Oahu Part I, Fun Things We Ate

Adam and I celebrated our 12th wedding anniversary(!!!) with a trip to Hawaii and had an absolutely fantastic time.  We chose to spend our entire trip in Oahu – versus island hopping – and ended up being very happy with that decision.  We walked a ton, stuck our toes in the ocean, ate a million delicious things, and saw a billion beautiful things.  I did not even take as many photographs as I usually do but I still need to split my recap into multiple posts!

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I’ll share more about the amazing restaurants we visited in a later post, for now, here were some of the best Hawaiian bites…

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** Chicken katsu musubi – seasoned rice with seaweed and fried chicken.

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** Shrimp okonomiyaki – a savory Japanese pancake.

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** Garlic butter shrimp plates from the food trucks out on the North Shore.

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** The cookies from Honolulu Cookie Company are all 10/10 buttery and delicious.

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** Butter mochi – cake made with glutenous rice flour.

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** Dole Whip – blended frozen pineapple.

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** We ate shave ice practically every single day of the trip!  The standouts are in a later post but these were still pretty darn good!  Both of these were Japanese kakagori style versus the more traditional Hawaiian style.  From Ice Monster – coffee ice with brown sugar jelly, panna cotta, and cookies and cream gelato.

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From Snow Factory – cookie butter ice and butterscotch ice with mochi, coffee jelly, and condensed milk.

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Waffley Glad

We had a really amazing time in Hawaii (several posts are coming soon!) but I am awfully glad to be back home with Webster!

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I didn’t make it the grocery until Sunday afternoon but we still managed to eat some yummy things this weekend.  Highlights include…

My new favorite yogurt bowl = Trader Joe’s plain Skyr yogurt with maple syrup, blueberries, banana, and blistered peanuts.

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Extra spicy, extra veggies hand-pulled noodles from our mall’s fancy food court.

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A perfect snack.

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Costa Nova made me a fantastic quad iced latte!  Plus a waffle with marshmallow and cookie butter!

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We thought this frozen kunefe from Trader Joe’s was fantastic.  Highly recommend buying if you spot it.

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Waffle flavored chicken bites with baby carrots and maple sriracha aioli.

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My new favorite veggies bowl = a base of cauliflower rice with soft scrambled eggs, sauteed baby tomatoes, and avocado (topped with Cholula).

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The night before we left for Hawaii we celebrated our anniversary at Bowery Meat Company and the night we returned we feasted on leftover duck lasagna.

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Nacho Zip Code

My stuff, my husband, my dog, and I all finally live in the same place (New York) again!  What a surreal week!  I worked Monday-Tuesday, moved Wednesday, and unpacked Thursday-Friday.  I am thrilled to be with my amazing family and excited to be back in New York but am deeply mourning leaving Charlottesville, and my fantastic Virginia family and friends, and my unbelievably great job.  <– it’s an extremely good problem to have 🙂

My last Cville weekend was low-key because I was a bit under the weather.  I mostly watched tv in bed, drank Gatorade, and spent $8 on precut fruit.

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Before I knew it it was Tuesday and I was drinking my very last hospital coffee!  Sidenote – the coffee stands in the hospital served my favorite iced lattes in Virginia and I am going to miss them greatly.

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Also that afternoon coworkers took me out for coffee and then after work we went to Hardywood for a final round of marshmallow gingerbread stouts and by the time I packed my car I was a drunk, overly caffeinated mess.

My last night my family took me out for nachos – multiple plates! – and margaritas and I got to tell them how unbelievably grateful I am for their hospitality.  I lived with my cousin and her fiance for the last 4 months and they could not have made my life easier or more fun.  A lot of people thought I was insane for choosing to live apart from Adam and Webster for so long but one of the biggest silver linings of situation was the time I got with my Virginia family.

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And they would be thrilled to know that the very first thing I ate in New York was nachos!

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Once we got the car unpacked Adam and I headed to I am Nacho Mama for bbq chicken nachos and fancy honey coffee.

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I also had tacos – griddled cheese and salmon.

