Birthday Weekend Wrap-Up {I’m 30!}

by Emily

My parents came to visit last weekend and Adam had two full days off so we were able to have lots of family fun. My mom and dad technically didn’t come for my birthday, the dates just worked out, but we spent the weekend doing all of my favorite city things – walking, and eating, and eating while walking! – and hanging out with good childhood friends so it was pretty perfect. And I’m 30 now, whomp, whomp.

Here are some highlights of the best places we walked and things we ate from the weekend…

Thursday night we walked around Williamsburg and had dinner at Pies ‘n Thighs. I had hibiscus iced tea.

And a chicken biscuit with hot sauce and honey butter.

Instead of pie we did dessert at Milk Bar.

Cereal milk soft-serve with cornflakes and hot fudge.

Friday we drove up to Montauk to explore. We checked out the beachfront towns and hiked along this very cool stone pathway near the lighthouse.

We stopped at the Long Island Levain and fell in love with the giant walnut chocolate chip cookies.

And had lunch at Lunch.

The seafood bisque was good.

But lobster rolls were better. They give you a big pile of buttered hot lobster meat and let you assemble your sandwich yourself.

We stopped at a random restaurant late that night on our drive back and ended up having an amazing meal but I have no pictures because I wrongly assumed it would be terrible. Adam and I plan on going back very soon for the flourless chocolate cake (though next time it won’t come with a birthday candle!).

Saturday was spent in Park Slope and Midtown. We started with Doughnut Plant.

Everyone loved their doughnuts (minus the beignets which just aren’t up to Plant standards) but tres leches are clearly the best.

Then trained to Grand Central Station.

Cold brew from Café Grumpy.

We shopped a bit, then explored Chelsea Market and The Highline.

Watermelon juice from Num Pang was refreshing.

And so was the mint seltzer from Brooklyn Soda Works.

We headed back to Brooklyn for dinner. Drinks at Pork Slope, aka my favorite bar. And hibiscus vodka is definitely a favorite drink option.

We got tater tots and spicy chicken nuggets – meh and yum! respectively – for appetizers which was good because I actually hadn’t tried any of the food at PS prior to that.

Dinner was Luke’s for round 2 of lobster rolls.

Best in the city, I think. And they had cans of Downeats, the tasty cider I tried last weekend in Buffalo.

I didn’t take a photo of the maple soft-serve at Corner of Vermont but it was worth a mention.

Sunday was our SoHo/Lower East Side Day.

We started in DUMBO to park near the F train.

And had to get coffees at Brooklyn Roasting Co.

Then we had amazing brunch at Russ & Daughter’s.

My “Lower Sunny Side” came with sunny side up eggs, Nova lox, and latkes.

Ice cream at Morganstern’s.

Omg. Vietnamese coffee and raw milk ice creams topped with fudge sauce and double Luxardo cherries. I assumed everyone would share with me and they did not but I still managed to take this down.

We ended our weekend with dinner at The Smith. The drink menu was on point; my “East Village Passion” had rum, lime, passionfruit, and fresh mint.

We had ridiculously good fried green beans to start.

I saw photos of the mac and cheese on instagram and had no choice to order that for my meal.

With a watermelon and feta salad.

So good. We ordered the s’mores jar for dessert, obviously.

Sadly I didn’t love it, but Adam was more than happy to eat my share. Since he did not eat a giant ice cream after lunch that’s probably fair! We will definitely go back again.

I left some things out because this post is already a bit lengthy, but I seriously did almost everything I love. With the people I love. <– aww!

1Jun2015

It Was High Time To Hit The High Line

by Emily

Five favorites from the weekend…

{1} New yogurt flavors

Siggi’s never lets me down; the new whole milk mixed berries flavor tasted great paired with blackberries and bran flakes for work lunch.

We also tried some goat’s milk yogurt from Coach Farm.

The honey flavor was nice – not too sweet or sour – but I always miss the thicker texture of Greek.

{2} Chipotle, always

Rice bowl with chicken.

Enjoyed while watching “Criminal Minds.” I think I’m finally getting Adam hooked on it too.

{3} Green Juice

Spinach, watermelon, and lemon, from Juice Generation. Yummy, though it was a little heavy on the fruit and light on the greens.

