{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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
We retried the cola coffee with great success – espresso, Coke, and scm. Yes, I am furiously looking to get my hands on the newly released cans of Coke with coffee.
One of Adam’s friends delivered us amazing nutella, sea salt caramel brownies.
I obviously crumbled one into plain skyr with some berries and cinnamon.
Chicken nuggets with frozen broccoli wok-sauteed with honey mustard and pickled onions.
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.
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.
It’s always odd as a blogger when the newest horrifying thing happens in America – it feels strange not to talk about it but at the same time there are so many (smarter, more informed) people already talking that it also feels strange to add my voice to the mix. I’ve been reminding myself that Wednesday was the darkest day of 2021 but it was also the brightest — two extraordinary men made history claiming Senate seats in Georgia and the majority for Senate Democrats! Also, this story about Senate aides saving the Electoral College votes as they evacuated makes me cry every time I think about it.
Some highlights from my personal life included…
The best drink: Quad shot, skim milk, add ice, Australian iced coffee from Bluestone Lane. Not going to lie, I had some form of ice cream every day this week.
The best lunch: Brazilian food from Berimbau. We started with a passion fruit caipirinha and Brazilian cheese bread.
Skirt steak with tomatoes, red onion, and yucca fries. My dish was the best thing we had, the stewed tomatoes were amazing.
Brigadeiro for dessert.
The best dinner: Vegan hot dogs with ketchup/yellow mustard/relish on a brioche bun + potato chips + wok stir-fried green beans with chili crisp. This whole meal was wonderful but the green beans were definitely the best vegetable I’ve ever made at home.
Is it because in addition to having black eyed peas on the 1st for prosperity in the new year we had tons of sweets for a sweet new year and rose hard candies for a rosy outlook? I made those last two up but I’m running with it!
Highlights include…
I am on my last carton of eggnog for the season and I am still 11/10 enjoying it in coffee.
We obviously bought this Lucy Glo apple because the Trader Joe’s end cap said it was Instagram-famous and it ended up being delicious – crispy and a good mix of citrus and sweet.
We have both cookie butter and fresh berries in the apartment so clearly I’ve eaten a million yogurt bowls.
100% impressed with the newest Reese’s cup variety – pretzel!
These Levain cookies aren’t quite as good as the fresh-baked ones in stores but they are the very best not-from-scratch cookies you’ll ever make at home.
Also loved this crispy Maman caramel, hazelnut, chocolate chip cookie.
A hot take on the black eyed pea salad we’ve loved for years. BEP, green bell pepper, turkey andouille sausage, smoked almonds, sharp cheddar, and green Tabasco.
Eggs scrambled with peas and crushed potato chips, topped with chili crisp.
Brunch from Edith’s, the Jewish food pop-up in Greenpoint. Braised brisket sandwich with labneh cole slaw, spicy pickles, and pickled mustard seed on a house-made Kaiser roll // house-smoked salmon mac and cheese.
Also they served me a cold brew with amaretto that legitimately blew my mind — we ended up adding a liquor store stop on our way home so I can make my own next weekend.
Hope everyone’s year is off to a smooth and happy start!
Goodbye 2020, hello 2021! Highlights from the last week/end of the year include…
It was our wedding anniversary on Monday and Adam knows me very well so he surprised me with flowers and ice creams. The coffee flavor had the best consistency, so chewy!
Local, NYE-themed beers. The Kills Boro was great, a sour with milk sugar, coconut, pineapple, and strawberry.
Pretzels with hummus + Whole foods chicken nuggets and honey mustard.
Trader Joe’s scallion pancakes topped with Kewpie, Sriracha, vegan pork floss, and furikake. <– reminder to myself to make this more often!
Smoked turkey sandwiches on pretzel rolls with strawberry jam, truffle mayo, and mozzarella. Plus potato chips and simple salads.
NYE cheese plates! Sharp cheddar / smoked almonds / blackberries and strawberries / Trader Joe’s gouda and cheddar cheese crisps / ruby cacao covered cherries.
