Best Pizza Ever; Weekly Wrap-Up

by Emily

Happy Halloween!

Things were busy, busy, busy, busy this week at work. <– if you don’t read that in the voice of the magician from “Frosty the Snowman” then you didn’t have a childhood and you need to go rent the movie immediately!

As I’ve mentioned, my clinic is transferring over to an electronic medical record system at the end of this year. The nutrition department needs a new charting form (built from scratch) to accommodate our specific patient population, but since I am the entire department things have been pretty hectic. Plus we are in the middle of planning a big event and I randomly had a bunch of newly diabetic patients this week.

Additionally, I do some consulting work on the side reviewing nutrition educations and I had a big batch of articles to get through this week. I really enjoy the work – did you know that I did some editing/reviewing for a famous Caribbean author as a child? – but it can be hard to get motivated to get myself back into work mode once I’m home and changed into Adam’s sweatpants at the end of the day. Snacks help.

My meals were all totes amaze this week and/but you will see quite a bit of repetition…

breakfast

Vega Peanut Butter Cup Bar and an orchard apple.

Iced coffee with chocolate soy milk and an apple.

Orchard apples and espresso with milk and sugar.

The energy shot in the middle was a sample from my Urth Box and it was a giant nope.

lunch

Yogurt bowl. It’s funny, at least once a week someone will comment about how good my yogurt lunch looks.

Dannon Pumpkin Pie Greek with fresh blackberries and TJ’s Pumpkin O’s. Plus a candy corn salt water taffy.

Take-2.

With TJ’s pumpkin Greek and Pop Rocks.

Dark Chocolate Mint bar from Zing.

This was all I had time to eat on Thursday but it kept me full all afternoon. Thanks, 10 grams of protein.

snack time

Lindt’s “Hello My Name Is” bars are pretty much my favorite. Cookies and Cream!

An “Apple Pie A la Mode” = honeycrisp apple cider + RumChata + Goldschläger.

Locally-made yogurt.

Trying to bribe myself into doing my freelance work, I … stole some of Adam’s Cheetos (we both are a little bit insane about themed foods),

Ate licorice bears,

And dipped a big, sliced apple into butterscotch peanut butter.

The apple dippers beat out my other snacks in nutrition and flavor.

dinner

We made Rachael Ray’s Pasta with Pumpkin and Sausage using this fun pasta as our base.

We tend to rarely repeat recipes but this is one we’ve made several years in a row now (back in the day!).

So good. I subbed TJ’s soy chorizo for sausage and fat-free half and half for cream but otherwise followed the recipe.

Round 2.

I made a big bowl of leftover pumpkin pasta and leftover white cheddar macaroni with spinach, topped with chunky cranberry apple sauce that one of my nutrition co-workers made for me.

Adam was not willing to put fruit on his pasta, but my bowl was delicious.

Pizza Night!

Ugh. These came out so flipping yummy and neither Adam or I could shut up about it. We loaded them with ridiculous toppings and they probably ended up being far more caloric than delivery but they were also the best pizzas we’ve ever eaten. We used a ball of dough from Trader Joe’s and it split perfectly into two nicely sized pizzas.

Traditional – marinara sauce / low-fat shredded mozzarella / sautéed green pepper rings / tons and tons of mushrooms browned in butter.

Plus, slightly less traditional.

Oh yes, you know I went there! The best pizza I’ve ever eaten ever including the amazing, giant slices of Buffalo chicken from Zetti’s – pumpkin puree / low-fat shredded mozzarella / TJ’s Pacific Rock cheddar / onions sautéed with liquid smoke and smoked brown sugar / tons of crumbled turkey bacon.

Plus we had sautéed kale on the side, with liquid smoke, maple syrup, and more bacon.

For nutrition.

We also shared a Warlock.

Best of the season! There wasn’t actually much pumpkin flavor, this was just a really delicious stout.

Round 2.

Leftover pizza.

Kale chips with truffle salt and roasted broccoli with bbq.

The pizza was just as swoon-worthy eaten cold. How do I get more, immediately? And we ate this while watching “Nightmare Before Christmas” so I was pretty much exploding with excitement. <– picture strange, giddy laughter and me singing along with my mouth stuffed full of pizza.

