I’m Alive!

So it’s been awhile since my last post, huh?  My two-week illness (a cold and then the flu) turned into a three week plague extravaganza complete with conjunctivitis, gastroenteritis, and a two-day stay at the hospital.  Yippee.  I didn’t really feel like myself again until just a couple of days ago.

Now I’m back in action, and I even have a week’s worth of meals to share…

daytime eats

I was still recovering on Monday so I started my week off with mint sparkling water cut with Sprite.

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I’m usually not a clear soda (or non-diet soda) fan but the day I got home from the hospital I swear it was the best thing I’ve ever tasted.  I didn’t even want diet coke that week, which says a lot about how sick I felt.

The real clue that I was basically dying is this – this small iced latte was my first cup of coffee in more than a week.

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I also had a glass of kefir.

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Maple was such a fun find.

By the next day I was fully ready for my lifeblood again.  Nonfat caramelized honey (<–yum) iced latte with extra espresso.  Sipped while grocery shopping.

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I worked Saturday/Sunday which thankfully meant I had Wednesday off.

And yesterday I had a yummy Kevita kombucha.

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Lavender melon.  Kevita is a little more refreshing – and less sour and yeasty – than other brands of kombucha.

Packed lunches were my old standbys.  Oatmeal.

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Oats with chia seeds, strawberry shortcake m&m’s, and Justin’s chocolate hazelnut butter.  Plus a piñata apple on the side.

And yogurt bowls, with blueberries and blackberries. 2% Fage with maple pecan granola, chia seeds, and more pecans.

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Vanilla bean with Heritage Flakes.

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Plus truffles from a coworker for dessert.  With a side of Easter themed nails.

Wednesday at home I made an Easter-inspired spread.

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Egg salad with potato chips, and warm carrot slaw (sautéed shredded carrots tossed with golden raisins, walnuts, mayo, and stone-ground mustard).

nighttime eats

Monday night I took the dog on an extra-long walk after work… and then laid down on the couch in my coat for more than an hour!  I was too tired to cook anything, but hungry enough to go back and reheat a second plate of leftover pizza.

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Plus baby carrots.

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We try to always keep them on hand because they are perfect for distracting the dog while he gets his nails clipped.

Tuesday I managed to cook dinner and try a blog product sample (two birds with one stone).  Popkoff’s sent me some free coupons for their new line “farm to freezer” frozen Russian dumplings.

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The farmer’s cheese Pelmeni were fantastic – they cooked in under 10 minutes and were perfectly tender yet chewy.  Plus, you have to love the short ingredient list: “Farmer’s Cheese, Wheat Flour, Water, Egg, Sour Cream, Salt, Sugar.”  We kept things simple and tossed them with sautéed mushrooms and cabbage and low-fat sour cream.

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Topped with a sprinkle of smoked paprika.  I have two more freebie coupons and I would purchase the dumplings with my own money so this is a meal you’ll likely see again.

Wednesday was the warmest of the season (68!) and we made the most of it by taking the dog on a long walk – in sandals and t-shirts – for water ice.  My strawberry and cola cup hit the spot.

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Then we did fish taco night for dinner.  We need to make tacos more often, Adam and I were both raving about this meal.

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Toasted taco shells / sautéed onions and bell pepper / shredded cheese / roasted tomatillo salsa / mahi mahi cubes sautéed with lime, cilantro, and green onions / dollops of sour cream.

Yesterday I ate a guava and cheese empanada on the train.

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Dinner part deux was TJ’s frozen gnocchi with eggplant and zucchini.

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10/10.  We relied a lot of frozen foods to get through this week but the quality of our meals didn’t suffer any.

I hope everyone is feeling well for the weekend!

Won’t You Be My Valentine? ♥

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Hope everyone enjoyed their weekends and Valentine’s Days!  Clearly President’s Day is the real MVP of this month though, love a three day weekend*!  *technically a one day weekend, I worked Saturday and Sunday, but you get the idea, and now I have a three day week, which is even cooler than a three day weekend.

Here are the bites highlights from the weekend…

TJ’s Hibiscus Tripel.  A new favorite beer.

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Enjoyed during a super romantic Valentine’s dinner of Chipotle.

Thai-style nachos.

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Sriracha waffle chips / roasted broccoli / chopped yellow bell pepper / shredded chicken breast tossed with red curry, gochujang, and spices / and tons of cheese.

Doughnut Plant Valentine line.

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Honey glazed with bee pollen.

Yogurt bowl for work breakfast.  Fig and lemon yogurt, blueberries, and chia seeds and toasted walnuts.

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How great is it that I had a heart-emblazoned coffee mug to stay on theme??

Rainbow bagel.

