Tag Archives: pumpkin

Thankful For Nachos

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Do I have zero chill?  Yes.  And did I fully lean in to all things holiday/Thanksgiving flavored in the second week of November?  Also yes.  I couldn’t help myself, I was ready for cranberry and eggnog and cozy cheer!

Holiday highlights from this week include…

Eggnog in my coffee!

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Cranberry seltzer.

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Pumpkin pie marshmallows.

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Thanksgiving nachos.  Trader Joe’s turkey and stuffing kettle chips / swiss and gruyere cheese / turkey andouille sausage / roasted green beans / poblano peppers / cranberry sauce.

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Thanksgiving totchos.  Tots / swiss and gruyere / poblano peppers / green onion / brussel sprouts / cranberry sauce.

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Upcoming highlights?  I am heading to New York this afternoon to visit Milk Bar’s Thanksgiving croissants my loving husband and dog.

Pumpkin Oolong

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Cold weather fully hit Charlottesville this weekend so I kept things pretty low-key.  I did talk a walk around the neighborhood to stretch my legs on Saturday but then I spent the rest of the night huddled under the covers!

Amazingly, my food highlights from the weekend were not soup and hot chocolate…

Still loving plain Greek yogurt bowls with cupcake almond butter, MadeGood granola, and loads of fresh berries.

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I also enjoyed a bowl with this new Chobani flavor, caramel mocha.

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Whole Foods hot bar with a side of journal reading.  Best bites were the popcorn chicken and Spanish-style brussel sprout salad with sherry vinegar and yellow raisins.

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Pumpkin oolong milk tea(!) with boba and Oreo.

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I made the best sheet-pan hash.  Preheat the oven to 420 degrees Fahrenheit / prep a sheet pan with foil and baking spray / bake chopped Japanese sweet potato for 20 minutes / add chopped bok choy and green onion and bake another 25 minutes / top with smoked salmon candy / add kewpie mayo and Sriracha if desired.

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Candy break.

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Cafe Con Leche, Cerveza Con Calabaza

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Adam came to visit me last weekend, aka I had the best weekend ever!  He probably won’t be back in Virginia until my cousin’s wedding next year so we made the most of the visit.  We went to several old favorites and couple new favorites!

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Weekend highlights include…

Saturday was National Pumpkin Day and Tropical Smoothie Cafe sent me a free coupon to try their Pumpkin Pie Smoothie to celebrate.  Made with real pumpkin, Ghirardelli white chocolate, cinnamon, and non-fat yogurt.  It was very pumpkiny without being boring and just sweet enough.

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Drekker‘s Everybody Love Everybody is a rainbow sherbet sour and it’s PINK!

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Hardywood had a Halloween-themed black IPA on tap – the Heebie Jeebies!  Plus I had a None of This Makes Sense double IPA (my current favorite beer) and a soft prezel with cheese sauce.

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Gaujiros Miami Eatery is Charlottesville’s new Cuban spot and it is damn good!  I had eggs with beans and rice plus fried cheese.

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Plus a Cortadito that was so delicious I went back again the next day for another one!

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Quality Pie.  We split a Spanish Tortilla.

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And I had (super buttery, garlicy) foccacia with egg and cheese.

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Dinner at Comal with my cousin and her fiance.  I didn’t snap any photos but we had an absolutely amazing meal at this new Oaxacan spot in Belmont.

P.S. No more posts coming from me this week.  Tomorrow morning I’m on my way to Ohio to celebrate my grandma’s 90th birthday!

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Apple Pumpkin Chia Chocolate

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The eight best things I ate this week –

(1) Chobani pumpkin and spice yogurt with (2) pecan butter and (3) a Lady Alice apple.

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(4) Siggi’s pumpkin and spice yogurt with (5) chocolate sunflower seed butter.  <– the sunbutter was the best thing of the week!

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(6) Vanilla chia pudding and (7) a SnapDragon apple.