The cashier was a boy from Puerto Rico (an island near St. Thomas), it was nice to reminisce with someone from (near) home. We sipped while we shopped at the new Flying Tiger – so cool!

{4} Dinner at the Green Table

A small farm to table spot in Chelsea Market.

Drink: 77 Sour – Breuckelen ’77 whiskey, fresh lemon, local maple syrup, Hella citrus bitters. It was delicious, the classiest whiskey sour of all time.

Eat: Vegan “Pho” – napa cabbage, bok choy, tofu, mushrooms, lime, lemongrass, chili oil. The flavors were great, but I was glad they put Pho in quotation marks because there was not a noodle to be found. We totally got pizza once we were back in Brooklyn.

Sweet: Chocolate Hibiscus Trifle – hibiscus Chantilly, pink peppercorn caramel. The cake bites (which were gluten-free) were dry and terrible, but the hibiscus Chantilly cream was juicy and sweet, just like the apple ice wine I had with it.

We probably won’t be back – based on the size for price of the entrées – but I’m quite glad that we got to enjoy the drinks and dessert.

{5} Watching the sunset on the High Line

We got a plum jasmine shaved ice from people’s pops to crunch while we people and sky watched.

Also juicy and sweet! We need to get up there more often.

10May2015

Thirsty

by Emily

As this post goes live, we will be setting off on a fun adventure! The best part of which is the fact that Adam and I are both on vacation and can spend every second of the next 7 days together. <– squee!

I wanted to get in a quick post of highlights from the past few days, 90% of which are beverages…

Iced coffee and an apple for breakfast.

Plus a cinnamon iced chai latte when I got to work.

We threw a surprise wedding shower for one of my dietetic coworkers and that’s where Friday’s lunch came from.

Plus an orange in my office.

Yes, it took me less than 2 weeks to kill that plant!

More coffee. This caramel macchiato from Dunkin was not good.

But this can of salted caramel cold brew was, especially paired with a chocolate pretzel bar for breakfast.

Coffee yogurt topped with honey and salty peanuts is always good.

As is coffee beer, like this yummy milk stout from Stone.

Last night we celebrated the start of vacation with a delicious dinner at Brooklyn Star.

That’s Dr Pepper with bourbon and bitters.

Spicy duck wings sauced with ground chili, honey, Coca Cola, and fried garlic. We weren’t sure if it was Brooklyn Star’s superior frying technique or the fact that these were fatty, tasty duck instead of chicken, but these were the best wings we’ve ever had.

And a smoked escarole salad.

So smoky and good! Jonah crab meat, pickled watermelon, Asian pear, heart of palm, and parsnip chips.

Plus dessert at Milk Bar.

Cold brew and a cornflake marshmallow cookie. A sweet start to a fun week.

23Jul2014

Weekend Wrap-Up, Fun In Philly

by Emily

My 29th birthday is tomorrow and the husband and I celebrated a weekend early with a trip to Philadelphia.

It was a quick visit, we drove in on Saturday and out on Sunday, but it ended up being one of the best weekends we’ve had in years! It was great to have two full days to moon at each other. We spent pretty much every second walking and/or eating <– our two favorite things!

I didn’t take many site-seeing photos, but I had to snap some pictures of the beautiful mosaics at the Magic Gardens.

We loved our last visit to Philly, so we repeated a lot of the same stops. We even stayed at the same (perfectly located) hotel.

Unfortunately, I didn’t have the best luck with orders at our restaurant meals. I actually had to make a second stop to eat after both dinner and lunch. Thankfully, our fabulous bites in between meals more than made up for the less good dishes. I’ll write this post from worst to best.

Supper was near the Magic Gardens and the menu looked good, so we went there for {Sunday brunch}. I had a glass of sangria and was a little bit tipsy for the drive home!

Sangria Blanca – seasonal sangria made with sauvignon blanc, cantaloupe, honey dew, cucumber, lemon, limoncello, and honey mint simple syrup over ice topped with club soda.

We shared a deviled egg flight that was only so-so.

And my chicken salad sandwich sounded good in theory, but was totally flavorless. “Pastrami” Chicken Salad Sandwich – toasted grain bread, 1000 island dressing, caraway slaw, pickles / served with duck fat fries.

