Cinnamon And Malted Milk

Highlights from this week include…

Dalgona coffee with cinnamon and malted milk.  Swoon.

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Honey vanilla Greek yogurt with blueberries and a raspberry banana nut mix.

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Our current candy situation.

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I am all in on this Trader Joe’s popcorn mix.

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When we get Chinese take-out I ordered all of the things so I have leftovers for days.  This was Kung Pow tofu, veggie rice noodles, and cabbage.

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Chinese cabbage with TJ’s mini chicken wontons and chili flakes.

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Jalopeno popper turkey chicken burgers with roasted green beans.

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Team Unicorns

Highlights from a very yummy week…

Still obsessed with Dalgona Coffees.

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Also yogurt bowls with fresh berries.  Plain skyr with blueberries, blackberries, and amazing espresso vanilla cream granola.

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Skyr with berries, cinnamon, maple, and TJ’s flax and chia seed peanut butter.

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This cola seltzer was a very limited released and I was quite sad to finish my last bottle this week.

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Since we did several nights of sandwiches for dinner chips as a mid-day snack just felt appropriate.  Seaweed chips and kettle corn popcorners.

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Our cocktail hour was 10/10 this week.  We are fully obsessed with homemade frozen painkillers!

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Ninja vs Unicorn double IPA.

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Romaine salad with TJ’s Greek feta dressing, cotija cheese, rainbow shredded carrots, and fried eggs.

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A turkey sandwich on sweet Hawaiian bread with smoked gouda, mayo, mustard, and pickle relish.  Plus a side salad.

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Best meal of the week = a soft-scrambled egg sandwich with smoked gouda and spicy mustard.  Plus roasted okra.

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Oahu Part I, Fun Things We Ate

Adam and I celebrated our 12th wedding anniversary(!!!) with a trip to Hawaii and had an absolutely fantastic time.  We chose to spend our entire trip in Oahu – versus island hopping – and ended up being very happy with that decision.  We walked a ton, stuck our toes in the ocean, ate a million delicious things, and saw a billion beautiful things.  I did not even take as many photographs as I usually do but I still need to split my recap into multiple posts!

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I’ll share more about the amazing restaurants we visited in a later post, for now, here were some of the best Hawaiian bites…

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** Chicken katsu musubi – seasoned rice with seaweed and fried chicken.

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** Shrimp okonomiyaki – a savory Japanese pancake.

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** Garlic butter shrimp plates from the food trucks out on the North Shore.

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** The cookies from Honolulu Cookie Company are all 10/10 buttery and delicious.

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** Butter mochi – cake made with glutenous rice flour.

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** Dole Whip – blended frozen pineapple.

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** We ate shave ice practically every single day of the trip!  The standouts are in a later post but these were still pretty darn good!  Both of these were Japanese kakagori style versus the more traditional Hawaiian style.  From Ice Monster – coffee ice with brown sugar jelly, panna cotta, and cookies and cream gelato.

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From Snow Factory – cookie butter ice and butterscotch ice with mochi, coffee jelly, and condensed milk.

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All Hallow’s Eats

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Pumpkin Noosa for breakfast.  I sprinkled some crunchy granola from the cafeteria on top and it was fantastic.

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Maple glazed doughnut with a maple pancake iced latte from Sugar Shack.

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Snack attack.  Is it even Halloween week if you don’t make yourself sick eating too much sugar?  None of fun-sized candy at work was exciting to me and I had to drive myself to Wegman’s to buy my own chocolate.

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Crispy honey garlic tofu bites served on top of roasted broccoli and cauliflower.  The tofu recipe was perfect, I couldn’t believe how crispy it came out.  After I took that photo I smothered my plate in Kewpie and Sriracha!

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This Pumking version was toooo much bourbon for me.

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Sweet potato hash success.  Crispy sweet potato (cooked similarly to this method) / sauteed red bell pepper and spring onion with tumeric and smoked paprika / garlic chicken sausage / topped with a fried egg / and copious amounts of Cholula hot sauce.

