Woah!  It’s been almost two weeks; this is going to be a loooooong post, and that’s after I cut out a whole bunch of stuff.  I left in lots of coffee, dinners in bowls, and tasty medjool dates.  I’ve had a bad case of the Blogging Blahs recently and I just can’t get myself to sit down and write.  Even though I’m not talking about it much, we have been eating fancy meals and doing fun things.  Like spending last Saturday in Manhattan…

On our way to the theatre!

We saw Bullets Over Broadway and loved it.  Zach Braff – one of my idols – played the lead and the show was super funny.

Here is some of what’s gone on {my plate} since I last posted – –

breakfasts and lunches

Amazing hot chocolate and a vanilla almond KIND bar.

Smoothie = frozen banana, dates, vanilla almond milk, vanilla almond butter, cinnamon-maple sugar, and vanilla bean paste.

Yogurt bowl.  2% Fage topped with cooked strawberries, chopped date, and pecans.

Yogurt lunch.

Dannon coffee Greek yogurt,

plus dates with sweet and spicy pecans, and an apple.

Super salad.  I packed spring mix topped with blue cheese, sweet and spicy pecans, and chopped apple, then added some Italian dressing from the salad bar at work.  P.S. The cafeteria was on point this week; I bought several cheesy slices of pizza and had creamy lobster bisque with giant pieces of meat.

Lunch with Au Bon Pain.  They sent me some coupons to try out their new late spring menu.

We tried the Sriracha Chicken Sandwich—all-natural chicken with Sriracha sauce, pickled banana peppers, arugula, tomatoes and lemon aioli on a baguette.  Interesting, but not too spicy for the husband.

A Lemon and Sweet Cheese CroisBun – flaky croissant blended with butter bun, filled with sweet cheese and lemon curd.

And an Arnold Palmer with their black currant iced tea.

Everything was really yummy, but we were pretty annoyed because the location we chose was out of the new salads, both of which sounded amazing.

[BBQ Chicken Salad—all-natural chicken marinated in barbecue sauce, romaine, roasted corn, tomatoes, cucumbers, three-cheddar blend and light ranch dressing.  Fresh Fruit & Baby Kale Salad—fresh watermelon, strawberries, mandarin oranges, feta and sliced almonds on a bed of baby kale and balsamic vinaigrette.]

I will not be going back to that location, but I will be heading to ABP for a salad asap.

drinks and desserts

Many iced lattes with my magic milk straws.

Also the cookie dough iced coffee from Dunkin is still great.

And this double espresso over ice – with skim milk and sugar – from Café Dada that filled me with joy.

We are officially giving two thumbs up to Rice Dream’s Horchata.

Adam actually liked it even more than I did.

Still working my way through Buzzfeed’s Frozen Treat’s list; #33 was cholado from Las Americas Bakery.

We got Raspado, shaved ice with homemade fruit syrup and sweetened condensed milk.

Caramel date shake – sea salt caramel gelato blended with dates and skim milk.

Frozen hot chocolate from Tim Horton’s.  Please note – they sent me a free coupon so I could sample this new product.

It wasn’t as good as the frozen hot chocolate, but it was definitely delicious.  We would plan on purchasing them again this summer.  The fudge on top was out of control.

This cookie dough candy was as good as you’d expect it to be.  <– i.e. if that sort of thing sounds good to you then you’ll probably like it but if you thought“dear god, why would you dip cookie dough in chocolate” then you’ll probably think it’s too sweet.  I thoroughly enjoyed half and then was happy to throw the rest away.

Brooklyn Farmacy is officially our new favorite place.

A family restored the 1920’s pharmacy and turned it into a soda fountain heaven.  The music, fixtures, and staff wardrobe are all throw-backs to the ’20s but in a way that is touching and kitschy rather than cheesy (think classy, not Johnny Rockets).

We shared a hibiscus float and a maple egg cream that were both indescribably good.

We practically ordered a second round!

dinners

Farro bowls.  Leftover farro tossed with soy sauce and rice vinegar / sautéed shiitake mushrooms and shredded carrots / sauerkraut sautéed with Sriracha and sugar / sliced cucumber / and a fried egg.

Here it is before the egg went down.

Pasta bowls.

Whole wheat linguine / spinach and roasted broccoli / sauce made of a raw egg cracked into the hot pasta plus a splash of milk and huge handful of shredded swiss cheese / topped with panko fried with evoo, smoked paprika, and truffle salt.

Burrito bowl at Calexico.  Rice / black beans / guacamole / cojita cheese / avocado sauce / and jalopeños.

Old-school burger and fries at Bareburger.  Turkey burger – on a bun! – with pickle chips, tomato, lettuce, mayo, and ketchup.  Just like a McDonald’s burger from when I was a kid.

Cheese plate!  Assembled entirely of items from Trader Joe’s.

Dates, salmon jerky,

orange slices, pear,

rosemary crackers,

and Italian truffle cheese.

The cheese was an early appetizer for our sushi night.

I got a pickle veggie roll and a non-authentic fried stuff roll.  Both were only ok.  We had sushi a couple of times over the past weeks and none of it has been very good.

A fancy dinner, after our date at the theatre, at Stone Park Café.

We started with a salad of baby arugula, toasted pecans, artichoke hearts, and blue cheese vinaigrette.

And the scallop and marrow tacos.  Uggggh.  These were insane.

I had seared Catham cod with Odessa eggplant, baby bok choy, and lemon gremolata.  Apparently this was the first time I tasted cod outside of fish and chips?!  SPC is one of our favorite restaurants in the city so I know this was good, but I wasn’t a big fan.

Adam’s dinner blew mine out of the water.  Butternut squash and thyme ravioli with brown butter, pine nuts, and mixed mushrooms.

Thankfully he was very generous with shared bites.

Are you sick of this post yet?  That’s all she wrote!