Staycation 2015: NYC

by Emily

Once we got home from St. Thomas (a week ago now,) our vacation turned into a staycation and the fun continued. We got in a bunch of cuddle time with Webster, caught up on tv, and spent three straight days walking and eating. On Friday we walked 6+ miles around the Upper West Side in one afternoon. I know this post is running late, but that is because it is GIANT. By sharing everything, leaving lots of leftovers, and through sheer force of will, Adam and I managed to try a ton of the restaurants on our “to-eat” list during our last days spring vacation. I know I say that 8 different things in this post are “the best,” but I’m not exaggerating, these spots were all really outstanding.

BAOHAUS

Baohaus serves some of the most inventive buns in the city. We’ve gotten the Coffin Bao with fried chicken and chili sweetened condensed milk in the past and it was on point. This trip we stuck with the Birdhaus – All natural fried chicken brined 24 hours, served with Haus Seasoning Salt, lemon-garlic aioli, crushed peanuts, Taiwanese red sugar, and cilantro.

Plus tea from the shop next door.

My milk tea had boba, grass jelly, and pudding.

Bibble & Sip

B&S is an adorable little llama-adorned coffee shop on 8th ave just south of the park. The baked goods looked great but we honed in on the lavender latte. The floral flavor was perfectly balanced by the (skim)milk, though I wish we had gotten iced.

Chuko Ramen

Chuko is a modern-looking ramen spot in Prospect Heights. This was actually our first official ramen experience, but I’m still feeling pretty confident in saying that this is the best in Brooklyn.

Every dish had such umami. We started with a shrimp bun with garlic tartar sauce.

And crispy Brussels sprouts with fish sauce, peanuts, and pickled jalopeños. The crunchy leaves were to die for.

I got the veggie miso ramen with chicken, though they had the option to go full vegetarian.

It was ridiculous. The noodles were chewy, the broth was robust (and vegetarian!), and the poached chicken was unbelievable soft. It came topped with sweet corn, greens in truffle oil, mushrooms, a soft-boiled egg, and chili oil. This bowl was one of the best things I’ve ever tasted so it tells you a lot about the generous portion size that I couldn’t finish it.

Corner of Vermont

Corner of Vermont is a little shop on 5th in Park Slope that is Buddy the Elf’s dream – everything they sell is laced with maple syrup. Black Bear Sugarworks‘ divinely smoky and complex maple syrup. We were swooning over everything we tried, even the little cups of straight syrup they hand you at the door. Adam got an amazing maple soft-serve and I got a maple soda.

Plus we had a maple bear, the single best piece of maple sugar candy I’ve ever tasted. The fantastic syrup gave it a great start, but also because the candy was so fresh the mouthfeel was perfect – the candy held up to the bite and then melted in your mouth.

Dough

These doughnuts are ubiquitous at this point – they sell them at Whole Foods and my hospital’s tiny coffee counter – but they are worth the treck to Fort Greene because they are a trillion times tastier straight from the source. The dough is slightly sweet and not too dense and the glaze on my salted caramel chocolate was ridiculously chewy and deeply dark chocolate-y.

Grand Central Station

Café Grumpy makes us anything but grumpy, they have one of our all-time favorite expressos. My skim macchiato was great.

And the giant salted caramel macaron I paired with it also put a smile on my face.

Hibino

Hibino is a gorgeous sushi spot in Cobble Hill with a great selection of (many local varieties of) seafood and tofu that they make in-house. I got an iced roasted barley tea which was unsweetened and very refreshing.

We got seaweed salad which came with wakame and red and green seaweed. Adam loved it but I could not do the unseasoned seaweed; there are very few vegetables I don’t like but red seaweed now tops the list.

Of course we tried the the cold house-made tofu, which came with scallions, ginger, and dashi (a kombu, or kelp, broth). The tofu was strangely flavorless and very creamy.

And I went with the vegetable roll for dinner.

The orange piece on the left was me being brave and trying uni – raw sea urchin! It was good, very velvety.

Nunu Chocolates Café & Tap Room

Nunu is a Brooklyn-based chocolate company that makes a caramel bar I’ve been obsessed with for years. Their newest location is Park Slope serves homemade chocolates, Blue Bottle coffee, and a pretty decent selection of draft beers.

