Well There Goes Your Social Life

by Emily

Another New York snowstorm?! Can it be Spring already??! I shouldn’t complain, Adam and I both were off from work on Wednesday and I already drink enough coffee to power a small city so it’s not like the few minutes I had to wake up earlier on Thursday to deal with the snow were a big deal. <– I should note that I literally mean that I only need a few extra minutes, I don’t have to dig out my own car because I’m married to the kindest man on earth!

Highlight bites this week…

Coffee, coffee! Cafe Bustelo.

Cold brew with coconut palm sugar (and skim milk).

Protein cookie and a sumo.

Coffee Greek yogurt with coconut butter, red walnuts, and granola, plus a Pink Lady apple on the side. The coconut/coffee combo is 10/10.

These 7-11 bites are super cute, and I love anything that tastes like cake batter.

It seemed like half of Queens had closed up shop on Wednesday but Adam and I still managed to find a good lunch. Chicken and udon soup.

With an Oreo milk tea with pudding.

Plus we went to Coffee Factory for a ridiculously adorned coffee shave ice.

It’s a testament to how good Stumptown is that I was equally excited about my iced latte.

Do you remember last year when I declared that the spring holidays deserve theme flavors too? Easter gets lemon, coconut, and anything in the shape of an egg!

I snacked on coconut shortbread cookies and candied lemon slices to welcome the first day of Spring.

The Trader Joe’s eggs were cute, but the chocolate to caramel ratio was too large for my liking. I much prefer a thinner, softer shell, so the Godiva eggs were absolutely perfect.

Godiva actually sent me the eggstra special chocolates to review on the blog {I received no additional compensation / all opinions are my own}. The box includes solid milk chocolate, dark chocolate ganache (3rd favorite), dark chocolate with raspberry, milk chocolate with almond butter (my favorite), and milk chocolate caramel (2nd favorite). There’s 60 calories per egg, which feels more than fair because these are definitely a two-to-three-bite candy.

Important note – Godiva also has an assorted gift-box special for Spring that includes both cookie dough truffles and white chocolate pralines – among other flavors – and I’m having a very hard time not buying it immediately.

My dinners were darn impressive this week. Spicy Cajun shrimp pasta bowls on whole wheat linguine with tons of roasted zucchini and sun-dried tomato.

Homemade turkey Reuben burgers / roasted green beans / french fries / with ketchup and thousand island.

Chicken sandwiches. Boneless skinless breasts marinated in lemon juice, soy sauce, rice vinegar, brown sugar, Sriracha, fish sauce, and ginger; breaded in panko; and baked / on brioche buns / with mayo and provolone.

Plus we had sauteed bok choy and leeks on the side.

And buttermilk and chive chips while I cooked.

Last night a girlfriend and I went on a balls tasting tour of the Lower East Side for dinner. Boba Guys for Hong Kong milk tea with tapioca balls and almond jelly.

Meatball Shop for chicken meatballs with pesto. Plus a Dead Flowers & Red Bottoms cocktail – mezcal, tequila, lime, honey, and hibiscus.

p.s. who is 1990’s enough to get the joke in my title??

16Mar2018

And Now My Favorite Color is Zhough

by Emily

Highlights from the week…

Fancy shmancy coffee. I cold pressed espresso roast with vanilla bean powder, brown sugar, and clove.

Honestly though, my current favorite-favorite combo is espresso, ice, and chocolate milk.

Milkadamia sent me a box for review [no cash was exchanged, all opinions are my own, yadda yadda]. Their macadamia nut milk is vegan, dairy-free, soy-free, and gluten-free. The unsweetened vanilla has 50 calories, 1 gram of protein, and zero grams of sugar (1 gram carbohydrate) per 8 oz serving. The milk has almost no flavor, but that is pretty much what I’m looking for in my nut milks because I want them to make my coffee creamy without distracting from the coffee taste. The unsweetened vanilla went perfectly with a cup of iced coffee this week, no clumping or separation to be found.

I also used it in a smoothie with frozen blueberries and coconut chunks, vanilla, maple, and chia seeds.

