It’s The Weekend And I’m Not Crabby

That title is a play on words referencing a tasty casserole I made this week, but real talk – I was super cranky this week and I only have a few snippets to share…

breakfast

Coffee and a watermelon Greek yogurt.

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I was hoping that the cafeteria would have fresh watermelon on hand to pair with it but honestly that flavor is pretty delicious on its own.

Iced Americano with skim milk and a splash of half and half.

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I asked for Americano with “light water” which seems to be my perfect order; mostly espresso without being just espresso.

Cherries and a cheese stick.

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Yum!

lunch

Tropical chia pudding.

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Chia seeds soaked in canned coconut milk with honey and vanilla bean paste with a smashed banana stirred in the next day.

Cafeteria sandwich.

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Tuna salad on multigrain with veggies and muenster.

Cafeteria Inception-style salad.

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Greens with oil and balsamic vinegar topped with shredded cheddar and cucumber and carrot salads.

snack

Self-explanatory…

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Most of our snacks revolved around our homemade no-churn vanilla bean ice cream. <— have you commented on the cookbook giveaway post yet??

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Topped with melted dulce de leche and Valencia peanut butter.

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And whirled into ridiculous milk shakes with Cinnamon Toast Crunch.

dinner

Last night we went on a date to the mall to buy Adam sneakers and me bras and underwear because apparently we have a serious case of the olds.  We did keep things young and fresh by getting a fancy dinner at the food court.

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That’s “Drunken Noodles” from the new Thai spot, I guess.  The veggies were tasty (there were amazing pieces of eggplant) but it was a pretty poor representation of the dish.

The rest of our nights centered around this Cheesy Crab Pasta Bake.

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You see the creeper in that photo?  That’s how you know it’s good!

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Cheesy Crab Pasta Bake; serves 6-8

  • 8 oz dry bow-tie pasta
  • 1 Tbsp salted butter
  • 1 heaping Tbsp all-purpose flour
  • 1.5 cups milk
  • 4 oz shredded sharp cheddar
  • 4 oz shredded pepperjack
  • 1 tsp Old Bay seasoning
  • 2 tsp fish sauce
  • juice from 1 lemon
  • 1 Tbsp minced garlic
  • 4 sliced green onions (green and white parts)
  • (2) 6 oz cans crab meat, drained and picked through if needed
  • 3 oz crab seasoned chips, crushed
  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit and prep an 8×8 inch casserole dish with baking spray.
  2. Cook al dente pasta according to manufacture’s instructions then rinse and set aside.
  3. In a large pot over medium heat, melt butter.  Whisk flour into butter to form a roux and cook 1-2 more minutes until it has slightly darkened.  Whisk milk into roux and cook 3-4 more minutes until thickened, stirring out any lumps as needed.  Working in batches, stir cheeses into sauce.
  4. Reduce heat to low and stir Old Bay, fish sauce, lemon, and garlic into sauce.
  5. Remove pan from heat and stir in pasta, green onions, and crab, tossing until mixture is well-combined.  Pour into prepared casserole dish and top evenly with crushed chips.
  6. Bake 23 – 25 minutes.

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Served with spinach salad with champagne vinaigrette, pepitas, and roasted broccoli.

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Have a great weekend!

Williamsburg To Washington Square Park

Oh my goodness, what a great weekend!  Adam and I have been making the most of the summer days, and then some.  This weekend we walked around Williamsburg, across the bridge, up to and around Washington Square Park, and back, to the tune of 10+ miles in one afternoon!

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When we weren’t moving this weekend, we were eating.  Here are some of the highlights…

A fancy-schmancy yogurt bowl.  2% Plum Chobani with two varieties of pluot and a dollop of fresh whipped cream.

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The cream was part of a homemade ice cream undertaking (look for more details – and a giveaway! – on Wednesday).

Coffee at Sweetleaf, a Rocket Fuel.

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Aka cold brew with milk, maple, and chicory.  Chicory blended iced coffees are definitely going to play a big role in my summer.

Espresso and macarons at Bakeshop by Woops.

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Kids, this place was so freaking cute.  And our cookies were amazing, chocolate and lavender chocolate.

Honey sesame soy milk box.

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Adam and I tried to split this but the minute I handed it over to him he guzzled the rest of it down!

Cherry Cola Tic-Tacs.

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I am incapable of turning down a cherry cola flavored item.  Fun fact – the last two photos were not actually taken in front of the same wall, I just seek out brick whenever I have the option for a photo.

