Spring Vacation 2015

by Emily

Adam and I took advantage of our joint weeks off and flew home to St. Thomas for a quick visit. The timing worked out perfectly so that we flew in on Mother’s Day and could celebrate with my mom in person.

Our trip was short but wonderful!

We saw some old friends, ate tons of good food, ran on the beach, and visited our favorite spots. I am missing pictures of most of the action, but here are some of the highlights…

St. Thomas now boasts several self-serve froyo places (and a Walgreens?!), a fact that seems insane to anyone who grew up in the VI.

Zest, at the Ritz, also had yummy toddy-brewed VI Roasters coffee, so you know I had to make an affogato.

With vanilla froyo with caramel and marshmallow.

Dinner at ITP, my family’s favorite pizza spot.

We shared giant Greek salads and a bbq chicken pizza.

Brunch at Barefoot Buddha, my favorite restaurant on the island.

I got a Vietnamese iced coffee, as well as a really amazing Cuban coffee to go. Plus my standard order, the Bigfoot Bagel Sandwich.

Egg frittata, smoked turkey, turkey bacon, cream cheese, sharp cheddar cheese, chipotle aioli, tomato-onion coulis and fresh spinach on an everything bagel.

Lunch on the water at Fat Turtle.

The food was meh – we split a Cajun mahi mahi sandwich and a veggie pizza that Adam loved – but the view was nice.

And afterwards we got house-made salted caramel gelato from a pop-up booth in Yacht Haven.

My parents made Adam’s favorite dish one night for dinner, Bill Clinton’s Enchiladas.

Plus key lime pie for dessert for me.

I scooped a slice of pie onto Greek yogurt for breakfast the next day and it was delicious.

You can’t miss the local dishes at Victor’s.

That is pan-fried Old Wife, a nice white fish that went well with the smoky creole sauce. My plate also had veggies, fried plantains, and fungi – a cornmeal paste that has a texture like firm mashed potatoes.

Finally, fraccos, aka Caribbean shaved ice.

I got soursop and passionfruit with condensed milk and it was one of the best things I ate all vacation!

It was a great trip, and now I’m excited for a three-day staycation in the city before we head back to work.

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!

5Apr2015

Oats And Easter Candy

by Emily

I wrote this post at midnight on Saturday… while I ate dinner/my first meal of the day… it’s been kind of a rough week. Hopefully I’ll be in a better mood while this is auto-publishing because I should be in the car on my way to Easter celebrating with the husband’s family.

I’m missing a ton of photos from the week (chips and dip!) and posting two days late, so I almost skipped this post, but some of these eats (chocolate + oat bowls!) were just so good.