Tag Archives: pasta

Bao Haus Is Back!

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Adam and I had the whole weekend together and it was just the best! We had two days of Manhattan fun (East Village and the Upper East Side) including great food, a long walk, time loving the trees in Central Park, and a trip the Cooper Hewitt Design Museum. The highlights…

Fancy Kook‘s carrot cake iced latte with cream cheese foam, cinnamon, and pecans.

I was disappointed in this egg coffee from Le Phin but we also had the best pandan iced latte I’ve ever had.

Cola and lemonade slush from Slik. Perfect consistency and not too-too sweet.

We quite enjoyed this bowl from Yogurt Club. Super thick strained Greek yogurt with blueberries, Biscoff kataifi sauce, and mochi.

Speaking of mochi and kataifi – Bear Donut‘s new chewy cookies are amazing. We got white chocolate hazelnut.

Before they closed, Bao Haus served my favorite food in New York and their new iteration is even better! We had lamb bao and unphotographed duck bao.

The Birdhaus bao was as fantastic as I remembered.

The new location does large plates like these outstanding noodles with chilis, pickled greens, and burnt ends. The wonderful schmaltzy pea shoots are hiding in the back.

I also had a guava gose with a delightful rim (li hing mui, maybe?).

Cambodian food at Bayon. We shared shrimp, crabmeat, and corn chowder.

Tamarind duck. Perfectly crispy skin!

Sauteed eggplant with beef, fresh basil, garlic, chili peppers, and oyster sauce. The beef was even better than the duck.

And the Spicy Siem Reap Noodles – sauteed wide rice noodles, basil, scallions, eggs, onion, chili, fish sauce, and
soybean, with beef, extra spicy.

I tamed the spice with a creamy iced tea.

P.S. The leftover noodles were great reheated in a skillet with kale and an extra egg.

Nachos. Stew Leonard’s salsa verde protein tortilla chips (delicious!) with sharp cheddar, ground turkey, and onion, poblano, and bell pepper sauteed with taco seasoning.

Chopped Cheese, Peanut Butter Tofu

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Highlights from a yummy week…

Equator remains some of the best bottled cold brew I’ve tried.

Ube and pandan simple syrups. They were good-not-great in iced coffees but nice in Diet Cokes.

The best yogurt bowls = plain skyr with tons of blueberries and chopped marzipan.

Durian ice creams. These were both so flavorful and the Mavens was some of the creamiest ice cream I’ve ever tried.

I went to Duck Island Bread Company for bread and ended up with a great pistachio croissant.

We used the bread to make wonderful sandwiches. Sourdough pullman / ginger miso mayo / shredded, baked super-firm tofu tossed with peanut butter, gochujang, lime juice, brown sugar, and veggie broth / sliced baby cucumbers marinated in white sugar, Sichuan peppercorn, Milu everything spice, and rice vinegar. Plus roasted baby broccoli.

For Five‘s chopped cheese sandwich was surprisingly good. Even these leftovers were delicious.

Congee bowls. Brown rice slow-cooked with chicken stock / mustard greens and scallion sauteed with soy sauce, rice vinegar, garlic, and pepper / ground turkey sauteed with peanut butter, lime, brown sugar, Sriracha, dark soy sauce, fish sauce, and chicken broth / chili crisp.

Tuna noodle casserole. This came out so well! Brami radiatori protein pasta, canned tuna, and canned trout / mushrooms, leek, and red scallions sautéed with flour, corn starch, veggie broth, gochujang, fish sauce, and sesame oil / baked topped with a mix of crushed honey butter chips and seaweed chips. Plus roasted broccoli.

My Rex Manning day tradition is rewatching Empire Records with pizza and brownies and this was our best year yet! Brownies = Hummingbird High’s small batch brownies. These are even better than my go-to brownie recipe (I did add a bit of espresso powder and topped them with cinnamon maple pretzels).

Pizza = a variety of slices from Tori T’s. This is some of the best pizza I’ve eaten; the crust is perfect.

Milk Mochi And Coconut Flan

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Things from the weekend, mostly fancy snacks…

Buzzd’s latte of the month was their best yet – banana brulee.

Chip City‘s Peeps cookie, obviously – marshmallow flavored dough with sprinkles, marshmallow filling, vanilla buttercream, and a Peep! It was good but not as good as it sounds.

We didn’t like it, but I’m thrilled someone at McDonald’s thought to put blueberry in a Flurry.

My two top favorite treats from 99 Ranch.

Salty Lunch Lady‘s (always a joy!) Chicky-smashed chicken meatball, charred onion, feta, arugula, and smoked paprika mayo on a seeded bun.

Leftovers. Turkey and black bean meatballs and zucchini. I added a lot of green Choloula.

Shanghai You Garden. We shared chicken and broccoli and rice cakes with beef.

Rincon Crillo. Vaca Fritta, grilled chicken with onions, and maduros.

And coconut flan.

3.1426

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This week we were both getting over a cold and went to a mid-week work-night concert – Rainbow Kitten Surprise at Brooklyn Paramount, it was great! – so we did a lot of boring foods and take-out. Here were some of the fun highlights…

Good snacks. Passionfruit Peelerz.