What was on the best pizza you’ve ever eaten?

27Oct2014

Apples All Around; Long Week Wrap-Up

by Emily

We have been enjoying the heck out of my apple picking haul. There were a few days last week when I ate an apple with all three meals! Too bad my husband’s a doctor, I don’t want to keep him away!

I haven’t blogged a recap since last Sunday so I’ve got quite a bit to share…

breakfast

An apple and a latte.

Round 2; this was homemade cold-brew with Hint of Honey Almond Breeze.

Then the next day I did skim milk and maple syrup. Also delicious.

An almond croissant with more coffee.

Latte from David’s Tea while we walked around Park Slope.

Cream of Earl Grey is the best.

lunch

Sandwich and salad day. I think this is the largest lunch I’ve ever packed. A pumpkin spice English muffin (<– oooh!) with pumpkin butter, roasted turkey, and sharp cheddar.

Spinach salad with blue cheese, dried blueberries, sweet and spicy pecans, and honey mustard dressing.

Oatmeal and an apple.

I’ve decided that I hate that line of Quaker instant oatmeals but it was already waiting in my pantry so I gussied it up with chia seeds, butterscotch chips, and dried cranberries.

Pumpkin yogurt bowl.

Pumpkin Chobani with TJ’s Pumpkin O’s amd butterscotch peanut butter. Plus an apple, of course, though that was actually a SweeTango from a grocery trip before I had my orchard haul.

Cafeteria day.

Salad bar and baked onion rings.

Sunday brunch at Talde. There was pickled ginger in my Bloody Mary.

We also shared a French Press of Illy.

Fried avocado bao to share.

And Korean chicken wings with waffles for me.

With coconut brown butter, yum!

snack

An orange selection.

Sweet stuff.

Pumpkin Noosa with butterscotch peanut butter.

Duh.

TJ’s Cookies and Cream Butter. <– ahhhhhhhh

This jar lasted Adam and me less than a week!

dinner

A roasty fall meal.

Squash with cinnamon and smoked paprika. This was our first try roasting kombucha and it was good, though not quite worth the hype in my opinion.

Asparagus sautéed with Bone Sucking mustard sauce and sliced almonds.

And a big slice of my cheesy eggplant bake.

We made this version in a pie dish and with mozzarella instead of provolone but it still ended up being delicious.

With Naked Flock pumpkin cider to share.

My co-worker brought me back the cider from the orchard where she went apple picking!

Leftovers night. Eggplant bake side-by-side with tuna casserole, topped with additional cheese and crushed Cheez-its.

I know that looks like a giant bowl of melted cheese, but I swear the layer underneath was mostly veg. Plus we did salads for some green. Spinach, chopped carrots, and edamame with sesame soy ginger vinaigrette.

And a totes amaze apple cocktail.

Honeycrisp cider with Apple Pie Moonshine. I also did a splash of Goldschläger.

Chipotle. Let’s be real, we got rice bowls two nights in a row.

We shared some pumpkin brews to keep things fall-ish.

Soup’s up.

The TJ’s pumpkin soup was too thin and basically inedible.

But my sides were awesome. Three cheese grilled cheese = sharp cheddar, mozzarella, and blue cheese on wheat bread.

And sliced apple. I’m sure you’re not surprised that I ended up dipping my slices in melted cookies and cream butter.

Mac and greens (and cheese!).

Standby spinach salad – with dried blueberries, blue cheese, lavender salt, evoo, and honey – on the bottom.

And mac and cheese – Pirate’s Booty aged white cheddar mac with tons of spinach, extra cheese, and Sriracha – on top.

Adam hates when I pile things on top of one another but mac and salad go together really well. You should try it!

What was the best fall flavor you had this past week?

6Oct2014

Three Day Weekend Wrap-Up

by Emily

I give the last three days an A+! I had a very inconveniently timed doctor’s appointment on Friday and it made more sense to take a vacation day than try to fit the travel time into a work day. Serendipitously, Adam had switched some shifts with a coworker who was going to a wedding and he had most of the three off as well. Yippee!

