Coffees And Cocktails

by Emily

Important things first – the pink and purple trees in our complex are amazingly gorgeous.

This is the immediate view out of our front door and it makes me smile every day.

My purple hair finally got too patchy to be cute, while remaining highly pigmented in a few spots, and my hairdresser had to make me super blonde to get rid of it all.

I had a fantastic weekend – including a Lower East Side day, a Williamsburg/Bushwick day, and a Long Island day – and we ate all the things! I love New York, I love New York, I love New York.

We checked out OddFellows‘ new coffee and ice cream spot and I had an iced latte with toasted marshmallow milk.

I also had a toasted marshmallow iced latte (good, but not as good, obviously) from Sweetie Pies on Main while we walked around Cold Springs Harbor.

Japanese shaved ice from The Little One. Strawberry sauce / sweetened condensed milk / roasted strawberries / coconut whipped cream.

Arcade games and drinks at Barcade. <– one of my favorite spots in the city even if I’m not very good at Pac Man or Tapper

Craft cocktails on tap at Yours Sincerely. Adam got a tasting flight and I had a Folsom Fizz with bourbon, cola syrup, and almond.

Snacks at Smorgasburg. Belgian fries with malt vinegar aioli and chipotle ranch.

Noodle bowls at Just for Fen. Can JfF be my new living room? The space was so cute!

And the food was wonderful. I had smashed cucumber salad and spicy chicken rice noodles with housemade chili oil, pickled radish and cabbage, baby bok choy, scallion, cilantro, and peanuts.

Dinner at Forrest Point. On the patio!

I had a fried chicken sandwich with jicima and blue cheese slaw.

The few things we ate at home were pretty great too. Trader Joe’s scallion pancakes are the best frozen meal of all time. Served with baby carrots and bell peppers.

I made us delicious rice bowls. Brown rice / red, yellow, and orange bell pepper sauteed with onion and garlic / chicken breast slow-cooked in the crockpot with salt, pepper, oregano, cumin, garlic, lime, and orange juice and then shredded and broiled until crispy / sharp cheddar / TJ’s tomatillo roasted yellow chili salsa.

Plus mojito milkshakes! Cruzan rum / homemade mint simple syrup / lime juice / vanilla ice cream / ice.

24Apr2018

Three Day Weekend

by Emily

My three day weekend is actually a ten day weekend! I took a week+ off from work because I am going home for Carnival. By the time you read this post I will (hopefully!) be on a plane to St. Thomas.

Here were the top three from the past three days…

{1} Coffee (coffee, coffee).

[a] I am still loving Trader Joe’s shade grown espresso blend.

[b] I found my new spot for coffee and cookies – For Five Coffee.

They served me an perfectly roasty and creamy quad iced latte.

And they have crispy yet cakey cookies from Duchess Bakeshop, including unicorn cookies stuffed with cheesecake.

{2} Fun in packaged foods.

The chile rellano from Trader Joe’s is my all-time favorite frozen meal and the mojito kombucha was even better than expected.

{3} Our best meal of this year.

Glasserie in Greenpoint pretty much blew our minds. Their deal is Middle Eastern flavors mixed with contemporary techniques in a stunningly gorgeous former glass factory. We swooned over every bite!

Sour from Grimm.

Griddle bread that was chewy and perfect and sort of reminded me of funnel cake.

Roasted cauliflower with cured labneh and marjoram.

An assortment of mushrooms with celeriac puree, hazelnuts, and a soft boiled egg.

Chicken with roasted sunchokes, fried potato, and sesame. I almost never order chicken in restaurants but this was one of the best proteins I’ve ever tasted.

Rose milk custard with candied pistachios for dessert. This was just a bit tangy and just a bit floral and totally delicious.

10/10.

21Apr2018

My Favorite Thing I’ve Eaten

by Emily

Top five from last week –

{1} My favorite thing I’ve ever eaten! Also the most “me” thing I’ve ever eaten. Quad shot, iced, birthday cake latte (with birthday cake sprinkle sand!!) from Milk Bar.

{2} Vanilla bean Greek yogurt with the amazing Alphonso mango. Plus a guava kombucha.

{3} BBQ from Fletcher’s. I had smoked chicken and cole slaw. Important note: they now sell their amazing sauce to take home. <– highly recommend.

{4} Bahn mi chicken salad. With baby carrots, roasted broccoli, and Korean bbq kettle chips.

{5} Giant Greek salad bowls. Local oak leaf greens from Greenpoint / TJ’s Greek feta dressing / heirloom tomato / cucumber / roasted chickpeas / dolmas.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

16Apr2018

I (Strawberry) Heart…

by Emily

The five most exciting edible things from this weekend —

{1} There’s a new cookie dough place in our mall. The serving size was stupid big and they wouldn’t let us split the scoop into two flavors but it was delicious. We went with Oreo.

{2} I discovered a Sonic that’s not super far from our house. How excited am I about strawberry diet cokes??

