I tried a new canned coffee and was fairly impressed. It was not too weak or watery.
I did not like the key lime Barebells bar as much as I was expecting to though.
Triple berry yogurt. Plain Greek with chocolate coffee granola and blueberries, blackberries, and a few raspberries (which I hate but added to be festive).
Soursop juice!
I used it in a matcha spritz with lime seltzer.
We are fans of this bougie Chex Mix.
Seattle Chocolate Moon Rocks bar with pop rocks! We bought a bunch of mini bars from this company while were are at the Seattle airport on our last vacation and they made the flight home exponentially more pleasant.
Red curry tofu. I loosely followed this recipe for the sauce but used light coconut milk and more broth. We used firm tofu, scallions, red bell pepper, green beans, and basil.
Chicken and rice soup. Sauteed shitake mushrooms and dinosaur kale with scallions, garlic, ginger, and white pepper / leftover brown rice / baked chicken breast / chicken broth, light coconut milk, white miso, fish sauce, and Sriracha. I topped my bowl with chili oil.
Yogurt bowl! Plain Greek with blueberries, Rainer cherries, and cute Swedish gummies.
Iced matcha. With lime seltzer and strawberry and rose syrups.
Peach yogurt jelly gummies.
This baked chicken flatbread was the best thing we ate all week! Trader Joe’s whole-wheat lavash baked with evoo until crispy / topped with TJ’s Unexpected Cheddar / baked chicken breast / roasted red onions / and marinated artichoke hearts. Paired with great veggies – baby bok choy, brown beech mushrooms, and shallots sauteed with butter.
This taco turkey flatbread was also pretty good. Lavash / TJ’s shredded three cheese blend / ground turkey sauteed with taco seasoning / roasted veggies – yellow and orange bell pepper, white onion, zucchini, evoo, salt and pepper, Jamaican curry powder, smoked paprika, onion powder, and garlic powder. Served with smashed avocado (mashed with salt, gochugaru, and TJ’s mango vinaigrette).
Paired with chips and dip.
Nacho night! Mike’s Hot Honey kettle chips / all of the cheeses / three grain tempeh sauteed with salt and gochugaru until toasty / snap peas sauteed with pecans, piquante peppers, gochugaru, cheddar, and honey.
This plate of leftovers was as yummy as it was orange. Leftover roasted veggies / leftover cauliflower okonomiyaki from Olmsted / leftover Indian take-out from Varli – butter chicken momo, house-spiced fries with cheese and minced chicken, and Baingan Bharta (spicy eggplant).
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.
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.
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.
This week’s dinner theme has to be my most unhinged — foods in an edible package. I am mentally categorizing “edible packages” as packets, by the way (i.e. no turducken!).
Mochi-wrapped ice cream. This milk tea flavor from Bubbies was fantastic and these are possibly the best ice cream mochi I’ve ever eaten.
Gummy mangos in an edible candy peel. The peelable gummies from Walgreens are top tier. It was a yummy week!
Rice noodle rolls with shrimp. From Trader Joe’s.
Soup dumplings. We went to Nan Xiang to try their chicken soup dumplings and thought they were great.
We also had their mustard greens with tofu skin and edamame which were good.
And their stir-fried rice cakes with shredded beef which were only ok.
And ube bao stuffed with red bean paste (more packets!).
Potstickers. Trader Joe’s chicken and vegetables. Paired with roasted broccoli and a dumpling salsa inspired by Leah Cohen (crushed peanuts, sesame seeds, gochugaru, sugar, Fly by Jing Sichuan chili oil, sesame oil, soy sauce, dark soy sauce, rice vinegar, Shaoxing wine, garlic, ginger, and green onions).
Tortellini. Whole Foods kale and cheese. We tossed them with orange baby tomatoes, roasted zucchini, baked chicken, sharp cheddar cubes, and a green sauce (fresh baby spinach food-processed with evoo, chili oil, sesame oil, salt, garlic, and walnuts).
Samosas. Trader Joe’s mini vegetable ones. Paired with curry cauliflower (roasted cauliflower sauteed with evoo, salt, pepper, smoked paprika, and Jamaican curry powder) with pickled red onions and fried eggs.
P.S. We’re going to Queens for empanadas tonight. Other than the other thousand varieties of things stuffed into pastas, did I miss any??
Somethings from this week, mostly on-theme and/or coffee…
No one is surprised that I’ve been buying Easter candies for months.
I also have been saving up lemon and coconut bars. The Melo bars are all 10/10 but the lemon flavor is actually my favorite. I also was very pleased with how lemony the 88 Acres one was.
Buzz’d Express Coffee‘s marshmallow Peep cold foam cold brew is maybe my favorite coffee of 2025.
I also made my own version with toasted birthday cake Peeps blended into an iced coffee with cream, sugar, vanilla bean powder, and vanilla extract.
Coconut water with dalgona-style espresso (9/10).
A spring-y cottage cheese bowl with leftover fermented banana cake, kiwi, blackberries, and edible flowers.
Trader Joe’s dried baby pineapples. These are nicely sweet and chewy.
We tried the rice paper noodles hack with brown rice spring roll wrappers (loved it, the chew was perfect). Stir-fried with Pad See Ew sauce, baked chicken, green onion, broccolini, and egg.
