Chocolate + Coffee, Chocolate + Peanut Butter

by Emily

Highlights from the past week…

Personal Life:

We had several boons come together in the last week or so. Related – I am waaaay overdue on sharing some big life updates. In short, the highlights are –

Adam is officially a board-certified surgeon (woo-hoo!)
Adam got his dream job and is all set up to be a critical care attending in New York this summer (woo-hoo!!)
We’ve lined up our New York apartment
Our lease here was a month short but we’ve finally lined up a place to live in Charlottesville in July

Television:

I finally talked Adam into watching “Hart of Dixie” with me and he is as smitten as I am! Related – read this Buzzfeed article.

The Bob Dylan cover in this terrible WGU commercial makes me ugly cry every single time I hear it.

Food:

This was one of my best coffee combos this year, Dark as Dark with chocolate milk.

Related – Whole Food’s hazelnut mochas (with light syrup, extra espresso, and ice) are freaking delicious.

Both of our moms went a bit overboard and we are drowning in Easter candy. The highlight, as always, is these pectin jelly beans.

And the low was these terrible new m&m’s.

Still loving these Stinger peanut butter cracker bars.

Related – I finally found these in a snack-sized kids portion and now I am eating even more of them.

We had a duo of fruity beers that did not disappoint. Abita’s Lounging Iguanas pineapple coconut IPA is a 10/10.

Pizza night. A simple turkey pepperoni pizza on Trader Joe’s cauliflower crust plus a simple side salad.

Trader Joe’s vegetable biryani with vegetable dumplings frozen meal.

I made a veggie take on this fire chicken with cheese.

With tofu instead of chicken, plus roasted broccoli and Japanese sweet potato.

26Mar2019

Little Star = Big Star

by Emily

We ate some really yummy things last week! Here were the highlights…

{1} Canned coffees that I schlepped back from New York.

{2} Lemon meringue macarons at the farmers’ market at IX Park.

{3} A Trader Joe’s shaped meal that was both quick and delicious. Cauliflower gnocchi + turkey summer sausage + pizza sauce + broccoli rabe. You can bake the gnocchi (425 degrees Fahrenheit for 15-20 minutes) and it comes out great.

{4} A Korean feast at Maru on the downtown mall. I had the spicy chicken and cheese plate – spicy gojuchang marinated chicken served with rice cakes and Korean sweet potato and topped with melted cheese.

It was spicy, and smoky, and kind of amazing. The portion was gigantic and my leftovers – which I stir-fried with eggs and roasted broccoli – were kind of amazing as well.

We also had pat bing soo – shaved ice with red bean, mochi, and milk powder.

{5} Dinner with my cousin at Little Star, a newish, supremely gorgeous, tapas spot. The space and the tableware – which was thrifted and eclectic – were beautiful.

We ordered all the things and loved every single bite and sip. All three of us agreed it was one of the best meals we had eaten all year. Agave Angel – mezcal, lime juice, and cream.

3 month aged manchego with apricot honey preserves.

Charred shishito peppers with romesco and pasilla de Oaxaca chile.

Sunny side up eggs with salsa negra, green onion, sesame seeds, grilled bread, and hickory sauce. <– this was the top dish of the night, the contrast of the sweet hickory sauce with the eggs and salsa was divine

Shrimp and grapes with garlic, leeks, tequilla, and pickled chiles. We went right ahead and sipped that sauce.

Seared tuna with rendered foie gras, salsa molcajete, cilantro oil, and charred onion. <– 2nd best dish of the night, which is unsurprising when you consider the words “rendered foie gras”

Coffee service.

Crumb cake with meyer lemon curd, ear gray cream, and mezcal caramel.

Creme carmel flan with peaches.

*swoon*

8Mar2019

Let Them Eat Cake

by Emily

I am going on vacation next week and I definitely already have vacation brain! The past 7 days I’ve done barely any cooking and taken barely any photographs of what I have been eating.

Here were five great highlights…

{1} Cake in all forms! Billy Idol Cake from Paradox, aka white wedding cake with lemon curd.

