Tag Archives: meat

Hometown Advantage

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The title is a quadruple threat pun – I had things from my current hometown in Long Island, things that remind me of my original hometown in the Caribbean, things made at home, and things from a place called Hometown! Some highlights from the weekend…

Breakfast at Hometown Bakeshop. Tres leches iced latte!

Plus I got an insane build-your-own breakfast sandwich – cheddar biscuit, over easy egg, turkey bacon, caramelized onion, pickled beet, white cheddar, and smoked aioli.

And I brought home scones too! Cinnamon roll-style and pistachio.

Cheesecake smoothie. Frozen strawberries and pineapple with water and cottage cheese.

Tony’s Lil’ Bits s’mores chocolates are great, a good combination of crunchy and chewy.

Takeout dinner from Coco’s Cuisine, a Jamaican place near us that we will be going back to ASAP. We shared stewed oxtail with sauteed cabbage and candied yam.

Fantastic jerk chicken with cabbage and perfect rice and beans.

Baked macaroni and cheese.

And Jamaican black cake (good, but we prefer the other style of Caribbean rum cakes).

Saturday night Adam and I went all out making dinner. Mashed potatoes with mushroom gravy, roasted broccoli, and baked chicken with bbq sauce (a homemade Mediterranean bbq sauce with pomegranate and sumac!).

P.S. I wrote this post Sunday evening and we are about to head to a fancy Long Island dinner at the new(ish) Oak and Vine.

Coffee And Doughnuts

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Adam and I spent at least six hours holding hands the past few days so obviously it was a great weekend! Also we walked around the city a ton and had a thousand treats! Highlights…

Enly‘s tiramisu iced latte is 100% worth the hype (WTH) and worth the line. Hands-down the best thing we had all weekend.

Pandan iced latte from Humble Cafe, a new spot in Long Island we are now smitten with.

Maple Shay iced latte. There is a Brooklyn Roasting Company inside Strand Books and it is super cute.

Burly Coffee served us the best frozen coffee of the past five years (it comes with oat milk and cane sugar).

Text Book‘s frozen tahini iced coffee was less successful but still good.

Soursop and seamoss find from Whole Foods.

Lime Cardamom is my favorite Aura Bora seltzer flavor.

Glazed marble cake doughnut from Donut Pub. We had never been to this NYC institution before but now we want to come back quickly.

We also tried Cloudy Donut for the first time, at their new Manhattan location. Strawberry passionfruit and brown butter pecan.

From Lucie‘s vanilla cake with buttercream and strawberry-rose jam was dreamy (WTH).

Brunch at Au Cheval. I had a lackluster Bloody Mary that was topped with the best bread and butter pickles I’ve ever tasted.

We shared a griddled blueberry muffin with strawberries, butter, and chocolate sauce.

Plus the double cheeseburger with sharp American cheddar, pickles, onions, and dijonnaise.

Lunch at Fat Fowl in Dekalb Market Hall. We shared an oxtail grilled cheese with the best fried plantains I’ve ever eaten (WTH).

Burgers And Blossoms

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What a fun weekend – we ate and saw so many good things! And took several long walks (including a bridge walk!). NYC is stunningly beautiful right now!

Some highlights…

Orwashers. So exciting that they have a location out in Long Island near us now! We shared a morning bun and an Edith’s tahini frozen coffee.

Plus a bagel with lox and dill cream cheese.

Tozzo for “coffee with a bottom,” aka an iced latte with a layer of pistachio cream.

Janie Bakes makes the best cookies in the city in my opinion, hands down. This blueberry lemon pie crust cookie was perfection. We also tried an (unphotographed) croissant cookie; I’ve been avoiding them but their special was s’mores and I couldn’t resist. I assumed correctly that I would rather have a cookie and a croissant separately but it was pretty damn good.

Bar Francis. We loved it here; the space, service, and cocktail menu were all wonderful. We shared some great drinks. A Balaklava (pistachio-infused tequila, Licor 43, walnut liqueur, rose water, and honeycomb) and the Sappy Child (vodka, Douglas Fir liqueur, Saler’s, Suze, honey, and citrus, carbonated)

Plus the best drink of the weekend, the No Fly List (moonshine, pineapple, lime, Suze, peanut butter, cinnamon, and nutmeg).

And a smoked salmon dip.

Arden. I got a drink with bourbon, cherry bounce, vanilla, and coke and a Painkiller.

We shared the yellowtail crudo with tangerines, yuzu, mint, and serrano.

The bok choy with nuoc cham caramel.

And the brussels sprouts with XO sauce.

And I got a cheeseburger – brioche bun, American cheese sauce, morales, kimchi, and slaw with salt and vinegar fries. The fries and the crudo were the standouts.

