Last Week’s Top Five

by Emily

There has been a lot of excitement since last Saturday. We had three days of weather so warm I could hold my iced coffee in bare hands while I walked in my sandals.

Last Sunday I comfortably walked the dog in shorts and a t-shirt!

And Adam celebrated a birthday.

His parents came for a birthday visit and we had a great time showing them the tree at Rockefeller Center and the fantastic holiday lights all around Manhattan.

Here are some of the food highlights…

{1} Pineapple Turkey Chili

By Tuesday the weather was back to normal* again and it was cold enough for Chili. *global warming winter normal, it’s still 50 in December

I made my pineapple turkey recipe.

We gobbled it up topped with shredded cheese, sour cream, and pickled jalapeño.

{2} Holiday Fails

It was bound to happen sooner or later, I had not one, but two, holiday themed food flops.

This years soy nog has way too much soy milk aftertaste for me and the candy cane flavor (in spite of the adorable chips of candy cane) was the first Adagio tea I thought tasted like dirty water. You win a lot, you lose some.

{3} Restaurant Burgers

Any time we have Long Island visitors we take them to Bare Burger. Adam’s parents loved it.

I got a Wiki Wiki on a turkey patty – gouda, duck bacon, fried onions, and pineapple relish.

The burger was great, and they had a very exciting local brew – chocolate egg cream stout!

We also took them to Thistle Hill. I got a falafel burger.

With tzatziki and hot sauce and salt and pepper fries.

{4} Dinner at The Gander

We are both obsessed with duck, so The Gander quickly made it to the top of our dinner date list.

The space was gorgeously done up for Christmas – with lights and a giant gingerbread house – but too dark for me to take a passable picture. Ignore my bad photography though, the food was on point.

We started with local burrata with butternut squash and toast.

And I ordered the Glasgow Punch, which came from a tap; scotch with citrus and clarified milk. This was one of the best drinks I’ve ever had, it smelled smoky in an amazing way.

We split two pastas for dinner. Gnocchi with shishito peppers and cheddar.

And tubetti with duck confit and a duck egg yolk. <– best dish of the night

Plus cauliflower with capers and anchovies.

Dessert was salted cajeta cake with maple lace tuiles and pistachio gelato.

Everything was delicious and you could taste the care that went into each dish.

{5} Birthday Ice Cream Cake

This was my first attempt at an ice cream cake and I was a little nervous but it came out great. Whenever Adam and I go to a Cold Stone-style ice cream place we always get coffee with Oreos and peanut butter, so that’s what I put together for his birthday.

An Oreo crust / with a peanut butter layer (I basically make flattened buckeye candy) / a coffee ice cream layer / and a bunch of Oreos, mini Reese’s cups, and sprinkles for topping.

Yum! It was gone by the end of the weekend!

7Dec2015

“Weekend” Top Three

by Emily

I can’t really call it the weekend because it was my turn to work Saturday and Sunday and I go in today as well (boo). But I then I have Tuesday off (yay). Every 4-6 weeks I will be working S/S in exchange for two free weekdays. It was a little strange to be in the diet office all by myself but I got a ton of work done and saw some really interesting patients.

Here are the top three food highlights, I enjoyed the weekend work but it certainly was tiring, you can safely assume that I ate chips in bed for dinner on Saturday…

{1} Sweet breakfasts to lure myself out of bed.

Not only did I work on the weekend, I went in an hour earlier than usual! <– because the thought of being at work until 5 on a Sunday was just too much. I had to bribe myself out the door. Nonfat iced eggnog latte.

Fried dough for Hanukkah.

My marzipan doughnut and roasty coffee were both delicious and were fantastic together. FYI, Brooklyn people – Doughnut Plant also has a few Hanukkah special doughseeds this week.

{2} Fresh tamarind.

My coworker brought us in tamarind last week. I haven’t eaten it fresh in years.

Enough time had passed that I forgot how obnoxiously stringy it is.

I think I will stew the rest of my share.

{3} 1st night of Hanukkah dinner at Mile End.