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Our Halloween dinner was perfectly on theme – vampire killer pumpkin pasta.  Pumpkin shaped pasta / garlic chicken sausage / sauteed spinach with tons of garlic / tossed in aioli / topped with pan-fried haloumi.

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Plus the best pumpkin beer of the year and a chai pumpkin ale.

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Popcorn And Poutine

Random updates…

Both sets of excisional biopsy stitches are out and today I am finally allowed to go to the gym, woo-hoo!  Also important – both biopsies came back clean.

We are finally catching up on Agents of Shield and LOVING it.  Hilarious as always and just crazy touching.  I’m not loving the “big bad” for this season but Fitz’s story-line is good enough that I don’t care.

I work this weekend but have super fun dinner date plans with the husband on Saturday.

Best bites from the week…

Coffee can and an Envy apple.

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Vanilla yogurt with nougat halva from Seed + Mill and a sumo on the side.  Halva mixed into yogurt is one of my favorite things.  I also really like key lime pie in yogurt.  Apparently I think you can improve dessert with Greek yogurt?!

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Tamarind my parents sent me from home.  I rode horses as a child and our stable had a patch of trees you could pluck tamarinds from and it’s one of my favorite memories.

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No photo because I ate it while sitting in traffic but I had the most deliciously meta thing from Schmackary’s – a chocolate chip cookie topped with chocolate chip cookie dough frosting!

Piles of popcorn.

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Spaghetti casserole with whole-wheat spaghetti, marinara, Trader Joe’s soy chorizo, and sharp cheddar.  Growing up, I hated spaghetti but adored this casserole.  This version was smokey and delicious.  With roasted broccoli on the side.

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Dinner at Mile End.  The poutine of the month is Nashville hot chicken, so obviously we ordered that.

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I also had a za’atar chicken salad with Boston lettuce, mint, Israeli salad, cucumber, and crispy chickpeas.  Fresh mint in salad is so good, it genuinely makes me smile.

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Happy almost weekend.

Law And Order SVU (Spectacular Vittles Unit)

I still don’t want to talk about anything important.  I’d rather think something else than the fact that my hometown was just ravaged by yet another hurricane.  St. Thomas – and the devastated Caribbean as a whole – is pretty much all I’ve been thinking about for the past 2 weeks.  Let’s talk about yummy food instead.

Three facts before we get into the meat of this post –

{1} I just learned that vittles is actually an outdated spelling of the word “victuals.”

{2} I was serving on the jury for a criminal case for the past 5 days.  I don’t dread my civic duty at all, and it was a very positive experience.  Deciding a verdict is an awesome responsibility and I feel like I got a learn a lot about our legal system over the past week.

{3} I have added to my apple stash!  Gum, kombucha, and gummy bears, all of which I highly recommend, by the way.

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Plus Noosa Yoghurt sent me a fun package of fall flavors, including one of their newest flavors – Apple!

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The highlights…

This week’s coffee – Campfire Blend.  Plus I purchased a latte every day on my lunch break.

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Since I couldn’t have my camera with me in court, I’m missing a lot of my day-time eats this week, but I do have shots of my packed snacks (including a full lunch for my Thursday back at work).  Maple Chobani with Heritage Flakes and a gingergold apple.

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Apple Noosa with an apple bar.  This Noosa really does taste like pie filling!  The yogurt is soooo creamy and sweet and the apples are just a bit cinnamon-y.

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Pink lady apple kombucha, cinnamon apple sauce, cinnamon apple oatmeal, and sour caramel apple gummy bears.

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Snacks worth mentioning include: this 365 brand popcorn.  It’s low sodium but totally not bland; I loved it and I usually won’t even eat bagged popcorn.

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A yogurt bowl with chocolate Siggi’s yogurt, chopped plucot, granola, and a few caramel chips.

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Trader Joe’s new peanut butter roundels.  They are basically supersized peanut cups, so obviously we are obsessed.

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It’s not officially fall until today, but we still made some cold weather comfort foods for dinners.

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Grilled cheese sandwich on whole-wheat sourdough with labneh, sharp white cheddar, and a sprinkle of sumac.

