Weekend Wrap-Up; Last Days Of Summer

I don’t know how it got to be mid-August already, but we are doing everything we can to make the most of our last days of summer.  This weekend we grilled, ate too many bowls of ice cream, and even got our toes wet going stand up paddle boarding!

SUP has been on my bucket list for years and I am so thrilled I finally got to try it out.  I loved it!  Amazingly, given my general level of grace and athleticism (level: zero), I didn’t fall once.

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We had an absolute blast and the hour flew by.  SUP is definitely something I want to do again.  I can see how on-board yoga would be a ton of fun too.

Here are some of our sunny eats…

lunch

A pink grapefruit bonanza Friday at work.  Chobani 2% Pink Grapefruit Yogurt with two sliced red plums and Polar Pink Grapefruit Seltzer on the side.

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I ran out of time in the morning to also pack an afternoon snack and, duh, this wasn’t enough food.  Enter candy at my desk.

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I’m not a big black licorice person either, but I don’t know how anyone dislikes Good & Plenty.

A strangely satisfying sandwich.

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I put two split hot dogs on a Bagel Thin (toasted with butter) with shredded light three-cheese blend and balsamic ketchup and this throw-together-the-last-of-the-fridge-contents-before-grocery-shopping sandwich ended up rocking my face off.

snacks

Friday’s at-work breakfast.  <– I wake up too late for breakfast most weekend days so I couldn’t make this a category

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An Amazing Grass Chocolate Superfood packet (from Urthbox) with vanilla soy milk and a Pink Crisps apple.

I was all about the coffee this weekend.  I ended up calling Adam on the ride home from work practically crying while I stared at a McDonald’s coffee advertisement.  This home-brewed Starbucks espresso blend with fat-free sweetened condensed milk hit the spot.

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I did go to McDonald’s for a $1 iced coffee the next morning though.  Meh.  These guys were much better.

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All shared with the husband, who is another raging java addict.

It is fair to say that I was also all about the ice cream.

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I’m retty damn excited about that Horchata spiced Blue Moon as well!  I had Strawberry Biscoff Sour Cream Gelato over warm double-chocolate sour cream brownies two nights in a row.

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The brownies were just the Baker’s One Bowl recipe with a heaping cup each chocolate chips and low-fat sour cream stirred into the batter once it was mixed up.

To end the weekend, on Sunday we went big before we went home, with Pat Bing Soo from Tous le Jours.

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Now I get why people rave about TlJ, that bowl was Adam’s favorite shaved ice yet.  Milk and strawberry shaved ices topped with scm, vanilla ice cream, red bean, watermelon, mocha, strawberry, kiwi, and mango.  Everything was delicious but we could barely make a dent in that monster!

dinner

Friday, we ate the last of our veggie, turkey, and marinara pasta bowls.

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This meal is really a better fit for fall and you will definitely be seeing it again in the months to come.

On Saturday, we grilled.

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Adam did an awesome job making dinner and then the three of us ate our meals outside (the boys also had steak).

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My plate had grilled asparagus, zucchini, and turkey hot dogs, oven-roasted corn on the cob, a few sautéed mushrooms (topping for the steak), and Jack Daniels BBQ Sauce for dipping.

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We marinated the asparagus in A-1 citrus marinade and tossed the squash in evoo before grilling.  Everything came out fantastically.  I can’t believe we lived in this apartment for more than a year before we fired up our grill!

And on Sunday, we went out in the city.  Haru unveiled a new Times Square Location and a new seasonal cocktail this summer and they invited me in to check them both out.

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The restaurant is down a side street and out of the tourist foot traffic of Times Square and the location is quite pretty.

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The lighting was terrrrrrrible for photos – too yellow for my crappy camera and nonexistent photog skills – but good for eating, and the tables were nicely lit at 7pm.  I hate eating a meal in the dark.  The music was unobtrusive – mellow and pretty quiet.  I hate dark rooms and loud noises because I basically like to dine like an 80-year-old.

Adam ordered hot sake and said it gave him a nice warm feeling.

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I am not a sake girl, but I stuck my tongue in and did have to agree that it was smooth.

