Tag Archives: meat

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.

Bulgogi, Burger, Babka

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We had a wonderful NY weekend, complete with trips to Red Hook, Brooklyn and Astoria, Queens!

Some highlights…

Blueberry muffin frozen coffee. Coffee blended with frozen blueberries, frozen banana, vanilla protein powder, malted milk powder, and butter extract.

Humble Cafe iced matcha latte with guava syrup. This was fantastic. Plus a matcha mochi cookie.

Homemade chocolate banana iced matcha. Water and milk blended with frozen banana, chocolate protein powder, Dutch-processed cocoa powder, and brown sugar, topped with a shot of matcha.

Chocolate sandwich cookie from Baked.

I have been coveting From Kora since 2020 and they finally have a storefront so we tried a little of everything. Ube Babka Swirl with and ube butter filling / a special – laminated pastry with short rib, mushrooms, and bearnaise / Chocolate Chunk Cookie / Leche Flan Ni Lola, a brioche doughnut topped with caramel and some of the best flan I’ve ever had / Coffee Cruller / Calamansi Rosemary Cornbread Sable. Our standout favorite was the babka followed by the sable. It all traveled/kept well.

Between the Bagel Seoul Meets Bagel – a toasted everything with American cheese, spicy mayo, bulgogi, and kimchi. This was amazing; it was Adam’s favorite thing of the weekend a close second to the babka for me. The owner also handed out delicious bulgogi arancini and Nutella banana pudding. P.S. my photo does not do justice to how huge this was!

Red Hook Tavern. We, of course, got the burger but were actually a bit disappointed; our patty was overdone and we didn’t love the volume of raw onion.

On the other hand, their cavatelli with oxtail ragu and garlic breadcrumbs is one of our favorite pastas in the city.

Coconut Iced Coffee

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Completely unintentionally, the bulk of what I have to share from this weekend is coconut iced coffees. I’m not mad about it. The highlights…

New York Beanery‘s seasonal special – Moonbeam Iced Latte – coconut-infused espresso with coconut sweet cream and marshmallows.

See also – Cholita‘s Cocada – espresso with oat milk, sweetened condensed milk, and coconut.

Finally, we had brunch at Hellbender and I had a coconut shakerato. And a spicy Bloody Maria!

Hellbender is one of our favorite restaurants in the city and this was our first time trying their new brunch menu so we shared a bunch of things. Crispy lamb taco with avocado salsa, onion, and cilantro. 10/10.

Soft scrambled egg tostada with black beans, cheddar cheese, salsa macha, and sesame. This was my favorite dish of the meal. Plus chorizo-spiced crispy potatoes.

We didn’t love our heirloom masa pancakes because they tasted a bit burnt but if the edges weren’t overdone I could see this being fantastic.

Jell-o flavor of the day for dessert – coconut lime. Definitely the best jell-o I’ve ever eaten.

I find Chip City hit or miss but I was a fan of the oatmeal cream thinwich.

Chicken and waffle fries! Waffle fries with sharp cheddar, maple syrup, crispy chicken, and a crispy Whole Food’s Belgium waffle.

Plus a jumbo salad for balance – romaine with Trader Joe’s cilantro dressing, baby tomatoes, cucumber salad (thinly sliced cucumbers with sugar, salt, and togarashi), raisins, and smoked almonds.

Cheese And Bread

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We did Caribbean-ish dinners this week so of course I pulled out some fun on-theme drinks. Sparking pina colada energy drink (I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this favor), passion fruit soda (made into a fun coffee with espresso and sweetened condensed milk), coconut soda (not as tasty as it was aesthetic), and soursop juice (blended into a great smoothie with frozen banana, peaches, and cherries, and vanilla protein powder)

And you can assume every meal this week got topped with my favorite hot sauce from back home – Blind Betty’s.

Chopped chicken salad with homemade dumb bread. I shaped my bread too thin to slice so we ate these deconstructed which was actually perfect. Baked chicken chopped with extra-sharp cheddar, mayo, and garlic sauteed collard greens.

A loose take on callaloo. Spinach, yellow onion, habanero pepper, crab meat, beef bacon, coconut milk, and spices. Served with dumb bread with butter and cheese.

Baked salmon cakes (Trader Joe’s canned pink salmon, sockeye salmon, and lightly smoked salmon with panko, yellow bell pepper, mayo, Dijon, eggs, salt, white pepper, and curry powder) with rice and beans (brown rice with coconut milk, yellow onion, habanero pepper, and dark kidney beans), and roasted zucchini.

Brinner Winner

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We did breakfasts for dinners this week. Here was everything I ate on theme…

Coffee, obviously. Sweetie Pies on Main makes some of our favorite lattes in Long Island. These specials were crazy – tres leches and tiramisu!

Cereal [milk latte]. Espresso plus skim milk I infused overnight with Cocoa Pebbles.

Orange juice. I wanted to be on-theme but I hate juice so we made cocktails. OJ with vodka and amaretto plus a scoop of vanilla ice cream and some Target rainbow sherbet seltzer.

Smoothie. Blueberry pancake smoothie. Frozen blueberries blended with cottage cheese, butter extract, maple syrup, vanilla protein powder, malted milk powder, and water.

Blueberry muffins. I think these protein mini muffins are disgusting in a delightful way.

Yogurt bowl, obviously. This was plain Greek with blueberries, blackberries, and cookie dough granola.

Egg and cheese biscuit. Hometown Bakeshop‘s build-your-own breakfast sandwich. We got a cheddar biscuit with two over-medium eggs, cheddar-jack cheese, caramelized onions, and smoked aioli.

Avocado toast. Whole-wheat bread toasted with butter topped with smashed avocado (with lemon, salt, and gochugaru) and cold-smoked sockeye salmon. Plus sauteed purple asparagus.

Cottage cheese bowls. Topped with cucumber salad (sesame seeds, gochugaru, rice vinegar, and sugar) and baked chicken meatballs (panade, hoisin, gochujang, oyster sauce, and white pepper). I ate several meatballs before they could make it to my bowl!

Oatmeal. Trader Joe’s rolled oats with ancient grains and seeds – 10/10, it is perfect out of the microwave – topped with a fried egg, chopped baby broccoli sauteed with lemon and garlic, spicy caramelized peanuts (sugar, salt, white pepper, evoo, gochugaru, and togarashi), and chili crisp.

Bacon, egg, and cheese bagel salad. This was my best idea of the week. Arugula dressed with garlic Dijon dressing and horseradish Sriracha aioli / sharp cheddar / beef bacon / homemade bagel croutons (Bagel Joint sesame gochujang bagel tossed with evoo, salt, white pepper, and gochugaru and baked) / six-minute eggs.