{2} Cake ice cream > ice cream cake.

{3} I have come around to Adam’s point of view that Sicily Rose makes the best lattes in Charlottesville. Their fancy espresso machine is key. Four shots on ice with skim milk in a small cup is 100% perfect.

{4} Poblano x2 pasta bowls. Trader Joe’s creamy chicken poblano ravioli with celery, poblano pepper, and TJ’s turkey summer sausage sauteed in a butter.

{5} We finally made it to Lampo and it lived up to the hype. The Fungi pizza was downright decadent; Sharondale Farm pioppini and oyster mushrooms, thyme, onion, garlic, panna, aged provolone, grana padano.

Adam and I shared two amazing salads. Cavoletti di Bruxelles – shaved brussel sprouts, chives, fennel, hazelnuts, maple garum vinaigrette, pecorino.

Cavolo Nero – Tuscan kale, candied almonds, ricotta salata, golden raisins, pickled mustard seed, apple cider vinaigrette, crispy parsnip. This was the best dish of the meal.

Plus I had the Hell and Honey cocktail; Del Maguey Vida mezcal, Espolon, aperol, grapefruit, scorpion pepper honey.

And we had the budino for dessert; chocolate pudding, sweet cream, olive oil, salted hazelnut brittle.

P.S. I will not be blogging from vacation – though I will share some fun on instagram – so I’ll see you guys after St. Patrick’s Day!

1Mar2019

Snack Attack

by Emily

Highlights from the week…

This canned coffee from Dunkin was actually not too bad.

But this quad non-fat iced latte from Marie Bette was better. They were doing some work in our apartment this week and Webster had to be boarded; his vet is right next to the pastry spot so I finally got a chance to try their scrumptious pretzel croissants.

This month’s Snack Crate goodies came from Hawaii. Highlights included Maui onion chips and pineapple Hi-Chews.

Kung Fu Tea = joy. I got a Thai iced tea (half sweet, extra ice) with pudding and boba.

Cookie Dough Life is life, this new flavor from Coolhaus knocked our socks off.

Turkey sandwiches are the easiest dinner. Toasted whole grain sourdough / smoked sliced turkey / sharp cheddar / spicy raspberry jam. Plus roasted green beans.

Actually, this was the easiest dinner. I got a bowl (without rice) and chips from Chipotle and took them home to turn into nachos. Chips / cheese / pinto beans / fajita veggies / chicken / corn salsa / tomatillo salsa / sour cream.

And this was the tastiest dinner! Toasted sourdough / topped with soft scrambled eggs / and smoked herring mashed with caramelized onion dip. Plus roasted broccoli. We were swooning after every bite.

25Feb2019

Cheese In All Its Forms

by Emily

Highlights from a lazy weekend…

Chocolate Stumptown cold brew + a peanut butter chocolate chip Perfect Bar. <– my two favorite flavors from each company

Mild cheddar Just the Cheese snack. <– my official favorite flavor from my box of samples

Garlic and chive cheese + a chicken sesame bbq Epic Bar. <– my favorite flavor from Epic

Grilled cheese + maple vanilla coconut chips.

Plain Icelandic yogurt with yellow plum and chocolate caramel sunflower butter honey. <– do NOT recommend those honey packets

I am still having a Brazo’s Tacos obsession.

Chicken and Mexican-style street corn frozen meal + a guava kombucha. <– my favorite Synergy flavor, other than grape chia

I made the quickest nachos dinner ever, by buying bbq chips and then filling a box at the Whole Food’s hot bar with shredded cheddar cheese, black beans, corn, red onion, and roasted bell peppers. 5 minutes in the oven later…

8Feb2019

Smoky Salsa Sustenance

by Emily

This was a good week in home-cooking! And snacks. And ice cream. Highlights include…

Tortuga coffee with half and half. I brewed it with a bit of vanilla bean powder.

These peanut butter cookie dough protein bars are legit.

We roasted Japanese yams with olive oil, garlic, salt, pepper, and paprika and they were delicious; just amazingly creamy.