I, of course, went with the seasonal cocktail – The Red Lotus.

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If you scroll down to the bottom of this post, I have the recipe to share with you!

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Yum!  The drink was not too sweet but it felt nice and juicy.  It went down very easily.  I adore lychees and am always sad that you don’t see them on more menus but now that I have the recipe I can make this drink at home.

Adam started with the miso soup.

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He said it was what you would expect.

And we shared an order of the appetizer special – Lobster Gyoza.

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Holy lobster meat, Batman Aquaman!  The dumplings were bursting with lobster – this dish is a steal for just $10.  The gyoza were a good size and they were easy to bite; I hate struggling with stringy foods and chopsticks.  The flavors were very straightforward, which let the lobster shine.

The husband went with the sushi for dinner.  2 tuna / whitefish / yellowtail / albacore tuna /shrimp / tobiko / and a tuna roll.  (I count an extra piece but I’m not sure what it was.)

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His fish was fresh and flavorful.  Adam said the size, texture, and temperature were all good.  Usually you see yellow caviar instead of red so he was very excited about his tobiko roll.

I did the vegetarian sushi.

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Avocado / eggplant / shitake mushroom / tofu / asparagus / oshinko / inari / and an avocado cucumber roll.

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My plate looks simple, but this was the best veggie sushi I’ve had in years.  The rice was nicely seasoned and the vegetables were all cooked beautifully.  The mushroom had an almost smoky flavor and that bite of eggplant was the best tasting vegetable I’ve had at a restaurant this year!

All in all, we both agreed that the menu was straightforward but on point.  Haru isn’t doing anything unique – there weren’t any specialty rolls that thrilled us – they are doing the basics incredibly well.  We’ll be back!

Please note – I dined at Haru free of charge.  I was not provided with further compensation for this post.  As always, all opinions are my own.

The Red Lotus Seasonal Cocktail, for 1

  • 2 oz. peach vodka
  • 1 oz. cranberry juice
  • 3 lychees
  • 1 lime wedge
  • 1 lychee for garnish

Muddle lychees and shake with vodka, juice and syrup.  Squeeze in some lime, drop the wedge in and shake, and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.  Garnish the drink with lychee for soothing effect.

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Five Favorites For Friday

A new “favorites” series might be the answer for weeks where I don’t have it together to photograph most things. Weeks like this week, where terrible bedtime choices rendered me unable to do anything productive outside of 9-5.

I had a ton of fun and I ate a lot of things (all of the things!), and now I’ll share my five favorites with you guys…

1: Pineapple Noosa with multi-colored grapes.

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This new flavor was lovely. P.S. I also snagged a Target-exclusive, pumpkin Noosa that I am quite excited about.

2: Salads from Chipotle.

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Actually, I made Adam get Chipotle with me two nights in a row, so this actually may be more of an addiction than a favorite.

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Lettuce / pinto beans / grilled veggies / chicken / cheese / sour cream / corn salsa / mild salsa. Plus the ridiculously delicious, lime-y, salty chips.

3: Shredded chicken Bahn Mi and Thai tea with boba from Bahnmigos.

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I went to a stand-up show with a friend on Wednesday so I *had* to get dinner in Brooklyn. These guys make the best Bahn Mi; they have the perfect balance of flavors and ingredients (spicy Sriracha and tangy pickled veggies, crunchy baguette and silky mayo). That’s Mindy Kaling’s memoir in the background. It was also fabulous.

4: Brown sugar seaweed snack with TJ’s turkey jerky.

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Another good balance of salty to sweet. This was a nice mid-afternoon snack.

5: Amazing flavors from Chinatown Ice Cream Factory.

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Adam and I split Thai tea and black sesame. This was the husband’s first visit but now he is as obsessed as I am. The flavors are so true to life!

Bonus: These hard candies are still rocking my world.

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If I had known how good they were going to be I would have bought multiple bags. I still can’t decide what flavor they are though,  because there is a lot of coffee roast for creme brulee.