Rice bowls at Korilla.  Korilla is basically an Asian Chipotle, but it is at least fifteen times more fantastic.

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My bowl had sticky rice, the most amazing gochujang marinated chicken, sweet corn and snap peas, cheese, tons of red kimchi, and spicy but sweet Korean BBQ sauce.  Adam’s rice had bacon and kimchi in it and we were both swooning.

We tried the new limited-time offerings at Ample Hills.

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The pride month flavor was yummy but we had to throw out the sandwich.  I think that Ample Hills generally makes the best ice cream on Earth but those soggy cookies were truly inedible.

A cone from Sundaes and Cones.

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Lavender and black sesame were both great; those are flavors that could be kind of overwhelming but they were sweet and light yet still identifiable.

A quick red curry at home.

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Rice noodles on the bottom // sautéed bok choy, white mushrooms and straw mushrooms, sweet onion and green onion, and sweet red pepper // sprouted tofu cubes roasted with lime, sugar, Sriracha, and liquid smoke // and red curry sauce with lime, light coconut milk, fish sauce, and minced garlic and ginger.

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We both typically say that we don’t like red curries but we loved this so we should give the real version another chance.

Sandwich night on my lonesome while Adam was at work.

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I toasted sourdough slices in the oven with Smart Balance Light and pepperjack and sharp cheddar cheese then sandwiched them around canola oil mayo and Applegate Smoked Sliced Turkey.

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With roasted green beans on the side.

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How are green beans – roasted with cooking spray and salt – so flipping buttery?!

Dinner at The Smoke Joint, our new favorite bbq spot.

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They have Mother’s Milk at the bar, which wins them points.  Adam’s strawberry vanilla bourbon limeade wasn’t bad either.

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Their juicy, tender, chopped bbq chicken comes with a side of pickles and spicy cole slaw.

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And their smoky collard greens are meatless, so I got to try real bbq collards for the first time in my life.

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I loved them!

If this upcoming week is half as good as my weekend I’ll be all set 🙂

Criminally Good

Is there some kind of “Criminal Minds” rerun support group out there?  I am a woman obsessed.  I need to finish the old seasons in a hurry so I can start going to bed at a reasonable hour again.

I’ll let the pictures (mostly) speak for themselves…

breakfast

My coffee combo for the week was on point.

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Community Coffee’s Dark Roast (part of a set of free samples that I have continued to love) brewed double strength with low-fat milk, ice, and a scoop of dulce de leche!

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One day I even paired my brew with a KIND salted caramel Popped Bar.

It’s obviously no fun that my husband regularly works nights and weekends, but it is nice that his schedule allows us to occasionally go on mid-week breakfast dates.

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We enjoyed doughnuts – and matcha – and a walk before I had to go to work.

lunch

This week I was all about the sandwiches and I didn’t have many of my usual yogurt bowls so I had to make this one count.  Plum on plum!

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Chobani’s new 2% Plum Greek Yogurt with chopped up pluots and KIND maple chia granola.  The yogurt wasn’t bad, but wasn’t as special as I had hoped; a pretty plain base with chunks of plum throughout.

I got an okay sandwich in the cafeteria.

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Sliced turkey and muenster cheese with mustard, lettuce, tomato, and peppers on an onion roll.

And brought a fantastic sandwich from home.  TJ’s sliced sourdough with Applegate smoked turkey, haloumi cheese, and olive oil mayo.

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Plus an apple and sliced Persian cucumbers on the side for crunch.

The cafeteria came through on salad day.  Romaine topped with black beans, black olives, peppers, sliced carrots, cheddar cheese, tabouli, and ranch.

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With pita chips from the hummus bar (where I found the tabouli) on the side.

snack

Polar’s peach seltzer is amazing, practically juicy.  I’ve got two of the summer flavors waiting in my fridge too and I’m pretty excited about it.

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Pb&j.

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Guava cheese empanada on the train.

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Latte from Café Dada.

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Let’s be real, this was one of many coffee snacks this week but the pictures were getting repetitive so I’m only sharing the pretty one.

dinner

A kitchen-sink leftovers salad whose components ended up pairing together perfectly.  A big bowl of lettuce topped with TJ’s sesame soy ginger vinaigrette, Applegate chicken hot dogs, peanuts, edamame, and Persian cucumbers.

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With cinnamon toast on the side.

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Seriously, how good is cinnamon toast??

