Reunited And It Feels So Good

by Emily

I had an absolute blast in Buffalo but this past week I have been so freaking excited to be home with my boys. I usually miss them by the end of my workday so a long weekend away feels like an eternity. I am lucky to have a husband and dachshund who are both so great! {/sap}

breakfast

Black and white coffee.

Or Vanilla Chameleon Cold Brew with chocolate milk and an apple on the side.

Cereal with milk. And blueberries.

Plus Guava Mandarin Polar seltzer.

I lugged that back from Wegman’s in Buffalo and it was so worth it.

Coffee-eee-eee.

Always worth it. I’d be lying if I said my birthday drink freebie wasn’t bringing me a lot of anticipatory joy.

lunch

Asian-ish.

Microwave noodles and roasted seaweed.

Oatmeal bowl.

Chai-spiced oats from Target with maple almond butter on top and 2 black pluots on the side.

Yogurt bowl.

Vanilla Skyr Icelandic yogurt with blueberries, KIND peanut butter granola, and chia seeds. This was so tasty; I need more of that yogurt immediately.

dinner

Adam was at the hospital when I got home on Sunday so we had to turn Monday into date night. He picked me up at work and came bearing red velvet cupcakes.

We went to dinner at East Wind Snack Shop by Prospect Park.

We came in for the foie gras bao, which ended up being only ok. For the cheap price the amount of foie gras was very fair, but I would have rather paid a bit more and gotten a better meat-to-bun ratio.

But my Happy Buddha Vegetables were yummy.

They describe this dish as “jasmine rice, fermented tofu, seasoning, and all sorts of vegetables.” I’m not sure what the green sauce was but it was worth going back for. Then we walked to the theatre (our movie theatre) to see “Ant-Man.” The character development was weak but the movie was still hilarious so we’re glad we went.

I didn’t have time to do a real grocery trip this week so the following two nights were admittedly a little weak. This meal was fine but it’s not winning any prizes.

Cheez-its, leftover roasted veggies that Adam made last week, and a turkey and Havarti cheese sandwich.

This meal was a bit better. It definitely tasted good.

We needed a carbohydrate side so we had beer! Tusker is one of my all-time favorite beers, and pretty much the only lager I enjoy.

With roasted veggies – asparagus, okra, and zucchini – with Applegate chicken nuggets.

A copious amount of ketchup was added after I took that picture.

My parents come to visit tomorrow. And Friday is my birthday. I’m old, but excited!

20Jul2015

Buffalove

by Emily

This weekend some friends and I traveled (many hours!) back to Buffalo for a quick visit. It was fantabulous! We got lucky with good weather, caught up with great friends, and hit up almost every place that we’d been missing. We didn’t take even a single group photo because apparently we’re old, but a good time was had by all.

I didn’t get any people pictures and I didn’t take many food shots either. Here are a few things I did capture…

Mike’s sandwich – a toasted bagel with cheese, cream cheese, and a fried egg – at SPoT Coffee.

Plus we got coffee there every morning because it was roasty and delicious. Clearly I can get amazing coffee in NYC but SPoT is still one of the main places I miss.

Green juice at Ashker’s.

Spinach, kale, cucumber, pineapple, and mint.

Drinks at Blue Monk which now offers 5 oz pours.

Shown is a very tasty Downeast Cider.

Crepes at Sweetness 7.

Mine was topped with syrup and a fried egg.

Hot bar at Wegman’s, of course.

We actually went to Wegman’s twice!

We also went to the Co-op, walked up and down Elmwood Ave, and did a round of lemon drop shots for my upcoming birthday ♥

22Jun2015

Williamsburg To Washington Square Park

by Emily

Oh my goodness, what a great weekend! Adam and I have been making the most of the summer days, and then some. This weekend we walked around Williamsburg, across the bridge, up to and around Washington Square Park, and back, to the tune of 10+ miles in one afternoon!

When we weren’t moving this weekend, we were eating. Here are some of the highlights…

A fancy-schmancy yogurt bowl. 2% Plum Chobani with two varieties of pluot and a dollop of fresh whipped cream.