{3} I’m back on the coffee obsession train. I was feeling a little under the weather last week and it was hard for me to drink anything roasty but thank goodness that’s over.

{4} The worker at Chipotle was extra generous with the fajita veggies and cheese and I ended up with a wonderful salad – romaine / chicken / pinto beans / peppers and onions / corn salsa / hot salsa / cheese.

{5} We went to Hanco’s and I had Vietnamese iced coffee with strawberry jelly hearts in it! Plus a really fantastic bahn mi with vegan pork (tofu).

P.S. Today’s my day off! And it’s also Adam’s day off!! And we are going into Brooklyn for lunch!!!

13Apr2018

Chili Cheese Fries Because It’s Still Chilly

by Emily

Seriously, why is it so chilly still?? Over the weekend I dry cleaned our winter coats, packed up our sweaters, swapped boots for sandals, etc, etc, and then Monday morning it was a balmy 30 degrees.

Freezer-burn aside, I had quite a nice week! Tuesday I took a personal day to spend time with Adam post-call and we tried some yummy spots in Bayside. And I’m off again today because I work this weekend.

Here were the highlights from the week…

Chocolate glazed doughnut (from Dough) and a maple iced latte at Browny.

Juicy watermelon wonder kombucha.

Chia pudding. Chia seeds / skim milk / maple syrup / vanilla bean powder / sliced banana.

Peanuts are my favorite snack at the moment.

Dinner out at Maria’s Mediterranean. We got some complimentary bites to start, including the best olives I’ve ever tasted.

Plus we ordered the chips and dip – housemade pita chips with tatziki / melitzanosalata, roasted eggplant puree / and tirokafteri, spicy feta spread.

I got the spanikopita for my entree.

And we tried something fun for dessert – ekmek, a bread pudding-baklava mash up with syrup-soaked shredded phyllo, custard, and whipped cream.

I leaned into the weather and made us big steamy bowls of chili. A loose version of this recipe from Iowa Girl Eats that is our favorite. The baked beans take it over the top.

I topped my bowl with sharp cheddar, plain Greek yogurt, and tons of Sriracha.

Our leftovers turned into cheese fries! Waffle fries / cheese – TJ’s 3 cheese blend / chili / ~~bacon~~ leftover duck. Plus green beans for something green.

And yesterday I made buffalo chicken meatballs. Ground chicken / panade / buffalo sauce / egg / cream cheese / cheddar. Plus sauteed carrots and celery to stay on theme.

It’s supposed to warm up this weekend, woo-hoo!

2Apr2018

Bunny Bites

by Emily

The best things I ate this weekend were…

Easter candy! So much Easter candy.

Plus I made Oreo truffle balls with purple marshmallow Peep Oreos.

Lunch at Little Skips, an adorable coffee spot in Bushwick.

I got a bomb latte aka a latte that’s the bomb because it has sweetened condensed milk in it.

And a vegan blt with smokey maple tempeh bacon, tomato, mixed greens, and house-made vegan cilantro-lime aioli on wheat toast.

Hawaiian desserts at Mahalo Bakery. We split a milk lovers cupcake (vanilla cake infused with a concoction of milks with cardamom spice and topped with whipped cream) and a slice of haupia pie (layers of semi-sweet Belgium chocolate, haupia, and coconut whipped cream).

Black eyed pea salad. We love this dish, it’s super tasty but easy-(black eyed) peasy. BEP / green bell pepper / smoked almonds / Kerrygold Dubliner cheese / Cholula hot sauce.

Spicy cabbage salad with shrimp. I loosely followed this recipe from Bon Appetit that I am obsessed with.

Have a great week!

30Mar2018

Open Toasted Sesame

by Emily

Highlights from the week…

Lemon shortbread Greek yogurt with a Jaffa mandarin and a coconut seltzer.

Coconut Chobani with Heritage Flakes and a sumo mandarin and a lemon seltzer.

Cookie butter cotton candy.

Sandwich night. Mock beef shaved tofu sauteed with red bell pepper and bbq sauce / served on a brioche bun / with mayo and provolone. Plus broccoli.

Barley bowls. Barley / roasted zucchini / crumbled seaweed snacks / canned mackerel and smoked sardines mashed together with some mayonnaise / Sriracha and gojuchang on top.

A knock-your-socks-off good dinner date at Gristmill.

The Ali Baba cocktail = gin, lemon, cream, egg white, and toasted sesame.

I went with the pre-fix option because I wanted too many things to choose!

Local greens salad with carrot, watermelon radish, and toasted sesame vinaigrette. This was delicious af and while we were eating it the owner came by and excitedly told us about sourcing his greens, so that was fun.

Chicken liver mousse with bread crackers, concord grape jam, and dulce de leche.

Best plain cheese pizza I’ve ever eaten. <– Gristmill is famous for their wood-fired oven.

Plus we had an affogato and that thing lurking in the back is the best chocolate cake I’ve ever eaten with caramelized white chocolate ganache and sourdough pretzel crumbs.