I’ll admit it – this rotation is exhausting! I stayed in bed past noon. Then went to Gramma Mora’s for lunch with a Groupon.
“Seafood” nachos to start. <– not good, at all.
Cheese enchilada.
A handful of chocolate pretzels.
Caramel and cheddar popcorn mix with Adam during Oz. <– movie was not good, at all.
More Bluefin. Spicy crunchy crab and tempura sweet potato.
Don’t forget to turn forward your clocks!
I did manage to pack breakfast today – eating before I leave the house is never gonna happen – but I got so into my patients that I totally forgot to eat it. The services I’m currently on are fascinating: Neurology Step-Down and the Surgical ICU.
At least lunch looked a lot like breakfast. A Quaker Apple Walnut Oatmeal
topped with Justin’s Chocolate Hazelnut Butter.
That combo is out of this world.
I ended up staying almost an hour late this afternoon because I took on another patient at the last minute. Thankfully I was able to head out for fun as soon as I got home. By the by, I know I mentioned working out today, but my right foot issue has flared up badly and if I’m honest with myself it’s probably at least another week or two before I’ll be back on a treadmill. Boo!
Yes, it is the first Friday of this rotation, but during the second Friday of every month the art gallery on my campus hosts a free event for the public. There is art – well, some art and lots of “art” – and nibbles.
I’m not sure what that red sauce was but it sure was tasty, my veggies were even better than my cheese.
I ate this piece of Easter candy before I headed out for the evening.
I met up with some friends for drinks before we headed to the gallery.
Couldn’t resist getting another McKenzie’s cider.
After the museum, a friend and I headed to Blue Fin to get some sushi specials for dinner.
An asparagus roll and a spicy crunchy crab roll, all for $10 including tip and tax!
What’s the best deal on sushi in your town?
It’s time for another two-day post. Shhhhhh, don’t tell my mom!
The past 48 hours have been full of Bananas, but nary a vegetable has been seen. Things haven’t technically been that busy, but it’s hard to post when you basically die into bed.
My last post left off at lunch. After I finished up at the hospital for the day, I came home to decorate my cupcakes for book club.
Book club may have been hit hard by sickness and weather advisories this week, but that didn’t mean that the three of us who still got together didn’t deserve banana split cupcakes!
Banana Split Cupcakes, makes 12
Yield: 12 cupcakes; Prep Time: 30 minutes; Cook Time: 30 minutes
I know I’ve posted the recipe before but since almost nobody reads my blog, nobody has made the cupcakes yet. And that is really unfortunate because they are one of the best things I’ve ever made. I may not write a popular blog but I can write a damn good recipe!
I actually ended up eating my serving the minute it was decorated.
Then while my friends ate cupcakes I munched on BBQ Smart Fries.
But first we grabbed a quick and easy dinner at Wegman’s.
I got spicy crawfish chips,
and a brown rice California roll with a side of spicy mayo.
Then the three of us came back to my place for cupcakes (and Smart Fries!) and a movie. We watched “The Perfect Family” on Netflix and all loved it. Emily Deschanel was great as always and the entire film was surprisingly funny and smart.
I send my friends home with all of the cupcakes (except for two saved for Adam who was out-of-town the past few days) and when my sweet tooth called a few hours later I made an amazing yogurt banana split. An Almond Coco Loco Chobani Flip topped with sliced banana, hot fudge sauce, a big scoop of ice cream frosting, and a cherry on top.
Maybe the best bowl of “ice cream” I’ve ever had. The combination of tastes was amazing, and you better believe I ate another big scoop of frosting straight from the container! This Flip was a billion times better than the key lime one; the coconut yogurt was perfection.
I only had to work a half shift today so once Adam got home we got to spend the entire day hanging out. He’s traveled a lot this year and I’ve really missed him. Speaking of which, I’m going to rush through Saturday’s (pathetic) eats so I can get back to snuggling.
Pomegranate Black Tea KeVita. Have you entered my giveaway yet?
Mac and cheese from the co-op hot bar.