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Dipped in tomato soup (a low-sodium boxed variety from TJ’s that was good but not great).

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With roasted squash.

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I also made a ridiculously delicious Mac and Cheese and Greens casserole.

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Make a roux with 2 Tbsp butter and 2 Tbsp flour // whisk in 1 cup skim milk and 8 cups baby spinach food processed until smooth with 3 Tbsp pesto and salt and pepper to taste // stir in 9 oz shredded sharp white cheddar and a healthy sprinkle of cayenne and smoked paprika // fold in 8 oz whole wheat shell pasta cooked according to package directions // pour into a casserole and top with 1 oz cheese // bake at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for 20 minutes.

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On the agenda this weekend?  We’re hoping the weather holds out for a final trip to Smorgasburg and a first-time visit to Roosevelt Island.

Coconut, Citrus, And Guava, Oh My

Did I mention last week that I need a vacation?  This week was worse.  Thankfully, starting tomorrow we are on vacation!!  Here are the highlights from the past five days that felt like they lasted for ten…

I kept my coffee combo the same, but did kick things up a notch one day with an Aussie iced coffee!

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Limoneira recently expanded their orchards to include blood oranges and Cara Cara oranges and they sent me a box of goodies to sample.

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The Cara Caras were good, and the blood oranges were the best I’ve ever had – juicy and sweet and just a bit tart.  They made a very good work snack (with roasted pecans and TJ’s butterscotch short breads).

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And were fantasmic mixed into coconut yogurt with Heritage Flakes.

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It was a week of exceptionally good yogurt bowls.  Plain Greek with TJ’s mixed nut butter, vanilla granola, chocolate-covered cacao nibs, and shortbreads.

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Chicory + coffee yogurt with granola and nibs.

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Adam and I both were off on Wednesday and we went to Sunday in Brooklyn for brunch.  I had “The Elvis,” charred banana, housemade fluff, sunflower butter, and green apple, on whole-wheat bread.

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Plus pie and espresso at Blue Stove.  This guava chess was good but not great.

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Snacks of note included jelly beans on the first day of Spring.

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This lime fresco popcorn.

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And the epicness that is Trader Joe’s dried fruit selection.  Dried persimmon?!  The carabao mango is out of this world, it’s like candy.

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Three of five nights I ate a grilled cheese sandwich* while watching Bob’s Burgers** but twice I did manage to cook a legit dinner.  Like egg sandwich pitas.

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Scrambled eggs with smoked paprika, red bell pepper, and spring onion in a pita with mayo and sharp cheddar.

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Plus a cruciferous veggie mix sautéed with cashews and soy sauce.

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Green curry chicken and veggies.  The chicken strips were baked after marinating in a spicy Sriracha marinade, with yellow onion, green onion, green bell pepper, and roasted zucchini, in a green curry sauce.

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We kept the coconut theme going with our drink.

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*grilled cheese notes: this week they were on quinoa bread but rye or sourdough is best / sharp cheddar with pickle relish is my preferred combo / always cooked in butter.

**Bob’s Burgers is my new favorite cartoon series (other than Rick and Morty which is just one of the best tv shows of any genre), I like it even more than Futurama.  It’s the perfect balance of funny yet sweet.

See ya next week!

(Winner, Winner) Chicken Dinners

Did this weekend feel far too short for anyone else??!  I’m working next weekend – and expecting horrid snow on Tuesday – so maybe I just had a lot of emotion riding on this free time.

We did manage a fair amount of productivity and fun – taxes were filed, groceries were replenished, and we spent a great evening with my cousin and her boyfriend.  They were only in Manhattan for a couple of hours but we managed to give them some good New York fun – drinks/games at Barcade and bbq at Blue Smoke.

If this post had six points my bbq dinner feast would have been #1, but since I didn’t bother with pictures while company was in town, here were the weekend’s top five…

{1}  Marshmallow flavored popcorn.

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It was yummy, and a little bit pink!

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{2}  This week’s coffee combo – chicory coffee and chocolate milk.

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{3}  A random lunch assortment – chocolate peanut butter packet, strawberry lingonberry yogurt, an apple, and a pink lady apple flavored kombucha.  The kombucha was my favorite component.

