb and garlic mayo dressing on their exceptional housemade English muffin.

Plus a slice of passionfruit meringue pie.

Kingston Bread + Bar. Vanilla cake with blackberry buttercream, peach compote, and strusel.

Kingston Standard Brewing. They make good beers and very good wood-oven sourdough pizza. We got a Compost – crushed tomato, pesto, mozarella, parmesan, red onion, and arugula.

Sonder. This is my 2nd favorite restaurant in all of New York! Housemade za’atar bread with tomato butter and browned honey butter. Plus sweet potato bisque.

Golden beets with jalopeno cream cheese and pretzel bites.

Dry aged strip steak with sweet potatoes.

Sonder burger with cornichons, special sauce, and American cheese. Plus fries. This is my 2nd favorite burger in all of New York.

We finished the meal/day with the best dessert I’ve eaten this decade – flourless chocolate cake with toasted marshmallow.

Beaches

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This weekend included a run on the Long Beach Boardwalk (one of my favorite weekend activities!), a long Manhattan walk, and some exploring in Brooklyn. It was a very tasty few days, here were the highlights…

Homemade iced coffees with banana cheesecake cold foam (in the blender – frozen banana, cream cheese, butter extract, vanilla bean powder, brown sugar, skim milk).

A wonderful smoothie – frozen banana and peaches, soursop juice, vanilla protein powder, and malted milk powder.

Delicious pandan coconut sparkler from Lucky Ox.

Other Half. We split a flight of mostly double IPAs but also their Mister Softee collab strawberry yuzu sour.

Saint Street Cakes. The hype about the chocolate chip cookie is real. We also really loved the miso peanut butter cookie and blackberry cornbread cake slice.

This mochi doughnut from Win Son‘s Manhattan location was probably the best thing we’ve eaten so far in 2025.

Post-run breakfast on the boardwalk! We split a turkey, egg, and cheese taco and a fresh juice with green apple, spinach, ginger, and lime. We probably wouldn’t get food from this spot again but I would definitely get another green juice.

An easy but exciting, mostly home-cooked dinner. Leftover brown rice reheated in the microwave with rice vinegar, furikake, and white sugar / mayak eggs (I also put some mini mozzarella balls down in the marinade! / broccoli roasted with evoo, five spice, and gochugaru / fried chicken tender from Dave’s Hot Chicken. P.S. I ate all of an order of fries on the drive home; they are fantastic.

Dinner at Kabawa. We had a great meal here – some of the best goat I’ve ever eaten. It wasn’t lit for photographs but I happened to get a shot of my two favorite dishes. The bread course with house-made roti and cassava dumplings and an assortment of sauces.

Birthday cake flan. This was the best flan I’ve ever eaten.

Dinner at The Long Island Bar. We loved it here!

Cheese curds.

Roasted beets with hazelnut dukkah, brandied cherries, ricotta salata, and creamy herbed vinaigrette and shocking good deviled crab toast with, roasted corn and herbs and black garlic mayonnaise on toasted sourdough.

A single patty L.I. burger – dry-aged beef patty, pickles, cheese, and fancy sauce. Plus a yummy side salad.

P.S. It’s Apple Month today!!

Drinks!

Sea Cliff

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It wasn’t an exciting weekend; Adam worked and I spent a bunch of time working on a project for work. We did go out for a Sea Cliff date Friday night after work though! Some highlights…

My coffee needed more coffee, but the flavor of the milk in Dunkin’s new cereal milk iced latte is a 10/10!

This root beer float latte was ok, but less successful. Dr. Brown’s root beer (good, but possibly not sweet enough for this), espresso, and sweetened condensed milk.

Yogurt bowl du jour, skyr with blueberries and Rainer cherries, with Trader Joe’s chocolate coffee granola.

Sea Cliff Shave Ice! We shared cola and coffee with ice cream, mochi, and condensed milk.

Dinner at Sarin (our favorite Thai spot in Long Island). Tod Mun Pla fish cakes that came with an amazing plum sauce.

Pad Kee Mao with beef.

Leftover fish cake / sauteed green beans that were oddly terrible (I didn’t eat them!) / Trader Joe’s frozen scallion pancakes (one of my faves, super duper filling) with Kewpie and Sriracha.

Rockaway Beach Day

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Things from a great weekend…

Space Cowboy is a new coffee spot in Long Beach this year and I’m a fan. They have some inventive drinks — like this root beer cold foam cold brew. Every weekend we can we go for a run on the Long Beach Boardwalk followed by an iced coffee and it’s a great date.

Salted peanut butter David Bar = 10/10. The texture (chewy with crunchies) and flavor of these is just right for me.

We had a perfect (delicious!) afternoon at Rockaway Beach. Rockaway Beach Bakery – yuzu and mixed berry bun with cream cheese frosting.

More yuzu in a margarita at Rippers.

They also served us the best cheeseburger we’ve had in NYC this year! Makes my top three list, easily. Plus crispy yet creamy, well-seasoned fries.

And you can’t go to Rockaway without getting a perfect frozen pina colada at Connolly’s.

Olmsted is sadly closing and their final dinner service is tonight. We had a nice meal there Saturday sharing a bunch of dishes. Fava bean falafel with Calabrian honey, pea shoots, and pickled shallots.

King salmon crudo with rhubarb agrodolce and cilantro. <– our favorite bite of the night

Kale and crab rangoon.

Cauliflower okonomiyaki with hazelnuts, kosho mayo, and tonkatsu sauce.

Heirloom tomato schnitzel with whipped ricotta, yuzu piperade, and basil sunflower butter.