They also offer a chocolate and beer pairing, which is what we came in for.

I am sad that I didn’t take notes because we loved every bite and sip but at this point I can’t remember what anything was. Surprisingly, our favorite thing was a spicy beer that Nunu collaborated on with a local brewery.

Pure Thai Cookhouse

PTC is a Hell’s Kitchen spot with delicious, authentic Thai food. Serious Eats raved about it and it’s been my Thai go-to since trip one. The space is tiny but the vibe is casual and the service is crazy quick. Their noodles are great, but I went with a rice-based special, Kao Ob Talay.

Steamed jasmine rice with crabmeat, jumbo shrimp, taro root, shitake mushroom, onion, scallion, cilantro, ginger, and garlic soy sauce.

The bites with sweet crabmeat and chewy shitake were take-your-breath-away good.

Schmackary’s

Schmackary’s is a cookie bakery and coffee shop in the Theatre District. Their menu changes daily/seasonally and includes spectacular things like s’mores, sweet corn and bacon, and blueberry cobbler. We got a butter pecan that was legit the best purchased cookie I’ve ever tasted – browned butter / toasted pecans / butterscotch.

I ♥ NY!

8May2015

Gesundheit!

by Emily

Oh man, has allergy season hit us with a vengeance. I feel just horrible! My throat hurts, my nose is runny, and my head is an achy, foggy mess. All of that complaining is to say – I missed a lot of pictures this week, many of them of candy and/or coffee because I pretty much had to have a liquid or hard candy in my mouth 24 hours a day. That said, I got to go on several mid-week dates with the husband and it was actually a pretty great week.

breakfast

Smoothie. Vanilla almond milk, frozen banana, blueberries, raspberries and dates, chia seeds, and a scoop of vanilla pudding mix.

Adam prefers his smoothies creamier than icy so I thought the pudding would help with texture but it gave the smoothie an offputtingly sweet taste.

Breakfast date at Doughnut Plant!

I got a tres leches doughnut (the best one on the menu),

and a horchata, a specialty menu item for Cinco de Mayo.

Plus a latte from Gorilla.

Mmmmn.

lunch

Soup for my sore throat.

With a Lady Alice apple.

Guava-cheese empanada.

With a grapefruit soda.

A sandwich from home.

Low-fat cheddar, mayo, and Applegate Farm’s bbq spiced turkey on TJ’s whole-wheat Tuscan pane.

Turkey sandwich from the cafeteria on yummy olive bread.

Plus dried nectarines a coworker brought in.

They were even better than dried apricots.

snacks drinks

Lavender milk tea.

Good but not great.

This “Simply Red” from Pork Slope was amazing.

House-infused hibiscus vodka, mint, lime, and soda. I am obsessed with mint lately.

Low-fat machta latte.

I told you there were going to be a lot of drinks!

dinner

Rice bowls.

For a super authentic Cinco de Mayo.

Date night at the new-ish Luke’s Lobster in Park Slope!

My lobster roll was heavenly.

And then we got a flight at Ample Hills for dessert.

It came in an egg tray and was amazing and delicious and I was basically dying.

That’s all I photographed. Have a great weekend!

4May2015

Fun Facts From The Weekend

by Emily

{1} The special drink at Café Bene this month is handmade strawberry milk! It’s called a “strawberry latte,” and as far as we could tell it is just milk and macerated strawberries. The husband and I liked it a lot.

That’s more than I can say for the S’mores Frappuccino, as the whipped cream did not taste like marshmallows.

{2} You can eat Kentucky Derby themed snacks even if you don’t watch the race and still have no idea who won.

This Dark Chocolate Walnut bar was yummy.

And I made Adam and I “Derby Shakes” on Saturday.

Milk chocolate gelato and toasted walnuts blended with skim milk, Jim Beam Maple Bourbon, and ice.

{3} Bareburger’s new menu includes a burger topped with pimento cheese, pickled green tomato, a fried egg.

I guess that technically fit in with our Derby eats too.

{4} The new Avengers’ movie was not bad at all. Even though it was long enough for us to need a refill on our giant soda.