My packed work eats were all about the Sumo mandarin and plain Greek yogurt combo. With maple or granola.

Snack attack. Peanut butter puffs.

Mexican marshmallow shortbread cookies.

Super sour soda and cola hard candies.

Mini sundae from Van Leeuwen. Cookies and cream topped with hot fudge, almond brittle, and sprinkles.

All of our dinners this week had a Middle Eastern bent, thanks to lots of zhough and copious amounts of olive oil. Like scrambled egg pita sandwiches. Scrambled eggs / sauteed orange bell pepper and red onion / whole wheat pita / zhough. With roasted zucchini.

Pita chip nachos! Sharp cheddar / red onion and cucumber / marinated chickpeas with lemon juice, olive oil, fresh parsley, oregano, cayenne, and paprika / zhough and tzatziki.

Veggie bowls. Sauteed red onion, yellow bell pepper, and roasted eggplant / tomato sauce / marinated chickpeas / zhough and tzatziki / fried egg.

Also pizza. Is there a better food on the planet than buffalo chicken pizza??

It’s almost the weekend! Who has green beer on their Saturday agenda?

26Feb2018

Charcoal And Cheez-its

by Emily

From this weekend I have some exceptional highlights and some cautionary tales…

I am a marketer’s dream – I’ll buy pretty much anything that says limited edition; it’s not a lifestyle I can really recommend, as both of these coffees were just terrible!

This coffee shop, on the other hand, was worth the hype.

Saltwater Cafe gave me a very tasty charcoal vanilla chai latte.

Other Lower East Side spots that redefine hypeworthy? Ice & Vice and Baohaus. I had an epic cup of Milk con Leche with goat milk cajeta and kaya jam.

And an Uncle Jesse Bao and a Spiceland Bao – fried tofu and spicy fried chicken with pickled cabbage, crushed peanuts, Taiwanese red sugar, and cilantro. Plus housemade lemonade.

Representing from the frozen section, Trader Joe’s scallion pancakes are damn good. With Sriracha on top and yellow bell pepper on the side.

And one night I cooked a great plate of Cheez-it crusted chicken tenders with homemade cole slaw.

P.S. CW Pencil Enterprise looks like what the inside of my soul looks like.

Hope everyone enjoys their week!

23Feb2018

Smoked Cheddar To Chocolate Almond

by Emily

Flavor themes of the week: coffee, cauliflower, seltzer, croissants.

White Noise. Iced latte and black sesame and milk frozen yogurt swirl fantasticness.

Home coffee for the week. Starbucks espresso roast with chocolate milk.

Breads Bakery. Smoked cheddar croissant.

Orwashers. Almond and chocolate croissant.

Yogurt bowl. 2% Fage with pomegranate, golden raisins, and luxardo cherries.

Snack time. Soursop yogurt drink / red walnuts and marcona almonds with rosemary / pinata apple.

Kakigōri from a pop-up at Canal Street Market. Japanese-style shave ice with black currant chocolate sauce, smoked almonds, and torched meringue. Toasted meringue is one of my all-time favorite flavors.

Luke’s Lobster. Lobster rolls taste like butter squared.

Pelicana. Korean fried chicken is the best fried chicken, period.

Not a winner dinner. Cauliflower rice / sauteed bok choy with rice vinegar / ground turkey sauteed with chopped kimchi and gojuchang / soft boiled egg. This had so much potential but I ended up stopping halfway through and eating fried chicken leftovers instead.

Another night we were supposed to have cauliflower soup for dinner but I couldn’t deal with the blender so at the last minute I ended up making… whatever the hell this is. At least it was tasty! Sauteed yellow onion and leeks with celery seed and smoked paprika / roasted cauliflower / turkey bacon / sharp cheddar.

Have a great weekend!

19Feb2018

Fresh On The Blog

by Emily

Gotta love a three day weekend! I don’t work today (hence the late post) and my plans include the dog, my bed, and The Office, the end.