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With strawberry cream cheese.

Have a great week!

Top Ten Loves Before Valentine’s

Here are the past week’s top ten eats –

{1} This breakfast.

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Cashew date granola bar, grapes, and string cheese.

{2}  And also this breakfast.  Cold brew.

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Plus a Ruby Frost apple (<– crisp and juicy!).

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And rice cakes.

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My co-worker brought in rice cakes and candy for the Chinese new year.

{3} Raspberry cinnamon lassi and a pretzel roll.

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An unconventional snack combo but a good one.

{4} Strawberry vanilla smoothie.  Adam and I shared, I didn’t actually finish a Big Gulp of smoothie.

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Inspired by my lassi, I added a big shake of cinnamon.

{5} Killer yogurt bowl.

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Fage pineapple yogurt topped with chia seeds, toasted walnuts, blueberries, and Luxardo cherries.

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Why am I not putting cherries on top of everything I eat??

{6} Cafeteria salad bar.  Toppings included cheese, olives, and white beans.  With a side of tortellini salad.

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I totally ate pizza the other 3 days.

{7} Super leftovers soup.

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Whenever we make extras of a dish that would go well in soup, we toss them into the freezer for an easy dinner at a later date.

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The bag included bok choy, shallots, red pepper, and shredded chicken, the broth was TJ’s miso ginger, and we had a Tupperware of orecchiette pasta in the fridge from the night before.

{8} Sandwich #1, Bareburger date.  Plus fries.

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My turkey burger was loaded with pimento cheese, spinach, tomato, pickles, mayo, and mustard.

{9} Sandwich #2, Thai chicken crunch.

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Toasted bread with tons of melty peanut butter, Sriracha-mayo chicken salad, and pickled cucumber and carrot.

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Served with roasted green beans.

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The sandwiches were quick to assemble and very tasty and fun.

{10} Valentine’s-themed love, because I’m a sucker for anything limited edition.

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I bought a Starbucks molten chocolate latte the first day they came out, because of course I did (only available until February 14th).  It was freaking delicious.

{bonus} A mid-week date with Adam!  We both had Thursday off and we spent the day in Manhattan.  We ate giant sundaes at Serendipity 3 and took a frigid but fabulous 4 mile walk in the 17 degree weather.

Aaaaand now I work all weekend.  Think warm thoughts for me, please!

Salads, Berries, And Chocolate – Post Blizzard Eats

Fun fact about how old I feel – I spent an hour digging out my car on Sunday and it took until midweek before I could get up from my chair without audibly groaning.  This was my first year (ever!  I grew up on an island) having to do it and now I totally understand why so many people have heart attacks each winter.

daytime eats

The LIRR was still closed on Monday but thankfully Adam was around to drive me to work.  Silver lining – I spent extra time with the husband and we got to eat doughnuts for breakfast.

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I got an iced latte and a black sesame cream doughseed.

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Tuesday was much less exciting, coffee with vanilla almond milk and a piñata apple (Let’s be real though, I’m always excited about coffee!).

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And coffee with fat-free sweetened condensed milk in it is downright thrilling.  Plus a protein bar and a pear.

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More SCM love and more strawberry seltzer.

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Speaking of strawberry, this week’s tea – white strawberry.  This was a particularly pretty blend.

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The most exciting breakfast of all involved halo halo.  Plus cereal and chia seeds.  I’m still not sure if my Filipino coworker was impressed or horrified that I was putting it on plain Greek yogurt!

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I packed a couple homemade “instant” oatmeal bowls this week.  Rolled oats, nonfat milk powder, brown sugar, chia seeds, and pecans, mixed with hot water at work.  One day was freeze-dried raspberries with a peach on the side.

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The other was strawberries with a tangelo.

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I also brought in brownies!  I made a double batch of milk crumbs (from Milk Bar) and dumped them in my favorite brownie batter along with some caramel chocolate chips.  They got rave reviews from my coworkers.

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And apparently I missed them when they were gone because one day I bought chocolate cookies and an iced coffee for a train-ride snack.

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Lunches also included a slice of ridiculously overcooked veggie pizza.

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And a delicious salad topped with falafel and giant scoops of tzatziki and tabbouleh.

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nighttime eats

Adam had to take me home from work on Monday too – my train didn’t start running until the absolute last second on Tuesday morning – which meant we got to do a dinner date as well.  The streets were still crazy so we decided to eat wherever we could park.  We found a spot next to… Ramen Yebisu.

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I got the veggie miso ramen with shitake mushroom, scallion, onion, bamboo shoots, bean sprouts, and kelp.  With an egg on top.  It was good, but just couldn’t compare with the epic ramen they serve up the road at Chuko.