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Last night we had a fancy dinner at our local mall, Tom Colicchio’s restaurant Small Batch.

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Little gem lettuce with pecorino cheese, radishes, fried soft-boiled egg, and ceasar dressing.

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Local duck breast with honeynut squash, figs, and black garlic.

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Chocolate souffle cake with milk chocolate sauce, cookie crumbs, and bourbon-brown sugar ice cream.

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Thankful For Nachos

Do I have zero chill?  Yes.  And did I fully lean in to all things holiday/Thanksgiving flavored in the second week of November?  Also yes.  I couldn’t help myself, I was ready for cranberry and eggnog and cozy cheer!

Holiday highlights from this week include…

Eggnog in my coffee!

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Cranberry seltzer.

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Pumpkin pie marshmallows.

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Thanksgiving nachos.  Trader Joe’s turkey and stuffing kettle chips / swiss and gruyere cheese / turkey andouille sausage / roasted green beans / poblano peppers / cranberry sauce.

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Thanksgiving totchos.  Tots / swiss and gruyere / poblano peppers / green onion / brussel sprouts / cranberry sauce.

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Upcoming highlights?  I am heading to New York this afternoon to visit Milk Bar’s Thanksgiving croissants my loving husband and dog.

A NY Weekend > A New York Minute

I spent Friday night – Tuesday afternoon in the city enjoying a New York long weekend with my boys!  So much fun!  We ate ice cream at least once a day, took long walks around Williamsburg, the Lower East Side, and Long Island City, and had a great night with friends at a delicious dinner (Baoburg – I don’t have photos but it was fantastic!) followed by a trip to Barcade!

Highlights include…

A malted cold brew.

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Is one of my favorite things about NYC the ability to find weird and amazing drinks absolutely everywhere?  100% yes.  And we took full advantage of that this weekend.  New canned coffees from Chameleon Cold Brew, churro and cinnamon dolce.

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Strawberry sparkling water and a soursop and sea moss drink.

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Cinnamon Coke with rum.  <– strongly recommend!

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Baohaus‘ spiceland bao is a thing of beauty!  24-hour brined fried chicken served with lemon-garlic aioli, an 8-ingredient Szechuan chili oil, pickled cabbage, crushed peanuts, Taiwanese red sugar, and cilantro.  Their menu is limited because the things they do they do exceptionally well.

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Great ice cream at Four Winters.  They make each cup individually with liquid nitrogen.  This was brown sugar speculoos with fudge, biscoff cookies, and extra sprinkles.

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Even better ice cream at Caffe Panna, the best ice cream I’ve ever eaten, in fact!  I got a cone with housemade whipped cream – panna – on brown butter straciatella and chocolate berry crunch (<– this flavor was the best ice cream we’ve ever tasted).

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Plus we got an affagato special – ice cream and espresso with whiskey caramel and cacao nib hazelnut brittle.

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Adam and I had an incredible dinner at Case Enrique – a Michelin starred, traditional Mexican spot in Long Island City.  I went for the drinks and they did not disappoint.  I had a soursop caipirnha!

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Plus a tamarind margarita.

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We started with the rojas con crema – roasted poblanos with onion, corn, cheese, and cream.  Scooped up with tortillas that were out of this world.

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And I ordered the mole de piaxtla – mole sauce over chicken and rice.

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Dessert!  Tres leches, flan, and cafe con leche.

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Other fun things… I pulled out this St. Thomas bag my parents got me.  It makes me happy every time I reach into my purse.

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And Adam bought me this gorgeous bracelet at a shop in Brooklyn.

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🙂

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It’s Pumpkin Month!

It’s Pumpkin Month!  Check out my exciting, gourd-y stash:

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Related note – my coworkers know me so well!

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This week’s eats highlights were all about burritos, bowls, and tasty take-out…

I go in a bit later on Wednesdays (so my timing works for after-work yoga, which I actually made it to this week, whee!) so I took myself on a breakfast date to Marie Bette for one of their outstanding pretzel croissants.

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This Trader Joe’s breakfast burrito – with eggs, cheese, chicken sausage, and potato – was pretty great.

