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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Spring Vacation 2015

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.

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Our trip was short but wonderful!

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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…

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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.

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

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With vanilla froyo with caramel and marshmallow.

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

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We shared giant Greek salads and a bbq chicken pizza.

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

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

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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.

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

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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.

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Plus key lime pie for dessert for me.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Gesundheit!

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.

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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!

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

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

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Plus a latte from Gorilla.

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Mmmmn.

lunch

Soup for my sore throat.

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With a Lady Alice apple.

Guava-cheese empanada.

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With a grapefruit soda.

A sandwich from home.

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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.

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Plus dried nectarines a coworker brought in.

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They were even better than dried apricots.

snacks drinks

Lavender milk tea.

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Good but not great.

This “Simply Red” from Pork Slope was amazing.

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

Low-fat machta latte.

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

dinner

Rice bowls.

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For a super authentic Cinco de Mayo.

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

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My lobster roll was heavenly.

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

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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!

Fun Facts From The Weekend

{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.

strawberry latte aka fresh strawberry milk

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.

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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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

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I’m looking forward to leftovers of both dishes.

Homemade S’mores Milk and Weekend Brooklyn Love

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.

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highlights…

Homemade S’mores Milk

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

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

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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.

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C’est Cheese in Port Jeff

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

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

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

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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.

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Snacky in Williamsburg

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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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).

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

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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!