I’m going to do this post old school, stream of consciousness style, though there are some holes as this definitely does not show every single thing that I ate…

Friday, once I had finished up with the dermatologist and Adam had rested up from his overnight shift, we headed into Manhattan.

Our destination was Krispy Kreme, and these limited edition Ghostbusters donuts.

I ain’t afraid of no donut! They were filled with marshmallow crème and were actually kind of amazing; maybe my favorite donuts I’ve ever tasted.

We wandered around Penn Station, then did lunch in Koreatown. We had a(n impulse-bought) Groupon for food and booze at Boss Lounge.

I ordered a Pinch Me, which had Grey Goose, lychee, and grenadine.

Adam and I shared a kimichi and cheese roll.

As well as seaweed and tofu salad.

The tofu was silken and strangely sweet. The husband loved it.

Afterwards we explored Koreatown a bit more. We split a kimchi bun from a food court we want to go back to asap.

Tried whatever the heck this was?!

The top is mango and red bean but we couldn’t identify the white – chewy and gelatinous – stuff. Neither of us could bring ourselves to swallow it!

And had a coffee popsicle from Tous les Jours for dessert.

Every single thing we’ve tried from TlJ has been awesome. Adam took home cheese buns that he adored and I’m kicking myself for not buying a milk bun.

For dinner, we made our way over to Hardings’s.

Whiskey sour made with fresh lime, cane sugar, and egg whites!

Adam had yummy, crispy salmon and I did a fun combo of appetizers.

Pumpkin pie soup with spiced whipped cream.

And kale salad with chickpeas, Marcona almonds, shaved sunchokes, and lemon vinaigrette.

Ahaha, I didn’t realize until I reread the menu to write this post that those white shreds were sunchokes and not really stale parmesan.

Afterwards we trained it over to Lexington (and Dylan’s Candy!), then walked back to our car across the Queensboro Bridge. It was a lovely nighttime walk but my calves are sooooo sore now!

We were parked in Long Island City and we stopped at The Baroness for a nightcap on the way.

We want to go back for a cheese plate immediately, but for now we shared a cute beer sampler.

Saturday was supposed to be spent at Smorgasburg, but yucky, rainy weather scared us back to Long Island. Instead we ran local errands – groceries were shopped and both of our cars now have changed oil.

We had baked potatoes for brunch.

I swear that there is a potato under there. Topped with butter, sharp cheddar, turkey bacon, leftover kale salad, jalopeño, sour cream, and a fried egg.

We poked the yolks into our buttered potatoes and it was pretty great.

We spent the evening cuddled on the couch with GIANT plates of nachos. I also ate this licorice mix.

We are now completely caught up on new fall tv. The Chicago’s (PD and Fire) are my favorite so far.

We had more to-do’s to check off on Sunday, and headed back into the city so I could buy a winter coat.

Train fuel = toasted everything bagel with jalopeño-cheddar cream cheese.

We considered getting Chobani but the line was too crazy, so instead we got froyo. Pumpkin pie and praline topped with caramel, toffee, Butterfinger, yogurt chips, and mochi.

Our bowls were tasty, and even better, free. The last time I was at Yogurtland I was a hot mess and I dropped my credit card into my yogurt and the cashier felt so bad for me that he gave me a handful of vouchers for free yogurt.

I had several coffee this weekend (duh!), but the best was actually from 7-11.

Cinnamon coffee with pumpkin pie creamer and a sprinkle of cinnamon.

I ate fruit salad while I prepped a batch for the upcoming week.

And we made big, hearty bowls for dinner.

Sprouted red jasmine rice // frozen spinach sautéed with bbq sauce, browned mushrooms and tons of onions // red lentils cooked with cumin, turmeric, smoked paprika, curry powder, and more sautéed onion // sour cream and Sriracha on top.

We ate our warm meal while we worked on the winter-y activity of swapping out our summer wardrobes. I still don’t have a ton of cold weather gear but I am excited to have my boots back out.

Back in the “old days,” blog posts always ended with a question:

Have you swapped out your summer and winter wardrobes yet?