Haven. Extra-spicy Bloody Mary.

We shared the Reuben flat-bread with pastrami, sauerkraut, gruyere, thousand island dressing, and carraway seeds.

The cheeseburger – Pat LaFrieda double patty, cheddar, lettuce, tomato, pickle, onion, and thousand island dressing on an Orwashers bun. Nice fries.

And miso soup with matzoh balls. These were the best matzoh balls I’ve ever eaten; they were super buttery and a bit peppery.

Neither burger makes my top ten list but overall it was a 10/10 weekend!

What’s With Today, Today

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So many things to celebrate this week, the eclipse and Rex Manning Day were both on Monday. We are on vacation starting tomorrow and I am READY – it took a lot of little treats (TM) to get through this week.

Some highlights…

This week’s yogurt combo – plain skyr, giant blackberries, and cookie dough granola.

I brought this birthday cake drink syrup back from my trip to Kingston. Not bad but too fruit-forward for my tastes. I tried it in iced coffee, iced matcha, lemon seltzer, and diet coke.

Chocolate-covered frozen cheesecake bites (9/10).

Dark chocolate peanut butter bites (10/10). <– I can’t remember where I found these but I would rebuy if I found more.

Our King’s does a fantastic chocolate cake with ganache, marshmallow, and cookie dough (11/10).

A Moon Pie to celebrate the eclipse. All I could find last-minute was a protein bar Power Pie which was actually delicious.

And I, of course, celebrated Rex Manning Day with pizza, brownies, and an Empire Records rewatch.

Roast’s special of the week – brisket, mac and cheese, crispy onions, and bbq sauce on a roll.

Homemade veggie and meatball bowls. Roasted cabbage, baby cauliflower, Japanese sweet potato, and red bell pepper / turkey meatballs with panko, fish sauce, half and half, ginger, urfa chili, gochugaru, and egg / peanut sauce with chunky peanut butter, soy sauce, rice vinegar, Sriracha, sesame oil, sugar, and warm water / green onions and sesame seeds.

Green With Satisfaction

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Some weekend highlights…

St. Patrick’s Day iced latte. A Shamrock vanilla protein shake that I dyed green plus Starbucks espresso and pistachio sauce. I also topped it with gold sprinkles! This tasted fantastic.

Hometown Bakeshop‘s insane tres leches cake iced latte.

I also brought home a s’mores bar and a blondie that were some of the gooiest and most decadent desserts we’ve ever tasted.

Will I ever get tired of yogurt bowls? Unlikely! Plain Greek with blueberries, blackberries, Heritage Flakes, and chocolate chips.

We both were fans of these lemon frosted Trader Joe’s animal crackers. Crispy without being too crunchy and the lemon was well-balanced.

Loaded salad from Burrito Blvd. With chicken, zucchini, tomato, corn salsa, and cheese. I added ranch dressing and hot sauce at home. Plus chips and guacamole.

We got take-out from Brooklyn Dip & Burger and their steak sandwich blew my mind. Thin sliced black angus ribeye, cheddar, and five spice dusted fried onions on a buttery brioche hero. Plus a mountain of fries that were crispy and well-seasoned. We got a bunch of their appetizers and loved those too!

Brie-bimpap bowls, inspired by Cafe Maddy. I bought light Brie at Trader Joe’s and it tasted like nothing and thus added nothing to the bowl but my bibimpap base was a 10/10. Brown rice / terrible brie / this sauce / crispy tofu – extra-firm tofu that I shredded and marinated (gochugaru, sugar, soy sauce, rice vinegar) overnight before baking at 400 degrees for 40 minutes / sauteed brown beech mushrooms / roasted zucchini / frozen chopped spinach sauteed with chili oil, sesame oil, and sesame seeds / fried egg.

Sushi roll bowl. Leftover brown rice reheated with gochugaru, Sichuan pepper salt, seaweed, and butter / Sriracha salmon salad made with Kewpie, Sriracha, and hot smoked salmon / spicy cucumber salad / pickled ginger.

Pie Versus Cake

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Things from this week — It was 70 degrees yesterday and the dog and I took an afternoon walk sans coats! Adam and I started watching Farzar on Netflix – it is basically just Paradise PD in space but both shows are so funny I can’t even fault them. Thursday was Pi(e) Day and Sunday is St. Patrick’s Day – so many theme food opportunities.

Food things —

Cherry pie smoothie – frozen dark cherries, salted caramel granola, water, vanilla protein powder, vanilla extract, brown sugar, and cinnamon.

Yogurt bowl win – plain Greek, yuzu marmalade, blueberries and blackberries, and granola.

Iced matcha with yuzu marmalade and yuzu mandarin seltzer. <– I am hooked on this combination

Adam got a Zero Gravity Irish cream porter for St. Patrick’s Day so I tried their Power Jones IPA – 9/10.

