Summer Fruits And Veggies

It was a very good week in fruits and vegetables here!  We went to Whole Foods on Saturday to stock up.  With our new, pandemic-induced, bimonthly grocery schedule our first week of dinners/snacks always feels a lot fresher than the second week.

Highlights include…

Could Perfect Bars be any more perfect?  They are the optimal balance of sweet and savory.  I loved this trail mix flavor.

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My parents sent us a box of tamarinds and I found these strawberry cherries at Whole Foods.

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I also snagged a bag of genips (<– Caribbean fruit that I grew up picking from a tree near my house but have had an impossible time finding in New York) on the street corner near my hospital!

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Watermelon-themed things since it’s almost July 4th.  The winner of the bunch was definitely the Hal’s Seltzer.

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This dinner was brought to you by the color orange!  Salmon/trout salad bagel melts / local heirloom tomatoes with a bit of salt and pepper / roasted gold zucchini.

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We have been loving this black-eyed pea salad combo for almost a decade.  This batch was actually made with fancy heirloom yellow eyed beans since BEP were sold out at the store.  Beans, green pepper, smoked almonds, sharp cheddar, and green Tabasco.  It is such a simple combination but super satisfying.

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Roasted green zucchini topped with Moroccan tofu cubes and a simple yogurt sauce (plain skyr, mayo, olive oil, sumac, paprika, salt, and a little water).

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Our best meal of the week was this trio – baked tofu (cooked with a mix of soy sauce, rice vinegar, fish sauce, Sriracha, and honey) / Chinese smashed cucumber salad / fancy mushroom medley sauteed with salt, pepper, and butter.

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Sweet Polly, Sweetie Pies

Adam was on vacation this weekend and since we couldn’t travel anywhere we did all of the fun, social-distancing things in New York!  Highlights include…

Breakfast from Sweetie Pies on Main in Cold Springs Harbor.  We got a cookies and cream scone

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and a quad, non-fat, iced latte with toasted marshmallow syrup

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and ate while walking around and admiring the water.

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Lunch from Lunch Lobster Roll in Montauk.  We got lobster rolls for take-out and ate near the beach.  They gave us so much lobster!

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Drinks from Sweet Polly in Park Slope.  The fact that social distancing rules have pretty much killed open container laws in NYC is a giant silver lining.  This pina colada was perfect for enjoying on a long stroll.

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Dinner from Takumen in Long Island City.  We got take-out and ate on the water!!  <– best ambiance of the weekend

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Hoji-cha bubble tea with oat milk.

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Karaage fried chicken.

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Ban ban chicken ramen for me.  Topped with chili oil and a soft-boiled egg.

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Coffee, Coffee, Coffee*

*please read the title to the tune of the Brady Bunch’s “Marcia, Marcia, Marcia!”

It was an exciting week in home entertainment for us – I started watching Schitt’s Creek, and of course fell in love, and borrowed my mom’s Prime log-in to binge watch all of Absentia.

It was also an exciting week in home caffeination – I had a different (fancy!) coffee drink every day.

Highlights include…

Dalgona coffee!  Here is an explainer.  I used instant espresso powder and looooved it.

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Lavendar latte.

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Vietnamese coffee made with a phin filter.

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Lavazza espresso.

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2% plain Fage Greek yogurt with blueberries, candied walnuts, cinnamon, and maple syrup.

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With blueberries, cinnamon, maple, candied walnuts, and maple walnut granola.

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If you think the dog doesn’t get his own yogurt and berries bowl you’re crazy.

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Soft-scrambled eggs with mozzarella and Korean chili flakes / tater tots with Sriracha, Kewpie, and furikake / baby carrots.

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Egg and cheese onion bagel with soft-scrambled eggs with mozzarella plus Sriracha and mayo.

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The Starburst soda pop flavored jelly beans are pretty darn good, especially the cola and lime flavor.