29Sep2014

Weekend Wrap-Up; We Had Visitors

by Emily

On the excitement front this weekend – Adam’s parents came to visit! We are going to see all of my in-laws soon for Thanksgiving, but it was good to catch up with the parents now before the craziness of eleven of us under one roof. We had them Friday night through Sunday afternoon and we got to show off LI.

lunches

Packed for Friday – an AriZona Oak Tea and 2% Fage with a big baggie of pomegranate arils and chopped fruit punch plucot.

I also bought mac and cheese and some greens from the cafeteria.

Heartbreakingly, I think this was my last yogurt bowl with plucots for this season, the produce sections have all seemed to have moved on.

We had so much fun last weekend that we did a repeat this Saturday and drove the husband’s parents up to…

Montauk!

We went to the beach, the lighthouse, and of course, Lunch.

Adam and I shared a buttery hot lobster roll,

and a bowl of lobster chowder.

My favorite part is the whiffs of sherry.

And that’s not a foamy beer head,

we drank a chocolate egg cream for dessert.

You could tell that it was made with Hershey’s (a true EC has U-Bet), but Adam was still a fan.

We kept things low-key before goodbyes on Sunday and hung out around the house. Take-out from Luigi’s fit the bill.

I had a side salad, a buffalo chicken slice, and a Magic Hat Wilhelm Scream that I split with my m-i-l.

snacks

Breakfast at my desk on Friday. An iced Americano (with skim milk and cream) with a sticky-sweet Dark Chocolate Peanut Larabar. –Ummm, and I just noticed on the site that Lara has new Pumpkin Pie and Gingerbread flavors!! How do I find those immediately?–

Sweet = Haribo Licorice Wheels plus some of the Mini Gold Bears that my s-i-l sweetly sent us.

Salty = TJ’s pea crisps.

Coffee from 7-11 is kind of amazing.

Adam and I are embarrassingly into the Almond Joy Creamer they have there. And our location has pumpkin coffee, pumpkin pie creamer, and (free!) pumpkin spice syrup. What, what?!

dinners

Dinners were the least exciting meals of the weekend. Friday night we kept thing simple while we finished our last-minute cleaning.

A toasted sandwich of caramel apple swirl bread, herbed sliced turkey, light Havarti, and TJ’s sweet and spicy jalopeño jelly.

With baby carrots on the side.

Simple but good.

Saturday we went out to Tavern 18.

I had a beer that was pretty good.

And a Thai Noodle Salad that was pretty terrible.

No veggies, no flavor, and I keep forgetting that I kind of hate Soba noodles. I’m into pasta that is chewy, while Soba tends to fall apart in your mouth.

No complaints about dessert though! The best thing about Tavern 18 is that it is spitting distance from Ralph’s Ices.

Dulce de leche and pumpkin pie for me. I practically licked the cup clean.

I didn’t want my awful leftovers to go to waste, so I gussied them up into something moderately edible for dinner last night.

+ roasted broccoli and cauliflower and loads of creamy Sriracha sauce (tons of Sriracha whisked together with smoked brown sugar, mayo, and a little canola oil).

Hot sauce can hide a multitude of sins.

P.S. It is October first on Wednesday! <– in other words, it is three days until I drink pumpkin beers and pumpkin spice lattes like crazy

8Sep2014

Weekend Wrap-Up; Attack Of The Killer Sandwiches

by Emily

Did everyone have a great weekend? Mine was low-key but good; I got my hands on not one, but two of my top favorite sandwiches, so that was nice. The weekend following a three-day weekend always feels a bit too short! Assume many, many coffees went unphotographed.

breakfast

Iced coffee and I ate the top off of this cappuccino muffin.

I’m not really a muffin fan but I had been craving one like crazy all week and Friday seemed like a fun time to give in.

Peanut butter chocolate chip bar from GoMacro.

This came in my Urthbox but I would buy it again on my own. Eaten on the go because I spent most of Saturday helping a friend move.

lunch

I packed a nice yogurt bowl for work on Friday, with sliced plucot and a Jax banana coconut water on the side. The bananas foster yogurt was good, but a bit too sweet (note – if it’s too sweet for my tastes it is way too sweet for 90% of the adult population).

