Honey Bear Hijinks

Highlights from this week included great homemade dinners and tons of best-in-their-game-good desserts!

Freddo cappuccino from The Grand.

Coquito iced latte from 787.

We had a giant, insanely good meal at Sunday in Brooklyn. Honeybear on Holiday – rum, Montenegro, sherry, apricot, pineapple, lime, cumin, and honey.

The Tiger Prince – Indian single malt whiskey, pandan, coconut, curry leaves, and lime.

Warm crab and artichoke dip with crusty bread.

Wood roasted mushrooms with salsa verde, peanuts, coriander, and spring greens.

Herb-crusted roasted chicken with butter lettuce and fries with za’atar, chili flakes, and spicy mayo.

Our dinners at home this week were great thanks to the best flour tortillas and a big batch of homemade salsa (loosely based on this recipe). Quesadillas with Oaxaca cheese and sharp cheddar (and salsa and plain Greek yogurt) plus shishito peppers.

Plus flan from Bushwick Taco Company.

And a homemade soursop frozen margarita!

Turkey tacos with ground meat sautéed with poblano pepper and orange yellow bell pepper plus cheese, yogurt, and salsa.

Chilaquiles – salsa, poblano and bell pepper, homemade baked tortilla chips and pico de gallo chips, plus tons of cheese – topped with fried eggs, shredded chicken thighs, yogurt, and hot sauce.

This mochi chocolate chip cookie from Cha An Bon Bon is one of my favorite things I’ve eaten this year! The crispy, slightly savory cookie was the perfect foil for the mochi.

Crepe cake with salted milk foam, boba, and brown sugar syrup from Prince Tea House.

Oddfellows Ice Cream – saffron passionfruit ice cream with apricot and pistachio plus chocotorta (cream cheese ice cream with dulce de leche and chocolate cookie crumb (<–my new favorite flavor!))

Kitsby dessert bar blew our minds. We came for (and loved!) the salted egg yolk lava cake.

But were head over heels for The King – durian cream brulee with banana ice cream, brown butter shortbread, and herbal jelly. If you’re a durian fan in NYC I recommend getting this immediately!

Have a great week!

Weekend Work

Adam and I both worked (super busy!) both days this past weekend; what a way to spend your first weekend post-vacation! I was too tired for cooking so mostly we ate an obscene amount of take-out.

Other highlights included –

Eclectic snack mixes. Salmon jerky + whole-wheat matzoh + chocolate toffee candy.

Pecans + yellow raisins + chocolate chips + ruby cacao covered cherries + wasabi peanuts.

A crazy good ice cream sandwich. The cookies were just salty/savory enough.

Spinach and cheese tortellini with marina sauce, turkey pepperoni, and roasted zucchini.

Destination Charcuterie

Adam and I are both off this Saturday and Sunday, so obviously it’s going to be the best! weekend! ever! Highlights from the week include…

Crispy waffles from Costa Nova. Mine was stuffed with peanut butter, marshmallows, and banana.

Grimm’s Destination Neon double IPA was an absolute delight.

Black sesame ice cream with all the toppings.

Baked cabbage and shrimp with lemon, pepper, and fresh dill (similar to this recipe).

Egg casserole with vegan chorizo, kale, and sharp cheddar (similar to this recipe).

Cheese plate night! Roasted yellow cauliflower / ruby chocolate covered cherries / salted dark chocolate almonds / smoked beef salami / truffle cheese aged in ashes / triple cream blue cheese.

Show Me Potato Salad

Five highlights from the past seven days –

{1} A Cherr-Bear smoothie! Yes, I think I’m very clever. A remake of the smoothie I adored for Valentine’s – frozen dark sweet cherries, plain Greek yogurt, and chocolate milk.

{2} A fruit and nut yogurt bowl. Vanilla bean skyr topped with (frozen, reheated) blueberries, halvah, yellow raisins, and nut and seed trail mix.

{3} Whole Foods buffalo sauce soy nuggets and baby carrots, served with an array of dipping sauces.

{4} We made an epically good warm potato salad. Roasted potatoes and celery, hard-boiled eggs, cornichons, dill, mayonnaise, and whole-grain mustard. Plus honey maple smoked salmon.

{5} I made our tastiest no-churn ice cream to date!

Black sesame with layers of fudge sauce and whole-wheat matzoh toffee.

Everything But

Adam and I had a ton of time together this week, which is just the best. We both had time off in the day on Monday and Wednesday and we liked our date so much on Monday – breakfast at Winner, a walk through Prospect Park, and lunch at Ix Restaurant – that we did the exact same things in reverse on Wednesday!

Prospect Park was an iced-over death trap but it was my absolute favorite activity of the week because we got to see swans.

Highlights from the week include…

Lots of fun in coffee. I enjoyed these new Cokes with coffee exactly as much as I thought I would.

This Trader Joe’s instant cold brew is weak on it’s own but it can total save a not-great cup of coffee.

Coffee-flavored Nutrament with a canned Stumptown.

Fancy lattes from Brooklyn Perk, mine was made with rose.

Winner’s sourdough croissant was a total win.

Meal 1 at Ix. Corn thickened Champurrado hot chocolate.

I had the kimchi soup with chicken, noodles, and poached eggs.

Meal 2 at Ix. Hot chocolate with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Chips with bean dip and crazy-good housemade hot sauce.

Corn with cotija cheese, sour cream, cilantro, and chile.

Caldo Tlalpeno Rojo – soup with chicken, tomato, garlic, onion, peas, chickpeas, corn, achiote, chipotle, Oaxaca cheese, and tortilla strips.