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Number 2 Pencil’s single-serve chocolate chip cookies are fantastic.  I added rainbow sprinkles and espresso powder.

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Local pizza with fried chicken, roasted zucchini, and hot peppers.

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Giant salad bowl – romaine lettuce, Trader Joe’s balsamic and fig dressing, Trader Joe’s zhoug, celery, tater tats, and turkey meatballs (made with panko, egg, Trader Joe’s umami powder, and Korean chili flakes).

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Giant salad bowl – romaine, balsamic, zhoug, celery, candied walnuts, fresh mint, and baked seitan.

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I’d say “have a great weekend,” but doesn’t every day basically feel the same at this point?

Coffee And Bagels (At Home)

Highlights from the “weekend” –

Coffee in all forms.

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Egg and cheese bagels.  This one had soft scrambled eggs and a melty slice of sharp cheddar; on an onion bagel.

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This one had cheese, fried egg, and tons of Cholula.  Plus roasted broccoli.

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Leftover pizza with honey and chili flakes because that’s the only way I eat pizza now.

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Greek yogurt with cinnamon, maple syrup, blackberries, granola, and Trader Joe’s mixed nut butter.

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The best pasta I’ve ever made.  Whole wheat angel hair tossed with caramelized sweet onion and green with brown sugar, butter, fish sauce, and chili flakes.  Plus roasted zucchini and hot-smoked sockeye salmon.

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Sinfully good booze from Evil Twin – marshmallow hard cider and fruity marshmallow sour IPA.

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Take-Out And Tuna Melts

What a horrible week in human history.  Suffice it to say I am feeling scared and sad for everyone.

There is no good way to segue between what’s happening in the world right now and “here’s some of what I ate this week” so… here’s some of what I ate this week:

Tons of no-contact take-out from local restaurants.  Kung fu tofu with Sichuan green beans.

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Cheese pizza with honey and gochugaru chili flakes.

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Absolutely ridiculous yogurt bowls.  This one was TJ’s plain skyr yogurt with fresh blackberries, TJ’s mixed nut butter, hot fudge sauce, and star sprinkles.

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One day I had yogurt with berries and cinnamon and grain-free granola but mostly I ate hot fudge sauce.  Did I mention we’ve also stress-eaten a ton of candy?

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Coffee that I brought back from my trip to Michigan.  I had to use the blog to look up the fact that my visit was in September 2019 because it feels like a million years ago at this point.

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The best tuna melt ever.  It was actually a mix of canned tuna and smoked trout (with mayo and pickle relish).  On an onion bagel with sharp cheddar.  Plus roasted caulilini baby cauliflower.

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The Ratio Of The Pizza’s Circumference To Its Diameter

FYI – as of Saturday morning the recommendation in NYC was to avoid public transportation but continue to support local restaurants if you were feeling well, so that’s what we did this weekend.  Obviously the situation has changed vastly since then.  I stocked up on supplies last week and plan on self-quarantining for at least the next 14 days.

While you are stuck at home I strongly recommend streaming these (very raunchy, deeply funny) shows: Big Mouth / Future Man / Astronomy Club.

Highlights from the weekend include…

Breakfast at Win Son Bakery, which blew our freaking minds.  Their custard toast is our new all-time favorite thing.

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Pizza pie for Pi Day at Roberta’s.  Tomato, mozarella, caciocavella, parmigiano, oregano, and chili.

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Plus we had an amazing sticky bun.

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A dessert-y yogurt bowl.  Chobani milk and cookies yogurt with frozen berries, pumpkin seed butter, and sprinkles!

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All of the dessert-y beer options at Evil Twin.  Marshmallow triple IPA, marshmallow key lime sour IPA, marshmallow pina colada hard cider, passion fruit sour IPA, and cinnamon pear sour IPA (the marshmallow key lime was obviously my favorite beer of all time).

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Homemade green curry.  With ground turkey and tons of spring onions, on a bed of roasted zucchini.