ME is quickly becoming one of our favorite spots. I love how inventive the menu is (modern takes on traditional Jewish dishes all made on a tiny grill and fryer behind an open counter) and the meats and vegetables are expertly prepared.

We started with blintzes with apple maple crumble on top. The chef whipped these up from scratch a foot in front of us! They were outstanding, obviously.

And we didn’t do latkes but we did have French fries in chicken gravy poutine.

I got the sprouts kugel for dinner. Egg noodles with steamed and fried brussels sprouts, cottage cheese, and a soft egg on top.

I grew up eating sweet kugel with raisins and this savory iteration is the best I’ve ever had. In fact, this was simply one of the best (top 5) dishes I’ve had all year!

Happy 2nd night of Hanukkah to my readers who celebrate!

5Dec2015

It’s Beginning To Taste A Lot Like Christmas!

by Emily

December 1st hits and right on schedule my head fills with thoughts of sugar plums! Or rather thoughts of eggnog and hot chocolate, I’ve never actually tasted a sugar plum.

It’s not as big as my pumpkin bounty, but I was still pretty excited to pull out my holiday goods stash.

I’ve marked all of the eats in this post that qualify as holiday foods with a ** for classification purposes, also because it feels me with glee. I’m missing a lot of photos (I ate a ton this week) but here are the highlights…

breakfast

This week’s coffee – Breakfast Blend with TJ’s low-fat eggnog**.

Plus I had an “original” eggnog iced latte**.

This week’s tea – Gingerbread**.

With a caramel apple biscotti (former freebie).

Or a gingerbread biscotti** (meta!) and a juicy pear.

Or a slice of carrot cake my coworker brought in.

It was a good week for workplace treats, another coworker brought me Filipino-style ambrosia from her Thanksgiving.

It was out of control good; I made myself ill scarfing down that container. Less sugar than the American version and loaded with palm seeds and fresh coconut.

snacks

Maple leaf iced latte from Sweet Leaf.

Yummy, but nothing can top the Voodoo Child (their take on Vietnamese iced coffee). We also had a really yummy Spanish iced latte at a café in Park Slope later in the week.

Holiday doughnuts** from Doughnut Plant.

Chestnut and a marzipan star.

Holiday milkshakes** from Shake Shack.

We tried gingerbread and chocolate peppermint. They weren’t all that good but the penguins on the cup make my day.

Mini cupcakes from Sweet Haus Cupcake Café.

We shared red velvet, salted caramel, and cookie dough. Cookie dough = a literal scoop of cookie dough!

Hot cocoa Hubba Bubba** as an after lunches palate cleanser.

I don’t know how they managed to make the gum so chocolatey!

Mug cookies for the win.

Number 2 Pencil’s winner recipe with salted brown butter dark chocolate.

lunch

Brunch with Adam on Sunday. We went to Greenpoint for Five Leaves. I got a so-so Bloody Mary.

And we shared an amazing braised duck pot pie.

And an egg sandwich.

The pot pie was succulent duck, root vegetables, and parsnip veloute, in an herbed crust with wilted brussels sprouts leaves.

Cafeteria food is listed from least to most enjoyable –

One day there was nothing that looked appetizing so I ate a spicy tuna salad package from the snack stash in my desk. Plus cafeteria baked fries.

Another day I ate Asian tofu and steamed squash and wished I’d stuck with my desk snacks.

This tossed salad – with lettuce, ranch, pickles, olives, cucumbers, tomatoes, cheese, and pinto beans – was pretty good.

And this taco salad was a winner.

From the salad bar and the taco bar I assembled lettuce, veggies, cheddar, sour cream, salsa, and black bean and corn salsa.

dinner

Pizza-pizza.

Turkey pepperoni and mozzarella balls on top of marinara sauce and a TJ’s frozen crust.

With salads on the side.

Arugula / roasted broccoli / balsamic, honey, evoo, and lavender salt / sweet and spicy pecans.

Pasta with veggies and sauce. We topped whole-wheat penne with Bertolli mushroom and truffle sauce mixed with browned mushrooms, chopped spinach, and TJ’s vegan chorizo.