I went out on Thursday too.  I met up with friends for drinks and dinner after work.  Drinks were bourbon, lemonade, and iced tea slushies at Pork Slope.  Dinner was obscenely cheesy sandwiches at Melt Kraft.

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I got the Melter Skelter (<– ha!), raclette cheese, pickled green tomatoes, jalapeño, bbq chips, and watercress.

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So good.  The pickled tomatoes were a really nice contrast to the rich cheese and chips are always a good sandwich topping.

Another night, Adam ate leftovers and I ate a guava cheese empanada on the train.  We sat together for our salad course though.

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Arugula with sweet and spicy pecans, chia seeds, and golden raisins, dressed with lavender honey, evoo, balsamic, and lavender salt.

Plus we shared new gummies.

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My salad was spicy sweet and these were sour sweet.

I did manage to cook one real meal.  I put chicken breasts in the crockpot in the morning along with a jar of salsa and tons of chopped bell peppers and onion – plus a little bit of salt and evoo – and came home to this –

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Served with TJ’s Cuban black beans and tons of cheese on top.

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We have really been loving the crockpot this winter, all of our best chicken has come out of it.

One more day of work and then I’m spending my weekend being low-key and boring, running errands and catching up on tv.

St. Thomas, 2016

I took Friday and Monday off and spent a four day weekend in St. Thomas visiting my parents.  It was really nice to get into the sun!

I didn’t take many food pictures, mostly I just texted Adam a million kissy-faced selfies.

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Here are the top four eats I did capture…

1.  Dinner at Longboard in St. John.  We shared a chips with a guacamole, hummus, queso trio.  That’s my frozen painkiller in the foreground.

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And I had a fajita salad with grilled mahi.

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Delicious.  The culinary themes for this trip were fresh seafood and local rum.

2. My favorite turkey bacon bagel sandwich from Barefoot Buddha. <– the sandwich I ate on my wedding day

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Plus a Vietnamese iced coffee.

3. A giant cheese calzone.

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Stuffed with spinach, mushrooms, and black olives.

4. Key lime pie!

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Served on plain Greek yogurt with a scoop of ground flax seed because that’s seriously the best way to eat key lime pie.

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1, 2, 3 / 366

We are four days into 2016 and I’ve yet to have a weekend day – my Christmas four-day weekend and an upcoming vacation (yay!) meant that it was my turn to work both the holiday and Saturday and Sunday. <–worth it!  The weekend coverage shifts – and subsequent week days off – are one of the main “perks” of my new inpatient position.  And clinically the last few days have been fascinating, lots of malnutrition, bowel obstructions, and parenteral feeds.

The only downside to the extra busy days (and terrible weekend-menu cafeteria food) is that there’s no #newyearnewyou around here, instead it’s been lots of junk food and zero gym time.  You win some, you lose some.

daytime eats

I opened the year with an extra shot of espresso in my iced latte, a good way to start anything.

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Plus an apple with cheese.  My apple selection this weekend was Piñata and Pink Ladies, all of which were exceptionally juicy and crisp.

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Saturday breakfast was all about the cartons – a winter cheer cold brew and an Icebox Water.  The water was a freebie product review.  It’s really hard to characterize the taste of water (unless you dislike it for some reason, Dasani tastes like carrots to me and I think it’s terrible) but I will say that I found this one enjoyable/refreshing and definitely inoffensive.

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Obviously the ideal would be that people would refill reusable water containers but Icebox Water does offer a more environmentally sustainable option to bottled waters.  Each BPA-free carton is 100% recyclable (and made of 76% less plastic than traditional bottles).

Sunday was my busiest day and thankfully my biggest coffee.  Plus strawberry champagne(!!) seltzer.

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The cafeteria is only partially open on the weekends and the offerings are grim.  I relied mostly on packaged foods from home for lunches.

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Plus gross cafeteria pizza that went unphotographed.

nighttime eats

You have to eat black eyed peas on the 1st.

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I made my favorite BEP recipe – beans / chopped green pepper / smoked almonds / chopped Dubliner cheese / green Tabasco / plus the new addition of shredded chicken breast.

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With a big pile of green beans roasted with shallots on the side.

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Saturday we gussied up some long-ago leftover leftovers.  I made my artichoke and mushroom pasta unhealthy great again by pan-cooking it in lots of evoo and adding an obscene amount of Sriracha and mozzarella cheese.

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This was better than the original dish.

Sunday, Adam met me after work for date night.  Fonda did not disappoint.  I spotted the Rosalita margarita on Instagram and knew that it would be fantastic.

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I was right!  It’s a hibiscus margarita with a hibiscus salt rim, swoon.

