Tag Archives: seafood

Bao Haus Is Back!

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Adam and I had the whole weekend together and it was just the best! We had two days of Manhattan fun (East Village and the Upper East Side) including great food, a long walk, time loving the trees in Central Park, and a trip the Cooper Hewitt Design Museum. The highlights…

Fancy Kook‘s carrot cake iced latte with cream cheese foam, cinnamon, and pecans.

I was disappointed in this egg coffee from Le Phin but we also had the best pandan iced latte I’ve ever had.

Cola and lemonade slush from Slik. Perfect consistency and not too-too sweet.

We quite enjoyed this bowl from Yogurt Club. Super thick strained Greek yogurt with blueberries, Biscoff kataifi sauce, and mochi.

Speaking of mochi and kataifi – Bear Donut‘s new chewy cookies are amazing. We got white chocolate hazelnut.

Before they closed, Bao Haus served my favorite food in New York and their new iteration is even better! We had lamb bao and unphotographed duck bao.

The Birdhaus bao was as fantastic as I remembered.

The new location does large plates like these outstanding noodles with chilis, pickled greens, and burnt ends. The wonderful schmaltzy pea shoots are hiding in the back.

I also had a guava gose with a delightful rim (li hing mui, maybe?).

Cambodian food at Bayon. We shared shrimp, crabmeat, and corn chowder.

Tamarind duck. Perfectly crispy skin!

Sauteed eggplant with beef, fresh basil, garlic, chili peppers, and oyster sauce. The beef was even better than the duck.

And the Spicy Siem Reap Noodles – sauteed wide rice noodles, basil, scallions, eggs, onion, chili, fish sauce, and
soybean, with beef, extra spicy.

I tamed the spice with a creamy iced tea.

P.S. The leftover noodles were great reheated in a skillet with kale and an extra egg.

Nachos. Stew Leonard’s salsa verde protein tortilla chips (delicious!) with sharp cheddar, ground turkey, and onion, poblano, and bell pepper sauteed with taco seasoning.

Chopped Cheese, Peanut Butter Tofu

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Highlights from a yummy week…

Equator remains some of the best bottled cold brew I’ve tried.

Ube and pandan simple syrups. They were good-not-great in iced coffees but nice in Diet Cokes.

The best yogurt bowls = plain skyr with tons of blueberries and chopped marzipan.

Durian ice creams. These were both so flavorful and the Mavens was some of the creamiest ice cream I’ve ever tried.

I went to Duck Island Bread Company for bread and ended up with a great pistachio croissant.

We used the bread to make wonderful sandwiches. Sourdough pullman / ginger miso mayo / shredded, baked super-firm tofu tossed with peanut butter, gochujang, lime juice, brown sugar, and veggie broth / sliced baby cucumbers marinated in white sugar, Sichuan peppercorn, Milu everything spice, and rice vinegar. Plus roasted baby broccoli.

For Five‘s chopped cheese sandwich was surprisingly good. Even these leftovers were delicious.

Congee bowls. Brown rice slow-cooked with chicken stock / mustard greens and scallion sauteed with soy sauce, rice vinegar, garlic, and pepper / ground turkey sauteed with peanut butter, lime, brown sugar, Sriracha, dark soy sauce, fish sauce, and chicken broth / chili crisp.

Tuna noodle casserole. This came out so well! Brami radiatori protein pasta, canned tuna, and canned trout / mushrooms, leek, and red scallions sautéed with flour, corn starch, veggie broth, gochujang, fish sauce, and sesame oil / baked topped with a mix of crushed honey butter chips and seaweed chips. Plus roasted broccoli.

My Rex Manning day tradition is rewatching Empire Records with pizza and brownies and this was our best year yet! Brownies = Hummingbird High’s small batch brownies. These are even better than my go-to brownie recipe (I did add a bit of espresso powder and topped them with cinnamon maple pretzels).

Pizza = a variety of slices from Tori T’s. This is some of the best pizza I’ve eaten; the crust is perfect.

Space Yam!

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Things from the weekend…

Blueberries aren’t my number one favorite food (a three way tie between nachos, Cherry Coke Zero, and Milk Bar’s marshmallow brownie), but they are probably the food I eat most often. Plain skyr with granola and jumbo blueberries.

