Tag Archives: sauce

Pistachio, Passionfruit, Pickles

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Some things from the weekend…

This pistachio butter was perfect in an iced latte.

Also in an ice cream sundae! Jeni’s darkest chocolate with pistachio butter, Heritage Flakes, and Trader Joe’s chocolate shell.

Yogurt bowl – plain Greek with blueberries and tons of fresh passionfruit.

We did not care for this Trader Joes tarragon chicken salad wrap. The flavor was hollow; we split it and neither of us wanted to finish our half.

But I did quite enjoy their packaged southwest salad.

We got take-out from the Burger Spot for the 1st time so we ordered a bunch of things to try — Country Veggie salad – chopped kale, cabbage, avocado, cucumbers, cranberries, red onion, and a homemade veggie patty with cilantro ranch dressing / fries and onion rings (their sauces were all a 10/10!) / chicken parm sandwich – chicken fillet with marinara and mozzarella on ciabatta / and the special chicken burger with pickled jalapenos, pickles, coleslaw, cheddar, and bourbon sauce. We will be back!

We also had a shockingly good meal at Little Beet – herby rice with charred broccoli, smoky maple carrots (some of the best vegetables I’ve ever eaten!), baked tofu, and chimichurri.

Savory oatmeal bowl. Trader Joe’s rolled oats with ancient grains and seeds / frozen broccoli sauteed with gochujang, ginger, fish sauce, and gouda / fried egg / chili crisp.

Blackbird Blueberry

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Highlights from the weekend…

Buzz’d Express Coffee‘s monthly special is a cinnamon roll latte.

Dessert-y yogurt bowl – plain skyr with Trader Joe’s chocolate shell, crunchy peanut butter, cookie dough granola, and tons of blueberries.

We both love those these Whole Food’s sour citrus slice candies.

Dinner at Blackbird. The food was great, the lighting was not. Among other things we had a wonderful salad with medjool dates, almonds, pecarino, and a mustard vinaigrette. And homemade pasta with short-rib ragu!

Sourdough pasta with food-processed roasted bell pepper, green onion, jarred piquante peppers, evoo, and walnuts. Plus cheese. And roasted cauliflower on the side.

Potato hash with poblano peppers, bell peppers, green onion, urfa, and gochugaru. Plus roasted Chinese eggplants with a spicy peanut sauce (peanut butter, gochujang, rice vinegar, dark soy sauce, white sugar, and water) and sesame seeds.

Coconut, Banana, And Egg Coffees

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We had a terrific weekend filled with tons of good food, good coffees, and several long walks (including bridge walks – our favorite!)! The five best food stops were…

A&C Super. It took us too long to check out this cute bakery but we hope to head back quickly. We had a banana bread muffin and an amazing pull-apart croissant bread with cardamom sugar. Plus their coconut iced coffee (with toasted coconut infused sweetened condensed milk!) with a shot of espresso.

11:11 Cafe. We loved their banana iced latte. This was milkier than we prefer but the milk was so tasty.

5th Sip. This is a newish Vietnamese coffee spot. We got the Hanoi Egg cold foam.

Brunch at Pig and Khao. Vietnamese iced coffee and a Green Hour – Thai basil gin, pisco, cucumber, lime, mint, aquafaba, and orange bitters.

We shared the Thai basil chicken.

And Khao Soi.

Plus doughnuts with a pandan cream.

Dinner at Bonnie’s. This Cantonese-American spot exceeded my high expectations. We shared and loved a good portion of the menu. Henny Kravitz – Hennessy VS, toasted coconut, Plantation pineapple rum, Copalli white rum, lemon, and sherry.

Sour Cherry Negroni – Ilegal mezcal, sour cherries, and Empirical plum liquor. We also had an unphotographed Ribena Highball – Ilegal mezcal, Ribena blackcurrant, ginger, lemon, and San Pellegrino.

Yauh Ja Gwai Panzanella – heirloom tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, stone fruit, pickled mustard greens, and fried cruller.

Dao Gok – Chinese long beans, fermented bean curd garlic butter, and fried cruller.

Naw Mai Fan – buttered crispy sticky rice with snap peas and herbs.

Cheung Fun – seared rolled rice noodles with bean sprouts and chives (we got the vegan option for this but I bet the shrimp based xo sauce is divine). We also had an unphotographed Fuyu Cacio e Pepe Mein -cacio e pepe, fermented bean curd, pecorino, and black and white pepper.