Note: my favorite meal of the week was technically a romantic (poorly lit) dinner at Freeman’s. We shared Coho salmon with mustard sauce and five cheese mac and cheese. Plus chamomile infused scotch with grapefruit and honey. swoon

Weekly Wrap-Up; Birthday Weather

It was a big week here, we had a birthday and a serendipitous, surprise visit!  I turned 29 yesterday; that sounds old, old, old.  I may not have a house or a baby, but I have a husband and a dog who I love beyond words so that feels pretty good for almost-30.

We didn’t have time for a real grocery trip after our Philadelphia weekend and we relied a ton on packaged and purchased food.  Here are some highlights…

breakfast

Coffee (I’m still doing the 1/2&1/2!) and a Blackberry Bliss Mama Chia.

DSC01401I probably wouldn’t have bought the chia on my own – it came in my UrthBox – but I ended up really liking it.

KIND Bar.

DSC01433Madagascar Vanilla Almond.

Birthday freebie coffee!  I love that Starbucks does that.  You’ll notice that I stuck with my birthday tradition of doing tacky, glittery nails.

DSC01447Venti iced skim latte with an extra shot of espresso, 2 shots of white mocha, and caramel drizzle.  I was buzzing.

And this doesn’t go here but speaking of sugar, I’m not sure I ate enough candy this week…

DSC01422DSC01407lunch

Oatmeal (with Cacao Bliss) and freeze-dried apples.

DSC01398That fruit is so flipping good.

Cereal and yogurt.

DSC01404Total on Chobani 2% Pink Grapefruit.  I was equally impressed with the yogurt the 2nd time around.

Lots of packed snacks during a 4 hour afternoon meeting.  I ate a salad beforehand, and also required lots of coffee.

DSC01426Chocolate-covered gummy bears, applesauce, and Everything Pretzels from Mary’s Gone Crackers.  The pretzels were from a bag that the company sent me to try.

DSC01423Delicious!  I thought these were much better than the sea salt flavor I tried before, which wasn’t bad either.  These were just like eating a very crunchy everything bagel.  And still made with whole grains including brown rice, quinoa, amaranth and millet, and seeds including flax, sesame and chia, just like the original flavor.

My dietetics co-workers brought in lunch for my birthday!  They are pretty much the sweetest.

IMG_20140722_113456IMG_20140722_114820Salad with a great, thick balsamic glaze, homemade spinach and feta pastries, and chocolate zucchini cake for dessert.  Everything was delicious; I tried to bring leftovers home for Adam and I ended up eating them all on the train!

dinner

Half salad and sandwich deal from Panera.

DSC01408I did the Thai chicken salad and the Thai chicken flatbread and was impressed with neither.

DSC01413DSC01418The sauce was too sour and the apple on the side was sadly the best part of the meal.

DSC01416Thankfully, things get much more festive from here.

On Wednesday, my parents were traveling to Ohio to visit my grandmother.  They were flying on miles so they had a long day with lots of connections, including a 3-hour layover at LaGuardia.  When the got off the plane in NY, they learned that inclement weather had grounded their final flight, and then would be stuck until the next morning.  Silver lining – they stayed at my house for the night and we got to visit and go out to birthday dinner!!!!

It ended up being the best “bad news” ever.  We teased them that they jinxed themselves by complaining about not making it out for Indian food during their June visit, so of course we had to take them for Indian food.

DSC01440It was too dark for pictures, but we shared several appetizers and a bunch of dishes and all left full and happy.  Everything was amazing and our waiter was the sweetest man.  Namaste is great.  We even found froyo nearby with birthday cake flavor.

DSC01445I topped my “cake” with marshmallow, strawberry pie filling, and a million sprinkles.

And I actually ended up having froyo last night on my real birthday was well.

DSC01450Frozen yogurt > cake!

For my birthday dinner we did takeout from Bare Burger.

DSC01455Turkey with ketchup mustard, spinach, tomato, a fried egg, and tons of pickles.

DSC01458We ate burgers and giant diet cokes while we watched Longmire and it was a great way to celebrate 🙂

Weekend Wrap-Up, Fun In Philly

My 29th birthday is tomorrow and the husband and I celebrated a weekend early with a trip to Philadelphia.