With huge hunks of ciabatta slathered with Smart Balance.

This meal was good several nights in a row.

Veggie miso ramen from Chuko. With scallions, bamboo shoots, butternut squash, shredded chicken, soft boiled egg, and their fantastic sesame greens.

I had a sore throat all week and this – plus a big scoop of honey ice cream at Ample Hills – was just what the doctor ordered.

I hope you’re enjoying your weekend!

29Nov2015

Turkey Week Eats

by Emily

I hope that all of my American readers had a wonderful Thanksgiving! We didn’t do anything fancy to celebrate, but I sure was thankful for the four-day workweek! My million-point list of things I’m thankful for also includes this gorgeous city…

Random Thoughts

I made the toffee candy for a work birthday party, this time following the original recipe.

I think my version with graham crackers and pretzels is better, the saltines got a bit soggy.

I reread To Kill a Mockingbird this week in anticipation of starting Go Catch a Watchman and cried on the train at least ten times.

TKM is one of my favorite books but I had forgotten what a fabulous writer Harper Lee is in the few years since I had last reread it. Atticus is my all-time favorite character. I love him even more than Ghosh from Cutting for Stone.

“They’re certainly entitled to think that, and they’re entitled to full respect for their opinions,” said Atticus, “but before I can live with other folks I’ve got to live with myself. The one thing that doesn’t abide by majority rule is a person’s conscience.”

Daytime Eats

This week’s tea – Adagio’s Pumpkin Spice (former freebie).

With treats from the birthday party… including pie made with fresh coconut

Or with pumpkin applesauce and biscotti.

This week’s coffee – Community Coffee’s Breakfast Blend with skim milk and sugar.

Cafeteria lunch salads. Romaine, blue cheese dressing, carrot, cucumber, tomato, olive, pickle, black eyed peas, and pasta salad.

Romaine, ranch, carrot, cucumber, tomato, olive, pickle, corn salsa, cheddar, and chickpeas.

Romaine, blue cheese dressing, carrot, olive, tomato, cucumber, corn, cheddar, and cole slaw.

And home on Turkey Day I was thankful for yogurt bowls.

Plain Greek yogurt topped with cranberry sauce, pomegranate, chia seeds, and praline pecan maple granola. Best bowl of the year.

Nighttime Eats

I met up with girlfriends for drinks early in the week. Pork Slope never disappoints. They had Sorachi Ace, Adam’s favorite beer which is now my favorite beer. It just goes down so easily!

I also had a ridiculous fall shandy – gin, maple bitters, simple syrup, lemon juice, and cider.

Dinners were all about the bird! We cooked turkey breasts in the crock pot on Sunday and then shredded them into meals all week.

Turkey tossed with TJ’s whole-wheat butternut squash goyza on top of sautéed shredded Brussels sprouts with pecans.

Topped with gruyere cheese and cranberry sauce.

Turkey tossed with bbq sauce on a brioche bun (toasted with Smart Balance) with cranberry sauce and goat’s milk brie.

With roasted green beans on the side. Year’s best sandwich!

For Thanksgiving dinner we decided to go super traditional – nachos. TJ’s stuffing flavored kettle chips topped with turkey, gruyere, smoked paprika, and cranberry sauce.

With hericot verts roasted with shallots. So much better than the usual meal! Plus pumpkin pie,

aka Rogue’s Pumpkin Patch Ale.

Friday night, once the turkey celebration was over, Adam and I went on a dinner date in the Lower East Side. Coffee while we walked around Chinatown.

Ice cream at Ice & Vice. Milk Money = toasted milk, sea salt, and chocolate ganache and Shade = smoked dark chocolate with caramelized white chocolate ganache. I’m usually not one for chocolate ice cream but this was fantastic.

Then dinner at Mission Chinese Food. With complimentary dumplings to start.

I ordered the Tea Ceremony – matcha, melon, and fizzy wine.

We shared the green papaya salad with smoked chicken, green tomato, peanuts, and pickled tea leaves.

And I ordered the spicy peanut noodles, with cucumber, mint, and numbing oil.