This meal was super simple but it was the tastiest of the week.

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TJ’s frozen gnocchi with tomato sauce and mozzarella didn’t knock our socks off, but for frozen gnocchi that comes together in 7 minutes it was certainly fine.

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But this spinach is one of the best damn things I’ve ever made.  Fresh baby spinach (8 cups worth that cooked down into practically nothing!) steam-sautéed with salt and evoo with low-fat sour cream, minced garlic, raisins, and toasted pine nuts tossed in for the last few minutes of cooking.

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I seriously would not shut up about how yummy this was – I even paused “Criminal Minds” to rave about it!

Have a great weekend.

Mary Moon

Another great week came to an end.  We are looooving summer around these parts.  Amazingly, I got myself up and out of bed by 7 am both Saturday and Sunday and you wouldn’t believe how much time I felt like I had free to play.  It was great to get everything I wanted to do done – errands and fun stuff – and still make it to bed at a mature adult hour!

breakfast

Cereal and milk (and coffee).

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Smart Start cereal with blueberries and milk with a side of iced coffee.

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I rarely eat cereal with milk because I usually have it on top of yogurt but it is darn good with fresh berries on top.

Another day, another coffee.  Starbucks’ newest dark roast was quite tasty clover-brewed.

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With a Sonja apple and an Epic protein bar.

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I love the idea of the bars in theory, and the texture was great, but unfortunately I’m never a big fan of the cranberry almond pairing.

Finally, espresso from Brooklyn Roasting Company never lets us down.

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As you’ll see below, this was not our only coffee that day, muwhahaha!

snack

Friday afternoon, just as I was racking my brain for a way to get a cookie on my way home without missing my train, my phone rang – the social worker was calling to let me know that a sales rep had brought us cookies!

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How fortuitous.

The dog and I both think that cheese sticks make good snacks.

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On Saturday we enjoyed popcorn and a movie.

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This Churro flavored popcorn from Erin’s Popcorn was on point.  {it was also a free sample, please note that I did not receive further compensation for this post and all opinions are my own}  It had the perfect balance of cinnamon and sugar and was nice and crunchy.  The husband, the true churro connoisseur, could not keep his hands off of it.

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We snacked on it during Jurassic World, and I’ll just say that the popcorn was the best part of that outing.

Adam and I got hot and sunburnt walking around Smorgasburg and we split a cookie sandwich from The Good Batch.

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Chocolate brown-butter cookie, vanilla ice cream, toasted hazelnuts, and Nutella spread.  It was good but not great and we ended up not finishing it.

In contrast, we licked every last drop out of our ice cream cup at Morgensterns.

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American egg and sesame caramel ice creams topped with Luxardo cherries.  And now I know that I am obsessed with Luxardo cherries.

We had good coffee at Happy Bones.  Adam’s flat white was intensely velvety.

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But my skim lavender hot chocolate from Maman was even better.  Not too sweet or soapy, and thick enough to feel decadent, even with skim milk.

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Their gorgeous floral cups make me insanely happy.

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Uggh, why is the Lower East Side so adorable?!

lunch/dinner

We went outdoors and grilled!

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Lime seltzer with fresh mint and pineapple popsicle to drink.

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With corn on the cob, asparagus, sliced halloumi cheese, and Applegate uncured chicken hot dogs.

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The corn and the asparagus – cooked with a drizzle of olive oil and smoked paprika respectively – were roasted in the oven, only the amazingly squeaky cheese and the dogs (which were the best I’ve ever had!) were cooked on the grill.  But we ate on the lawn with Webster circling our feet and it was pretty great.

We did brunch at Root &Bone that ended up being one of the best meals I’ve ever eaten.  Every single item was perfectly executed.  Even if Southern-style food isn’t your favorite I recommend checking this spot out.

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For drinks we shared the Colonel’s Daughter – 100 proof bourbon, preserved peaches, Amaro Montenegro, and rosemary and a wine spritzer that I cannot find the description for or begin to remember.

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We started with the crispy chicken biscuits which came topped with root chips and Tabasco jam and with a jar of pickles on the side.

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This was hands down the best chicken I’ve ever tasted.  I really hate the word succulent but it works the best.

Adam got the bacon benedict for his entrée and I went with the peach caprese – gooey pimento cheese croquette, charred peaches, pickled green tomatoes, baby heirloom tomatoes, and basil and molasses vinegar.

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Not surprisingly, smoky sweet charred peaches pair really darn well with fried pimento cheese.  We were swooning.