2% Chobani Banana topped with sliced plums.
Buffalo chicken pizza with blue cheese and baby carrots.
And a giant bowl of popcorn with melted butter.
My popcorn bowl was actually too big for me and I couldn’t finish it…. who am I???
P.S. This is what’s happening beside me right now –
The past three days were the best of 2013, and I have so much to say. We ended every day so exhausted/satisfied/full and blogging just felt like an impossible feat. But how can I not blog two of my favorite meals in Buffalo? I may not get to say as much as I’d like, but at least this post will help put my memories all in one place. If I had to state the theme of this post succinctly, it would be – I really, deeply, emphatically love good food.
This weekend we were lucky enough to have a visit from some of my Maryland family, my aunt and one cousin. They are some of the best people I know and I loved getting to share and explore Buffalo with them.
On the way to the airport, I drank a Zico Chocolate Coconut Water,
and split a Cascadian Farm Crunchy Oats & Honey Granola Bar with the husband.
When we got home I put out a little meze spread for lunch.
Cherry tomatoes, sliced cucumber with pink salt, baby carrots, Wegman’s roasted garlic hummus, and tamari almonds.
My plate, x2:
I also ate the bread ends off of a loaf I sliced up to make Adam a sandwich.
I need to do raw veggie spreads more often; this was a very satisfying lunch.
We took a wander down Elmwood to show the fam where I work and play, and stopped at Ashker’s for wonderfully velvety espresso.
With skim milk and sugar.
Then we were off to the falls!
We lucked out with the perfect weather – cold enough to scare away the crowds but warm enough that you could really take your time to appreciate Mother Nature.
Speaking of Mothers, that’s where we had dinner!
Mother’s restaurant is 10 steps from our old apartment but we never made it a priority because we thought it was steak house. The menu was mostly meat, but that didn’t keep me from having an absolutely fantastic meal.
Bread with salted butter.
Glass of wine, a Chablis that I enjoyed far more than I was expecting to.
Salad.
My picture quality went downhill at this point but the quality of food kept shooting up.
For an appetizer we all split the gnocchi.
Potato gnocchi with portobello, lump crab, peas, and a white truffle sauce.
My portion, x2.
All of those components are great on their own but together they became something amazing. Best gnocchi I’ve ever had; it was pillowy beyond my wildest dreams.
For my entrée: “sautéed red snapper fillet with gulf shrimp, mushrooms, artichokes, scallions, lemon butter sauce, and microgreen salad.
It also came with asparagus and perfectly roasted potatoes.
The dish was wonderful and the portion was gigantic (Adam actually ate the other half of my fish for dinner tonight!). Certainly a meal worth going back for.
But the best bites I took were actually from the husband’s dish.
The black (squid ink) pasta I could live without, but the scallops – like the gnocchi – were the best I’ve ever had. They were cooked to perfection, with a nice crust and creamy middle. Adam must love me a whole lot to have given me as many bites as he did!
– . – . – I need to stop and do some foreshadowing here: the meal at Mother’s was not even the best meal of their visit!
Monday morning my aunt and I walked Webster to The Spot for some coffees. The baristas gave me a gorgeous drink and were super sweet about the dog in my arms.
Tall skim latte, to go.
Back at home, I had a big bowl of Cascadian Farms Berry Cobbler Granola with fresh blackberries and homemade vanilla cashew milk.
While it clearly couldn’t compete with our dinners, this meal was pretty flipping good. I’m thinking that the cashew milk may be worth the effort after all.
The weather had shifted back to winter by that point so we spent our afternoon walking around the mall. My aunt bought me a couple of new work pieces at Old Navy – – can you believe I start school next week?!
You have to do self-serve froyo when you’re at the mall. I did a small amount of plain tart and coconut yogurt, a medium amount of fresh fruit, and tons of popping boba.
Is it sick that both bubble tea and self-serve froyo make an appearance on my “must have” list for next year’s move?
For dinner, we met the husband at Seabar.
I could talk about how fun the decor is, but when the food is this awesome, who really cares?