Trader Joe’s black sesame mochi are perfectly done.

Lucky Ox’s mango toasted rice sparkler is objectively good and not too sweet but ultimately not for me.

Our version of the viral pickle dip is a scoopable dinner bowl situation. A mix of chopped baked chicken, dill pickles, spicy pickles, scallion, extra-sharp cheddar, mayo, plain skyr, sweet and spicy jalapeño pickle juice, and ranch seasoning. Scooped with bell pepper, baby carrots, and Nufs hot honey crackers.

I made a batch of gussied up red sauce – Trader Joe’s pizza sauce cooked down with evoo, tomato paste, gochugaru, dried basil, and tons of roasted garlic. Served once as a dip with sauteed ground turkey and crispy baked bow-tie pasta. Plus sauteed fennel, leek, red chard, and garlic (a 10/10 combo).

And once in meatball subs. With provolone cheese and baked turkey cheese meatballs (with panade, egg, hoisin sauce, garlic powder, onion powder, pepper, and sharp cheddar in the middle). Plus sauteed asparagus with lemon, basil, and pepper.

Pizza pie for Pi Day. I also had a slice of pie from Milk Bar on the train!

Brunch at Naks. Our favorite dish was the vinegar fries.

I had the kare kare omelette with braised beef cheeks, peanut stew, eggplant, bok choy, and garlic toast. Plus bites of Adam’s Filipino platter and we shared a (spicy!) mushroom noodle.

They were out of the salted egg yolk pancake and as a consolation prize they sent out their ube cheesecake which ended up being fantastic.

P.S. We have fun dinner reservations we are jazzed about tonight at the new Third Times the Charm in Red Hook.

Spicy Cheesy Honey Eggs

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Things from the weekend…

Wonderful coconut iced latte from Space Cowboy.

Yellow dragon fruits are the superior color.

Ice cream sundae – vanilla ice cream with chocolate tahini, dulce de leche, and crumbled miso black sesame cookie (we ordered online from an artisanal place we liked but didn’t love).

Leftover crabby greens.

Pasta salad – bowties, roasted zucchini, baked chicken breast, Trader Joe’s cilantro salad dressing, homemade sauce (food-processed cilantro, evoo, water, gochugaru, sunflower seeds, and roasted poblano pepper and green onion). Plus viral spicy cheesy honey eggs (with chili oil and Dubliner cheese).

Goodbye, 2025

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Here were some highlights from THE END OF 2025?!…

Peppermint divinity candy, 9/10.

O’Jelly plum and kiwi gummies, 100/10. These are my new favorite peelable candies.

World Taco Factory. Esquites, chicken al pastor taco, jerk chicken taco, and a Korean beef bbq taco.

Spicy salmon roll bowls. Brown rice / canned salmon with skyr, mayo, minced ginger, Sriracha, and soy sauce / quick pickled cucumbers with sugar, salt, and rice vinegar / seaweed salad / seaweed sheets.

Packaged wide noodles in spicy sauce plus sauteed seitan and roasted zucchini.

Marshmallow Snowman

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This week’s coffee combo was a winner.

This week’s yogurt bowels were dessert-y. Trader Joe’s eggnog Greek yogurt with creme brulee granola and persimmon.

Plain skyr with chopped egg yolk nougat (it was amazing, like a marzipan cake) and blueberries.

Giant mango peelable gummy. 100/10. This was a perfect mango representation in gummy form.

Tuna salad. Canned tuna with bell pepper, water chestnuts, peanuts, ginger, Duke’s mayo, plain skyr, red curry paste, and lemon juice. Plus roasted cauliflower with a labne hot honey dipping sauce (labne, chili oil, gochugaru, and honey).

Pasta salad. Brami Protein Pasta curly mac / sharp cheddar / smoked turkey / roasted Bahama Bomb tomatoes and zucchini with evoo, smoked paprika, garlic powder, and onion powder.

Creamy tomato pasta. My sauce was blended then cooked sweet canned tomatoes, tomato paste, pepper, gochugaru, roasted garlic, evoo, fish sauce, dark soy sauce, parmesan cheese, and silken tofu. Plus sauteed asparagus with bell pepper, water chestnuts, and sweet and spicy pecans.

P.S. My post is a day early because my work-week is ending a day early; I am off tomorrow to show my parents all of the NYC seasonal fun!

Seaweed And Seitan

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Three things from the weekend…

I am staunchly anti-carb-on-carb (i.e. I don’t want garlic bread next to mashed potatoes and I don’t like rice in burritos – fries are allowed though!) but this macaroni and cheese slice from Pizzaria G is the best pizza I have ever eaten.

Black eyed pea salad. BEP with baked super-firm tofu, orange bell pepper, poblano pepper, sharp cheddar, crispy broad beans, and Trader Joe’s cilantro dressing.

Plus seaweed potato chips for crunch.

Buffalo bowls. Cabbage (roasted with salt and pepper and then tossed with mayo, skyr, evoo, rice vinegar, ranch seasoning, celery seed, smoked paprika, and sugar) topped with Blackbird buffalo wing style seitan.