Trader Joe’s honey hedgehog butter cookies. Just a little bit savory and sweet.

Freeze-dried banana slices.

These Jalapeño Popper Turkey Burgers are one of the best recipes on my site. With roasted broccoli.

Okonomiyaki! With purple Japanese yam, roasted green cabbage, and green onion. Topped with Kewpie and Sriracha.

Plus Thai iced tea on the side.

We made the best tacos I’ve ever eaten, hands down. Filled with a loose take on this slow cooker chicken taco recipe. We used chicken thighs, taco seasoning, paprika, garlic, lime, serrano pepper, sweet onion, and red and yellow bell pepper.

Topped with cheese, sour cream, and a loose take on this smoky salsa roja recipe. We used extra chipotle and subbed in lime and brown sugar for vinegar and molasses.

IPAs on the side.

For nacho night we baked our flour tortillas into chips. Topped with cheese, sour cream, homemade salsa, and black beans sauteed with green onions and serrano pepper. Plus a side of roasted green beans.

Happy weekending!

18Jan2019

Send Nood(le)s

by Emily

Dinners this week were all about the pastabilities! <– I’m done now, I swear

Homemade shrimp Pad Thai.

Buffalo chicken baked pasta. With ground chicken sauteed with buffalo sauce / riced cauliflower / celery and yellow onion / and sweet red cheddar, smoked cheddar, and blue stilton!

Pasta pie. A mix of TJ’s squid ink spaghetti and zucchini noodles baked with parsley, triple cream brie, and eggs, plus some panko on top.

Snack attack. The Chobani Gimmies line is still rocking my face off.

Do I have enough liquids within reach to get me through dinner prep? Sadly I found the milk stout to be too sweet for my tastes, but the can was just adorable.

Thai iced tea win. The tea drops were super easy/quick to use and the packets of sweetened condensed milk make my heart happy.Yogurt with sumo mandarin, honey mango, and candied walnuts.A “tasting plate” success – chicken nuggets, cheese, and baby carrots.

14Jan2019

Double Bacon Cheese Beyond Burgers

by Emily

My trip home last weekend was perfect and we survived “Winter Storm Gia” this weekend… 2019 is looking like my year.

Highlights from week 2 include…

Iced coffee with black walnut extract and sweet cream creamer.

Stumptown cold brew coffee box.

Who knew that Perfect Bars were so freaking delicious?! This peanut butter chocolate chip one was basically cookie dough.

Stonyfield chocolate yogurt pouch (7/10), a Kiku apple (8/10), and a chocolate peanut butter filled Clif bar (9.5/10).

I brought these yummy coconut candies back from St. Thomas.

Shiner S’more is officially my new favorite beer.

Guzzled while assembling everything but the kitchen sink cookies with caramel, kettle chips, toffee bits, caramel chips, and chocolate chips.

This quickie packaged foods dinner was sooo good. Chicken and cheese pupusas + bbq chicken chips + roasted broccoli + Trader Joe’s Zhoug sauce.

I have an unhealthy obsession with the “Asian” section of Wegman’s hot bar.

We made insanely, over-the-top, decadent double cheese burgers with Beyond Burger patties.

Two patties on a brioche bun with mayo, turkey bacon, and smoked cheddar slices. Plus kettle chips and veggies from the Whole Foods’ hot bar – curry caulilini and roasted rainbow carrots, mushrooms, and root vegetables.

Then later in the week we did a similar thing with Boca Chick’n patties.

We made killer sheet pan hash browns. Potato, sweet potato, purple sweet potato, olive oil, smoked paprika, green onion, turkey bacon, and red, yellow, and orange bell pepper.

Topped with Zhoug and fried eggs.

Eating Chalk

Tag Archives: peppers

Chocolate + Coffee, Chocolate + Peanut Butter

Personal Life:

Television:

Food:

Little Star = Big Star

Let Them Eat Cake

Snack Attack

Cheese In All Its Forms

Smoky Salsa Sustenance

Send Nood(le)s

Double Bacon Cheese Beyond Burgers