Dessert-y yogurt bowl – plain skyr with Trader Joe’s chocolate shell, crunchy peanut butter, cookie dough granola, and tons of blueberries.
We both love those these Whole Food’s sour citrus slice candies.
Dinner at Blackbird. The food was great, the lighting was not. Among other things we had a wonderful salad with medjool dates, almonds, pecarino, and a mustard vinaigrette. And homemade pasta with short-rib ragu!
Sourdough pasta with food-processed roasted bell pepper, green onion, jarred piquante peppers, evoo, and walnuts. Plus cheese. And roasted cauliflower on the side.
Potato hash with poblano peppers, bell peppers, green onion, urfa, and gochugaru. Plus roasted Chinese eggplants with a spicy peanut sauce (peanut butter, gochujang, rice vinegar, dark soy sauce, white sugar, and water) and sesame seeds.
We had a terrific weekend filled with tons of good food, good coffees, and several long walks (including bridge walks – our favorite!)! The five best food stops were…
A&C Super. It took us too long to check out this cute bakery but we hope to head back quickly. We had a banana bread muffin and an amazing pull-apart croissant bread with cardamom sugar. Plus their coconut iced coffee (with toasted coconut infused sweetened condensed milk!) with a shot of espresso.
11:11 Cafe. We loved their banana iced latte. This was milkier than we prefer but the milk was so tasty.
5th Sip. This is a newish Vietnamese coffee spot. We got the Hanoi Egg cold foam.
Brunch at Pig and Khao. Vietnamese iced coffee and a Green Hour – Thai basil gin, pisco, cucumber, lime, mint, aquafaba, and orange bitters.
We shared the Thai basil chicken.
And Khao Soi.
Plus doughnuts with a pandan cream.
Dinner at Bonnie’s. This Cantonese-American spot exceeded my high expectations. We shared and loved a good portion of the menu. Henny Kravitz – Hennessy VS, toasted coconut, Plantation pineapple rum, Copalli white rum, lemon, and sherry.
Sour Cherry Negroni – Ilegal mezcal, sour cherries, and Empirical plum liquor. We also had an unphotographed Ribena Highball – Ilegal mezcal, Ribena blackcurrant, ginger, lemon, and San Pellegrino.
Yauh Ja Gwai Panzanella – heirloom tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, stone fruit, pickled mustard greens, and fried cruller.
Dao Gok – Chinese long beans, fermented bean curd garlic butter, and fried cruller.
Naw Mai Fan – buttered crispy sticky rice with snap peas and herbs.
Cheung Fun – seared rolled rice noodles with bean sprouts and chives (we got the vegan option for this but I bet the shrimp based xo sauce is divine). We also had an unphotographed Fuyu Cacio e Pepe Mein -cacio e pepe, fermented bean curd, pecorino, and black and white pepper.
Chow Nai Sundae – malted fried milk, ovaltine hot fudge, vanilla ice cream, and buttered peanuts.
A short post for a short week. My parents are coming to visit today! And I took tomorrow off to do fun New York things.
The two things worth photographing from Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday…
Tofu pasta. We did one package of super-firm tofu with 2 cups of flour, salt, and an egg and an egg yolk. These were quite doughy and I probably wouldn’t make them again but they were fun to try. We tossed them with sauteed baby broccoli and a pad see ew style sauce.
My new top tier yogurt bowl – plain skyr with blueberries, granola, and marzipan. The crunchy chewy combo was perfect!
Some things from the weekend, two sweet and two savory. My savory items had a brie and sourdough theme going (and as I write that I really want a sandwich on sourdough with brie!). We also did some out of the house stuff that I didn’t bring a camera for – treats and lattes at a local coffee spot that we hated and will keep unnamed and our 1st trip to Dave’s Hot Chicken which we loved.
Marzipan! I saved a few to put in a yogurt bowl.
Passionfruit and chocolate is a surprisingly good combo.
Baked brie with honey and walnuts. Served with roasted baby zucchinis and Trader Joe’s sourdough rye chips.
Sourdough fusilli pasta with chicken breast, caramelized sweet onion, and sauteed baby spinach tossed with tons of lemon juice and zest and melted brie.
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??
Dayglow Coffee. Warhol – espresso, cream, citrus, cinnamon, and vanilla. Morning Show – distilled coffee, orange, condensed coconut, and passionfruit. We were delighted with these.
Humble Cafe is our favorite local Long Island coffee spot. Ice latte with pandan syrup and a taro mochi cookie.
And a duck egg everything bagel with ramp cream cheese and tuna bacon.