Those were so not duck fat fries! I ate a few bites, then got Whole Foods hot bar for the road. Adam loved his red velvet pancakes though.

I was so excited to get the vegetarian cheese steak from Carmen’s in Reading Terminal for {lunch on Saturday}.

I’ve been dreaming about this sandwich ever since I had it back in 2011.

It was ok, but sadly not as good as I remembered. The last time they charred the seitan more.

{Dinner} at FARMiCia has become a Philadelphia tradition for me.

I get the croquettes every time, but I just wasn’t a fan of this version.

Why would you serve corn and rice balls on top of more corn?! Carb City. The best thing about the fall version of dish is the buttery spinach bed.

The rest of the meal was wonderful though. Adam and I split a cheese plate to start.

The salty sheep’s milk cheese went perfectly with the sweet apple chutney.

I had a very refreshing watermelon mojito.

And we finished with cream cheese ice cream that was mind-blowing.

Gah! I could not stop swooning over that ice cream. This restaurant would have been worth the stop for dessert alone.

We stopped in at an adorable bar near our hotel on the way to dinner to split a flight of beer.

And then stopped back afterwards for nightcaps.

Then I iced my knees and ate bar food in bed and all was right with the world.

Our yummiest tastes were the things we ate while we walked around. Like the watermelon, spinach, and kale juice from Sip N Glo.

This was 80% fruit and normally I would be mad that it wasn’t more greens-based but you can’t complain about fresh watermelon juice.

A great iced cup from Old City Coffee.

And a Vietnamese coffee from The Last Drop.

Ending on a sweet note, a S’mores Bar from Flying Monkey Bakery.

S’mores with sprinkles! This tasted like honey and was ridiculous good. Adam and I both thought it was the best thing we ate all weekend.

2Jun2014

Weekend Wrap-Up; Sunday Smorgasburg In DUMBO

by Emily

Another wonderful weekend! Amazingly, the husband and I are still not sick of each other, so when he has a weekend day off it is better than fricking Christmas. He worked Saturday while I ~~slept until noon and~~ cleaned and grocery shopped and then Sunday was family fun day.

We’ll start with a snack review. Polar’s new Georgia Peach Seltzer is delicious.

Very juicy, though the flavor almost reminded me of bananas.

This Trader Joe’s microwave popcorn is also nice.

My favorite thing is the packaging, honestly.

I hate how ridiculously convoluted microwave popcorn nutrition labels are but this one was crystal clear.

And the birthday cake stuffed cookies are not good.

Of course I ate two more servings before I came to that conclusion… for research.

The cheap fresh blueberries from Trader Joe’s are great now. No more mushy berries.

Shown on a bowl of cereal – a serving each Nature’s Path Heritage Flakes and Honeycomb with marshmallows – with unsweetened vanilla almond milk.

I suck at including pictures, but I actually am (relatively) good at eating my vegetables. Go ahead and picture several servings of olive hummus with raw veggies this weekend and a big salad from the cafeteria for Friday’s lunch. Much better.

Friday night started with green juice. A blend of kale, spinach, cucumber, parsley, and apple.

We needed it to offset the next round of drinks.

We spent a glorious evening on the patio at Bierkraft. A girlfriend met up with us after work, and we befriended the couple who shared our table, and we all laughed and shared restaurant recommendations for hours.

Highlights from the night were 21st Amendment Brewery’s Hell or High Watermelon.

And this Reindeer’s Revolt that stole my heart. It was malty and sweet with just a bit of spice. Though I’m not sure why Bierkraft had two freezer’s worth of Christmas beers in the first week of June.

We also had amazing frozen margaritas, ill-advised rounds of shots, and an awkward dinner at Calexico. I drunkenly ordered the only thing on the menu that I would never eat and sat there like a weirdo while the waitress boxed up the entire dish minus two bites at the end of the meal. Whoops.

Saturday’s dinner was a winner; and yes, it bums me out that that rhymed.

It was just a really yummy, summery combination of foods. Leftover veggies, cruciferous crunch with pecans and blueberries.

The last of the rotisserie chicken, scrambled into eggs with brie, dill, and coconut oil.

And corn on the cob, oven-roasted with Miracle Whip, sea salt, pepper, smoked paprika, and sharp cheddar.