Chow Nai Sundae – malted fried milk, ovaltine hot fudge, vanilla ice cream, and buttered peanuts.

Brinner Winner

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We did breakfasts for dinners this week. Here was everything I ate on theme…

Coffee, obviously. Sweetie Pies on Main makes some of our favorite lattes in Long Island. These specials were crazy – tres leches and tiramisu!

Cereal [milk latte]. Espresso plus skim milk I infused overnight with Cocoa Pebbles.

Orange juice. I wanted to be on-theme but I hate juice so we made cocktails. OJ with vodka and amaretto plus a scoop of vanilla ice cream and some Target rainbow sherbet seltzer.

Smoothie. Blueberry pancake smoothie. Frozen blueberries blended with cottage cheese, butter extract, maple syrup, vanilla protein powder, malted milk powder, and water.

Blueberry muffins. I think these protein mini muffins are disgusting in a delightful way.

Yogurt bowl, obviously. This was plain Greek with blueberries, blackberries, and cookie dough granola.

Egg and cheese biscuit. Hometown Bakeshop‘s build-your-own breakfast sandwich. We got a cheddar biscuit with two over-medium eggs, cheddar-jack cheese, caramelized onions, and smoked aioli.

Avocado toast. Whole-wheat bread toasted with butter topped with smashed avocado (with lemon, salt, and gochugaru) and cold-smoked sockeye salmon. Plus sauteed purple asparagus.

Cottage cheese bowls. Topped with cucumber salad (sesame seeds, gochugaru, rice vinegar, and sugar) and baked chicken meatballs (panade, hoisin, gochujang, oyster sauce, and white pepper). I ate several meatballs before they could make it to my bowl!

Oatmeal. Trader Joe’s rolled oats with ancient grains and seeds – 10/10, it is perfect out of the microwave – topped with a fried egg, chopped baby broccoli sauteed with lemon and garlic, spicy caramelized peanuts (sugar, salt, white pepper, evoo, gochugaru, and togarashi), and chili crisp.

Bacon, egg, and cheese bagel salad. This was my best idea of the week. Arugula dressed with garlic Dijon dressing and horseradish Sriracha aioli / sharp cheddar / beef bacon / homemade bagel croutons (Bagel Joint sesame gochujang bagel tossed with evoo, salt, white pepper, and gochugaru and baked) / six-minute eggs.

Pickle Honey Mustard

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It was an eclectic but tasty week. P.S. My best meal was at The Tyger catching up with out of town family (two sets of aunts and uncles!) – best bite was specifically the “Morning Glory,” stir-fried water spinach, with chili, garlic, and shrimp paste – but I took a long walk first and didn’t have my camera. Some highlights…

Smash Foods sunflower butter and strawberry jam bites. These are in my top-five favorite “bars.”

I always have to eat at least one yogurt bowl a week – plain Greek with blueberries, blackberries, and Heritage Flakes cereal.

I think every baked good is better mixed with plain Greek yogurt! This was a cookie dough chocolate cake (plus 99 Acres chocolate sunflower seed butter and blackberries).

Boba tea from Gong Cha. I did an iced black milk tea with black and white bobas <– the mix is definitely the way to go.

Turkey cheeseburger meatballs (ground turkey, salt, white pepper, panko bread crumbs, cream, ketchup, sesame seeds, chopped pickles, and sharp cheddar) with baked fries (tossed in smoked paprika and ranch seasoning) and the best snap peas (sauteed until almost charred with crumbly gouda, walnuts, and gochugaru).

Nachos! Whole Food’s honey mustard kettle chips with gruyere, gouda, chopped cornichon and sweet gherkin pickles, sauteed poblano pepper and green onion, and tofu cubes (marinated in pickle juice, baked, then sauteed with the best sauce – Trader Joe’s dill pickle mustard, gochujang, rice vinegar, honey, and a bit of water). Plus roasted broccoli.

Loaded tuna salad – canned tuna, chopped pickles and Trader Joe’s sweet and hot jalapenos, crunched honey mustard chips, pickle mustard, mayo, and Greek yogurt – with baked green beans.

Pierogi, Calzone, Hot Pockets

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This week’s dinner theme has to be my most unhinged — foods in an edible package. I am mentally categorizing “edible packages” as packets, by the way (i.e. no turducken!).

Mochi-wrapped ice cream. This milk tea flavor from Bubbies was fantastic and these are possibly the best ice cream mochi I’ve ever eaten.