DSK Brooklyn. Adam had German beers and I had a shockingly good chicken bratwurst (on a pretzel bun with mustard!).
Pasta Night date night. My Daddy Issues cocktail had bourbon, coconut washed Campari, lime, and ginger beer.
We split the salted cod fritters special.
Roasted brussels sprouts in chili crisp.
Pesto pasta – radiatori in basil pesto with pecorino and poached tomatoes.
And the Big Ragu – rigatoni with golden tomato sauce, slow braised beef ragu, and Parmesan cream.
We of course also had to go to their origin restaurant – Ciao Gloria – earlier in the afternoon. Granita (slushie espresso with sweetener and oat milk) and a espresso chocolate chip cookie and a blondie with tahini and jam. Excellent.
Rita’s Pizza. This was my favorite meal of the food-filled weekend! La Rita – orange marmalade reduction, fontina, caramelized onions, thyme, duck prosciutto, Truffleist duck mousse.
Obviously we got The Sundae – maple and vanilla soft serve twist with hot fudge, torched marshmallow fluff, Luxardo cherry, chocolate pearls, and a waffle cup.
For being the 1st week back from a vacation this week felt painless! Here were some food highlights…
Even our leftovers from dinner at Theodora were fantastic. This was laffa with lamb, tahini, amba, and shifka.
A grown up takes on a cafeteria favorite – two bougie Gushers-inspired candies. Both were great.
I loved these sweet cinnamon bun flavored protein pretzels.
It was Rex Manning Day this week so I baked cupcakes for work (because there are 24 usable hours in every day!). Peanut butter cupcakes (boxed yellow cake mix baked with milk substituted for water, butter substituted for oil, an extra egg, and 1/2 cup of smooth peanut butter) with chocolate frosting. They were fantastic, amazingly the texture was perfect.
And we, of course, ate a bunch of pizza and watched Empire Records! This plate was chicken and waffle (possibly my all-time favorite slice of pizza, the chunks of waffle felt artisanal and there was maple syrup!) and buffalo chicken. Plus spicy green beans (steamed and then sauteed with Sichuan peppercorn, gochugaru, honey, rice vinegar, sesame oil, yellow mustard, dijon, and Sriracha.
The rest of our dinners were on the theme of school cafeteria lunches! Like a take on Salisbury Steak. Turkey patties (with ground turkey, panade, grated white onion, dijon, ketchup, and garlic) with a tomato gray (roux, water, tomato sauce, dijon, dark soy sauce, and low-sodium oyster sauce). Served with roasted broccoli and potato tots.
Macaroni and cheese. My mac and three cheese muffins. I substituted extra-sharp cheddar for parmesan because it was all we had. We used Goodles Loopdy Loos.
Fish sticks. Cornmeal crusted served with cocktail sauce and a side of roasted cauliflower.
Fun syrups from El Guapo, pecan and almond. They were good in iced coffees, okay in an iced matcha, and fantastic in an iced diet coke!
Obviously the best coffee of the week was the Dubai bar monthly special latte from Buzz’d.
My favorite skyr bowl this week had honey, salted peanuts, blackberries, and blueberries. I have been head over heels for the Driscoll’s “sweetest batch” blueberries.
I think I have tried and loved every flavor of these peelable gummies from Duane Reade. Peach was lovely and floral.
I’ll buy pretty much any new product Ben & Jerry’s puts out and this sundae style pint did not disappoint. It had butter toffee pecans!
I love a good egg salad. This one had chopped cornichons, poblano pepper, tons of mayo, and dijon mustard. Plus roasted broccoli on the side.
This dinner looks horrible but it really was good; brown rice and roasted riced cauliflower / baked eggplant sauteed with gochujang, black sesame paste, and sesame oil / a take on Korean steamed eggs / topped with chili crisp and peanuts.
I used leftover cauliflower/rice in kimchi fried rice. With poblano peppers, peas, green onions, eggs, soy sauce, fish sauce, and rice vinegar. Topped with surprisingly great grilled shrimp from Whole Foods.
Creamy gochujang pasta. Brown rice noodles tossed with cream cheese, gochujang, and sauteed dinosaur kale and green onions. Topped with sesame seeds and gochugaru and served next to some baked turkey meatballs.
Our favorite dinner of the week (month!) was savory oatmeal bowls. Trader Joe’s rolled oats with ancient grains and seeds / bok choy sauteed with ginger / TJ’s frozen tofu sheets / chili crisp / six-minute egg / candied peanuts with gochugaru.
Eating Chalk 