Gourdgeous

This week’s highlights were… pumpkin snacks and random dinners.

I made Hummingbird High’s pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. They are insanely good.

Siggi’s pumpkin spice skyr with blackberries and granola.

Trader Joe’s vanilla bean Greek yogurt with pumpkin puree, maple syrup, chia seeds, blackberries, and grnola.

Pumpkin pie smoothie. Pumpkin puree with milk, plain Greek yogurt, frozen banana, maple syrup, cinnamon, and mace.

Trader Joe’s scallion pancake / canned salmon with mayo and Sriracha / roasted zucchini / all topped with Kewpie, Sriracha, and furikake.

Roasted cauliflower and chicken salad – shredded chicken breasts, mayo, yellow mustard, honey mustard dressing, and roasted almonds slivers with Sichuan salt.

Breakfast burger sandwiches. Whole Foods’ plant-based burgers, gouda, and a fried egg on a whole-wheat bun with blueberry jam. Plus leftover cauliflower.

Maple Ice Cream

I hope all of my readers and safe and not having horrible weather! If the rain isn’t too terrible in NYC this weekend Adam and I have some fun plans for tomorrow.

Highlights from this week included…

Greek yogurt bowl with chia, maple syrup, granola, plucot, and blueberries.

Apple snack plate. Apple pie rice cakes, dried apples, apple cider caramels, and smoked almonds.

Butterfly pea tea and matcha iced latte.

I impulse-bought some very fun desserts for the week. Refridgerated creme brulee! It came with little packets of crunchy sugar for the topping.

This Trader Joe’s salted maple ice cream was great; wonderful consistency.

Yummy homemade chicken congee. With brown rice, chicken thighs, and vinegary greens (kale and red chard sauteed with soy sauce, gojuchang, and rice vinegar). Topped with crushed peanuts and tons of chili crisp.

Buffalo chicken pasta salad. Whole-wheat pasta / chicken sausage / blue cheese / sauteed carrot, celery, and green onion / sauce made out of mayo, vinegar, and Frank’s buffalo sauce.

One Last Week Of Apple Month

Highlights from the past week included…

Over Easy apple cinnamon breakfast bar.

A yogurt bowl with Trader Joe’s honeycrisp apple cinnamon Greek yogurt. Plus granola nut butter, granola, and fresh bluberries.

My mom sent me a giant box of apple cider caramels for Apple Month! The spiced apple pie and apple brandy flavors were my favorite. I brought in a bunch for my coworkers and they loved them too. (Sidenote – they had no idea what Apple Month was. And when I brought in brownies for Rex Manning Day they had never heard of Empire Records, so they’re on thin ice!)

We finally got to try the much-lauded chocolate-stuff croissant from Lafayette Bakery.

Also treats from La Cabra. A rye and lemon tart and a cardamom twist.

And we had a fantastic lunch date at Yellow Rose. We shared chips and salsa.

A mezal margarita.

Sherry Cherry Coke, coca cola with sherry and jammy sour cherries.

Beef tacos.

Buttermilk chicken salad with Ruby Frost apples, pecans, and celery on Texas toast.

Apple Month

It’s September, aka Apple Month! Here is this year’s themed-food haul –

P.S. I started yesterday morning with an apple crisp macchiato from Starbucks and it was perfect!

My favorite eats this week were mostly fun beverages and eclectic dinners. Highlights included…

A yogurt bowl with blackberries and my newest nut butter obsession – oaty nut butter from Fix & Fogg.

The grapefruit lime is my favorite of this non-alcoholic tepache.

Yuzu brown sugar sparkling iced matcha.

We tried the newest Coke flavor – Dreamworld. It was a bit too fruity for me; I preferred the Starlight and would much prefer if they would just bring back Diet Cherry Coke.

Tangerine sparkling soju. <– we were not expecting to enjoy this as much as we did

Caramel apple margarita!!

Egg casserole with crusty bread, chicken soup sausage, sauteed mushrooms, roasted zuchinni, and gouda. Plus a side of blackberries.

I wanted leftover rice for dinners so I ordered a bunch of Thai food! This bowl was chicken pad see eiw, cashew chicken, and shrimp dumplings.

Salmon roll bowls. Thai sticky rice, baked salmon, spicy cucumber salad, avocado, roasted zucchini, Kewpie, Sriracha, and furikake.

Fried rice with onion, bok choy, chicken sausage, eggs (plus aromatics and seasoning).

Saucy, Spicy, Stupendous

I’m late on this post but we had too many wonderful things last week not to share! Mostly lots of very (very, very, very) good restaurant meals. Three different days I got to take a super-long city walk (including a Central Park date with the husband!). Highlights include…

Coffees with brown sugar syrup.

A tamarind Americano from Le Phin.

Breakfast at Ursula. We shared a strawberry chamoy pastry.

And a sopaipilla with grassfed beef, green chile, refried pinto beans, and cheddar.

Breakfast at the Blue Light Speaky Cheesy pop-up. The workers could not have been more wonderful here and everything was fantastic! We shared a sandwich with pesto scrambled eggs, goat cheese, blueberry jam, and arugula; a maple lavender latte (<– topped with orange zest, which apparently is my new favorite thing); and an iced Getaway Latte with sweetened condensed milk, cinnamon, and vanilla.