The cream was part of a homemade ice cream undertaking (look for more details – and a giveaway! – on Wednesday).

Coffee at Sweetleaf, a Rocket Fuel.

Aka cold brew with milk, maple, and chicory. Chicory blended iced coffees are definitely going to play a big role in my summer.

Espresso and macarons at Bakeshop by Woops.

Kids, this place was so freaking cute. And our cookies were amazing, chocolate and lavender chocolate.

Honey sesame soy milk box.

Adam and I tried to split this but the minute I handed it over to him he guzzled the rest of it down!

Cherry Cola Tic-Tacs.

I am incapable of turning down a cherry cola flavored item. Fun fact – the last two photos were not actually taken in front of the same wall, I just seek out brick whenever I have the option for a photo.

Rice bowls at Korilla. Korilla is basically an Asian Chipotle, but it is at least fifteen times more fantastic.

My bowl had sticky rice, the most amazing gochujang marinated chicken, sweet corn and snap peas, cheese, tons of red kimchi, and spicy but sweet Korean BBQ sauce. Adam’s rice had bacon and kimchi in it and we were both swooning.

We tried the new limited-time offerings at Ample Hills.

The pride month flavor was yummy but we had to throw out the sandwich. I think that Ample Hills generally makes the best ice cream on Earth but those soggy cookies were truly inedible.

A cone from Sundaes and Cones.

Lavender and black sesame were both great; those are flavors that could be kind of overwhelming but they were sweet and light yet still identifiable.

A quick red curry at home.

Rice noodles on the bottom // sautéed bok choy, white mushrooms and straw mushrooms, sweet onion and green onion, and sweet red pepper // sprouted tofu cubes roasted with lime, sugar, Sriracha, and liquid smoke // and red curry sauce with lime, light coconut milk, fish sauce, and minced garlic and ginger.

We both typically say that we don’t like red curries but we loved this so we should give the real version another chance.

Sandwich night on my lonesome while Adam was at work.

I toasted sourdough slices in the oven with Smart Balance Light and pepperjack and sharp cheddar cheese then sandwiched them around canola oil mayo and Applegate Smoked Sliced Turkey.

With roasted green beans on the side.

How are green beans – roasted with cooking spray and salt – so flipping buttery?!

Dinner at The Smoke Joint, our new favorite bbq spot.

They have Mother’s Milk at the bar, which wins them points. Adam’s strawberry vanilla bourbon limeade wasn’t bad either.

Their juicy, tender, chopped bbq chicken comes with a side of pickles and spicy cole slaw.

And their smoky collard greens are meatless, so I got to try real bbq collards for the first time in my life.

I loved them!

If this upcoming week is half as good as my weekend I’ll be all set 🙂

12Jun2015

Dinner Bowl

by Emily

Do you have a preference for tableware and/or flatware? Whenever possible, I eat out of a bowl, preferably with chopsticks. Probably because it’s easier to chase every last bite when the food can’t roll off of the plate! All of my dinners this week were delicious and I think it’s not a coincidence that they were all served in bowls.

breakfast

This was a weird week for me, I ate breakfast – as in chewable breakfast, not just tons of milk in my coffee – almost every day.

Sonja apple.

String cheese and my last mango coconut almond thin. {p.s. Kate won the giveaway!}

String cheese and a KIND Salted Caramel Popped Bar. <– very tasty and packs 2 grams of fiber and 3 grams of protein for 140 calories thanks to the blend of whole grains.

Don’t get me wrong, there was coffee too! This one was TJ’s cold-brew with skim milk and toasted marshmallow syrup.

And this monster was a Starbucks reward freebie that I took full advantage of – venti skim iced latte with extra espresso.

lunch

Yogurt bowls for the win. Adam and I are both head over heels for the KIND granola.

Local vanilla bean Greek yogurt with KIND maple, chia, quinoa granola and yellow nectarine, black plum, and blueberries.