I got a spicy bloody mary to drink.
I know keep saying this, but seriously – best blood mary I’ve ever had!
It came loaded with Tabasco, Franks, and Sriracha.
My impetus for dragging everyone to Seabar was simple – “Bourdain’s Last Meal.”
Marrow, foie gras torchon, (and pork belly which I requested come on a separate plate), and toasted bread for spreading.
***This post is far too long already for me to go into my food philosophy. In short – yes, I ate marrow and yes, I still won’t eat read meat. If you would like me to post more about it just ask and I gladly will.
Trying marrow has been on my life list for years and it was like nothing I’ve ever tasted before. I totally concur with its description as “the world’s best butter.” We all shared the appetizer but I will totally cop to eating a lion’s share of the marrow. Also, I spread marrow between two toasts and ate it like a small, ridiculously decadent sandwich.
And then I closed my eyes and swooned.
Actually, I spent most of the meal with my eyes closed tight, straining to help my taste buds make the most of every flavor. I hate to knock my favorite place in Brooklyn off of the top, but this meal was the best I’ve ever eaten.
My family raved about their sushi – inventive combos composed of incredibly fresh fish – but my entrée was by far the best plate at the table.
“Lobster Ramen – Handmade Noodles, Lobster Broth Poached Egg, Shiitakes, Pickled Vegetable”
None of us could get over the texture of the lobster and the noodles were out of this world. Also, the pickled vegetables were nothing to frown at, but they were hard to focus on with poached lobster sitting at the table. When I took my first bite of homemade noodle with egg yolk broken on top I was pretty sure I would die of happiness.
And I haven’t even mentioned the broth yet. I shared many bites and was more than generous with my lobster claws, all while threatening everyone not to spill a drop. Then when all that was left was broth, I sucked it up with my straw! I regret nothing.
I ate a dark chocolate peanut butter santa when we got home.
And I collapsed into bed, basically drunk on marrow.
This morning we pulled ourselves out of our food comas and drove over to East Aurora. I know I don’t actually live in EA, but I always want to bring visitors to Taste.
I had the Santa’s Sleigh with skim milk.
A peppermint tea latte with white chocolate and a hint of coconut. It was delicious!
We were just admiring the cool industrial vibe when… I dropped my camera on the concrete floor. Please note – I stayed amazing calm, but if my memory card had broken too and I’d lost the pictures for this post I definitely would have cried.
I’m going to end my blogging here, because I just can’t see tacking cell phone photos on the end of this lengthy post.
Broken cameras be damned, we had a nice day. I managed to get buffalo wings into my aunt and cousin before they had to head to the airport. I had a good day of work. Adam and I shared a Dole Whip at the mall. And many (many) hours later, I have a new camera. So tomorrow, we can start all over again.
What/where was your best meal? Have you ever tasted something so good you had to shut your eyes?
Today was souptastic. And now I realize that I kind of hate soup; good to know. But the day was fun.
We went on a double date to the Buffalo Soupfest. Adam and I split a buffalo chicken wing soup,
a lobster bisque,
and a beer and cheese soup (with a pretzel on top!).
And I ate this corn and poblano chowder all on my own.
The last one was my favorite, we all found the others to be too thick. Even though we didn’t love the soup, it was great to spend time with friends.
I did love the cookie dough ice cream I ate in the car on the way home.
Yum!
We snacked on some very yummy crab rangoon (from the freezer section at Target) in the afternoon.
I had 8.
…skipping dinner until later because it ties into the giveaway… We were still hungry after our early dinner, so we split a grilled cheese.
Yellow mustard and miracle whip on toasted sandwiches take things to a new level.
We also shared cookies.
The sandwich was better.
Back to dinner.. We made two recipes from my new cookbook, A Taste of Treme: Creole, Cajun, and Soul Food from New Orlean’s Famous Neighborhood of Jazz by Todd-Michael St. Pierre (currently available on Amazon).
Our meal was quite tasty.
Robertson Street Green Onion Soup,
and Shannon’s Cheese Straws.