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It was a quick visit, we drove in on Saturday and out on Sunday, but it ended up being one of the best weekends we’ve had in years!  It was great to have two full days to moon at each other.  We spent pretty much every second walking and/or eating <– our two favorite things!

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I didn’t take many site-seeing photos, but I had to snap some pictures of the beautiful mosaics at the Magic Gardens.

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We loved our last visit to Philly, so we repeated a lot of the same stops.  We even stayed at the same (perfectly located) hotel.

Unfortunately, I didn’t have the best luck with orders at our restaurant meals.  I actually had to make a second stop to eat after both dinner and lunch.  Thankfully, our fabulous bites in between meals more than made up for the less good dishes.  I’ll write this post from worst to best.

Supper was near the Magic Gardens and the menu looked good, so we went there for {Sunday brunch}.  I had a glass of sangria and was a little bit tipsy for the drive home!

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Sangria Blanca – seasonal sangria made with sauvignon blanc, cantaloupe, honey dew, cucumber, lemon, limoncello, and honey mint simple syrup over ice topped with club soda.

We shared a deviled egg flight that was only so-so.

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And my chicken salad sandwich sounded good in theory, but was totally flavorless.  “Pastrami” Chicken Salad Sandwich – toasted grain bread, 1000 island dressing, caraway slaw, pickles / served with duck fat fries.

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Those were so not duck fat fries!  I ate a few bites, then got Whole Foods hot bar for the road.  Adam loved his red velvet pancakes though.

I was so excited to get the vegetarian cheese steak from Carmen’s in Reading Terminal for {lunch on Saturday}.

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I’ve been dreaming about this sandwich ever since I had it back in 2011.

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It was ok, but sadly not as good as I remembered.  The last time they charred the seitan more.

{Dinner} at FARMiCia has become a Philadelphia tradition for me.

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I get the croquettes every time, but I just wasn’t a fan of this version.

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Why would you serve corn and rice balls on top of more corn?!  Carb City.  The best thing about the fall version of dish is the buttery spinach bed.

The rest of the meal was wonderful though.  Adam and I split a cheese plate to start.

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The salty sheep’s milk cheese went perfectly with the sweet apple chutney.

I had a very refreshing watermelon mojito.

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And we finished with cream cheese ice cream that was mind-blowing.

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Gah!  I could not stop swooning over that ice cream.  This restaurant would have been worth the stop for dessert alone.

We stopped in at an adorable bar near our hotel on the way to dinner to split a flight of beer.

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And then stopped back afterwards for nightcaps.

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Then I iced my knees and ate bar food in bed and all was right with the world.

Our yummiest tastes were the things we ate while we walked around.  Like the watermelon, spinach, and kale juice from Sip N Glo.

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This was 80% fruit and normally I would be mad that it wasn’t more greens-based but you can’t complain about fresh watermelon juice.

A great iced cup from Old City Coffee.

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And a Vietnamese coffee from The Last Drop.

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Ending on a sweet note, a S’mores Bar from Flying Monkey Bakery.

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S’mores with sprinkles!  This tasted like honey and was ridiculous good.  Adam and I both thought it was the best thing we ate all weekend.

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Last Week’s Late Wrap-Up

I’ve been pretty busy and I’m running a bit behind, but I ate some really yummy things last week so I didn’t want to skip the post.  Here are some faves from last Monday through Friday…

break the fast

A purple smoothie.

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Frozen blueberries and strawberries with maple syrup and vanilla almond milk.

Bar/fruit/coffee day 1.

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Dark Chocolate Coconut Balance Bar, a Pink Lady apple, and iced coffee from Starbucks.  I poured a splash of half and half into my coffee by accident last week and it ended up tasting so yummy that now it’s turned into a bad habit!

Day 2.

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Caramel Almond & Sea Salt KIND Bar {former freebie}, a very juicy nectarine, and cafeteria coffee with skim milk and a splash of half and half.

ladies who lunch

Cafeteria meal.