Plus brown sugar sea salt seaweed snacks and caramel apple Twizzlers for the afternoon.

Both snacks got two thumbs up.

Green juice from Foragers. Kale, spinach, cucumber, pineapple, and mint.

I’ve been wanting to go to Foragers for ages so it was good to try out the juice bar. They have so much fancy stuff, including this super-soft apple caramel I bought the husband.

I also scored myself a licorice.

snack

Chocolate-covered bears are always good.

I finally got to make the chia tea lemonade.

Quite nice! I will definitely do this again.

Orbit gum loses its flavor and get’s hard too chew very quickly, but it’s neat that my gum is on theme for the month.

I handed my girlfriend a piece of gum, right after I let her use my apple scented hand sanitizer, and she cracked up. I might be a bit obsessed.

dinner

We got take-out from Bareburger to go with our “The Office” marathoning. I ate baby carrots in the car so I could get some veggies in.

We sat at the bar while we waited. I got a peach julep slush. swoon

My sandwich was grilled chicken topped with smokehouse sauce, blue cheese, sautéed mushrooms, turkey bacon, and fried onions. {my favorite “burger”}

Ridiculous. It is the Big Blue Bacon with modifications to make it pork-free, if you want to try one for yourself.

Adam worked overnight on Saturday and I got home late so I went with my old-standby dinner.

Plus turkey jerky… for protein.

I’m not even embarrassed, popcorn’s a whole grain.

Sunday we went to Fletchers. {my favorite bbq}

I got the chopped chicken sandwich, which I smothered in pickled jalopeños and their amazing bbq sauce.

Plus banana puddin(g) for dessert.

I just wanted to taste the pudding – we were planning on stopping for pie afterwards – but it was so flipping good that I couldn’t stop eating until I basically licked the bowl clean!

3Sep2014

10 Things

by Emily

Long time no see! My mini posting hiatus was not for lack of things to blather about. The husband had a full day off on Saturday and we like to make the most of our time mooning at each other and eating mass amounts of cheese so I didn’t take any photos. Then I spent Sunday eating more cheese and watching a truly horrifying amount of Netflix (more on that below!).

I picked ten things to share for this post, ranging from product reviews and beauty (ha!), to entertainment, to foodie.

{1} Let’s start with the best meal of the week, the best meal of the whole year, actually.

Runner & Stone, down in the burgeoning area on 3rd Ave in Park Slope, is officially my new favorite restaurant.

The space and the menu were beautiful and thoughtfully done. The dishes are not too pricy, but this meal felt luxurious. I don’t remember what was in this amuse-bouche, but it was complimentary and tasty.

As was the house-made bread and butter.

We started dinner with a round of drinks. Vodka soda – with Industry Standard, a Brooklyn-distilled vodka – for me and a Gowanus – aka an extra dirty martini – for Adam.

He went with two small dishes for dinner. White bean soup with sherry,

and the deconstructed duck pastrami.

Both were delicious, but my dish totally stole the show.

Rye pappardelle with smoked salmon, dill, and house-made crème fraiche. I loved how playful this was, and more importantly, how tasty.

We obviously had to try dessert.

An orange wine with their buckwheat tres leches.

Runner & Stone, we’ll be back! Soon!

We ended our date night by stopping in at some of our favorite Brooklyn haunts for drinks, as well as dessert round 2 at Ample Hills. What a night!

{2} I’ll be less verbose about items 2 – 10, but that doesn’t mean they’re any less exciting. This homemade dinner looks God-awful, but it really was wonderful. TJ’s Sprouted Red Jasmine Rice with curried lentils and Jenna’s Baingan Bharta, topped with plain yogurt and Sriracha.

I didn’t love the eggplant – apparently I really do dislike garam masala – but I used to think that I hated lentils and I was pleasantly surprised by them. I usually make lentils just to be nice to Adam, but now I want to make them again for my taste buds too. They were soooo easy; we just simmered red lentils with water and a little salt, curry powder, turmeric, and smoked paprika.

{3} Another dinner success.