Malted berry smoothie. Frozen cherries and strawberries with Greek yogurt, chocolate almond milk, and malted milk powder.

Yogurt bowl – vanilla skyr, pecan granola, chia seeds, blueberries, and cherry plums (<– both Adam’s and my new favorite fruit).

Cookie dough granola (<– amazing, the flavor is spot on!) with blueberries and chocolate almond milk.

Lunch at Bahn (<– best meal of the whole week!). Iced Vietnamese egg coffee.

Summer rolls with shrimp and mung bean sauce.

Rolls with crispy shrimp, beef jerky, green mango, Sriracha, and egg yolk cream.

Noodle salad with sizzling butter beef.

Dumplings from Mimi Cheng. Their monthly special is a collab with Pecking House and is stuffed with buttermilk twice-fried chicken and topped with the best chili crisp I’ve ever tasted.

Homemade(!) grain bowls. Farro with pesto, chicken pesto sausage, fennel greens, and sauteed celery and baby orange tomatoes.

Adam forgot his credit card at BKNY Thai so we went back sooner than we were expecting to. A serendipitous mistake because our take-out was 11/10. Fish cakes / dumplings with ground chicken, shallot, peanut, and preserved radish / beef Pad See Ew with extra Chinese broccoli.

Omekase at the Chemisty Room at Sushi Lab. We ate at the counter and the service was impecable. I only took a few photos but everything was delicious and gorgeous.

Dinner at Wen Wen. My daiquiri with rum, Cachaça, and birds eye chili was perfect and balanced.

We had numbing celtuce salad with garlic, red vinegar, and Sichuan pepper.

Hot honey popcorn chicken.

Cold sesame noodles with cucumbers and egg ribbons.

Beef noodle soup with pickled mustard greens and a 16-hour oxtail broth.

Eat Nice

Some things from the weekend…

Yogurt bowl. Plain Greek with maple, chia, praline pecan granola, and chopped aprium.

10/10 loved this new flavor from Over Easy.

On the other hand, this is a reminder for myself to stop buying this Oreo coffee because I do not like it. It tastes like a watery Oreo with no coffee whatsoever.

This Whole Foods almond milk ice cream was pretty good but not as good as non-vegan ice cream.

A breakfast bowl cheese fry situation. Trader Joe’s seasoned fries with mozarella, soft-scrambled eggs, roasted zucchini, and chicken breakfast sausage.

Chinese take-out!

So much Chinese take-out. Bok choy and mushrooms, fried tofu, sesame noodles, and a cheeseburger egg roll.

Mostly Bowls

Highlights from the past week include…

Dark roast coffee with ube condensed milk.

A loaded yogurt bowl – plain Greek, Mid-day peanut butter chocolate square, doughnut peach, aprium, praline pecan granola.

Cosmic Crisps are my new favorite apple.

We did not enjoy this key lime sour, but I am posting a photo as a reminder to Adam and myself because it so seems like something we would like.

On the other hand, we loved the flavor profile and political stance of this Greenpoint IPA.

Typically I don’t buy vegan ice creams but these bites are pretty satisfying.

Our favorite sheetpan hash – roasted Japanese sweet potato, bok choy, and green onion; topped with smoked salmon candy and roasted Norwegian salmon. I also added tons of Kewpie, Sriracha, and furikake.

Big summer salads. Local lettuce, honey mustard dressing, baby tomatoes, roasted corn, baked tofu, and homemade croutons.

Best bowl of the week – sauteed cabbage, snap peas, baby tomato, and green onions, with chicken maple breakfast sausage, peanuts, Korean chili flake, Sichuan pepper salt, and a nuoc cham inspired sauce.

Tons of Roast take-out – chicken taco sandwich, fries, buffalo-style roasted potatoes – plus roasted purple cauliflower.

Tres Leches Latte

Such a good week of meals! Highlights include…

Coconut tres leches iced latte! Espresso with a blend of coconut milk, condensed milk, and half and half. I was making a rose coffee syup at the same time so I went ahead and dyed it pink!

Yogurt bowl. Plain Greek with chia seeds and strawberry jam, yellow peach, passionfruit, and praline granola.

My birthday is this weekend so these felt appropriate. We have loved every single thing we’ve tried from Made Good.

Boozy grape slushie – grape soda ice cubes blended with vodka. <– my best idea of the summer

A take on callaloo. Collard greens, turkey bacon, and crab meat cooked with coconut milk, onion, scotch bonnet pepper, ginger, and chili flakes.

Adam paired his with rice like an adult and I paired mine with pizza like a winner.

Creamy, spicy, peanut noodles. Ramen noodles + stir-fried cabbage and red bell pepper + a sauce with cream cheese, peanut butter, and gojuchang.

I gussied up store-bought marinara to make a delicious meat sauce – turkey bacon, ground turkey, onion, chili flake, urfa pepper, fish sauce, and tons of garlic. Served on Trader Joe’s cauliflower gnocci with a side of garlic bok choy.

We also used meat sauce on homemade pizza. Plus sauteed broccoli with butter, chili flake, and garlic.