We split a salad that was scrumptious – avocados, roasted carrots, toasted pecans, soft goat cheese and romaine hearts drizzled with a lime mustard vinaigrette.  I swear, there was more avocado than lettuce!

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As well as fried sweet plantains with sour cream and queso fresco.

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Adam got chicken enchiladas and I got a vegetarian chile rellano.

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Roasted poblano pepper filled with carrots, zucchini, corn kernels, pickled jalapeños and Chihuahua cheese. Served with a roasted tomato guajillo sauce, pickled onions and Mexican crema.  Stuffed chiles are my favorite Mexican dish and this was the best version I’ve ever had.

With Kahlua tres leches for dessert.

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We both want to go back immediately.  I’ve got my eye on the brunch menu.

Snacks for the week included fancy popcorn from my stocking.

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And cookies.  David Lebovitz’s chocolate chip cookies really do deserve all the veneration they’ve gotten in the food press.  I made a batch for a NYE party and both the party-goers and my co-workers lost their minds over them.

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Recipe notes, because you know I always have to change something:  I used salted butter, skipped the nuts and doubled the chocolate instead – a mix of semisweet and milk chocolate chips, and refrigerated the cookies as preformed balls instead of slice and bake logs.  I don’t think my changes hurt anything, in fact I’m pretty sure the nut for chocolate swap was an improvement!

I also made a less lauded but still terrific peanut butter (chocolate chip) mug cookie.

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My year is off to a sweet start!

Merry Munching – Christmas Week Top Ten

I hope all of my readers who celebrate had a very merry Christmas yesterday!  Adam, Webster, and I had a great day full of cuddles, present opening, cheese eating, and “Frosty” watching!

The best present of all?  Yesterday was start of a four-day weekend for me, I’ve got Friday though Monday off.  The weekend’s fun includes our 8-year wedding anniversary, so I doubt I’ll make time for any blogging.  See you next weekend!

Here are the top ten from last week…

{1} Brunch with friends

They introduced me to j’eatjet in Park Slope.  I had an Aperol Sidecar and a yummy breakfast veggie burger with swiss and a fried egg.

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Then I spent time slowly perusing the giant Whole Foods.

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With a Vietnamese iced latte at my side.

{2} Holiday themed breakfasts

These made for very pleasant mornings.  All with ice coffee with full-octane eggnog!

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That Nutrament was seriously the best eggnog item of the season.

{3} Strawberry chocolate mint smoothies

We love this combo every winter.

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Chocolate peppermint soy milk + plain Greek yogurt + frozen strawberries.

{4} Roasted veggie sandwiches for lunch

One of my nutrition co-workers is retiring next week so we took her out to lunch at an Italian place near the hospital.  I got a roasted veggie and mozzarella panini.

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And another day there were roasted veggies at the sandwich bar.

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I got them on a (giant!) wrap with tuna and cheese.

{5} Christmas morning sugar rush

I don’t have any pictures because we tore into the bags too quickly but my mom bought me two different cola-flavored gummies from German Haribo.

{6} Thai food in the city

I wish I’d paid more attention to the name of this spot (near Union Square Park) because the food was great.  I had a Malaysian iced coffee.

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And the Night Market Noodles – a combo of egg noodles and broad rice noodles with chili paste, bean sprouts, and a boiled egg.

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These were super spicy, aka perfect, I was crying with each bite.

{7} Halo Halo at Bago

I’m obsessed with Halo Halo so as soon as my cousin sent me this NYTimes link I added Bago to my to-do list.

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Their version is a tapioca shake with taro ice cream on top and red bean, palm seeds, and young coconut on the bottom.  It was fantastic!

{8} Kale, and eggs

We made wonderful sautéed kale with garlic, golden raisins, and blue cheese.

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Alongside eggs that were just horrible.  It turns out that ground turkey and pizza sauce do not belong in scrambled eggs.

{9} Christmas nachos

Apparently I’ve decided that nachos are holiday food.  This version was red and green at least.

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Chips with mozzarella, ground turkey, broccoli, and red bell pepper.

{10} Eggnog treats  <– I saved the best for last

Like the coquita cupcake from Brooklyn Cupcake.

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Coconut cake soaked in a creamy coconut milk egg nog with a hint of rum flavor and topped with a mascarpone whipped cream.

And the eggnog ice cream from Ample Hills is their best flavor yet.

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Creamy, eggnog, rummy goodness.

Last Week’s Top Five

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.

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

And Adam celebrated a birthday.

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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

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I made my pineapple turkey recipe.

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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.

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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.

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

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

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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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

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

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Plus cauliflower with capers and anchovies.

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

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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.

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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.

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