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Salad with broccoli, black-eyed peas, cheddar, balsamic, and a scoop of egg salad.  Plus fries dipped in honey mustard on the side.

Sandwich.

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Leftover bbq chicken on a Bagel Thin.  With bread and butter pickles, chips, and cherries.

Yogurt.

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Chobani 2% Pink Grapefruit Greek Yogurt with KIND Raspberry Clusters with Chia Seeds {former freebie} and cherries on the side.  The yogurt was a limited edition that needs to become part of the permanent line-up.  It was freaking incredible, sweet and tangy with little pieces of citrus spread throughout.  I must find the watermelon variety.

snack attack

Chocolate-covered pretzels from Wegman’s.

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I brought Adam some back from my Buffalo trip and made the mistake of tasting “just one.”  Those things are addictive!  It’s a good thing I didn’t do a taste-test in the store or I would have brought home pounds of them.

Trader Joe’s makes the best turkey jerky I’ve ever tasted.

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I don’t know how the keep the texture sooooo soft.

Chocolate covered strawberry floats!  Chocolate frozen yogurt in strawberry Crush.

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We thought we were so clever with these.

Campfire milkshake from Ralph’s Ice.

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It was insane how much this tasted like a toasted marshmallow.  It was pretty intense though, there is no way I could have finished more than half of this.

Baby spinach salad.

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With sweet and spicy pecans, dried blueberries, shredded carrot, evoo, honey, and lavender salt.  My best salad combo to date.

dining on dinner

Salad atop salad.

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The base was baby spinach with dried blueberries, sweet and spicy pecans, evoo, honey, and truffle salt.

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Topped with pulled bbq chicken (and a pile of salt and vinegar chips in the back).  Just boneless, skinless breasts cooked in the crockpot, shredded, and tossed with TJ’s Carolina Gold BBQ Sauce.

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The sauce was wonderful, very sweet and a little spicy.

Pasta that was simple but good.

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Whole-wheat rotini with browned mushrooms, ground turkey (sautéed with tons of garlic and dried oregano), frozen spinach, low-fat sour cream, and a can of tomato sauce.

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This was one of those meals that seemed like it would need more flavor but then you kept eating until you were furiously scraping the bottom of the bowl.

National Thai with a girlfriend.  I got spicy noodles with veggies.  They were super chewy, had a good variety of vegetables, and were actually spicy; I’m pretty sure National has become my favorite Thai spot in the city.

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Afterwards we went out in search of mojitos.

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We ended up finding passable mango mojitos at a tiny Mexican spot in Park Slope.  Their menu also mentioned watermelon daiquiris, so I’m pretty sure we’ll be going back again this Friday.

what’s happening

I was getting into such a great groove with my workouts, but then I got excited and upped the length of my runs too quickly.  My right knee was horrifically swollen and the husband told me to stay out of the gym until the inflammation went down.  Boo!!!  I took a week completely off from exercise (minus a few long walks this weekend) and popped anti-inflammatories and iced like crazy.  I’m going to start back in with short, easy workouts this week and continue to ice regularly.  I’m going a little stir-crazy so please cross your fingers for me!

On a more positive note, I just finished reading Fault Lines by Nancy Huston and I’m recommending it to pretty much everyone.

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It’s a story about a family and each section of the book is told from the perspective of a different generation.  Huston did a great job of building the story in layers.  The parts of the story that were told through the lens of childhood were wonderfully done.

It is my 29th birthday this Thursday.  We can’t fit in any celebrating this week so Adam and I took a quick trip to Philadelphia this past weekend.  I gave that its own post because this one was getting too long, but we had a wonderful time.

Have you spotted the new Chobani varieties in your area yet?  Has anyone tasted watermelon??

An American Recap

Beer, baseball, and the 4th of July!  I hope all of my US readers had a nice Independence Day.

I had a super fun three-day weekend.  I predict I will have had several coffees by the time this post goes live on Monday morning.

Some yummy moments…

On the Fourth, a friend and I drove up to the Hamptons to explore.  The hurricane limited our plans a bit and our free concert and fireworks were rained out, but we still managed to have a great time.  We went wine tasting at the gorgeous Wolffer Estate.