My Friday, Saturday, Sunday were all pretty great too. Friday, Adam drove me into work so we had before-work breakfast date and after-work dinner date (plus we basically consider the time driving in the car to be a date too!). Saturday, I met up with girlfriends for brunch and discovered that Bayside, Queens – which is about 10 minutes from my house – is actually kind of great. And Sunday, we had friends in from out of town and we got to show them the magic of Grand Central Whispering Gallery; plus the magic of coffee from Cafe Grumpy!

highlights…

Apertif. I had a croque canard sandwich with duck rillettes, apple, brie, and béchamel.

IMG_20180217_123702_501

F.O.B. A newish Filipino spot in Cobble Hill people have been (rightly) raving about.

We got so much good food! Corn bibingka – rice cake with farmers cheese, kesong puti, and coconut butter.

Overnight chicken adobo and pechay – sautéed Chinese cabbage with chili and garlic.

And Halo Halo – shaved ice with nata de coco, red beans, tapioca, mango, jackfruit, and ube ice cream!

French Workshop. We split something with white chocolate mousse, and hazelnuts, and milk chocolate ganache but there were about a million other things that looked good too.

Joyce Bakeshop. We’ve decided that we don’t love their coffee, but their kouign amann is my all-time favorite pastry. Seriously, I like it more than filled croissants from Union Fair and cronuts from Dominique Ansel, and that bar is set pretty damn high.

Kame Ramen in Nomad. I had spicy chicken miso with sesame oil and a soft boiled egg.

IMG_20180218_133342_125 (1)

I did manage to cook one meal at home – loaded baked potato casserole / shredded chicken with bbq sauce / spinach salad with pomegranate, marcona almonds, and Trader Joe’s cilantro salad dressing.

Have a great week!

9Feb2018

Emily Of Sandwich

by Emily

This was a short week for me on the work front, I was off Monday from the weekend (with Adam!!) and off Thursday for a doctor’s appointment. Wear your sunblock, kids – I have to have two moles surgically removed, one on my chest and one on my back, complete with stitches, giant gross scars, and a month straight of no gym and no normal showers. At least I got a good lunch in Manhattan out of the deal?

Highlights…

We finally made it to Doughnut Project! The Malter White was great, malted milk chocolate with a malted chocolate chip mini cookie and cookie crumble.

We got a gift certificate to the Russian Tea Room for Christmas this year and we enjoyed a super fancy lunch. We had vodka, of course.

And caviar.

And I had delicious Kulebiaka for my entree – salmon with slow cooked onions, mushrooms, and vegetables wrapped in pastry, served with braised caraway cabbage and mustard beurre blanc.

Yogurt bowl wins. Greek with fresh strawberries and caramel almond butter.

Strawberry Icelandic style with a fancy tangerine.

Chicken quesadilla from La Esquina.

Best ever ice cream from Ice & Vice. Malted vanilla with sea salt caramel.

Dessert at Vanilla Bean. Banoffee tart for me and a crazy good iced latte.

Caramelized banana peanut butter cups.

It was sandwich week for dinners! Croque Madame – rye bread, smoked turkey, sharp cheddar, strawberry jam, french toasted – with roasted broccoli and shishitos.

Jalopeño popper turkey burgers with smoked gouda and roasted green beans. We didn’t have buns but I’m still counting this as a sandwich.

Asian-style turkey reubens – with gojuchang mayo and kimchi – with roasted shredded brussel sprouts.

26Jan2018

Quesadillas, Chilaquiles, And Burritos, Oh My!

by Emily

As I flip from one classical musical references in my title to another in my opening line… This week these were a few of my favorite things –

Favorite breakfast – This incredibly excitingly pink coconut water.

One of my coffee combos – Birch Cold Brew roast with vanilla cashew milk. <– good idea in theory but the mouthfeel and taste were both sort of “empty” to me and I ended up having to add a splash of cow’s milk.

Favorite yogurt bowl – Vanilla & Cinnamon Chobani with Brown Sugar Cinnamon peanut butter. Plus a Kanzi apple.

Favorite snack – an assortment of nuts and dried fruits from Trader Joe’s.

Pears, persimmons, and sweetened dried lemons plus TJ’s nut and seed medley.