We ordered fun cookies from Salamat! This was Space Yam (ube and marshmallow) but my favorites were Peach Mango Pie and Strawberry Matcha Latte.

Fish dip dinner. Canned pink salmon and lightly smoked salmon, Dukes, Kewpie, Dijon, lemon, paprika, garlic powder, onion, powder, and white pepper, food processed, then topped with chili crisp. Served along side baby broccoli sauteed with salt, pepper, gochugaru, Milu everything seasoning, butter, and lemon.

We scooped with TWO types of seaweed crackers (both excellent) – Mary’s Super Seed seaweed and black sesame and Trader Joe’s sticky rice seaweed crisps.

Trader Joe’s Thai yellow curry potato chips needed to be turned into nachos. With two types of sharp cheddar and a loose take on Thai basil chicken. Plus bok choy sauteed with ginger, white pepper, and hoisin sauce.

I enjoyed my chicken leftovers in a bowl with fried eggs and green beans that I steamed then sauteed with chili crisp, Dijon, and maple.

♥

Pie-less Crust

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Five things from this week…

New-to-me bars. Beni Bite black sesame protein cookie (7.5/10, the flavor had layers and I actually loved that it wasn’t sweet but the moniker cookie made the lack of sweetness jarring) and Barebells lemon cheesecake (7/10, I prefer the non-white chocolate flavors but this was way better than key lime pie).

Trader Joe’s hot honey popcorn is excellent. I am a picky about pre-popped popcorn but this had a perfect, crispy texture!

My baking project did not come to fruition but I did enjoy graham cracker crust on several skyr bowls this week. This one had sumo mandarin.

Crab rangoon bake. A take on the sushi bake – crab meat and flake-style imitation crab meat with Kewpie, cream cheese, sweet chili sauce, scallion, garlic powder, white pepper, sugar, and soy sauce on top of brown rice with furikake, crunchy chili flakes, and rice vinegar. Plus Cruciferous Crunch veggie mix sauteed with scallions, dark soy sauce, rice vinegar, sugar, and Sriracha, plus edamame, sesame seeds, and sunflower seeds.

Take-out salad from Bango Bowl. I tried the Honey Mo – shredded kale, chopped romaine, roasted chicken, roasted broccoli, roasted sweet potatoes, grilled peppers and onions, corn, crispy onions, and honey mustard vinaigrette. It was good (but I added cheese when I got home!)

Hot Honey Butter Crunch

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‘Twas a yummy week! Some highlights…

Cottage cheese with cinnamon, vanilla bean powder, granola, and pineberries.

A savory cottage cheese bowl dinner with sauteed zucchini and green onion, a fried egg, sunflower seeds, Milu everything spice, and chili crisp.

Something I will be making again – crispy baked butter beans and shredded super-firm tofu tossed with honey, butter, chili oil, and gochugaru. Served on top of sauteed shredded brussels sprouts.

We ate the leftovers (still great!) on salads with romaine and chicory blend lettuce, cilantro salad dressing, sauteed baby broccoli with garlic, and Dubliner cheese.

A loose take on callaloo with yellow onion, red jalapeño, frozen chopped spinach and kale, ginger, urfa, coconut milk, and tons of crab. Plus homemade dumb bread.

Tots Of Love

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Highlights from the week…

On-theme Valentine’s snack wins. Alani Cherry Bomb (9.5/10).

Love Hearts Squashies (9.5/10).

Baked black bean tacos. Black beans (food-processed with walnuts and sauteed mushrooms, green bell pepper, green onion, and taco seasoning) baked in Mission flour tortillas with tons of sharp cheddar. Plus roasted broccoli and homemade ranch (plain skyr, Kewpie, Trader Joe’s ranch seasoning and hot and sweet jalapeno pickle juice).

Turkey Reuben totchos. Alexa potato puffs / Swiss and gruyere cheese / sauteed ground turkey with homemade Russian dressing / sauerkraut. Plus roasted zucchini.