It was very funny; several quips had the whole theatre laughing out loud. I think overall it would have been a lot more Whedon-y if it had been Natasha walking into the house instead in that final farm scene (<– intentionally vague so as not to give any spoilers).

{5} You should totally make my newest recipe at home – Spicy Salmon Roll Casserole.

It came together really quickly and Adam and I both enjoyed it. Served with Bon Appetit’s Thai Celery Salad on the side.

I’m looking forward to leftovers of both dishes.

13Apr2015

Homemade S’mores Milk and Weekend Brooklyn Love

by Emily

Adam and I had a pretty great weekend… in spite of me misplacing my – expensive! – favorite sports bra and spending half of Saturday in mourning. Seriously – I don’t change at the gym, I didn’t pack it on a trip, and we are very careful to check the machines for runaways when we do our laundry – where the frick is it?!! But when we weren’t checking and rechecking literally every drawer in the house, we did manage to have some fun.

highlights…

Homemade S’mores Milk

It’s official, I’m a genius. I put it in coffee, obviously.

S’mores Milk, makes 2 cups

Inspired by Tosi’s Cereal Milk. This recipe requires you to strain the solids out of the milk, you can use a fine mesh sieve but I used my French Press and that worked really well too. Smooshy marshmallows will not work for this, you need crispy ones; if you can’t find the Mallow Bits I recommend picking the marshmallows out of Lucky Charms!

2 cups skim milk or milk of choice
1/3 cup Jet Puff Mallow Bits
4 squares graham crackers, crumbled
2 Tbsp hot chocolate milk

Place all of the ingredients together in a container and stir to combine. Cover and store in the fridge for 8 – 16 hours.
Strain, discarding solids. Milk can be stored, covered, in the fridge for up to 1 week.

Cheesy Spicy Eggs

Coming up somewhere just behind coffee, diet coke, dulce de leche, and popcorn, corn cooked in scrambled eggs is one of my favorite meals.

This plate was TJ’s frozen fire-roasted corn, chopped spinach, and sliced shishito peppers (<– so much spicier than I was expecting!) cooked in coconut oil with eggs scrambled in and chunks of Kerrygold Skellig sweet cheddar tossed in at the end.

C’est Cheese in Port Jeff

C’est Cheese is always worth the drive up Port Jefferson for dinner.

We shared a beer sampler. The Framboise was my favorite.

A cheese plate. Adam loved the Tallegio and I was all about the 7-year Gouda.

And a grilled cheese with blue cheese and a raspberry-cranberry relish on marble rye. The cheese and jam combo made for the best bites of the night.

Snacky in Williamsburg

This weekend one of my lifelong best friends celebrated her 30th(!!!) birthday.

After the party, the husband and I had dinner at Snackys, one of my favorite Williamsburg spots. We shared a seaweed salad and a Chinese big bun stuffed with pickled vegetables.

And did rice bowls for dinner. I know the photos aren’t much, but my Spicy Korean BBQ Chicken Bowl was great, yummy sauce and big bites of kimchi.

Our 1st Smorgasburg of 2015

NYC people – if you haven’t done Smorgasburg yet you need to get your life together. They added a few new vendors this season and it is happy, foodie, perfection. We couldn’t find the Snowday truck but you can bet I’ll keep an eye out from now on.

We got lattes at Brooklyn Roasting Company.

Buns from Bite Sized Kitchen. I got red curry chicken with peanuts, cilantro, and fried garlic and shloots (topped with loads of sweet chili sauce).

And beer-battered cheese curds with truffle cheese sauce from Curd’s the Word.

Remember this post? The stupid sports bra is the fourth item I’ve ever lost… which would be a really good track record if 2, 3, and 4 hadn’t all been within the last year!

10Apr2015

Easter And Onward

by Emily

This post feels long, and I am le tired, so I will try to be less loquacious than usual.

Very chatty sidenote – how great are some of the words that describe how much a person does or does not talk?? Loquacious. Taciturn. Verbose. Gabby. Love them!

Real talk though: I somehow caught a springtime cold and I am cranky and sniffling and need to go to bed. I know I’ve wasted 60+ words on an intro, but I’ll try to let the pictures speak for themselves as much as possible.