The soup was pretty good and the cheese straws were fantastic. I did lots of nibbling while we finished cooking the soup.
Sooooo cheesy and good.
Both recipes were quick and easy and we loved how clear the directions were. I flipped through the whole cookbook while choosing recipes and was impressed with the clarity of everything. Plus, several version of roux, Batiste Family Bread Puddin’ with Praline Rum Sauce, and Believe Dat Bananas Foster? You know this is a killer cookbook. Which is why I’m offering a book to one of you.
For a chance to win a copy of Taste of Treme, leave a comment on this post by noon on Thursday, January 10th.
Goodbye, Sunday; and hello, work week. More importantly, soon it’s goodbye, 2012! And that first sentence was especially unimportant because I worked today and only have two shifts during the actual week; go figure.
This day got off to a great start and then rapidly went downhill. Sometimes that happens. And I plan on doing some baking to cheer us up as soon I hit publish.
On a good note, check out this awesome box of new flavors that Cascadian Farm sent me to sample –
I guess they heard my incessant raving about how good their Dark Chocolate Almond Granola is 😉 I ended up trying both products today, since I have no self-control when it comes to trying new things. Both products (plus the Crunchy Bars in Peanut Butter and Oats & Cocoa) will be available in January of 2013.
Granola with yogurt for breakfast.
I ate a big bowl of the Cascadian Farm Organic Berry Cobbler Granola on top of Wegman’s low-fat vanilla maple yogurt.
The granola was marvelous; I might like it even more than the dark chocolate almond! It was sweet without being too sweet and crunchy without being tooth-breaking. The light isn’t tricking you either, it actually is pink! Even the bites without dried fruit leave you with a lovely taste of berry cobbler. Adam ate a big bowl too and said that the granola held up nicely in milk. He reported that he found it to be delicious, with a good amount of clumps.
The bar I ate as my snack at work.
The Cascadian Farm Organic Crunchy Oats & Honey Granola Bar gets the same review as the granola.
I loved it! And did a little bit of incessant raving this very afternoon as I tried to tell the husband how good my snack was. It had exactly the texture I’m looking for in a crunchy granola bar and crumbled nicely. And the oats had this amazing aftertaste of honey. I wish I had a better food critic’s vocabulary because I don’t really have the words to describe how good the honey flavor was. I’m going to go with – round, clover, and authentic (vs. honey flavoring). Does that make sense?
And I can now report that both the granola and the bar did a good job of keeping me full. The only other thing I needed to eat before the end of my 4 o’clock shift was this handful of hard candy that I was using as a cough drop.
Also delicious, by the way. They were milk coffee candies I found in an Asian market in Philly and I wish I had bought another bag-full.
My Cascadian Farm goodies kept me full through work, but by the time my shift was over I was starving. Adam picked me up from work and we headed to an early dinner at DeFlippo’s with a Living Social deal.
Fun right? Nope, it sucked. Like super sucked; sucked, sucked, sucked, sucked, sucked, sucked, sucked. I was served the worst plate of food I’ve ever had in my life. But on a positive note, it was so terrible that it was actually funny, so at least we got a good laugh out of the deal. P.S. The lighting is that bad in the rest of the pictures.
Caesar salad that was swimming in dressing and cheese and randomly came topped with tomatoes.
Cold bread with even colder butter.
Shrimp cocktail appetizer that Adam and I split.
Randomly, this was delicious. I don’t know how DeFlippo’s pulled it off – my guess is that microwaving the rest of the meal gave them time to shine with the appetizer! – but this was some great shrimp cocktail. The shrimp had good texture and tasted very fresh. They were served with enough cocktail sauce that you could actually dip each shrimp and the sauce was tasty as well. Overall the dish was yummy; it was a very good deal for the price.
And then came my meal.
French fries were inexplicably offered alongside my “Italian” “food.”
These actually weren’t bad and I ended up eating most of them in desperate hunger.
“Eggplant parmigiana” {strong emphasis on the quotation marks} that was the single worst dish I’ve ever been served.