Sunday we had Chipotle for dinner, because we are very predictable.

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My salad bowl had chicken, sautéed veggies, sour cream cheese, and mild, medium, and tomatillo salsas.  I legit had a dinner planned and prepped but we walked 7.5 miles around SoHo and DUMBO and my feet were killing me!  The sights were worth it.

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Dinner Bowl

Do you have a preference for tableware and/or flatware?  Whenever possible, I eat out of a bowl, preferably with chopsticks.  Probably because it’s easier to chase every last bite when the food can’t roll off of the plate!  All of my dinners this week were delicious and I think it’s not a coincidence that they were all served in bowls.

breakfast

This was a weird week for me, I ate breakfast – as in chewable breakfast, not just tons of milk in my coffee – almost every day.

Sonja apple.

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String cheese and my last mango coconut almond thin.  {p.s. Kate won the giveaway!}

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String cheese and a KIND Salted Caramel Popped Bar.  <– very tasty and packs 2 grams of fiber and 3 grams of protein for 140 calories thanks to the blend of whole grains.

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Don’t get me wrong, there was coffee too!  This one was TJ’s cold-brew with skim milk and toasted marshmallow syrup.

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And this monster was a Starbucks reward freebie that I took full advantage of – venti skim iced latte with extra espresso.

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lunch

Yogurt bowls for the win.  Adam and I are both head over heels for the KIND granola.

Local vanilla bean Greek yogurt with KIND maple, chia, quinoa granola and yellow nectarine, black plum, and blueberries.

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Plain Fage Greek yogurt with KIND granola and red plum and yellow nectarine.  Plus a serving of Lindt Pink Explosion on the side.

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Honey Fage with blueberries and TJ’s bran flakes.

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And Tuesday I had catered lunch thanks to a malnutrition policy education that I attended.  Dessert was chocolate-covered marzipan that a sweet coworker snuck to me.

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snack

A picture’s worth a thousand words.  Apparently I was all about the freeze-dried produce.

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dinner

Another reason we both like bowl-style meals is that it’s nice to have our grain/protein/veggie components layered together rather than served in separate piles on a plate.  I like to get a little bit of each flavor in every bite.

Honey-chipotle chicken Chipotle style bowls.

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This week’s dinners had a lot of components so I’m going to break them down bullet-point-style.

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  • sautéed local Satur Farms energy greens – aka a kale, spinach, etc mix
  • sautéed onions and green peppers with cilantro and lime
  • TJ’s Cuban-style black beans
  • pan-fried chicken breasts that were marinated overnight in chipotles in adobo, honey, evoo, lime juice, sherry, minced garlic, smoked paprika, and salt and pepper
  • avocado
  • shredded cheese / low-fat sour cream / cilantro

We were out of the onion and pepper mix for day 2’s leftovers so instead I served all of the other components on top of big bowls of kale and broccoli sautéed with garlic and lime.  Still good!  We decided that my version was almost as good as Chipotle.

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Our rice bowls were a more Asian-inspired.  They would have been better with a runny egg on top but I was pleased with how incredibly juicy the chicken came out.

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  • brown jasmine rice
  • browned mushrooms
  • roasted broccoli
  • baked chicken that was marinated overnight in soy sauce, rice vinegar, fish sauce, Sriracha, canola oil, lime juice, sugar, and minced ginger
  • bok choy, celery, green onion, and cilantro sautéed with a bit of the sauce from the chicken

Even on my night out I ate dinner in a bowl.  I met friends at Hanoi and ordered the Veggie Spring Roll Bun – room temperature vermicelli, lettuce, cucumber, scallion oil, shallot, peanut, fresh herb, and nuoc cham sauce.

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Would you have guessed that there would literally be a chopped up spring roll on top of the dish?  We were surprised, but agreed that it was darn tasty.  The best part of the meal was dessert though.  Maple soft-serve from Corner of Vermont.

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We ate our ice cream on a leisurely walk down 5th ave in Park Slope and the whole thing felt wonderfully summery!

National Doughnut Day

Here’s a random and horrifying fact – I turn 30 next month.  What?!  How is that even possible when it feels like 1990 was only 10 years ago.  (<– it wasn’t.  it was 25 years ago.  like I said, horrifying.)