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It was a (8) sandwich week for dinner.  Whole-wheat brioche buns with Kewpie mayo, smoked turkey, and Whole Foods’ plant-based smoked gouda.

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Pumpkin King

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It rained all day Sunday but luckily Saturday was beautiful.  One of my coworkers invited me to the UVA-Duke game and we had a wonderful time (bookended by stops at local breweries!).

Five food highlights include…

This cold brew from La Colombe is so velvety! (fyi, the stuff in the cup has half and half mixed in)

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Trader Joe’s pumpkin yogurt with vanilla peanut butter.

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I saved my two favorite pumpkin beers for last.  I typically don’t drink imperial ales but Pumking is the best.

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Crispy carrot sticks.

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Waffle flavored chicken nuggets(!!!) with roasted green beans and honey mustard.

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Breakfast Totcho Hash

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2/3 of what I have to share this week (yes, I did the math) is appropriately on theme for October!  Other fun in fall includes…  Pumpkin-scented sanitizers.

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And an orange-y yellow nail polish (Urbanized by Cirque Colors).

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Food highlights include…

The original bests in packaged cold brew – Stumptown and Blue Bottle.

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Wegman’s pumpkin pie yogurt with blackberries and maple pecan granola.

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Wegman’s pumpkin Greek yogurt with almond butter and honey butter almonds.

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A hazelnut, coffee, maca bar and some surprisingly good chickpea-based cookie dough.

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Two best pumpkin beers so far this season – coffee Pumpking and Schlafly Pumpkin Ale.

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Breakfast totcho sheet pan hash!  I baked sweet potato tots, with peppers, onion, cheddar, and scrambled eggs and it was delicious.

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It was so yummy it was even good mashed in a container and served leftover.

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Pumpkin And Paw Paw

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I am headed to NYC next weekend so I kept these past three days especially low-key.  I went out for drinks with a coworker, bought a couple of sweaters, and caught up on tv while eating take-out.  And that was it!  I didn’t even make it to the gym.

Highlights in TV so far include All Rise, Evil, SNL, and The Rookie.

Highlights in food this weekend include…

A paw paw margarita from Vitae.

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I didn’t really care for this latte but I loved the new pumpkin pie Perfect Bar.

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These seaweed thins are delicious and way easier to eat than typical seaweed snacks (less crumbly and less greasy).

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Yogurt bowl perfection.  Pumpkin Noosa with blackberries and vanilla almond butter.

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Biggest wins so far in Pumpkin Month = Prairie Artisan Ale‘s Basic Becky (an imperial stout with pumpkin, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, coriander, clove, and caraway) and Coolhaus pumpkin pie cheesecake ice cream (pumpkin and cheesecake ice creams with a graham cracker swirl).

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It’s Pumpkin Month!

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It’s Pumpkin Month!  Check out my exciting, gourd-y stash:

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Related note – my coworkers know me so well!

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This week’s eats highlights were all about burritos, bowls, and tasty take-out…

I go in a bit later on Wednesdays (so my timing works for after-work yoga, which I actually made it to this week, whee!) so I took myself on a breakfast date to Marie Bette for one of their outstanding pretzel croissants.

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This Trader Joe’s breakfast burrito – with eggs, cheese, chicken sausage, and potato – was pretty great.

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And this adobo chicken burrito from Whole Foods wasn’t half bad either.

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Pumpkin spice latte from La Colombe.

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Pumpkin spice bar with pumpkin jellies!  Those gummies were such an exciting find from H-Mart.

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Lunch from the food trucks/farmers’ market that sets up at the hospital.  I got nachos with spicy chicken.

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Roasted shredded brussel sprouts with hot smoked salmon, pumpkin seeds, spicy peanut vinegarette, and zhoug.

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Roasted broccoli slaw with sesame ginger baked tofu, honey butter almonds, spicy peanut vinegarette, cucumbers, and zhoug.  And when the zhoug ran out I topped it with sriracha.

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