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{4}  Take-out galore.  Garlic fries, fried ravioli, southwestern salad, boneless wings, blue cheese, and honey bbq wings.

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{5}  An Asian-inspired dinner.  Scooped up with tortilla chips.

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Bok choy and edamame sautéed with garlic and soy sauce.

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Red curry chicken salad made with shredded chicken breast with mayo, red curry, red bell pepper, shallot, and toasted coconut chips.

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Pumpkin Nice Latte

How are we more than halfway through October?  And less than three months away from the end of 2016??  I can’t handle it!  Here was this week…

I had leftover sweetened condensed milk from a recipe so I put it in TJ’s coffee concentrate.  Then I spent the entire morning certain I was going to die but also overcome with glee.

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This Target brand salted caramel hot chocolate is delicious.  Apparently I was into my morning sugar this week.

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Yogurt bowls for lunch.  All on theme, thank you.  Chobani pumpkin with pecans and pumpkin spice cheerios and frosted min wheats.  Plus an Asian pear.

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TJ’s pumpkin yogurt with more cereal and an apple.

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Noosa pumpkin with pumpkin spice granola and pumpkin seeds.

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TJ’s caramel apple yogurt with Heritage Flakes and sliced almonds.  This was the best of the apple yogurts, fyi.

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It was a snack-heavy week, here were the highlights –

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Related – a new pretzel shop opened right above my train and it is a problem.

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Most dinners this week were weaksauce.  Adam and I both get a bit bummed out as the weather cools down and we’ve had a hard time motivating ourselves in the kitchen.  Case in point – I ate nachos two days in the row.

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At least these nachos had turkey breast on top.  And eggs with spinach in them on the side.

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Another night I made a super simple turkey and cheddar toasted sandwich.

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Inspiration did finally come, in the form of a box of lemons.  Limoneira sent me a sample of their citrus.  Limoneira Company is a 124 year old international agribusiness dedicated to sustainability.  Their lemons are quite tasty, almost sweet.

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I made Lemon Brown Sugar Chicken.  Served with roasted broccoli and lemon pepper cauliflower rice.

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Also Dulce de Leche Lemon Popsicles.

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Cross your fingers for me that the weather’s nice in NYC today, if there’s no rain I’ve got a fun activity planned.

Palm Seed Fun

This post is running a little late because I am too – I have the day off!  Working last Sunday earned me a long weekend today.  It’s actually an extra-long weekend because I’m off Monday as well, I’m going to Ohio tomorrow to visit my grandma.  Today, I’m going to have some fun with Adam and Webster.

Highlights from this week…

I didn’t snap any iced coffee photos this week, but I promise it was consumed in substantial quantities.  There’s a chance I stayed up far too late watching Road Rules on YouTube one night.  <– not worth the exhaustion, that show spent way more time on relationship drama than I had remembered.

Apple oatmeal, with an Asian pear.

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My Filipino coworker brought me in some palm seeds and I bought them to good use.  Chia pudding with palm seeds and banana.

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Yogurt with palm seeds, Luxardo cherries, Cherrios, and an orange.

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Another treat from the Philippines, polvoron, or powdered milk candy.  They were fantastic, crumbly and milky in such a pleasing way.

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More candy, Justin’s peanut butter cups (I’m still obsessed with these) and a milk popping candy.  Sparkling water and diet coke are two of my favorite things and when you drink them together – as in at the same time, not in the same cup – they both taste even better.

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Other snacks included apples we picked ourselves.

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And the best microwave popcorn we’ve ever popped.  This tasted almost as good as stove-popped.

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We kept dinners super simple this week.  Leftover smoked trout casserole, eaten cold out of the pan.

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Salmon salad sandwiches – canned salmon with mayo, mustard, and pickle relish – on toasted TJ’s quinoa bread.

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My most complicated night involved potato vareniki which cook in about 5 minutes.  Tossed with shredded rotisserie chicken / sautéed celery / garlic kale / and a sauce made of cream cheese and chicken stock.

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I’m off to go start my day off!