Call Me Buffy

Highlights from an extra-garlicy, pizza packed week!

Mini cucumbers and Trader Joe’s caramelized onion dip are a very good combo.

As is coffee syrup and brown butter almond ice cream.

Hummingbird High’s Supernatural Brownies are out of this world good (we made the small batch version and it took less than 30 minutes!).

Homemade meat lovers pizza! I made a big batch of sauce by cooking down jarred marinara with yellow onion, garlic, turkey bacon, ground turkey, shallot oil, urfa chili, Korean chili flake, smoked paprika, and fish sauce. On a Trader Joe’s frozen crust with whole-milk mozarella balls. Plus roasted caulilini.

We had leftover sauce with roasted zucchini and Trader Joe’s cauliflower gnocchi.

And I put leftover bacon in some homemade okonomiyaki (eggy cabbage pancakes). I also stuffed it with ginger and chili crisp and topped it with Sriracha, Kewpie, and furikaki.

We also made a sandwich style pizza that was my favorite meal of the week. With mozzarella, cheddar cheese curds, sliced turkey, and a homemade roasted garlic aioli. Plus sautéed snap peas and red bell pepper with tons of garlic and butter.

Chipotle, Coconut, Curry, Callaloo

I hope all of my American readers are enjoying Memorial Day long weekends. I worked Friday-Monday; womp, womp. But Adam and I are off together next weekend and I am so excited I could burst. Meanwhile, most of what we ate last week was truly fantastic. Highlights include…

Phin-brewed coffee with herbed cold foam.

Tropical yogurt bowl – Trader Joe’s guava and passionfruit Greek yogurt with coconut chips and fresh mango.

This hibiscus water was nice and refreshing.

How excited was I to find Dr. Brown’s in a 2-liter?!

IPAs brewed with milk sugar are my favorite. The Founder’s was good and the Evil Twin is god-tier.

Pretty much any time I go to any store for any reason I come out with at least one ice cream.

Caribbean beans and rice – brown rice cooked with coconut milk, red kidney beans, habanero pepper, urfa chile, garlic, ginger, and onion // with curry chicken breast – baked after marinating in goat’s milk yogurt, green Tabasco, lemon juice, Jamaican curry powder, and paprika // and roasted zucchini.

Salad night – baby spinach and spring mix blend with green onion, red bell pepper, avocado, coconut chips, roasted garlic salmon cakes, and homemade creamy passionfruit vinaigrette.

I made callaloo! A very loose take on callaloo but a good one nonetheless. Spinach cooked with green onion, yellow onion, habanero pepper, spices, coconut milk, and crab meat.

Often eaten with rice, I paired mine with chipotle cheese crisps.

Garbanzo Gang

Highlights from the last week include fruits + grains and Greek-ish homemade dinners.

There is cocoa granola and milk under that mountain of blueberries.

This Guava Squad double dry hopped IPA was lovely.

Baby chocolate milkshake!

One of our best sheet-pan hash dinners. Potato, purple sweet potato, zucchini, and Trader Joe’s sweet apple chicken sausage. I topped mine with zhoug.

Dolmas / homemade roasted garlic hummus / everything pretzel thins / Persian cucumbers / baby carrots / bell pepper.

My favorite take on a Greek salad. Chopped romaine, Persian cucumber, Trader Joe’s Greek feta dressing, sumac, crispy roasted chickpeas, and zhoug.

Trader Joe’s kunefe, aka the best packaged dessert you can buy.

P.S. No post from this weekend – now that I have include sunblock in my bag again it felt too heavy for a camera – but we are living our best lives with a long walk through Central Park and a stop at Butterfield for many desserts yesterday. Today we have a run on the boardwalk in Long Beach planned!

Honey Bear Hijinks

Highlights from this week included great homemade dinners and tons of best-in-their-game-good desserts!

Freddo cappuccino from The Grand.

Coquito iced latte from 787.

We had a giant, insanely good meal at Sunday in Brooklyn. Honeybear on Holiday – rum, Montenegro, sherry, apricot, pineapple, lime, cumin, and honey.

The Tiger Prince – Indian single malt whiskey, pandan, coconut, curry leaves, and lime.

Warm crab and artichoke dip with crusty bread.

Wood roasted mushrooms with salsa verde, peanuts, coriander, and spring greens.

Herb-crusted roasted chicken with butter lettuce and fries with za’atar, chili flakes, and spicy mayo.

Our dinners at home this week were great thanks to the best flour tortillas and a big batch of homemade salsa (loosely based on this recipe). Quesadillas with Oaxaca cheese and sharp cheddar (and salsa and plain Greek yogurt) plus shishito peppers.

Plus flan from Bushwick Taco Company.

And a homemade soursop frozen margarita!

Turkey tacos with ground meat sautéed with poblano pepper and orange yellow bell pepper plus cheese, yogurt, and salsa.

Chilaquiles – salsa, poblano and bell pepper, homemade baked tortilla chips and pico de gallo chips, plus tons of cheese – topped with fried eggs, shredded chicken thighs, yogurt, and hot sauce.

This mochi chocolate chip cookie from Cha An Bon Bon is one of my favorite things I’ve eaten this year! The crispy, slightly savory cookie was the perfect foil for the mochi.

Crepe cake with salted milk foam, boba, and brown sugar syrup from Prince Tea House.