Ciao, Gloria blew our minds with their lemoncello pistachio bars. Also we had an unphotographed housemade Oreo that was the best cookie I’ve ever eaten.

Trader Joe’s smoked salmon dip is a household favorite.

Leftover Thai green beans with soft-scrambled eggs, vegetarian pork floss, and chili oil.

Homemade taco bowls. Brown basmati rice / ground turkey / sharp cheddar / sautéed orange and yellow bell pepper and onion.

Sheet-pan shrimp fried rice.

Loxchos(!!) with roasted brussel sprouts. Trader Joe’s everything bagel seasoning chips with swiss and Gruyere, hot-smoked salmon, and green onion.

Take-out dinner from Winner, plus roasted zucchini. We split a smoked chicken salad sandwich and a grilled cheese with cheddar, provolone, and romesco sauce on sourdough.

Plus a malted flour chocolate chip cookie.

Mediterranean Cruise

I’m late posting from last week but our meals were too good not to share! We did a theme week – Mediterranean! Here were the highlights…

Coffee with Turkish spiced coffee sugar.

I expected to love the date & walnut ice cream from Adirondack Creamery and was pleasantly surprised by the Trader Joe’s halvah.

Panzanella. Lamb sausage / baked sprouted tofu / roasted eggplant / baby tomatoes / crumbled feta / kalamata olives / garlic flatbread.

Naanchos! Homemade baked flatbread chips / sharp cheddar / feta / lamb sausage / roasted eggplant / pickled red onions.

Plus a sour IPA with milk sugar, peach, hibiscus, and lemon peel.

Tuna pita melts. Tuna salad with pickled red onions and sharp cheddar in the whole-wheat pita that I practically deep-fried in butter. Plus roasted zucchini with sumac.

Tasting plates. Multigrain pita crackers / red, orange, and yellow bell pepper / smoked almonds / salami / roasted garlic hummus / kalamata olives / stuffed grape leaves.

2021

Weekend 1/52 was a success!

Is it because in addition to having black eyed peas on the 1st for prosperity in the new year we had tons of sweets for a sweet new year and rose hard candies for a rosy outlook? I made those last two up but I’m running with it!

Highlights include…

I am on my last carton of eggnog for the season and I am still 11/10 enjoying it in coffee.

We obviously bought this Lucy Glo apple because the Trader Joe’s end cap said it was Instagram-famous and it ended up being delicious – crispy and a good mix of citrus and sweet.

We have both cookie butter and fresh berries in the apartment so clearly I’ve eaten a million yogurt bowls.

100% impressed with the newest Reese’s cup variety – pretzel!

These Levain cookies aren’t quite as good as the fresh-baked ones in stores but they are the very best not-from-scratch cookies you’ll ever make at home.

Also loved this crispy Maman caramel, hazelnut, chocolate chip cookie.

A hot take on the black eyed pea salad we’ve loved for years. BEP, green bell pepper, turkey andouille sausage, smoked almonds, sharp cheddar, and green Tabasco.

Eggs scrambled with peas and crushed potato chips, topped with chili crisp.

Brunch from Edith’s, the Jewish food pop-up in Greenpoint. Braised brisket sandwich with labneh cole slaw, spicy pickles, and pickled mustard seed on a house-made Kaiser roll // house-smoked salmon mac and cheese.

Also they served me a cold brew with amaretto that legitimately blew my mind — we ended up adding a liquor store stop on our way home so I can make my own next weekend.

Hope everyone’s year is off to a smooth and happy start!

Merry And Bright

Last week was great, and filled with great eats. It worked out that I was off from work most of the week, which was just lovely! And Adam and I were both home together for Christmas, which has rarely happened in our marriage. The absolute best part of the week was walking around Manhattan (8 miles!) admiring holiday decorations and checking out the Rockefeller tree – – it was impossible to capture in a photo but even in the daytime the lights were stunning.

Other highlights included…

We obviously had to buy both of these eggnogs to do a comparison taste-test (premium was a bit better!).

Christmas morning dalgona coffee with eggnog.

Max Brenner‘s peanut butter hot chocolate blew our minds.

Trader Joe’s peppermint mini marshmallows are great.

And we loved this peppermint seltzer.

Birthday cake scone from Sweetie Pies on Main. We went out to Cold Spring Harbor to admire their decorations. And yes, we do have a car tree.

This snowball doughnut from Comfortland was insane. It was coated in coconut and stuffed with marshmallow cream.

Plain Greek yogurt bowl with banana, chocolate cashew butter, and cinnamon.

Very impressed with this vegan jerky.

I’ve had my eye on this salmon candy spread for months and it did not disappoint. Paired wonderfully with everything-style crackers.

Still very into this frozen meal. Also fresh mandarin oranges.

Best meal I’ve ever made – crockpot five spice chicken thighs / celery, bok choy, and scallions / rice cakes / gojuchang brown sugar sauce. Topped with chili crisp.

We broiled the leftovers with mozzarella cheese and it somehow got even better.

The best meal we’ve ever eaten came from Milu. Mandarin duck with duck fat rice and marinated cucumbers / brisket with chili garlic mint sauce and tofu seaweed salad / chili crisp fried chicken with scallion mayo. Plus egg tart soft-serve. Every single bite was swoonworthy.

A roasted sheet-pan meal with brussel sprouts, cave aged blue cheese, turkey sausage, dried sweet cherries, yellow raisins, and sweet and spicy pecans.

Soft-scrambled eggs with roasted broccoli rabe and purple cauliflower, cucumber salad, and hot-smoked salmon.