Plain Fage Greek yogurt with KIND granola and red plum and yellow nectarine. Plus a serving of Lindt Pink Explosion on the side.

Honey Fage with blueberries and TJ’s bran flakes.

And Tuesday I had catered lunch thanks to a malnutrition policy education that I attended. Dessert was chocolate-covered marzipan that a sweet coworker snuck to me.

snack

A picture’s worth a thousand words. Apparently I was all about the freeze-dried produce.

dinner

Another reason we both like bowl-style meals is that it’s nice to have our grain/protein/veggie components layered together rather than served in separate piles on a plate. I like to get a little bit of each flavor in every bite.

Honey-chipotle chicken Chipotle style bowls.

This week’s dinners had a lot of components so I’m going to break them down bullet-point-style.

sautéed local Satur Farms energy greens – aka a kale, spinach, etc mix
sautéed onions and green peppers with cilantro and lime
TJ’s Cuban-style black beans
pan-fried chicken breasts that were marinated overnight in chipotles in adobo, honey, evoo, lime juice, sherry, minced garlic, smoked paprika, and salt and pepper
avocado
shredded cheese / low-fat sour cream / cilantro

We were out of the onion and pepper mix for day 2’s leftovers so instead I served all of the other components on top of big bowls of kale and broccoli sautéed with garlic and lime. Still good! We decided that my version was ~~almost~~ as good as Chipotle.

Our rice bowls were a more Asian-inspired. They would have been better with a runny egg on top but I was pleased with how incredibly juicy the chicken came out.

brown jasmine rice
browned mushrooms
roasted broccoli
baked chicken that was marinated overnight in soy sauce, rice vinegar, fish sauce, Sriracha, canola oil, lime juice, sugar, and minced ginger
bok choy, celery, green onion, and cilantro sautéed with a bit of the sauce from the chicken

Even on my night out I ate dinner in a bowl. I met friends at Hanoi and ordered the Veggie Spring Roll Bun – room temperature vermicelli, lettuce, cucumber, scallion oil, shallot, peanut, fresh herb, and nuoc cham sauce.

Would you have guessed that there would literally be a chopped up spring roll on top of the dish? We were surprised, but agreed that it was darn tasty. The best part of the meal was dessert though. Maple soft-serve from Corner of Vermont.

We ate our ice cream on a leisurely walk down 5th ave in Park Slope and the whole thing felt wonderfully summery!

8Jun2015

National Doughnut Day

by Emily

Here’s a random and horrifying fact – I turn 30 next month. What?! How is that even possible when it feels like 1990 was only 10 years ago. (<– it wasn’t. it was 25 years ago. like I said, horrifying.)

As I move my way up the hill at what feels like breakneck speed – next stop: over it – our summer is off to a pretty great start. It’s hard to do things like maintain a weekly brunch and farmer’s market tradition with someone who works 25+ hour shifts on the weekends, but Adam is a total trooper and we still manage to have a good time. Plus, the day I was alone I did errands at three different grocery stores so, you know, I lead an exciting life.

breakfast

Did you all celebrate National Doughnut Day? I woke up an hour early so I could hit up Doughnut Plant on my way to work.

They were giving away a mini cake doughnut (with sprinkles!) with all purchases. It was delicious.

I also got a skim iced matcha and a strawberry and cream doughseed.

The strawberry glaze was tart and juicy and the filling was vanilla bean pastry cream, all together it was the best doughnut I’ve ever eaten.

During my never-ending errands I ate a protein bar,

and a clover-brewed West Java roast with ice and skim milk.

Plus, you know, you another coffee at my next stop.

lunch

I spent my workday on Friday in a breastfeeding education conference. There wasn’t as much information about maternal intake and milk composition/supply as I had hoped, but the information about the benefits of breastfeeding, particularly in premature and small for gestational age infants, was quite interesting. Plus, they provided lunch.

Marinated veggie sandwich. And I brought my own Mentos for dessert.

The candy, plus lots of coffee, were essential; even if the material is of interest to me I have a very hard time sitting still to listen for hours in a row.