They were chewy, savory, and beyond tingly; numbing oil is good but intense! The mint was really wonderful with the spice. All in all a good meal, though not as epic as the thousand-plus articles I’d read about the restaurant would have had me believe.

23Nov2015

A Menagerie Of Markets

by Emily

Adam and I went to four different holiday markets/festivals/fairs this weekend. We didn’t actually purchase anything (other than food!) but it was fun to window shop.

Bryant Park Winter Village.

Union Square Holiday Market. <– this one was the best

Holiday Fair at Grand Central.

And Urban Space – Vanderbilt. <– this one was just a food court

We also had double pizza and hot chocolate! Here is some of the other good stuff…

lunch

Hospital cafeteria – fish taco salad.

Greens with ranch, guacamole, corn and tomato salsa, cheddar, and a piece of white fish and a hard-boiled egg.

Urban Space: Asia Dog. We got the Ginny – kimchi and seaweed flakes – on top of an amazingly smoky chicken dog. With a Genny cream ale!

We also got pizza from Roberta’s.

Cheesus Christ = mozzarella, taleggio, parmigano, black pepper, and cream = my favorite pizza.

Root & Bone – Mascato and macaroni and cheese with a biscuit and thyme crust.

The sweet wine went very well with the cheese.

dessert

Froyo. They had Nutella crunch.

With all of the sprinkles.

Boba Guys’ NYC pop up. Boba Guys is a San Francisco company that uses loose leaf teas and local milks. We loved them on our SF visit last fall.

We got Horchata and Thai Tea.

Hot Chocolate with a ginormous marshmallow from City Bakery.

The chocolate is very dark and the marshmallow is very sweet so together they are perfect. However, this couldn’t hold a candle to…

…Max Brenner‘s drinking chocolate.

Best drink, best dessert, best chocolate item of all time. I can barely drink it because I have to stop and die of happiness after every sip. It is sooooo thick, and sweet but not too sweet.

dinner

Milkflower – more pizza.

S.T. the Ghost = Grafton cheddar, mozzarella, Parmigiano-Reggiano, and burnt honey. This sounds like it should be my favorite pizza, but sadly it wasn’t.

We also had lackluster pasta; bucatini with tomatoes, chili, olive oil, and stracciatella cheese.

We loved the look of Milkflower but the meal just wasn’t as fantastic as it sounded. Dessert was on point though.

Chocolate budino (pudding) with espresso cream and Maldon sea salt. The components went together amazingly; the salt took the pudding over the top.

Sandwich night – roasted turkey and avocado on a brioche bun (toasty baked with Smart Balance) with Sriracha mayo.

Plus apple and baby carrots on the side.

Partial Thanksgiving dinner – another easy night, thanks to cranberry sauce and chicken sausage and cornbread stuffing from Trader Joe’s.

Plus great salads. Arugula / maple pumpkin seeds and rosemary sunflower seeds / dried cranberries and fresh pomegranate / cheddar / honey, evoo, balsamic, and lavender salt.

NYC friends – are there any other hot chocolates I need to check out??

13Nov2015

This Week’s Top Five; Product Reviews Galore

by Emily

I didn’t plan on doing a bulk review, I just happened to use a lot of new product samples this week. It works out well for those of you who hate product reviews because you can just skip this post and miss a whole set at once.

Disclosure – all of the starred (**) items in this post were provided to me gratis to review. I was not given further compensation for this post. As always, all opinions are my own.

Reminder – I only tasted one flavor each of the sauces and teas; I will continue to blog about the other varieties as I try them.

{1} Starbuck’s Chicken Santa Fe Sandwich

Not a freebie, just a product I’m obsessed with. I don’t even have them heat it up! The combo of crispy bell peppers, chewy flatbread, and creamy green-chile spread is so darn tasty.

{2} Pumpkin coconut chia yogurt bowl

This was the week’s best lunch, though that’s not much of a victory considering the fact that I ate cold pizza at my desk for lunch on two separate occasions. TJ’s coconut yogurt with pumpkin puree, roasted coconut chips, and chia seeds.