Pasilla rubbed scallops with roasted corn and a blueberry gastrique.

Finally – chocolate mousse.

Take-out dinner. Guac Shop is a fast-casual Mexican spot near us and while they don’t have roasted zucchini they do have fantastic tofu (and some great veggie topping options). This bowl was brown rice, hot sauce, tofu, cabbage, sweet potato, corn, and cheese.

P.S. We were so taken with Varli‘s Indian food that we are heading back there for dinner tonight!

Taco Tour

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This lovely weekend’s food themes were pastries and tacos. Some highlights…

Culture Espresso. Coffee granita with oat milk and agave topped with espresso whipped cream. Best frozen coffee we’ve had this summer.

Foreigner. Baklava iced latte.

Papa D’Amour. Chocolate brioche with marshmallow and a mochi doughnut with taro and guava strawberry jam.

Fan Fan Doughnuts. Passionfruit and guava cheese.

Dinner at Gertrude’s. I had a crisp diet coke but Adam had the best martini I’ve ever tasted. Latkes with celery creme fraiche and trout roe.

Whitefish toast – smoked whitefish salad (the best I’ve ever tasted; it was so vinegary!), pickled shallot, watercress, and herbs on rye.

I ordered the eponymous burger. It doesn’t make my top five but was objectively solid (comes with Swiss cheese, caramelized onion, lettuce, and special sauce, on a toasted milk bun). And it came with a mountain of perfectly crispy fries and dipping mustard.

Our favorite dish was dessert – seven layer cake.

We did a Manhattan walking taco tour – four stops and we shared a bunch of different things. All were great! Our first stop was actually a burrito joint – Son del North. Breakfast burrito with scrambled eggs, rajas, and pico de gallo. This was my favorite tortilla of the day.

Santo Taco. Chicken thigh with pineapple marinade, avocado salsa, and pickled red onions / shiitake and cremini mushrooms with squash blossom.

Tacos 1986. The combo came with red rice and pinto beans. Carne asada / mushroom. The mushrooms were my favorite filling of the day.

Taqueria by El Prieto. Chicken taco / nopal mulitas.

We also got carne asada fries with my favorite meat of the day.

Mama Chan’s

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This weekend flew by! Some highlights…

Cold Stone’s new root beer ice cream was a a letdown but we topped it with sweetened condensed milk and sprinkles from home and that was delicious.

An 11/10 dinner at Mama Chan’s, a homestyle Chinese and Taiwanese spot in Long Island. Their drinks were tasty and packed a punch. Haiku – bourbon, muddled mint and lemon, cassis, and ginger liqueur.

Green tea margarita with tequila, triple sec, lime, and agave.

Pan-fried rice cakes with scallion oil.

Scallion pancake beef wrap with scallions/hoisin sauce. This was perfection, super rich without being greasy.

Sauteed string beans.

Sauteed Chinese broccoli.

Fried black sesame mochi to end the night.

An epic plate of leftovers – rice cakes and green beans with peanut noodles from last week (topped with chili crisp and Sriracha!).

P.S. We got the Buzz’d Coffee tiramisu iced latte monthly special sans camera and it was delightful.

A Few Of My Favorite Favorite Things

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We spent the weekend doing all of my favorite things in celebration of my birthday! That included long Brooklyn walks, a trip to Caffe Panna, a trip to Evil Twin, and a run on the boardwalk!

Here were the highlights of the highlights…

Paloma the Bakery‘s black sesame croissant.

Ciao Gloria‘s tahini and jam bar.

Little Cupcake Bakeshop‘s carrot cake.

Elsa‘s guava daiquiri.

Elder Greene‘s Cherry Bomb – tequila, muddled luxardo cherries, amaretto, agave, and lime juice. Sadly we do not love their burger anymore.

Chuko Ramen‘s kale salad. With raisins, miso, and fried kale! And their ramen is this the best in the city.

Rolo’s cheeseburger. The best in the city! But honestly the wood-fired polenta bread and stracciatella cheese gave it a run for its money. This whole meal was fantastic; my favorite of the year!

May Versus Mah

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Highlights from the weekend…

Homemade matcha lemonade. Iced matcha in ginger yuzu seltzer with some homemade Meyer lemon curd.

Mentos makes (new?) liquid-center sugar-free fruity gum and it is delicious.

I 100% dipped this cheesy crab dip pretzel into smoked salmon dip.

Trader Joe’s frozen okonomiyaki was surprisingly good. It was so creamy. It comes with bonito flakes and sauce and I added Kewpie and Sriracha.

Leftover noodles with Sriracha and chili oil. This was delicious but I did have to swig some milk.

Mac and three cheese muffins made with gouda instead of cheddar / buffalo chicken meatballs – ground chicken with panade, Frank’s buffalo sauce, ranch seasoning, white pepper, eggs, and shredded gouda / and roasted broccoli.

Roast sent me a coupon for my birthday month and I made good use of it. Fries with house sauce, a roast beef sandwich (with mozzarella, horseradish sauce, garlic butter, crispy onions, and an everything ciabatta), and a crispy chicken a la vodka sandwich (with sauce, mozzarella, parmesan, basil and a garlic semolina hero), and carrots from home.

The sandwich we made ourselves the next night was even better! Fancy BLT – whole-wheat toast / sauce (Duke’s mayo with smoked paprika, gochugaru, garlic powder, and honey) / sweet and spicy turkey bacon (baked with maple syrup, brown sugar, smoked paprika, and Sriracha) / heirloom tomatoes / we hate lettuce on sandwiches. Plus delicious snap peas sauteed with smoked almonds, gouda, gochugaru, and salt and pepper.