I am so flipping glad that it is corn on the cob season again. Learning how easy it is to cook in the oven was a great discovery last summer.

On Sunday we took the dog into Brooklyn for Sunday’s Smorgasburg.

DUMBO is gorgeous, it is one of my favorite nyc neighborhoods.

I ate a fantastic lemonade with watermelon and mint. Served with a bubble tea straw for the big, juicy chunks of melon.

And a really terrible taco. The edamame and corn were inexplicably neither cooked nor seasoned.

Thankfully Adam made much better choices – miso chicken taco, ginger bourbon pecan pie, rhubarb Columbian soda – and was willing to share.

We took the dog exploring, then made our way to Luke’s Lobster.

We shared a combo and were both swooning. This was the best lobster roll I have ever eaten, including one I had at a shack on the harbor in Boston.

They serve it fairly plain, just with lemon butter and secret spices, and the freshness of the lobster meat shines through. We plan on taking my parents for one the minute their airplane lands later this month.

Where were you served the best lobster roll you’ve ever eaten? If you’re into that kind of thing…

27May2014

Weekend Wrap-Up; Frozen

by Emily

Good morning! I’m excited to report a fabulous Saturday and Sunday. Adam had a golden weekend – both days off – and we made the most of it. I only have photos of a fraction of our eats (among other things, we went to Bareburger twice) because I was too busy/excited/drunk to bother, but here are some of the highlights…

The only homemade meal we had all weekend was actually one of the best.

We shared a sandwich of fried egg, fontina cheese, mustard, and the rest of the Sweet Earth vegan bacon on pumpernickel rye swirl. Homemade egg sandwiches are always wonderful, but the sweet and smoky flavor of the “bacon” took this one to a new level.

Plus a lavender lime spritzer.

Fresh lime juice, lavender simple syrup, maple, water, and seltzer.

Another shared sandwich, the shredded chicken from Bahnmigos.

Adam had resisted joining me for Bahn Mi for weeks, but now that he’s tasted it he is completely obsessed. You just cannot beat Srircha, mayo, and pickled veggies on that crusty French bread.

We have to get Ample Hills when we’re in Park Slope.

Butter Pecan Brittle and Salted Crack Caramel for me. I also tasted the peppermint patty flavor and now I’m pretty desperate to go back and get a cup of that.

A trip to Manhattan for the Central Park Zoo.

A lot of exhibits were closed, so that was a bummer, but we loved getting to walk around the park.

Dinner at Farmacy was disappointingly lackluster, especially since it’s our new favorite spot.

My caramel coffee egg cream was nice,

but the grilled cheese was meh.

Maybe it was just me though, Adam liked both of our sandwiches and thought I was crazy.

On Sunday we had brunch right on the water at Sheepshead Bay, then drove over for an afternoon at Rockaway Beach.

We hit up two frozen treats from the Buzzfeed list. {#12} Frozen pink lemonade from Bungalow Bar was a little watery but very pink. The bar was right on the water!

And {#14} Connolly’s Bar made the best frozen piña colada I’ve ever had.

Plus we explored the area and hit up Rockaway Taco, which was pretty much beyond words.

The fish tacos were perfection.

And we both loved our juice.

Pineapple mint for Adam and watermelon for me. Love.

4Jan2013

Fresh Fage French Onion Dip

by Emily

I did not end up watching tv last night but I didn’t go to bed for hours either. I also did not eat my coconut butter snack.

Instead I had it for breakfast.

The Artisana Cacao Bliss packet was delicious! The taste and texture reminded me of crumbly chocolate frosting. Plus it was super filling. I have two more of the packets and I’m very much looking forward to them. And yes, that is a soda in the back of the picture; breakfast didn’t happen until near noon. As it always goes the day after a migraine, my eats were all over the place today.

I got up late in a daze, made some important school calls, and then rushed out of the house to run time-sensitive errands. By the time I made my way to Wegman’s it was after 4:00 and I was starving. Hot bar to the rescue.

Asian wokery veggies, watermelon, and pineapple.

A little bit of sweet and sour pineapple chili chicken plus a Thai chicken spring roll.

And I snagged these adorable cupcake gummies from the bulk bins.

They were like little vanilla-berry pillows.