Gummy mangos in an edible candy peel. The peelable gummies from Walgreens are top tier. It was a yummy week!

Rice noodle rolls with shrimp. From Trader Joe’s.

Soup dumplings. We went to Nan Xiang to try their chicken soup dumplings and thought they were great.

We also had their mustard greens with tofu skin and edamame which were good.

And their stir-fried rice cakes with shredded beef which were only ok.

And ube bao stuffed with red bean paste (more packets!).

Potstickers. Trader Joe’s chicken and vegetables. Paired with roasted broccoli and a dumpling salsa inspired by Leah Cohen (crushed peanuts, sesame seeds, gochugaru, sugar, Fly by Jing Sichuan chili oil, sesame oil, soy sauce, dark soy sauce, rice vinegar, Shaoxing wine, garlic, ginger, and green onions).

Tortellini. Whole Foods kale and cheese. We tossed them with orange baby tomatoes, roasted zucchini, baked chicken, sharp cheddar cubes, and a green sauce (fresh baby spinach food-processed with evoo, chili oil, sesame oil, salt, garlic, and walnuts).

Samosas. Trader Joe’s mini vegetable ones. Paired with curry cauliflower (roasted cauliflower sauteed with evoo, salt, pepper, smoked paprika, and Jamaican curry powder) with pickled red onions and fried eggs.

P.S. We’re going to Queens for empanadas tonight. Other than the other thousand varieties of things stuffed into pastas, did I miss any??

CarbohyGREAT

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Some yummy things from a perfect weekend…

Dayglow Coffee. Warhol – espresso, cream, citrus, cinnamon, and vanilla. Morning Show – distilled coffee, orange, condensed coconut, and passionfruit. We were delighted with these.

Humble Cafe is our favorite local Long Island coffee spot. Ice latte with pandan syrup and a taro mochi cookie.

Bagel Joint. We got a Thai iced tea egg cream.

And a duck egg everything bagel with ramp cream cheese and tuna bacon.

DSK Brooklyn. Adam had German beers and I had a shockingly good chicken bratwurst (on a pretzel bun with mustard!).

Pasta Night date night. My Daddy Issues cocktail had bourbon, coconut washed Campari, lime, and ginger beer.

We split the salted cod fritters special.

Roasted brussels sprouts in chili crisp.

Pesto pasta – radiatori in basil pesto with pecorino and poached tomatoes.

And the Big Ragu – rigatoni with golden tomato sauce, slow braised beef ragu, and Parmesan cream.

We of course also had to go to their origin restaurant – Ciao Gloria – earlier in the afternoon. Granita (slushie espresso with sweetener and oat milk) and a espresso chocolate chip cookie and a blondie with tahini and jam. Excellent.

Rita’s Pizza. This was my favorite meal of the food-filled weekend! La Rita – orange marmalade reduction, fontina, caramelized onions, thyme, duck prosciutto, Truffleist duck mousse.

Obviously we got The Sundae – maple and vanilla soft serve twist with hot fudge, torched marshmallow fluff, Luxardo cherry, chocolate pearls, and a waffle cup.

Word Salad

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We don’t always have a weekly dinner theme (often!) but I do have several queued up in a row. This week was SALAD…

Fruit salad skyr bowl. Plain Siggi’s with blueberries, blackberries, mango, and kiwi.

Candy salad! A mix of Nerds Easter items and sour tropical Mike and Ike’s (<– wonderful).

Dinners are listed from least to most favorite (though we quite enjoyed them all). Shredded tofu salad. Super firm tofu (shredded and tossed with evoo, hoisin, and gochujang and then baked until crispy) with roasted cabbage, scallions, bell peppers, and peanut sauce (chunky peanut butter, lime juice, rice vinegar, horseradish Sriracha aioli, sugar, and a bit of water).

Lox bagel inspired salad. Romaine, roasted garlic dijon dressing, hot-smoked sockeye salmon, Biena everything chickpea snacks, capers, cucumber, and pickled red onion.

Nacho chicken salad. Baked chicken, poblano pepper, tomato, scallion, black beans, sharp cheddar, Quest nacho cheese and loaded taco flavored protein chips, plain skyr, mayo, lemon, salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Plus roasted cauliflower.

Loaded tuna salad. Canned tuna and smoked trout with mayo, dijon, salt and pepper kettle chips, scallions, sweet baby gherkins, and Trader Joe’s hot and sweet pickled jalapenos. Plus a big pile of roasted green beans.