Arugula blend salad with cave-aged blue cheese, sweet and spicy pecans, and a maple vinaigrette,

topped with a Shallotta Salmon Burger.

I had big plans for a salmon burger and egg sandwich but apparently the patties were pretty good because by the time I went to make my eggwich Adam had eaten them all up.

{4} This item involves a generous box of free samples from Numi Organic Tea and Nutiva.

As I said, these items were provided free of charge. I was no provided further compensation for this post. All opinions are my own.

They’ve teamed up to promote their genius mash-up recipe idea: chia iced tea. Sounds good, right? I haven’t actually tried the recipe yet – I’m getting on that this weekend – but I wanted to share it with y’all, along with my thoughts about the products in general.

Iced Tea + Lemonade and Chia Seeds

1/2 tsp. Nutiva Organic Black Chia Seeds
2 Tbsp. water, room temperature
1 Numi Organic Tea – Breakfast Blend black tea bag
½ cup water, boiling ½ cup lemonade Ice cubes
Lemon slices

Add chia seeds to 2 tbsp. of room temperature water. Stir to combine, and set aside for 5 minutes, until chia soften.
Meanwhile, bring ½ cup of water to boil. Steep tea bag in hot water for 5 minutes.
Discard tea bag and pour tea into a tall glass. Add lemonade and chia seeds and stir to combine.
Top with ice, garnish with a lemon wedge and serve.

So far for the teas, I’ve only tried the Breakfast Blend so far. The mint is definitely up next once I’ve thinned out my tea bag stash a bit; it smells insanely delicious.

I can’t say that I adored it, but I have been hating most hot teas. I’m excited to try it iced, a much better test for me.

Chia seeds are always fun. I used the black variety in one of my favorite smoothies.

1.5 Tbsp chia seeds + 1.5 cups frozen strawberries + 1.5 cups lemonade.

And the O’Coconut Snacks are great.

They’re basically macaroons, with chia and hemp for extra flavor.

{5} Speaking of coconut, I made coconut iced coffee that rocked my face off.

Cold brew with TJ’s coconut water and a big glug of Almond Joy coffee creamer. Gah!

{6} A killer alcoholic beverage. My strategy of choosing booze that sounds like dessert has never served me wrong.

Does honey beer even need more explanation?

{7} Another product review.

See disclaimer above. Free item. No other $ exchanged. All my opinion. Yada, yada.

Valentia sent me their Even Glow Vitamin C Serum (sold exclusively on Amazon). I have basically no makeup or skin care regimen – no wrinkle cream, no foundation, and I guiltily put sunblock on once or twice a month – so I am not the best judge, but I was a fan. The serum smells like lemon meringue pie! I haven’t used it long enough to discern any long-term, wrinkle-busting effects, but day-to-day it makes my skin look a bit glowy. Photo-evidence straight out of bed, 5 minutes after application, prior to putting on mascara or brushing my teeth.

Speaking of terrible selfies… I need to show you guys my hair. My hair has been a hot mess ever since I dyed the whole thing brown after the purple to gray debacle. It looked like it could be my natural color and was just inexplicably damaged. I figured if I went blonde(ish) at least the damage would seem less sad. So I went in for some highlights/ombre.

I love it! I couldn’t get a great picture but this is definitely an improvement.

{8} While we’re taking about hair… Who saw season 1 of “The Killing?” Linden’s 90’s style, face-framing wisp bangs drove me freaking crazy! In spite of my ceaseless Facebook ranting about the bangs, over the past week I’ve Netflixed my way through almost all 4 seasons. I haaaaaated the season 3 finale but I’m hoping they fix things up in the Netflix-exclusive final 6 episodes. Also, I’m thrilled that Jewel Staite makes some appearances, but she has rocked as both a badass space cowboy/mechanic and badass space doctor, why have all of her recent parts been the easy-to-please girlfriend?

{9} I never watched Chelsea Handler’s tv show, but I just started her third book.

Her stories are hilarious. The books are kind of terrible for my commute because I feel bad laughing so loudly on the LIRR.