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And had lobster rolls by the beach.

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They came personal assembly style, huge hunks of lobster meat in a bowl of butter, and were more than worth the wade through the parking lot to get to them.

On Saturday, a high school friend came in from PA and took us to the Mets game.

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NY lost, but we still had a ton of fun.  We went out for drinks on the Upper East Side afterwards and got home after our bedtime.

Sunday was all about recovery and catch-up sleep.  Also baking!  I was recently sent a book to review – Vegan Ice Cream Sandwiches {Cool Recipes for Delicious Dairy-Free Ice Creams and Cookies by Kris Holechek Peters.

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Please note – I received this book free of charge to review.  I was not provided with further compensation for this post.

Peters is a vegan baker, blogger, and cookbook author and I think she nailed it with this book.  It includes 60 recipes for vegan ice creams and cookies.  The instructions are clearly written and none of the recipes involve anything too complicated.  Most of the recipes do not require crazy ingredients, though you will need a thickening agent – arrowroot starch, tapioca starch, guar gum – for most of the ice creams.

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The basics are all included – a variety of vanilla and chocolate cookies and ice creams – and there are some inventive ideas as well, like Pumpkin Snickerdoodle, Peach Rum Crumble, and Shirley Temple Sandwiches.  I chose to mix and match with two different recipes.

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The cookies from the Happy Birthday Batter Sandwiches and the Orange Coconut Cream Ice Cream from the Orange Dreamsicle Sandwiches.  Delish.

We stuck with preparing dessert and got take-out for dinner.

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Caesar salad and pizza from Luigi’s.

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Eaten in front of “21 Jump Street” which had funny moments but was overall pretty terrible.  I Netflixed it thinking I would see the sequel some time this week but now I’m not so sure.

Did you see any fireworks this weekend?

Weekend Wrap-Up; We Loved – {fill in the blank}

I’m behind on my posts because I’ve been playing hostess for my parents.  We were quite sad to see them go Tuesday morning, but we did manage to fit a TON into their five-night visit.  We made it to SoHo, Tribeca, Park Slope, Williamsburg, Huntington, and Port Jefferson, among other places.  And we ate and ate and ate.  Rather than a full recap, I want to share some of the things we loved this weekend…

(1) – Cheeeeese

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The four of us were very impressed with this cheese plate from C’est Cheese.

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The Taleggio and Comte were the group favorites.

We went to Luigi’s – to celebrate my parents’ last night and Adam’s last day as an intern! – and I ordered eggplant parmesan and the three of them ordered chicken parm.

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My sautéed spinach totally beat their house-made spaghetti, in my opinion.

(2) – Ice Cream

Every single day, at least one of us had ice cream.  <– the perfect way to vacation

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Grasshopper frozen yogurt from Emack and Bolios.

Ample Hills knocked everyone’s socks off because it is the best ice cream in the city.

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I got Peppermint Patty and Snap, Mallow, Pop.  {thank you, Jenna, for letting me know that those two flavors would work wonderfully together}

(3) – Ethnic Food

We did lunch at Katz’s Deli on Friday.

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Broccoli knish and with pickles for me.

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The counter system and Katz’s gives me serious anxiety, but the food is totally worth it in the end.  My parents loved their matzo ball soups.

Lunch at Smorgasburg on Saturday.

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You cannot go wrong with the duck bun – with sweet and spicy chili sauce – from Bite Size Kitchen.

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They are my very favorite thing from Smorgasburg.

The Halo Halo from Lumpia Shack is a close second though.

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What???

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Pip Snack kettle corn / ube foam / leche flan / shaved ice / ube (purple yam) / green market strawberries / coconut jelly / coconut strips / palm seeds / sweet bananas.

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It was just so ridiculous and wonderful.  Apparently palm seeds are delicious.

(4) – Seafood

We were pretty pleased with Schafer’s in Port Jeff.

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I had fantabulous lobster mac and cheese.

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My big chunks of fresh lobster were in a brie and mozzarella sauce, so this one probably could get filled under “Cheeeeese” too.  With shaved Brussels sprouts.