On Sunday, we brought the puppy into DUMBO.

We got coffees at Brooklyn Roasting Company – skim Maple Shay for me.

And then walked over to Smorgasburg for lunch. The three of us shared duck buns.

And an arepa.

Aka acorn cake topped with Oaxaca cheese, chipotle mayo, and cilantro salsa. Good, but I think I like pupusas better.

snack

Do you remember Slush Puppies? So much better than Slurpees.

This was horrible, but it was fun to try the throwback snack, even if I did have to carry around that burning cold packet for the rest of our walk.

We are both impressed with Angry Orchard’s seasonal summer honey cider.

Impulse buy much?

Lindt’s Hello line is on point. Both bars were amazing; the pink one really did pop!

Coffee and a cookie.

Molly’s Milk Truck coffee with almond milk and cinnamon plus a sticky strawberry jam sandwich cookie from Whole Foods.

dinner

Chicken and veggie soup.

Every piece of this minus the broth came from our freezer but it was still flavorful and yummy.

Chicken broth // TJ’s chicken and vegetable goyza // rotisserie chicken // bok choy, shitake mushroom, red pepper, and green onions.

Spicy eggs for my single lady dinner.

Scrambled with collard greens and sweet corn plus shredded cheese, smoked paprika, and tons of sweet chili sauce.

And crispy peas on the side.

Who’s surprised that we ate Chipotle for dinner last night? No one? Good. 🙂

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.

26May2015

Seoul Food Style

by Emily

We got to spend time with several Buffalo friends, we went on some great walks, the puppy seems to be feeling a little better, and all in all it was a great weekend. I’m missing a few shots, but here are most of my favorite eats…

breakfast

Giant iced coffee, always.

That one has fat-free sweetened condensed milk and skim milk. The SCM is leftover from a failed recipe trial, but Vietnamese-ish iced coffees are better than hot fudge root beer float popsicles (good in theory but I can’t make it work!) any day.

I tried the milk bread from TOUS les JOUR.

Nice and vanilla-bean-y.

Another day, another coffee.

I asked Starbucks to put the marshmallow whipped cream and milk chocolate from the S’mores Frappuccino into my skim latte and they happily delivered. The taste was good but I was unbelievably ill by the halfway mark, I cannot even imagine drinking a full Frappuccino.

Plus Adam and I split a Pulsin’ maple peanut bar.

It was vegan and made with pea protein and the nutrition stats were pretty good – 12 grams of protein and 5 grams of fiber with 11 grams of sugar. Not a bad breakfast for a busy morning of errands.

lunch

Lunch in Koreatown. I set my mouth on fire with a kimchi bun and cooled it down with a (pink!) Harmless Harvest coconut water.

Afterwards we shared dessert at Grace Street, our new favorite snow spot.

We shared a machta latte.

And a black sesame shaved ice with scm, boba, and mini marshmallows.

Between the tapioca balls and the partially frozen marshmallows, this had so much chew!

“Dinner” for lunch. We almost never cook a full meal in the daytime so this felt pretty fancy.

Roasted broccoli with truffle salt,

and “Cooking Light’s” Farro with Honey-Garlic Roasted Tomatoes.

We added chopped turkey bacon and rotisserie chicken to the farro to make it a little more substantial. Also I skipped the thyme (the bacon made up for the flavor), used fat-free feta, and subbed sherry for sherry vinegar.

snack

21st Amendment brews at the Gotham West Market.

The market space was gorgeous and we want to go back for ramen and/or tacos soon but guys, holy crap, we paid $17 for two cans of beer!!! At least, after a lot of walking along the piers, they were refreshing.

Can cookies at Schmackary’s become an every weekend tradition?

This time we split a giant, chewy funfetti cookie topped with cream cheese frosting and tons of sprinkles.

We’ve been loving fruit-infused water lately; having a big jug in the fridge makes me much more likely to pour a glass.

This week was lime and mint and last week was mint and grapefruit, which was even better.

Corn was popped.

Enjoyed while Netflixing approximately eight billion old episodes of “Criminal Minds.”