{10} It’s Apple Month!!! I’ve got a round-up post of important apple products headed your way tomorrow. And yes, I’ve already started my pumpkin beer collection.

Do you think you’ve eaten your best meal of 2014 yet, or is it coming up this holiday season?

18Aug2014

Weekend Wrap-Up; Last Days Of Summer

by Emily

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.

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.

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.

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

A strangely satisfying sandwich.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

He said it was what you would expect.

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

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.)

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.

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

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.

15Aug2014

Friday Favorites

by Emily

Here are the things that rocked my face off this week…

1: Easy, giant, veggie-laden pasta bowls.

Hearty and healthy is always a good combination – pasta / zucchini roasted with truffle salt / 2 pints of browned mushrooms / ground turkey sautéed with spices and chopped green peppers / red sauce

I could not even believe how buttery the roasted squash ended up tasting. Zucchini may just be my new favorite pasta addition, after soft-boiled eggs, of course.

2: Roasted Red Pepper Falafel and Moroccan Red Lentil Cakes from Veggie Patch.

Please note – these products were sent to me free of charge to review. I was not provided with additional compensation for this post. All opinions are my own.

I had not tried VP products prior to their media team reaching out to me, but now I am looking forward to buying more on my own. Both products had about 7 grams of protein per ~200 calorie serving and were nice and filling as the “meat” to a meal. We thought that red pepper was a zippy take on falafel and we very impressed with the texture of the red lentil cakes – the carrots studded throughout were neither soggy nor crunchy and they provided a nice note of sweetness.

Fittingly, we ate the goodies on top of Greek salads two days in a row.

All Veggie Patch products are free of GMOs and trans fats.

3: Pumpkin Yoghurt from Noosa.

OMG!! I know, I know, Pumpkin Month is still 7 weeks away, but this flavor is a Target-exclusive and I could not run the risk of it disappearing. p.s. if any New Yorkers spot the new coconut flavor, please tell me immediately so I can go buy it.

The ingredients list includes cream cheese and cinnamon, which is probably why this tastes like flipping cheesecake.

4: 4-Ingredient Strawberry Biscoff Sour Cream Gelato.

Gah! I made Lady and Pups’ Self-Made Sour Cream Gelato and swirled in cooked strawberries and Crunchy Biscoff before putting it in the freezer.

There’s no going back. This stuff is too easy; the base is literally just sour cream and sweetened condensed milk that you stir together. FYI – I used low-fat sour cream and fat-free SCM and encountered zero textural issues.

5: Blue Moon Cinnamon Horchata Ale.

Just, are you kidding me?! Add this to the list of short beers that I can happily finish a full bottle of myself. It was the perfect balance of cinnamon sweet to, you know, beer. And when I went to the website to link I discovered that they have a Caramel Apple variety and my heart actually skipped a beat. How do I get my hands on that???

Food for My Brain Bonus: Streaming the old seasons of the American version of “The Office” on Netflix. I realize that I am several years late, but now I’m obsessed. I started watching last weekend and I’m up to season 5, if that tells you anything! It is horrifically awkward – I suffer from severe secondhand embarrassment and had to watch the entire first season with squinched eyes, through my fingertips – but also incredibly funny and sweet.

How much do I envy you – have you gotten your hands on a caramel apple beer yet?

Eating Chalk

Tag Archives: sauce

Best Pizza Ever; Weekly Wrap-Up

breakfast

lunch

snack time

dinner

Apples All Around; Long Week Wrap-Up

breakfast

lunch

snack

dinner

Three Day Weekend Wrap-Up

Weekend Wrap-Up; We Had Visitors

lunches

snacks

dinners

Weekend Wrap-Up; Attack Of The Killer Sandwiches

breakfast

lunch

snack

dinner

10 Things

As I said, these items were provided free of charge. I was no provided further compensation for this post. All opinions are my own.

See disclaimer above. Free item. No other $ exchanged. All my opinion. Yada, yada.

Weekend Wrap-Up; Last Days Of Summer

lunch

snacks

dinner

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.

Friday Favorites

Please note – these products were sent to me free of charge to review. I was not provided with additional compensation for this post. All opinions are my own.