Buffalo chicken cabbage bowls. I made a cole slaw with green cabbage, green onion, tomato, Greek yogurt, mayo, dijon mustard, vinegar, white pepper, sugar, and blue cheese. Topped with baked chicken that I tossed in a skillet with butter, dijon, and Frank’s buffalo sauce.
Sheet-pan hash. Sprouted extra-firm tofu baked with brussels sprouts, yam, green onion, blue cheese, and Trader Joe’s sweet and spicy pecans. I topped my bowl with honey and chili crisp.
Pizza night! Two-ingredient crust plus two ingredients (garlic and onion powder) / Trader Joe’s pizza sauce zhuzhed up with tomato sauce, roasted garlic, and urfa pepper / pizza-blend shredded cheese / sauteed mushrooms (a frozen blend with white, crimini, portobello, and shiitake) with green onions, gochugaru, and butter. Plus roasted yellow cauliflower.
It was a great weekend. We spent some time in Ridgewood and also checked out the fabulous orchid show at the NY Botanical Gardens in the Bronx. Food highlights…
We bought this fancy grape jam in Hudson and I was excited to use to use it.
Like in a pb&j bowl with yogurt, cottage cheese, fresh blueberries, and smooth and chunky peanut butter.
And in an iced coffee (with vanilla cold foam).
The best coffee of the weekend had blueberries in it! I blended cold coffee with frozen blueberries, brown sugar, skin milk, and vanilla protein powder.
I also had a nice latte from Honeymoon Coffee (<– super cute spot). Enjoyed with some flan from a bakery in Ridgewood. We stirred some of the caramel into the latte and that was obviously great.
Evil Twin is our favorite New York brewery and this was one of our best trips to date – so many fun sours!
Cheesy tots. Baked potato tots with roasted cauliflower and tons of sharp cheddar. And Sriracha horseradish aioli, furikake, gochugaru, and sesame seeds.
Cafe Deux. I got their burger which was double Wagyu patties, house aioli, and cheddar with tons of fries. I also stole several bites of Adam’s soft-scrambled eggs and toast with local jam.
Plus we shared a great brownie sundae with their flourless chocolate cake and Cafe Panna vanilla ice cream.
Decades Pizza. The pizza was wonderful but I was drawn in by this drink – Pink Moon Sour = amaretto, contratto bitter, lemon, and marshmallow cream! The drink on the left was cold brew with honey, nutmeg, and soda.
We shared and loved a bunch of things. Our favorite dish of the night was the arancini with hazelnut pesto, Calabrian chili, and pecorino.
Roasted carrots and asparagus with whipped ricotta and pesto oil.
Mushroom pie – blue oyster mushrooms, garlic, cream, mozzarella, and parmigiano.
And a special pie with Calabrian chili and tons of green onions.
And we got fermented banana cake with cream cheese frosting for dessert.
Our leftovers were perfect for Sunday dinner. Plus sauteed asparagus with toasted almonds, garlic, lemon, yellow mustard, and dijon.
Adam and I spent a GREAT weekend in the Hudson Valley (primarily downtown Hudson). On Saturday we walked around admiring the town for eight straight hours! Alphabetically…
Cafe Mutton. I ordered my Bloody Mary extra spicy and with excessive garnish (it came with a giant slab of house made sausage that Adam happily inherited). We shared a buckwheat scone with butter and curd.
And a mushroom and gruyere omelet with buttered toast. [And Bucitini with lamb ragu.]
Adam got a fantastic tuna melt and I got the brisket melt (my favorite sandwich of the trip!) – with smoked cheddar, jalopeno peppers, and white bbq sauce on white bread.
Lemon chess pie.
Hereafter. It was our first time at this bar. My drink on the right was a Magnolia Fizz – gin, Douglas fir brandy, magnolia oolong, milk oolong, cream, citrus, egg whites, and mint.
Hudson Roastery. Their iced espresso with skim milk is my 2nd favorite coffee in all of New York.
Kitty’s. Their brunch can’t compare to their dinner (but was still solid). I had a great mocktail, Kitty Temple – ginger beer, lemon, lime, and housemade grenadine.
We shared eggs on rice with pickled veggies and chili oil and and hashbrowns.
Lil Deb’s Oasis. Their cocktails are always amazing. Golden Thaw – Japanese whiskey, lemon, and tamarind / Unknown Legend – bay leaf, pisco, burnt honey syrup, grapefruit, egg white, and pimenton. [We also loved a Colorless Dream – Haitian rum, sake, bitter melon, and toasted rice.]
We shard a bunch of dishes. Loaded fries with vegan chz wiz and pickled onions and Fresno chiles.
Tamale with mushroom, poblano and nopal filling, and a golden milk veloute. (Adam’s favorite)
Llapingacho – a potato and cheese pancake with pickled pineapple, peanut salsa, and a fried egg. (My favorite).
Braised chicken mole with confit potato and a “Carolina Mole” (with vinegar).
For dessert we got the Sexpresso Martini – coconut nutmeg tequila, Forthave Brown, cold brew, and cola syrup.
And a scoop of chocolate sorbet.
Mel the Bakery. Pistachio and almond croissant and a fantastic corn cookie with blueberry jelly.
Stewart’s. We popped into this cute gas station and came away with maple French toast cold brew!
Eating Chalk 