The dish could not have more clearly been bought frozen. They must have tried to fry it at some point, because the eggplant had sopped up an astonishing amount of oil. The makeup was 80% breadcrumb, 10% cheese, 5% sauce, and 5% eggplant. It was terrifically bad. I made myself eat away a corner so as not to be rude, and when I made Adam taste a bite I laughed so hard I almost cried. <– he called it abhorrent.
We got milkshakes on the way home.
Peppermint swirl for me!
And now I’m off to make brownies.
Have you ever had a meal so bad it was actually funny?
Happy holidays, from our family to yours!
We spent the last two days making memories and building our own traditions. We missed our family like crazy, but other than it was one of our best Christmas days ever. It helped that most of our new family traditions involved eating lots of tasty food!
One event I hope not to turn into a tradition was December 23rd’s 3 am grocery trip. We had a slight misstep with the baking I did for my co-workers’ Christmas gifts. One of my pies burnt to a crisp and I had to go buy a replacement gift in the middle of the night. Also, we ate the salvageable half of the burnt pie… at 3 am.
I made my Hello Dolly Pies and they were delicious. I hope everyone liked them!
We exchanged gifts at our company holiday breakfast.
Our bosses took us out for a delicious meal at Mythos. I had never been there before but I’m still sure that what I ordered was the best thing on the menu. A burrito with turkey, eggs, potatoes and cheddar, smothered in hollandaise.
It came with berries and Greek yogurt on the side and everything was delicious. I ate half and brought the rest to Adam who loved it as well.
We ran a few errands when Adam picked me up from breakfast and we ended up going on an adventure. Vineeta International Market has been hiding under my nose on Grant for months!
We had a grand time wandering around and came home with lots of goodies.
Including the Thumbs Up cola we shared.
Then we trimmed the tree.
We couldn’t buy a big tree because the dog is a monster but we enjoyed this little magical grow tree I bought Adam for Hanukkah.
And then we had pie.
Gaaah; can this be a yearly tradition? That pie is so fricking good.
So was the eggnog seltzer I sipped on all day.
I had a salad for lunch.
Romaine with peanut sauce, buckwheat groats, chopped honeycrisp, and cheddar.
Plus the last of the sugar-plum candies.
We did pizza for dinner.
Why mess with our usual traditions?
Then we stayed up late watching “How I Met Your Mother.” We’ve decided that’s our new tv marathon of choice.
This morning (Christmas!!) we slept in late like a couple of old people. It was pretty great. The dog started his morning with sirloin and bacon wet food.
And I started mine with toffee.
Plus a glass of eggnog with nutmeg.
Then we got all fancy with breakfast.
Seriously fancy. Check out we bought at Wegman’s –
Lobster for Christmas breakfast? That can definitely become a tradition! We cooked turkey bacon and then used the skillet to sautéechopped lobster tail in butter. Then we scrambled in egg whites (leftover from the pies, plus one yolk) and baby spinach.
It was quite good. And lunch was a winner as well.
We used this Christmas tree pasta that my co-worker gave me.
I sautéed sliced mushroom, chopped red peppers, and baby spinach in butter and evoo. Then I tossed in pasta, a big dollop of Nayo, and a huge handful of shredded cheese.
Ridiculous good.
And the bowl Cannoli ice cream I had next was even better.
Ben and Jerry just keep getting it right.
For dinner we went over to our friends’ house for a party. We brought over a good dip, and terrible chips for everyone to try.
The White Chocolate Peppermint Pringle’s looked so nasty that there was no way Adam and I could pass up the experience of trying them for a measly $2. Pro tip – freaking terrible, aka totally worth the money to try.
My dinner plate.
Tons of salad with mashed potato and mac and cheese. With homemade strawberry shortcake for dessert.
I ate about half. Plus a candy cane.
That cane was actually my hook in a candy cane fishing game we played. We went through a series of challenges from Minute to Win It. Hilarious.
Adam and I won! Woot!
We took a long walk to get home and stopped for sushi on the way back.
I had two pieces of inarai (tofu skin) but some amazing fried thing. It was the perfect way to end a great holiday.
Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!
P.S. Here’s a video of Webster opening his Christmas present. You’re welcome.
We had a high of 57* today, wheeeeeee! And tomorrow promises to be in the 50’s as well. I’m hoping to take the dog on a glorious long walk.
Today’s exam was thing 1-of-6 on the “big things left in the semester” list. So that’s where I’ve been.
Yesterday I was actually busy being sick. I woke up with a cough and a constantly running nose and even my boss said I looked terrible. I didn’t have it in me to make or eat food before my shift at noon. When I got home at 5, I had some spicy avocado inari.
So flipping good; I love how the tofu skin is a little bit sweet.
I also ate the best dipping plate I’ve had all year.
A sliced green dragon apple.
This apple variety – a hybrid cross between a Japanese Orin and a Golden Delicious was new to me and I loved it. Perfectly sweet! I have another one in the fridge and I can’t wait to eat it.
2 Tbsp crunchy peanut butter melted with 1 Tbsp Biscoff for dipping. Plus a spoonful straight from the jar.
The pb-Biscoff combo cannot be beat!
This plate was supposed to be dinner.
The roasted green beans were divine per usual,
but I was not a fan of the Tofurky Pepperoni Pizza. The “meat” was way too soft and the “cheese” did not melt.
I could only eat two bites of pizza before calling uncle. It is worth noting that Adam clearly thought it was fine because he ate the rest of the pizza!
I ended up supplementing my green beans with Chinese take-out.
Crab rangoon was the perfect one-handed dish for study-eating.
Soon after dinner, I realized that the only way I could study was if I had a constant stream of food going.
I also ate a bowl of baby carrots and these sugar-plum candies from Wegman’s bulk bins.
The sugar plums were quite good, I recommend buying some if you spot them at your store. There really was plum flavor, not just one note of sweetness.
Studying went about as well as could be expected when trying to cram with a sudden cold. But it was what it was.
P.S. Adam decorated the house for the holidays while I was at work because he is the best.
And then he decorated the dog.
Too awesome.
I got myself up at 6 this morning and {hallelujah!} discovered that I wasn’t actually sick any more. I don’t know where my cold went but I hope it stays there! {knock on wood}
I drank a mug of hot chocolate while I did some clear-headed studying.
And then I was off to take my exam. It didn’t go as well as I could have liked (do they ever?!) but it certainly could have gone worse. Phew!
After my classes I did something amazing…
I worked out! 60 minutes of hot yoga was heavenly. And the session was nowhere near as hard as I’d worried it would be after more than a month of no exercise. <– yikes!
I have a 2-month unlimited pass that expires soon so I had to go to yoga today, looming finals or not. I probably will only go once or twice more in the next two weeks though because I really do have to study. But as soon as break begins I am looking forward to making the most of my pass!
A Stinger honey waffle was consumed on the walk to yoga.
And a juicy apple was consumed on the walk to work.
My six+ hour shift went well, though I did have to deal with a bleeding lip since my body waited until the warmest day of the winter to rebel against the cold. I got a Starbucks Strawberry Lemonade Refresher while I was out buying emergency Chap Stick.
Finally home, I did eggs for a quick dinner.
– – Cooked 8 oz package chopped seitan in 1 Tbsp Earth Balance until crispy, set half aside for tomorrow. Add ~ 1 cup frozen spinach, chopped cilantro, 1 tsp evoo, 1/2 tsp sugar, salt, and a few dashes of Sriracha. Scramble in 2 large eggs and 1 egg white plus 2.5 oz Cabot’s 50% Reduced Sharp Cheddar. – –
I couldn’t get a single good picture, but this meal was out of control good! I adore eggs.
With a microwave chocolate chip cookie for dessert.
It was much tastier than it looks.
I didn’t get to study today (I needed a day to recover from my exam anyway) but I did put away a load of laundry, do the dishes, and organize my study materials. Now I’m off to read a book in bed!
Did your area get hit with unseasonably (fabulously) warm weather this week?
Eating Chalk 