As I move my way up the hill at what feels like breakneck speed – next stop: over it – our summer is off to a pretty great start.  It’s hard to do things like maintain a weekly brunch and farmer’s market tradition with someone who works 25+ hour shifts on the weekends, but Adam is a total trooper and we still manage to have a good time.  Plus, the day I was alone I did errands at three different grocery stores so, you know, I lead an exciting life.

breakfast

Did you all celebrate National Doughnut Day?  I woke up an hour early so I could hit up Doughnut Plant on my way to work.

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They were giving away a mini cake doughnut (with sprinkles!) with all purchases.  It was delicious.

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I also got a skim iced matcha and a strawberry and cream doughseed.

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The strawberry glaze was tart and juicy and the filling was vanilla bean pastry cream, all together it was the best doughnut I’ve ever eaten.

During my never-ending errands I ate a protein bar,

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and a clover-brewed West Java roast with ice and skim milk.

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Plus, you know, you another coffee at my next stop.

lunch

I spent my workday on Friday in a breastfeeding education conference.  There wasn’t as much information about maternal intake and milk composition/supply as I had hoped, but the information about the benefits of breastfeeding, particularly in premature and small for gestational age infants, was quite interesting.  Plus, they provided lunch.

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Marinated veggie sandwich.  And I brought my own Mentos for dessert.

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The candy, plus lots of coffee, were essential; even if the material is of interest to me I have a very hard time sitting still to listen for hours in a row.

On Sunday, we brought the puppy into DUMBO.

DSC07838We got coffees at Brooklyn Roasting Company – skim Maple Shay for me.

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And then walked over to Smorgasburg for lunch.  The three of us shared duck buns.

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And an arepa.

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Aka acorn cake topped with Oaxaca cheese, chipotle mayo, and cilantro salsa.  Good, but I think I like pupusas better.

snack

Do you remember Slush Puppies?  So much better than Slurpees.

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This was horrible, but it was fun to try the throwback snack, even if I did have to carry around that burning cold packet for the rest of our walk.

We are both impressed with Angry Orchard’s seasonal summer honey cider.

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Impulse buy much?

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Lindt’s Hello line is on point.  Both bars were amazing; the pink one really did pop!

Coffee and a cookie.

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Molly’s Milk Truck coffee with almond milk and cinnamon plus a sticky strawberry jam sandwich cookie from Whole Foods.

dinner

Chicken and veggie soup.

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Every piece of this minus the broth came from our freezer but it was still flavorful and yummy.

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Chicken broth // TJ’s chicken and vegetable goyza // rotisserie chicken // bok choy, shitake mushroom, red pepper, and green onions.

Spicy eggs for my single lady dinner.

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Scrambled with collard greens and sweet corn plus shredded cheese, smoked paprika, and tons of sweet chili sauce.

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And crispy peas on the side.

Who’s surprised that we ate Chipotle for dinner last night?  No one?  Good.  🙂

Staycation 2015: NYC

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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.

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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.

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Plus tea from the shop next door.

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

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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.

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Chuko Ramen

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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.

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

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

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

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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.

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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.

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Dough

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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.

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Grand Central Station

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

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

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Hibino

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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.

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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.

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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.

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And I went with the vegetable roll for dinner.

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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.

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

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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.

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

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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.

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Weekly Wrap-Up; Back At It

I know this post is behind schedule (and I swear, I really am going to share all of the tasty things we ate at the end of our trip!) but the first week back at work after a vacation always feels so looooong.  It doesn’t help that the poor puppy is sick – and it really doesn’t help that he is on 2 weeks of a twice-daily medication, in addition to his twice daily seizure medication!  No matter, he has the fuzziest face on Earth and I wouldn’t trade him for the world.

Here are some of the eats from the week that I wouldn’t trade either…

Coffee, always

A double-strength batch of Community Coffee French Roast served over ice with Hint of Honey Almond Milk.

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Halvah yogurt bowls

Plain Greek yogurt with crumbled marble halvah mixed in and juicy summer fruit on the side.

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Spinach pesto on everything

Mixed with shredded chicken and bow tie pasta (my mom and aunt always serve pesto with bow ties so that’s how I do it too!).

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Next to really amazing salads topped with turkey bacon dressing and balsamic roasted grapes.

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And mixed with shredded chicken atop a truly epic toasted cheese sandwich.

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Chipotle, again, always

For dinner I improved the rice-veggie ratio by serving my bowl on a big bed of arugula dressed with bbq sauce.

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And the leftovers made for the most exciting lunch I’ve ever packed.

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I am so ready for the weekend!

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