Highlights from a tasty weekend…
Homemade boozy iced coffee shake! Iced coffee blended with amaretto, coffee liquor, sweetened condensed milk, vanilla ice cream, and cold brew powder.
This iced coffee with taro cream on top was even better.
Double-fried, pickle-brined fries with freshly made dill pickles!
Soothr is our new favorite Thai spot. This cocktail had spicy mezcal and fresh tamarind.
Chicken pad ki-mao.
Adam and I had a fantastic time on vacation! I have no photos to share, but not to worry, we ate all of the things! We spent the weekend in the city with my parents (Roosevelt Island, Central Park, Seaport, Williamsburg, Montauk, +) and then drove to Virginia (Charlottesville and Richmond) to visit with friends and family and visit a million craft breweries. And then we came home and had insane work-weeks and no longer feel relaxed at all, the end.
Some highlights from the week include…
Dessert-y cold brews. Salted caramel from Whole Foods.
We loved these cans from Red Hat Coffee.
S’mores snack mix – Trader Joe’s ube shortbread cookies with chocolate chips and mini marshmallows.
Dipping plate – pimento cheese with pretzels, baby carrots, and mini cucumbers.
Reuben nachos! Whole Food’s pastrami on rye potato chips with shredded gouda and swiss cheese, roast beef, and homemade Russian dressing. Plus sautéed broccoli slaw with pecans.
Our best sheet pan hash to date – yellow potatoes, zucchini, white onion, corn, Cajun-style chicken sauce, and cojita. Topped with diced radish and an esquites inspired sauce with Kewpie, garlic mayo, sour cream, lime juice, paprika, and gojuchang.
Paired with these tamarind chamoy bears from 7-11 that I cannot recommend enough.
Three (out of the house!) highlights from the past week —
Fancy caffeine at New York Beanery. We had a lavender matcha and a peanut butter cup iced latte.
Mixed fruit mangonada! Somehow this was Adam’s first time trying chamoy but now he’s hooked.
Dinner at Llama Inn. A former coworker got us a gift certificate as a thank you (I helped train her when she moved from acute care to critical care) because it’s her favorite restaurant.
Everything was amazing. Atlas Shrubbed = Pisco, Shochu, aloe vera liquor, kiwi, lemon, and lime.
Asparagus with salsa, pickled green almonds, and huacatay // bok choy with huacatay, sunflower seeds, and grapes.
Scallop tiradito with kiwi leche de tigre and tapioca. <– best dish of the night!
Beef with scallion pancake, avocado, pickled chilis, and fries.
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!
Three highlights from a weekend that went by too quickly…
This vegan coffee and boba ice cream from Trader Joe’s is actually great. As I’ve mentioned, I’m very into any/all boba-laden frozen treats at the moment.
We are completely, shamefully obsessed with Melt Shop. I ate this leftover hot honey and pimento cheese mac and cheese (topped with tons of hot sauce) <10 minutes before going to the gym and it gave my workout major Michael at the Fun Run Race for the Cure vibes. (<– still worth it)
I made turkey reuben cheese fries! Fries with swiss cheese, smoked turkey breast, sourkraut, and homemade thousand island dressing.
Five highlights from the past seven days –
{1} A Cherr-Bear smoothie! Yes, I think I’m very clever. A remake of the smoothie I adored for Valentine’s – frozen dark sweet cherries, plain Greek yogurt, and chocolate milk.
{2} A fruit and nut yogurt bowl. Vanilla bean skyr topped with (frozen, reheated) blueberries, halvah, yellow raisins, and nut and seed trail mix.
{3} Whole Foods buffalo sauce soy nuggets and baby carrots, served with an array of dipping sauces.
{4} We made an epically good warm potato salad. Roasted potatoes and celery, hard-boiled eggs, cornichons, dill, mayonnaise, and whole-grain mustard. Plus honey maple smoked salmon.
{5} I made our tastiest no-churn ice cream to date!
Black sesame with layers of fudge sauce and whole-wheat matzoh toffee.
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.
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.
Highlights from the week included…
I was off on Wednesday (I work the weekend again) and I took myself into the city for Dough Doughnuts. This key lime pie doughnut – enrobed in toasted marshmallow!! – was 100% worth braving the cold.
We’ve been in a pandemic for more than a year now and Winter 2021 already feels too long so I am looking to maximize the joy in my life wherever I can; hence, I declared chocolate-covered cherry the official theme flavor of Valentine’s week and I have been eating the combo left and right!
Chocolate cherry coffee = Trader Joe’s cold brew, luxardo cherries, chocolate milk.
See also – vanilla milk and luxardo juice (plus a bit of red food coloring!) plus espresso blended with hot chocolate mix.
This chocolate cherry smoothie was hands-down the best smoothie I’ve ever made/consumed. TJ’s frozen sweet dark cherries, luxardo cherries, plain Greek yogurt, chocolate milk.
Ruby cacao covered cherries + strawberry and hibiscus chocolate.
Related note – I don’t even like Hershey’s Kisses but these lava cake ones are currently one of my top five favorite products.
10/10 ridiculously amazing cherry truffle ice cream.
All of our dinners this week were tasty and wonderful (and a snap to prepare!).
Meatball subs with roasted green beans. Turkey meatballs – stuffed with garlic, fish sauce, and urfa chili peppers – tossed in marinara sauce on a toasted hoagie roll with mozzarella. Our sandwiches were comically large but neither of us could stop from finishing them because they were so yummy!
Wild mushroom chicken sausages – topped with caramelized onion and yellow mustard / roasted broccoli / Lays chili chips.
Pizza casserole. I made a crust layer out of riced cauliflower (with spices, eggs, and cheese), topped with mozzarella, marinara sauce and caramelized onions, chicken sausage, and turkey pepperoni.
Eating Chalk 