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And this adobo chicken burrito from Whole Foods wasn’t half bad either.

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Pumpkin spice latte from La Colombe.

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Pumpkin spice bar with pumpkin jellies!  Those gummies were such an exciting find from H-Mart.

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Lunch from the food trucks/farmers’ market that sets up at the hospital.  I got nachos with spicy chicken.

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Roasted shredded brussel sprouts with hot smoked salmon, pumpkin seeds, spicy peanut vinegarette, and zhoug.

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Roasted broccoli slaw with sesame ginger baked tofu, honey butter almonds, spicy peanut vinegarette, cucumbers, and zhoug.  And when the zhoug ran out I topped it with sriracha.

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Superior Salads

Fun things from this week: It’s Friday! // I have plans to see my boys again in less than 15 days! // Yesterday I went to Hardywood with a coworker for happy hour and free pretzels and pimento cheese. // I finally made it to the farmer’s market that sets up on the hospital grounds and had a really excellent iced mocha with macadamia milk. // The weather is starting to get a bit cooler but still isn’t cold yet.

Highlights included…

Local nitro cold brew with maple.

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Nothing beats Stumptown.

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Strawberry lingonberry yogurt with chocolate peanut butter is a pretty great combination.  Plus a Pazazz apple.

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Bars on bars.

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I had some really excellent topping ingredients on hand so I made this a week of salads.  Honey butter almonds and zhoug are fantastic on their own and even better when paired together.  Especially with a fun variety of proteins!

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Romaine / Greek feta dressing / zhoug / honey butter almonds / baby tomatoes / chorizo seitan.

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Romaine / champagne vinaigrette / zhoug / honey butter almonds / celery / vegan chicken salad.

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Romaine / champagne vinaigrette / zhoug / honey butter almonds / baby tomatoes / turkey pepperoni.  <– pro tip: if you bake pepperoni at 350 degrees for 15 minutes it turns into pepperoni chips!

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Quality Time

It was the best weekend ever; my boys came to visit me!!!!!

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The three of us had just the absolute best time.  It helped that we ate and drank such yummy things but mostly it was great to hold Adam’s hand while Webster sat in my lap.

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We really made the most of Charlottesville too, we went to our two favorite restaurants and our two favorite drink spots, walked a ton downtown, ran at Riverside Park, and even went to a polo match with a group of my coworkers.

Highlights (including some random things I ate on Friday) include…

An Apple Month breakfast, Trader Joe’s caramel apple yogurt with cinnamon cereal.

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Brunch at Quality Pie.  We split an egg and cheese biscuit and salmon with scrambled eggs and cream cheese on rye.

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Also a chocolate chip cookie.

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Hail Merry cookie dough bites.

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Beers at Hardywood.  Tropic like it’s Hot sour with dragon fruit, blueberry, passionfruit, and pineapple // Tropication IPA // The Great Return IPA // Raspberry Short Kate milkshake IPA brewed with milk sugar and fresh raspberries.

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Cocktails at Vitae.  S’mores = smoked rum, chocolate bitters, marshmallow simple syrup, orange, and a graham cracker rim.

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Hawaiian take out from Mochiko.  Mochiko fried chicken with cucumber kimchi, slaw, and rice.  Plus a passionfruit shortbread bar.

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A simple salad at home.  Romaine with champagne vinaigrette, celery, cashews, and curried chicken salad.

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Dinner at Little Star = the best meal of the weekend and also maybe the best thing I’ve eaten in 2019.  We ordered all of the things but it was serendipitous that we overordered because now Adam has dinner for tonight after his long drive.

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Heirloom tomatoes with strawberries, house-made ricotta, basil, red wine dressing and chili flakes.

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French fries with tarragon aioli.

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Esquites, sweet corn with spring onions, Kewpie mayo, chili corn hot sauce, cilantro, and green onion.

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Braised lamb with pasilla de Oaxaca romesco, butter braised leeks, and sweet onions.

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Chicken with mojo verde, brown butter, and crispy epazote.

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Local coffee.

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Basque cheesecake.

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