{3} Arbonne Essentials Protein Shake Mixes**

While I don’t think that protein powders are necessary for most people – you can meet your needs with whole foods! – I acknowledge that they can be a good option when you are in a rush or eating on the go. I am never going to bring eggs on the train but I can certainly pack a smoothie for my commute. Each packet provides 20 grams of vegan protein and 2 grams of fiber for 160 calories and 3.5 grams of unsaturated fat. <– mixed in a glass of cow’s milk that would provide more than 50% of my protein needs for the day.

Making protein smoothies is exactly what I did this week. Vanilla protein powder with unsweetened vanilla almond milk, pumpkin puree, cinnamon, and ice.

The next day was the same, but with chocolate. And with a chocolate cranberry biscotti on the side.

These certainly did fill me up, I didn’t even have room for coffee one day. I thought the flavor was passable but not fantastic, but it is worth noting that these powders are sweetened with cane sugar and stevia and I generally can’t stand the taste of stevia. I haven’t tried the daily fiber mix yet but I will report back when I do.

{4} Adagio Teas**

Adagio is a company that sells loose-leaf teas sourced directly from Artisan farmers. Their product selection is divided up very helpfully, the website lists teas by type (white, black, oolong, etc, including a variety of tea blends) and they have several sampler variety packages as well as the option to purchase a small sample of each type of tea (and they list the cost per cup for each option). Also cool? There is a section of the site where consumers can design and list their own blends and there is an immense selection of fandom blends. I basically had a heart attack over all the Supernatural and Buffy options but I decided to stick with the simpler stuff for now.

Adagio offered me a gift certificate and I was able picked a variety of teas. I also ordered some paper filters to brew them in. <– I’m sold, the filters were easy to pack and worked perfectly.

I don’t usually drink a ton of tea (duh, I’m a coffee fanatic!) but I’m hoping including a cup or two in the afternoon at work will help me to get closer to actually drinking enough water each day. This week I packed my paper filters with Earl Grey Moonlight.

Since the tea is loose you can see the citrus rind and blue cornflowers in with the black tea leaves which I thought was fun. It was no coffee, but this was the best Earl Grey I’ve ever had. My sample pouch will make 10 very reasonably priced 20 cent cups. I’m looking forward to teatime next week.

{5} Bertolli Riserva pasta sauces**

The newest line from Bertolli is made with artisanal ingredients and no artificial colors. The 24 oz bottles retail for ~$5.99 which is comparable to other similar (but less delicious) options. Flavors include Marinara with Parmigiano-Reggiano Cheese, Balsamic Vinegar with Caramelized Onions, Asiago Cheese with Artichokes, and Porcini Mushroom with White Truffle Oil.

They all sound pretty wonderful to me but I decided to go simple and try Marinara first. Each half cup serving has 110 calories. Unfortunately each serving also has 450 mg of sodium (more than 20% of the no more than 2 grams of sodium most people should limit themselves to each day), but the sauce is so rich and yummy that a little goes a long way – we used the marinara in 5 dinner servings this week and still have a good third of the bottle left.

We let the sauce shine on a plain – but fantastic! – pizza first. TJ’s frozen crust topped with sauce, fresh mozzarella, and torn fresh basil.

Then we gussied it up with veggies and meat for pasta bowls.

Roasted zucchini and tomato + sautéed ground turkey with basil and yellow onion + tossed with marinara / served on whole-wheat rotini / with sharp cheddar on top.

The final product was full of umami. These bowls were the best meal of the month!

What was your best meal so far this month?

24Oct2015

This Week’s Top Five {Giveaway}

by Emily

{1} Dates with old friends

A doctor friend from Buffalo came into the city for an interview so we gave him the quick New York experience – hand-pulled noodles from Xi’an Famous Foods eaten picnic-style in Bryant Park.

I got the spicy hot oil noodles, extra spicy, and they were brutal and delicious. Then we walked 10 blocks down to The Ginger Man to drink all of the beers.

The Ninkasi Noir was the best, a super roasty coffee milk stout. We also had mead!