Dinner round 1 was a taco salad.

A romaine base topped with chopped green pepper, black beans, a handful of crushed Beanitos, chopped Cabot 50% light sharp cheddar, and a big scoop of Wegman’s pineapple salsa.

I gave my bowl a 30 second nuke in the microwave a few bites in and it made it even better. I think I prefer Wegman’s version of the pineapple salsa to Newman’s Own’s; the sweetness and the spice are both a little less intense.

Dinner round 2 was lightened up chips and dip.

2 servings of ruffles,

and a bowl of Fresh Fage French Onion Dip.

I’ve been craving french onion dip (with freshly caramelized onions!) for days so I decided to try my hand a lighter version. I included the recipe for the dip at the bottom of this post. It was really delicious!

Dessert was a mini pack of strawberry-filled koala cookies and a serving of Skinny Cow Peanut Butter Cream Filled Chocolates.

Both were good, but I have got to cut back on the sugar. I have been soooooo hungry this week and it’s driving me crazy.

Adam has been out-of-town the past few days and he gets back tonight = yay!!!!! We have two fun days planned this weekend and I can’t wait.

Fresh Fage French Onion Dip, serves 1-2 (Or more, if you’re into smaller – i.e. 2-3 Tbsp – servings. For 1-2 people this recipe makes a large enough bowl of dip to really scoop your chips into.)

1 Tbsp butter
1 Tbsp evoo
1 medium sweet onion, roughly chopped
1/4 tsp plus 1 large pinch salt
7 oz container 2% Plain Fage Total yogurt
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp onion powder

Place a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add butter and oil to heated pan. When butter is completely melted, stir in the onion and pinch of salt. Cook 5 – 7 minutes until onions caramelize, stirring occasionally. Remove caramelized onions from heat and let cool for 1 – 3 minutes before adding to yogurt.
Place yogurt in a large bowl. Add onions, Worcestershire, onion powder, and remaining salt and stir until well-combined. Serve with carrot sticks or ruffled chips.

What is your favorite kind of dip? I’m a buffalo chicken dip girl myself, gotta embrace the homeland!

23Aug2012

Every Now And Then…

by Emily

… I keep it together.

You thought I was going to say “fall apart.” I did too, that’s why this is a half day post. I was planning to write (title: “What’s The Plural Of Crisis?) about why I wouldn’t be posting this week, but then I realized – I really didn’t want to fall apart. A lot of nonsense has gone down this week, and I’m totally nervous about school next week, but sometimes it feels good to keep it together.

Some good stuff happened in the days you missed too. I met with a friend who recently became a mommy for a walk around Delaware Park with her and the baby . They were both doing awesome and my must-get-knocked-up fervor was renewed. I baked malted toffee blondies and brought them to a friend’s birthday celebration. I watched more “Awkward.”

Today I worked. Afterward Adam picked me up for an awesome date night. We parked in Allentown and walked to the subway. We stopped along the way for green juice.

I got a glorious mix of collard greens, spinach, kale, watermelon, and mango.

I pulled it together before went to work but my juice mix could have cheered anyone up.

We subwayed it to the canal for our date; a free Matt Nathanson concert.

We ran into friends that we haven’t gotten to see much this summer so even though we didn’t know many songs we still had a great time. The only ones I could sing along with were “Laid” and a random White Snake cover.

A friend who couldn’t make it tonight gave me her booze tickets so we scored free drinks.

I had half of that Jack Daniels Lynchburg Lemonade before passing it off to Adam in favor of a Labat Blue Light with Lime.

Drinking in the grass with friends and free music? Awesome.

After we journeyed home we had pizza for a late dinner.

Adam and I split three (big) slices; bbq chicken, buffalo chicken, and veggie.

I’m feeling very full, pretty tired, and much better!

What do you do to regain control if you feel like you’re about to wallow?

Eating Chalk

Tag Archives: melon

Birthday Weekend Wrap-Up {I’m 30!}

It Was High Time To Hit The High Line

Thirsty

Weekend Wrap-Up, Fun In Philly

Weekend Wrap-Up; Sunday Smorgasburg In DUMBO

Weekend Wrap-Up; Frozen

Fresh Fage French Onion Dip

Every Now And Then…