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The sprouts were raw, served with dried cranberries, green apple, candied walnuts, crumbled blue cheese, and lemon vinaigrette.

That meal was great, but it could barely compete with Luke’s Lobster.

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Ahhh!

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Extra vinegary cole slaw,

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and a 1/2 crab roll, lobster roll, and shrimp roll for each of us.

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We were all swooning over the lobster.  Do you see that claw?!

(5) – How Flipping Awesome My City Is

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I New York!

Weekend Wrap-Up; Sunday Smorgasburg In DUMBO

Another wonderful weekend!  Amazingly, the husband and I are still not sick of each other, so when he has a weekend day off it is better than fricking Christmas.  He worked Saturday while I slept until noon and cleaned and grocery shopped and then Sunday was family fun day.

We’ll start with a snack review.  Polar’s new Georgia Peach Seltzer is delicious.

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Very juicy, though the flavor almost reminded me of bananas.

This Trader Joe’s microwave popcorn is also nice.

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My favorite thing is the packaging, honestly.

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I hate how ridiculously convoluted microwave popcorn nutrition labels are but this one was crystal clear.

And the birthday cake stuffed cookies are not good.

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Of course I ate two more servings before I came to that conclusion… for research.

The cheap fresh blueberries from Trader Joe’s are great now.  No more mushy berries.

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Shown on a bowl of cereal – a serving each Nature’s Path Heritage Flakes and Honeycomb with marshmallows – with unsweetened vanilla almond milk.

I suck at including pictures, but I actually am (relatively) good at eating my vegetables.  Go ahead and picture several servings of olive hummus with raw veggies this weekend and a big salad from the cafeteria for Friday’s lunch.  Much better.

Friday night started with green juice.  A blend of kale, spinach, cucumber, parsley, and apple.

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We needed it to offset the next round of drinks.

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We spent a glorious evening on the patio at Bierkraft.  A girlfriend met up with us after work, and we befriended the couple who shared our table, and we all laughed and shared restaurant recommendations for hours.

Highlights from the night were 21st Amendment Brewery’s Hell or High Watermelon.

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And this Reindeer’s Revolt that stole my heart.  It was malty and sweet with just a bit of spice.  Though I’m not sure why Bierkraft had two freezer’s worth of Christmas beers in the first week of June.

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We also had amazing frozen margaritas, ill-advised rounds of shots, and an awkward dinner at Calexico.  I drunkenly ordered the only thing on the menu that I would never eat and sat there like a weirdo while the waitress boxed up the entire dish minus two bites at the end of the meal.  Whoops.

Saturday’s dinner was a winner; and yes, it bums me out that that rhymed.

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It was just a really yummy, summery combination of foods.  Leftover veggies, cruciferous crunch with pecans and blueberries.

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The last of the rotisserie chicken, scrambled into eggs with brie, dill, and coconut oil.

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And corn on the cob, oven-roasted with Miracle Whip, sea salt, pepper, smoked paprika, and sharp cheddar.

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I am so flipping glad that it is corn on the cob season again.  Learning how easy it is to cook in the oven was a great discovery last summer.

On Sunday we took the dog into Brooklyn for Sunday’s Smorgasburg.

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DUMBO is gorgeous, it is one of my favorite nyc neighborhoods.

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I ate a fantastic lemonade with watermelon and mint.  Served with a bubble tea straw for the big, juicy chunks of melon.

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And a really terrible taco.  The edamame and corn were inexplicably neither cooked nor seasoned.

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Thankfully Adam made much better choices – miso chicken taco, ginger bourbon pecan pie, rhubarb Columbian soda – and was willing to share.

We took the dog exploring, then made our way to Luke’s Lobster.

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We shared a combo and were both swooning.  This was the best lobster roll I have ever eaten, including one I had at a shack on the harbor in Boston.

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They serve it fairly plain, just with lemon butter and secret spices, and the freshness of the lobster meat shines through.  We plan on taking my parents for one the minute their airplane lands later this month.

Where were you served the best lobster roll you’ve ever eaten?  If you’re into that kind of thing…