My bff from 2nd grade lives here in Brooklyn, and this week her mom (aka my part-time mom my whole childhood) was visiting.

Not only did I get to catch up with good people, we ate delicious bibimbap.

We went to Dobeki, a Korean bbq spot in Williamsburg.

{2} Yogurt bowls

Pumpkin featured heavily, of course.

{3} Taco salad

We made homemade Chipotle bowls. Not to worry though, we also ate Chipotle!

Sweet romaine base + sauteed onions and peppers + ground turkey sauteed with shallots, garlic, lime, and spices + cheese and sour cream. Plus an assortment of pumpkin flavored beverages.

They were very good!

{4} Nonni’s new seasonal biscotti

Nonni’s sent me a very exciting box, featuring their (new)holiday biscotti flavors.

Please note: I was given these samples, plus another set of samples for a lucky reader, free of charge to review. I was not provided with further compensation for this post. All opinions are my own.

New Seasonal Flavors:

Nonni’s Caramel Apple Biscotti are made with delicious apples, a blend of brown sugar and cinnamon, filled with caramel and delicately dipped in gourmet white icing.

Nonni’s Cranberry Cioccolati are made with sweet cranberries and delicately dipped in rich dark chocolate.

Seasonal Returning Favorites:

Nonni’s Pumpkin Spice Biscotti are made with real pumpkin, a blend of robust spices and delicately dipped in gourmet cinnamon icing.

Nonni’s Gingerbread Biscotti are made with real molasses, premium spices and delicately dipped in white icing.

I had Caramel Apple with an iced white chocolate coffee.

Pumpkin Spice with pumpkin applesauce and an iced coffee. <– I realize a pumpkin spice latte would have been on theme here but I’ve finally accepted that I think PSLs are disgusting.

Gingerbread with a maple latte.

And Cranberry Cioccolati with a hot chocolate.

I loooooooooved them. I’ve sampled Nonni’s stuff in the past and they really make the best biscotti I’ve ever had. The texture is perfect, I am always expecting crumbly and hard and am pleasantly surprised by how easy they are to bite into. I don’t think I could identify pumpkin and gingerbread in a blind taste-test, but they were yummy regardless and I was glad that they weren’t overly spicy. The caramel apple was my favorite, it had pockets of chewy apple bits and caramel! The icing on all of them was great, not too sweet and a nice complement to the rest of the bar.

~~{5} A giveaway!~~

Nonni’s said I could share the love with you guys. One lucky (USA-based) reader will receive a box with all four holiday flavors. To enter to win – simply leave a comment on this post telling me which flavor you are most interested in. Comments must be received by midnight on Tuesday, October 27th.

***Update – Annamarie won the giveaway. She has already been contacted. Better luck next time 🙂

5Oct2015

Hello, Pumpkin Month!!

by Emily

It’s possible that I have a pumpkin purchasing problem…

Just maybe, though the pumpkin spice chap stick does make it seem pretty likely! Also I’ve eaten something pumpkin flavored at least once a day for the past four days. And October First I had something pumpkin at every single meal.

breakfast

Pumpkin spice latte.

I kind of hated it. I thought the spice was really overwhelming and I ordered my drink with 1/2 of the flavor pumps (plus an extra espresso shot and caramel drizzle on top) so I can’t even imagine a full-strength PSL.

Iced coffee with chocolate milk.

With a yummy GoMacro bar.

Pumpkin cheesecake doughnut from Dunkin.

Yuck city. These beverages were more my jam.

Sometimes we get a fountain soda when we go to the store. Sometimes we got to Starbucks for clover brews. And some magical days I get diet soda and an iced coffee and basically float through the grocery store in excitement.

Café Grumpy makes us anything but grumpy.

Adam’s flat white was better than my macchiato, especially once I clumsily oversugared it.

lunch

Chobani Flip with my last orchard apple and a TJ’s pumpkin cereal bar.

Plus dessert from the giant bag of Russian candies a (now former) coworker delivered me to say thank you for her retirement gift.