I was so excited to find these puddings at 99 Ranch but we ended up throwing them out; they tasted like slightly milky gelatin.

Haribo lemon ginger chews. Better than gummy bears but not as good as the grapefruit slices.

Cake! We brought this home from Butterfield over the weekend. This sprinkled/cookies and cream frosting filled slice is one of my favorite desserts in NYC.

I searched for this limited edition Tillamook ice cream since last summer and it fully lived up to my expectations.

This Sriracha shrimp bowl from Trader Joe’s has consistently been my favorite frozen meal option for years now. I always top it with Kewpie and more Sriracha and it is so satisfying.

Roast’s St. Patrick’s Day sandwich special – corned beef reuben with swiss, sauerkraut, onion rings, and thousand island dressing on marble rye. Plus fries and rainbow cauliflower (Trader Joe’s frozen bag that I sauteed with evoo, salt, pepper, and celery seed – delicious).

Our best meal of the week took less than 20 minutes to make. Buckwheat soba / sauteed celery / Korean steamed eggs (made with water, miso, and fish sauce) / sesame oil, sesame seeds, and chili crisp.

A take on okonomiyaki – roasted cabbage and green onion, shredded egg tofu, white pepper, gochugaru, minced ginger, flour, baking soda, lime seltzer, and eggs. Topped with Kewpie and Sriracha.

Frame Worthy

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Some highlights from a tasty weekend…

Coffee at Frame. The Upper West Side location is currently our favorite Manhattan coffee. We got the special latte with cinnamon and caramel.

We had to make a couple of stops to find worthwhile bagels near us in Long Island but this everything egg with salmon cream cheese did the trick.

We did a very fun 1990’s theme night and watched “Hey Dude” and “Are You Afraid of the Dark?” while eating throwback snacks. The Combos were lackluster but we had forgotten just how wonderful Bugles and Gushers are.

I tried tanghulu for the first time and loved it. Fresh fruit with a delicate layer of crispy sugar.

Treats at Lady Wong. The baked ube rice cake was the very best thing we ate all weekend.

Lunch at Bahn. This was the best meal of the weekend. Egg cream cold brew!!

We shared vermicelli bowls with butter beef.

And beer-battered chicken.

Dinner at Maldon and Mignonette. The lighting was bad but the food was surprisingly good. I had a nice cocktail with tequila and passionfruit and a crunchy salt rim.

Seasoned roasted carrots.

We share two (amazing) pastas. Ravioli with duck confit, sweet potato, sage, and pecorino and pappardelle with short rib and vodka sauce.

And two desserts. Cinnamon bundt cake and cheesecake-stuffed oatmeal cookies!

Lula Mae Fan (Fan)

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Some highlights from an exceptionally delicious weekend…

Homemade cookie dough cold foam iced latte with frothed milk, brown sugar, vanilla bean paste, and baking soda.

Banana sesame protein coffee. Blended – coffee, chocolate milk, frozen banana, black sesame paste, vanilla protein powder.

Cookies and creme protein bar. Yes, I paired this with the cookie latte.

Golda. Breakfast plate – two eggs [over easy], spiced home fries, sourdough toast, and housemade hot sauce.

Brooklyn Kolache. We shared pimento cheese, beef sausage, and a sweet poppy seed.

Also a wonderful ube iced latte.

Fan Fan Doughnuts. I was underwhelmed by the dough today, sadly, but the toppings were top-notch. Dark chocolate with meringue / salted brown butter / lemon / Iranian Love with labne frosting.

Petee’s Pie. I am sad that we slept on this spot for so long because we were quite impressed. I had the Maine blueberry crumble pie with maple whipped cream.

These jelly sake cans – particularly in yuzu – are one of my favorite things.

This photo isn’t that exciting but it’s mostly a reminder to myself that the chicken and poblano pepper burrito from Whole Foods is pretty darn good.

I forgot to take a photo of my turkey cheeseburger salad – red lettuce, sauteed red kale, ranch dressing, ground turkey, tomatoes, extra-sharp cheddar, and sesame seeds – but we paired it with creamy dill potato chips.

Lula Mae – Cambodian food and the best meal of 2024. They had a pre-fixe happening for Restaurant Week and we got to try a ton of (amazing!) things. Spicy mezcal mule and a Tokyo Mae – Suntori whiskey, Cynar, yuzu, anise, and sarsaparilla bitters.

Cha kway fried bread with tom yum butter and pickles. <– mindblowing

Tuna on crispy rice.

50:50 fried chicken – dry rubbed with a lemon pepper dressing and a soy tamarind sauce.

Braised short-rib and morning glory greens in a tamarind stew.