Agi’s counter inspired tots. Potato puffs / roasted yellow cauliflower / canned smoked trout tossed with leftover ranch / chopped sweet dill pickles / Ayoh Tangy Dijonayo.

Blueberries And Bears

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We survived the coldest week of the year! Here were some highlights…

A good skyr bowl with Crofter’s blueberry jam, Olyra blueberry bites, and fresh blueberries.

A better skyr bowl with cinnamon, honey, vanilla powder, blueberries, and honey granola.

These fun-flavored chocolate were good but not great like we expected them to be.

These milk chocolate covered gummy bears on the other hand? 11/10!

Salmon sushi bake. I used brown rice and added parmesan to that layer. Served with avocado and a quick-pickled cucumber salad.

Great homemade pizza. Store-bought grilled whole-wheat crust / sauce = Trader Joe’s pizza sauce gussied up with tomato paste, 2 bulbs of confit elephant garlic, and dried basil / oyster mushrooms sauteed with salt, pepper, and butter / mozzarella and parmesan cheese. Served with roasted cauliflower.

Packaged chicken meatballs (mine are better) with leftover sauce. Plus asparagus sauteed with pecans and parmesan.

Hello, 2026!

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Some highlights from the new year…

My New Years Eve plan was fancy cheese plates and an early bedtime. We ended up eating deranged snack boards but I was in bed by 9:30! Pimento cheese, baby carrots, deviled eggs, and extra-crunchy Southwest chicken taquitos.

The best part was the homemade deviled eggs because we topped them with this delicious everything spice from Milu.

We started our new year with the Buzz’d monthly special, obviously; salted brown butter iced latte with brown butter cold foam.

P.S. The alternative title for this post was “Drinks on Drinks” because in addition to drinking my weight in hot chocolate I also tried several canned beverages. Huxley tangerine energy drink – good not great; I would not buy again but I would try in other flavors.

Liquid Death sparking strawberry energy drink – good not great; I would not buy again but I would try in other flavors.

Protein Pop watermelon clear protein drink – good not great; I would not buy again but I would try in a sour flavor.

NYC has a thousand hot chocolate options right now but I only have my eye on four. We hit three this weekend (our final/upcoming stop is the one I’m most excited for). Good – Lost Borough. Topped with torched marshmallow fluff, whipped cream, and a cinnamon Graham cracker.

Better – Frenchette Bakery. French-style hot chocolate topped with a toasted green chartreuse marshmallow. This was solid hot chocolate but it wasn’t a drinking chocolate.

Best – Rigor Hill Market. Rich and thick chocolate topped the best burnt marshmallow I’ve ever eaten.

I’ll never get tired of my usual plain skyr and blueberries bowl but I did particularly enjoy this one I smashed a hunk of cheesecake into.

The best thing we’ve eaten in 2026 came from Apollo Bagels – lightly toasted sesame bagel with cream cheese and jelly.

Brunch at Holy Water. This was a weird meal – we probably wouldn’t go back but we adored several items. We despised both of our drinks but the vodka lime Jell-o shot was the best I’ve ever had. We also had solid hushpuppies with honey butter and Tabasco.

Adam’s lobster roll was ho-hum but my (very solid) pancakes came topped with praline and bourbon maple syrup and with a side of their Nola fried chicken — some of the best fried chicken we’ve ever eaten.

We ordered take-out from Primehouse – (too much) sushi and these sort of insane Waygu meatballs. I didn’t take a photo until I realized how fantastic the leftovers were, they started out with three huge balls and a bunch of melty burrata.

A much-needed veggie(tarian) meal from Little Beet – charred broccoli, hot honey roasted carrots, green beans, and miso tofu with Chimichurri and cranberry harissa sauce.

Trader Joe’s frozen veggie pancake topped Sriracha and pimento cheese.

My favorite meal of the week was homemade! Collard greens sauteed with mined garlic, salt, pepper, gochugaru, rice vinegar, maple syrup, and smoked poblano bbq sauce. Agi’s Counter-inspired potato salad – with hard boiled egg, smoked canned trout, chopped pickles, celery, green onion, celery seed, salt, white pepper, smoked paprika, horseradish, rice vinegar, Dijon mustard, Duke’s mayo, and plain skry.