Plus I scarfed roasted broccoli with TJ’s Sriracha ranch the minute I got home because apparently this lunch didn’t fill me up at all.

The next day I ate practically the same meal and was full all afternoon.

Thank you 14 grams of protein in my Siggi.

With TJ’s pumpkin o’s and a honeycrisp.

Dinner leftovers – pasta and veggies. This photo is of Adam’s plate because I ate my (smaller) serving out of the Tupperware.

With TJ’s chocolate pumpkins for dessert.

We liked the orange ones and were lukewarm on the rest. Washed down with an alcoholic root beer that was freaking life changing.

Best root beer (boozy or not) either of us have ever tasted.

We had a phenomenal brunch at LIC Market.

I had the duck hash! Crisp potatoes, red onion, peppers, dried cherries, and pine nuts with two fried eggs.

I love duck so flipping much. And this was the best iteration of the meat I’ve had yet. We gave the meal as a whole a 9.5/10.

We got up and out of the house to make it to brunch crazy early and then we had the entire afternoon for fun stuff, mostly more eating and lots of drinking. Grand Central Terminal is Adam’s favorite spot in the city so we spent the morning window shopping there while sipping iced coffee with homemade chocolate syrup from Irving Farms.

Plus Jacques Torres Chocolate handed us samples of fantastic hot chocolate.

I will be back for a full-size cup once the weather gets a bit colder.

Then we wandered down Lexington Ave to Ginger Man to check out their seventy draft beer options.

Clearly flights were the only way to go. Our sour line-up was amazing. The pub had a great vibe, we will definitely be bringing all city visitors there.

dinner

Pumpkin pasta for the first night of October.

Rachael Ray’s recipe with whole wheat shells for penne, basil for sage, chicken breakfast sausage for sweet Italian sausage, and swiss/gruyere for parmesan.

It was tasty, even the dog got a little bowl with extra pumpkin puree.

The humans had roasted veggies on the side.

Trader Joe’s seasoned brussels sprouts and broccoli and cauliflower with smoked paprika.

We drove to Queens in the rain for dinner at Burnside Biscuit.

Worth it. Check how fancy my julep was.

Dinner was pimento mac and cheese with a side of shaved collards.

We went to Gossip Coffee for a “nightcap.”

Gorgeous space serving delicious, roasty cold-brew. And they had rice pudding.

We shared Oreo and cheesecake, both of which were fantastic.

Crab fried rice.

Yum! Adam would say that stir-frying is the cooking technique I’m best at. This dish was wonderful. Leftover brown jasmine rice with garlic, ginger, rice vinegar and fish sauce / peas, mini heirloom tomatoes, sweet red pepper, onion, and basil / eggs and canned crab meat.

This was the first time I’ve used tomato or basil in fried rice at home and both were welcome additions.

Burger night to finish the weekend.

Spinach salad with Sriracha ranch, maple rosemary roasted sunflower seeds, and roasted baby zucchini.

Turkey burgers on TJ’s brioche buns with mayo, sharp cheddar, turkey bacon, and tons of caramelized onions.

These were the best burgers I’ve ever made/eaten. The crunchy bacon and sweet onions totally made this. We got our pumpkin in for dessert.

Pumpkin pie and cookies and cream yogurt with Nutella, sprinkles, and chocolate candy toppings. A sweet way to end the weekend.

Are you going ga-ga orange gourd this month? Any pumpkin must-haves I haven’t done yet?

Eating Chalk

Tag Archives: pasta

Last Week’s Top Five

“Weekend” Top Three

It’s Beginning To Taste A Lot Like Christmas!

breakfast

snacks

lunch

dinner

Turkey Week Eats

Random Thoughts

Daytime Eats

Nighttime Eats

A Menagerie Of Markets

lunch

dessert

dinner

This Week’s Top Five; Product Reviews Galore

This Week’s Top Five {Giveaway}

Please note: I was given these samples, plus another set of samples for a lucky reader, free of charge to review. I was not provided with further compensation for this post. All opinions are my own.

Hello, Pumpkin Month!!

breakfast

lunch

dinner