I can’t choose one favorite dessert, they were all so good! We were surprised by how tasty these TJ’s churro bites turned out to be.

I made a batch of snack attack brownies! This recipe, minus marshmallow, plus crushed potato chips, pretzels, and m&ms.

And I was killing it in the dinner department this week. Baked burritos – whole wheat tortillas / shredded chicken breast / sauteed onions and orange and yellow bell peppers cooked with cumin / shredded sharp cheddar cheese / TJ’s double roasted salsa.

Chilaquiles, mostly from scratch.

I made chips out of the whole wheat tortillas / cooked in salsa and diced tomatoes / with leftover onions and peppers / shredded chicken / lime / cheese / topped with a sunny side up egg and a dollop of plain Greek yogurt.

Egg and cheese sandwiches with homemade sausage.

Whole wheat hamburger buns toasted with mayonnaise / cheese / fried egg / turkey sausage made with smoked paprika, fresh sage, and maple syrup.

Plus roasted green beans.

And yesterday I had a late doctor’s appointment in the city so I grabbed dinner at La Esquina. I had a ridiculously delicious chicken quesadilla with salsa verde.

I am off of work today with a three-day weekend and we’ve got super fun dinner plans tonight, woo-hoo!

15Jan2018

Brussel Sprouts, Cabbage, And Eggplant, Oh My!

by Emily

Goodness me, did we fit in some fantastic eating this weekend! Three restaurant stops that were three of our best meals in NYC to date. I spent the past three days giddy and full.

Highlights…

First things first – they can’t all be winners. Both of these products seemed like things I would flip for so it felt like I should put out a PSA that I was not a fan. The protein krispie treat tasted stale and horrible and the drink was more peanut than caramel. Plus I’ve decided that the new Starbucks blonde espresso is not for me because I like the roasty flavor of the traditional espresso.

I do recommend this salted caramel cold brew that I drank with skim milk.

I am also a fan of toasted turkey and cheese sandwiches on brioche buns. With kettle chips and roasted green beans.

Now the stuff that knocked my socks off – Joyce Bakeshop. We got baked goods with our coffees on a whim and the kouign-amann ended up being the single-best pastry I’ve ever had.

Dinner at LIC Market. We ate on the beautifully verdant back patio and our scenery was lovely but the lighting was terrible. Fries with raclette to start.

With a gose.

I ordered two veggie sides as my entree. Brussel sprouts with soy, sweet chili, and garlic and eggplant with lemon aioli. The eggplant was one of my favorite dishes of the past five years, which is really saying something because we’ve had some exceptional eggplant dishes lately.

Brown butter pecan cake with a sherry chocolate sauce.

Dinner at Olmstead. Another stunning interior + terrible photo lighting situation.

My cocktail was not great – the only item we didn’t swoon over – but Adam’s fig sherry with vanilla and bitters was pretty delicious.

The menu is set up for sharing so we got to try a bunch of things. <– We actually felt like they encouraged us to order a little too much because we ended up having to take leftovers home. Duck liver mousse (with honey drizzled on top!) with garlic crostini and pickled cauliflower.

Beer-battered delicata squash rings with green tomato and a spice crust.

Sweet potato and uni dumplings.

Cauliflower okonomiyaki with yuzukoshō mayo and spicy hazelnuts.

I had trout with creamed brussel sprouts and shaved chestnuts as my entree. Adam’s succulent tamarind lacquered lamb is lurking in the background.

We ordered the “peanut butter and jello” for dessert because how could you see that and not??! It was strawberry mousse with strawberry jello and peanut butter powder. It was ridiculous and amazing and I literally giggled every time I took a bite.

Olmstead, LIC Market, and Joyce Bakeshop, we will be back!

Eating Chalk

Tag Archives: sandwich

Well There Goes Your Social Life

And Now My Favorite Color is Zhough

Charcoal And Cheez-its

Smoked Cheddar To Chocolate Almond

Fresh On The Blog

Emily Of Sandwich

Quesadillas, Chilaquiles, And Burritos, Oh My!

Brussel Sprouts, Cabbage, And Eggplant, Oh My!