A girlfriend and I had planned on going to Rice to Riches ever since the first summer we moved here and Monday the time was finally right. I got a cookie cream rice pudding with mocha crumbles. We both liked the pudding but thought it would be more enjoyable served in a bowl instead of a trough.

My fancy cup was a skim cortado from Happy Bones, so that was fun. And we took a great walk across the Williamsburg Bridge.

dinner

Our friends’ adorable baby girl just turned one and they invited us to her Doljanchi, a Korean 1st birthday party tradition.

The buffet was great,

but the best thing ever was getting to catch up with all of the med school friends (and their babies!) that we’ve been missing.

Saturday night we had an absolutely amazing dinner at The Marshal, a Hell’s Kitchen farm-to-table spot that focuses on seasonal, local goodies. Bonus – the waitstaff are all insanely cute!

I got an Earl’s Tea to drink – chilled Earl Grey Tea, Peace Vodka, Catskills Provisions raw honey, lemon, and orange cream bitters.

We started with scallops – bourbon planked herb crusted Massachusetts jumbo scallops with caramelized lemon and assorted local herbs.

And Arcadian Pastures deviled eggs – ramps-infused yolks, micro-wasabi, and crispy duck prosciutto.

None of the appetizers really knocked our socks off (good but not the best ever) but the duck prosciutto was definitely smoky and amazing.

Our meals, on the other hand, were mind-blowing. Adam got a bacon-wrapped pork loin that he loved so much he didn’t speak for the rest of the meal and I did a trio of farm sides.

Roasted Bulich Farm snow while mushrooms, herb butter, Upstate white wine // Sautéed Lancaster Farm dandelion greens, red pepper flakes, grapeseed oil, Finger Lakes white wine // Satur Farms sweet potato and kale au gratin. The gratin was out of this word; it was so rich I couldn’t even finish it.

We were too stuffed to do more than pick at dessert, but we couldn’t skip it!

Bittersweet chilled chocolate fudge in NYC honey with honey comb, bee pollen, and Blue Marble vanilla ice cream.

The Lower East Side has always been my Manhattan haunt of choice, but lately Hells Kitchen has been rocking our socks off! NYC readers, what’s your favorite neighborhood?

27Apr2015

Last April Weekend

by Emily

Weekend Top Five:

{1} Smorgasburg is becoming a weekly event for us.

Grady’s cold brew is the best.

I got vegetable ramen with truffle oil.

And we got sugar on snow from Snowdays.

They serve it with a doughnut and a pickle! I’ve wanted maple snow candy try ever since I read about the Chippewa doing it in Caddie Woodlawn.

{2} Brunch at Bareburger.

I got a bellini.

And a Guapo Chop salad – romaine, queso fresco, pickled jalopeños, spicy pico de gallo, guacamole, tortilla chips, and avocado basil dressing. Plus there were gorgeous watermelon beet slices on top.

Plus cold-brew, obviously.

It wasn’t as amazing as the first time but you can’t beat that cup.

{3} Williamsburg love.

Sweet Leaf for coffees.

And our first trip to Oddfellows for ice cream.

Pecan pie and toasted marshmallow for me. It was amazing, second only to Ample Hills.

{4} Cookies!

Chocolate chip mug cookie.

Taro mochi.

I put it in the fridge and it was extra chewy and wonderful.

{5} We finally found good Chinese take-out in our neighborhood.

The take-out options around us are all pretty abysmal, but when a new spot popped up on GrubHub we decided to give it a try. I got bean jelly noodles with chili oil and sour and spicy cucumber.

They were delicious and we would totally order from there again.

Eating Chalk

Tag Archives: mushroom

Reunited And It Feels So Good

breakfast

lunch

dinner

Buffalove

Williamsburg To Washington Square Park

Dinner Bowl

breakfast

lunch

snack

dinner

National Doughnut Day

breakfast

lunch

snack

dinner

It Was High Time To Hit The High Line

Seoul Food Style

breakfast

lunch

snack

dinner

Last April Weekend