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I’ll miss you, NYC!

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Aha!

Highlights from this week (mostly beverages that blew my mind!) include…

Starbucks vanilla sweet cream nitro cold brew can gets a 7.5/10.  Not as good as a freshly made nitro but better than many canned coffees.

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Wendy’s new cold brew with chocolate Frosty creamer gets a 7/10; a great score for a fast food coffee.  It was not too sweet and the coffee was vastly more robust than Dunkin Donuts’.

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I always enjoy Health Ade Kombucha and their passion fruit tangerine flavor is my new 2nd favorite (it comes in behind their holiday spice flavor).

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AHA = my new favorite sparkling water.  This was the surprisingly fantastic flavor combo of cherry and coffee!  And it’s caffeinated!!

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A decked out yogurt bowl.  With vanilla bean powder, cinnamon, honey, banana, watermelon seed butter, and starry sprinkles.

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My favorite yogurt (Trader Joe’s plain skyr) with my new favorite oatmeal cookies (Stella’s easy one bowl recipe) and some mandarinquats (which I actually didn’t enjoy because they were impossible to eat).

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Crazy good take-out from Cheng Du.  I got kung pow tofu and Szechuan chili oil tofu and it was some of the best Chinese food I’ve ever tasted.

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This was hands-down the best sandwich I’ve ever made.  I could not stop raving out it.

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Brioche bun with Kewpie mayo / chicken thighs marinated in pineapple juice, brown sugar, sriracha, minced ginger, soy sauce, and rice vinegar then roasted / bbq sauce made with the reduced marinade plus ketchup / topped with sauteed sweet onion, poblano pepper, and pineapple.  Served with roasted broccoli.

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An Oatsome Good Time

Highlights from this week include – a day trip into Brooklyn // tons of tortilla chips and salsas // a product review.

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Oatsome sent me a carton of their oat-milk to try {I was provided no additional compensation and all opinions shared are my own}.  I have a three pronged review –

  • 1) Taste: the flavor is similar to skim milk in that it is not strong at all; I could definitely identify that oats were involved but it wasn’t “oat forward.”  It was inoffensive in coffee and cereal which is basically what I’m looking for in my non-dairy milks.  I could not get it to foam for coffee, likely due to its low protein content.  Tastewise, Oatsome is definitely my new favorite non-dairy option.  Typically I won’t order at coffee shops that don’t stock skim milk but I would consider places with oat milk more regularly now.
  • 2) Nutrition: one cup of Oatsome contains 130 calories and 2 grams of protein.  It does not contain dairy, nuts, or added sugars and it is gluten free.  It’s a low sodium option with 60 mg per cup.  Oatsome is fortified with calcium (provides 20% DRI), vitamin D (provides 10% DRI), riboflavin (provides 40% DRI), and vitamin B12 (provides 40% DRI).  For vegans, it is awesome that this is fortified with B12.  However, for anyone who depends on dairy to help meet their daily protein needs at 2 grams per cup Oatsome probably isn’t the best choice (versus skim milk with 8 grams protein per cup).
  • 3) Environmental impact: oats require 80% less water to grow than almonds.

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I had Oatsome in a cup of espresso roast with brown sugar.

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And in a bowl of Heritage Flakes with blueberries.

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Vanilla bean Greek yogurt with blueberries and a honey tangerine.

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An egg sandwich from Golda with muhumarra, kashkaval, dill, sumac’d onion, and beef bacon.  Plus a salted tahini oat milk latte!

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Baby carrots and roasted broccoli dipped in Asian ginger dressing.

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Homemade chilaquiles.  We used yellow and orange bell pepper, serrano pepper, sweet onion, leftover salsa, and tortilla chips.  Topped with eggs, homemade cilantro crema, and Cholula.

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Nacho night.  Tortilla chips, black beans, poached chicken thighs, sauteed onion and poblano pepper, cheese, Trader Joe’s salsa, and sour cream.

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