Oddfellows Ice Cream – saffron passionfruit ice cream with apricot and pistachio plus chocotorta (cream cheese ice cream with dulce de leche and chocolate cookie crumb (<–my new favorite flavor!))

Kitsby dessert bar blew our minds. We came for (and loved!) the salted egg yolk lava cake.

But were head over heels for The King – durian cream brulee with banana ice cream, brown butter shortbread, and herbal jelly. If you’re a durian fan in NYC I recommend getting this immediately!

Have a great week!

Bunny Bites

Our Easter weekend had major Spring vibes, and not just because I wore head-to-toe pastels the past three days. We met up with friends for ramen and a walk in Prospect Park and were too hot in sweatshirts – a dream for April in New York.

Highlights from the past week included…

On-theme pink for Easter, a strawberry milk dalgona iced coffee.

See also – this very spring-y sugar cane and key lime cocktail.

This clementine and vanilla bean milkshake IPA is hands-down our favorite beverage. Adam and I would both choose it over any milkshake.

Usually I am not keen on coconut in desserts but these chocolate peanut butter bites are very satisfying.

Also I brought these seaweed chips I’m obsessed with into work and my coworkers were equally impressed.

Best snack of the week/month/year was this assortment of candies with a decaf iced coffee with salted maple chocolate cold foam.

We made a big batch of this baked rice. I subbed in vegan soyrizo, halved the rice/broth, and added celery, bell peppers, and urfa pepper. <– highly recommend

Leftovers from Win Son are as good as anything I make at home the first night.

Everything But

Adam and I had a ton of time together this week, which is just the best. We both had time off in the day on Monday and Wednesday and we liked our date so much on Monday – breakfast at Winner, a walk through Prospect Park, and lunch at Ix Restaurant – that we did the exact same things in reverse on Wednesday!

Prospect Park was an iced-over death trap but it was my absolute favorite activity of the week because we got to see swans.

Highlights from the week include…

Lots of fun in coffee. I enjoyed these new Cokes with coffee exactly as much as I thought I would.

This Trader Joe’s instant cold brew is weak on it’s own but it can total save a not-great cup of coffee.

Coffee-flavored Nutrament with a canned Stumptown.

Fancy lattes from Brooklyn Perk, mine was made with rose.

Winner’s sourdough croissant was a total win.

Meal 1 at Ix. Corn thickened Champurrado hot chocolate.

I had the kimchi soup with chicken, noodles, and poached eggs.

Meal 2 at Ix. Hot chocolate with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Chips with bean dip and crazy-good housemade hot sauce.

Corn with cotija cheese, sour cream, cilantro, and chile.

Caldo Tlalpeno Rojo – soup with chicken, tomato, garlic, onion, peas, chickpeas, corn, achiote, chipotle, Oaxaca cheese, and tortilla strips.

Ciao, Gloria blew our minds with their lemoncello pistachio bars. Also we had an unphotographed housemade Oreo that was the best cookie I’ve ever eaten.

Trader Joe’s smoked salmon dip is a household favorite.

Leftover Thai green beans with soft-scrambled eggs, vegetarian pork floss, and chili oil.

Homemade taco bowls. Brown basmati rice / ground turkey / sharp cheddar / sautéed orange and yellow bell pepper and onion.

Sheet-pan shrimp fried rice.

Loxchos(!!) with roasted brussel sprouts. Trader Joe’s everything bagel seasoning chips with swiss and Gruyere, hot-smoked salmon, and green onion.

Take-out dinner from Winner, plus roasted zucchini. We split a smoked chicken salad sandwich and a grilled cheese with cheddar, provolone, and romesco sauce on sourdough.

Plus a malted flour chocolate chip cookie.

Mediterranean Cruise

I’m late posting from last week but our meals were too good not to share! We did a theme week – Mediterranean! Here were the highlights…

Coffee with Turkish spiced coffee sugar.

I expected to love the date & walnut ice cream from Adirondack Creamery and was pleasantly surprised by the Trader Joe’s halvah.

Panzanella. Lamb sausage / baked sprouted tofu / roasted eggplant / baby tomatoes / crumbled feta / kalamata olives / garlic flatbread.

Naanchos! Homemade baked flatbread chips / sharp cheddar / feta / lamb sausage / roasted eggplant / pickled red onions.

Plus a sour IPA with milk sugar, peach, hibiscus, and lemon peel.

Tuna pita melts. Tuna salad with pickled red onions and sharp cheddar in the whole-wheat pita that I practically deep-fried in butter. Plus roasted zucchini with sumac.

Tasting plates. Multigrain pita crackers / red, orange, and yellow bell pepper / smoked almonds / salami / roasted garlic hummus / kalamata olives / stuffed grape leaves.

Gingerbread and Marionberry

No post last weekend because Adam and I were both off and we wanted to spend every second together. We did some fun exploring, including a quick trip to Montclair for sourdough doughnuts and bon bons and hot chocolate.

Highlights from the week include…

Super cute coffee cans.

Cookies and cream creamer!

The best yogurt I’ve ever tasted. It was basically pudding (but better!).

We managed to snag a can of Hardywood‘s Gingerbread Stout.

I made a boozy chocolate peanut butter shake.

Giant pasta bowls – whole-wheat rotini // garlic marinara sauce zhuzhed up with more garlic, fish sauce, and spices // ground turkey // caramelized mushrooms and onion // roasted zucchini.

Sheet-pan hash – potato // onion // poblano pepper // green bell pepper // orange and purple cauliflower // duck fennel sausage.