Similar To Cake By The Ocean

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I’m mashing last weekend’s post into this week’s – and we’ve done a lot of good eating! – so I had to filter down to only the most delicious things.  Here are the best bites from the top five categories…

{1} all the coffee!

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We ordered The Unicorn at Box Kite, obviously.

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We went to Birch Coffee and loved it so much that we went back at the end of the day to buy a bag of beans.

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Then went back again a few days later for another latte!

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Locally roasted coffee that comes in cups with trees on them is just too exciting.  And there were birch trees etched into the sidewalk out front!

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{2} protein-packed salads

Beans, eggs, and lots of fish.  At Whole Foods – spring mix with tangerine vinaigrette / salmon / two kinds of bean salads / parmesan / and a hard-boiled egg.

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At the cafeteria – romaine with blue cheese / veggies / corn / kidney beans / cheddar / egg.  Plus my coworker brought me a giant piece of baked salmon and I tossed that on top too.

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At the cafeteria when I worked last Sunday and pickings were getting slim – I did the best I could with fried fish and a steamed vegetable mix.

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It wasn’t bad, but I did buy a train snack that night.

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{3} killer sandwiches

Breakfast: egg and cheese on a croissant with turkey bacon.

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Lunch: do taquitos count as sandwiches?  I’m including them either way, because this lunch was too good not to share.  Tortaria knocked our socks off.  Adam and I split a platter with mahi and cauliflower (and pork for him).  Plus spicy fries and tons of guacamole.  And a tamarind agua fresca.

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The sauces sitting on the tables – green salsa, blended salsa, and something creamy and smoky – were astonishingly good.  And that ridiculous quantity of food (why include chips and fries in the same deal?!) cost less than twenty dollars.

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Dinner: cod bahn mi at a new Vietnamese/taco spot in Park Slope.

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Don’t question it, the combo worked, I went with a girlfriend who got tacos and we were both very pleased.

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{4} sweet stuff

Cake by the ocean.  Cookies by the Hudson.  We got giant chocolate chip walnut cookies from Levain and enjoyed them in Riverside Park.

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Tropical smoothie at home.  Frozen mango and soursop with guava paste and vanilla almond milk.

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Ben & Jerry’s Empower-Mint flavor is yummy and it supports an important cause.

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Siggi’s yogurt with berries and shredded halvah.

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Birthday cake croissant from Union Fare.  It’s topped with ground sprinkle dust and filled with sprinkle-studded pastry cream!

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It was also just one of the best croissant we’ve ever tasted.

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{5} hearty homemade dinners

Spanish flavors reigned supreme on the home front this week.  Tomato garlic crock pot chicken served with brown rice tossed with garlic, tomato paste, raisins, and chopped olives.  Plus roasted broccoli.

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I also made fantastic enchiladas.

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Whole Foods’ roasted garlic green chile enchilada sauce costs a ridiculous $4+ per can and it is soooo good.  Our filling was ground turkey breast cooked with TJ’s vegan chorizo and tons of roasted yellow squash and zucchini.  Plus cheese galore.

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Destination City

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this week I loved…

Neutrogena Revitalizing Lip Balm.  It took me forever to find a balm with both tint and spf but this one fits the bill perfectly!

A blog book review.  Dawn Lerman’s My Fat Dad was sent to me free of charge to try/read for the blog.  Her chapter on moving to New York City walked the reader through the different cultural food neighborhoods in a way that made my mouth water.

Living in a destination city.  I had two different sets of friends visiting NYC for work trips this week.  It was fantastic to get to catch up with them!  However, I went out after work for dinner and/or drinks multiple times and I am flipping exhausted.

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P.S.  My favorite bar (Pork Slope in Park Slope) now has $1 jello shots, clearly I backed the right horse!

this week I ate…

Vietnamese-ish iced coffee.

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A killer smoothie – with banana, blueberry, and avocado.  So creamy.

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Poppy seed bagel with olive cream cheese.

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Oatmeal bowl.  With cookie butter and a pixie tangerine.

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Greek yogurt bowl with Cheerios and plums.  I also crumbled a brownie in there (see below) and it was pretty fantastic.

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Taboule salad from the cafeteria.

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Whole Foods hot bar.  Lots of veggies, rice with black beans and cheddar, and broccoli mac and cheese.

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I needed a 2nd coffee snack more than once.

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Turkey jerky.

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Best ever brownies.  Just this recipe without the fluff.

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Baby carrots with great feta dip.

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I had Thai food in Williamsburg with Adam and a girlfriend.  Drunken noodles with mock duck that were as spicy as they were delicious.

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We cooled our mouths down with soft-serve from Milk Bar.  Fruity pebble soft-serve(!!) with fudge sauce and sprinkles.

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Indian at the Grand Central food court.  And yes, I realize that is a lame spot to take an out-of-towner.

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Starbucks sandwich for a quick dinner on the train and then I went straight to bed!

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I did make dinner at home one night!  Whole-wheat vermicelli noodles with ginger and garlic chicken, shredded cabbage, bell pepper, and a tahini lime sauce.  With cashews on top plus tons of Sriracha after the picture.

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We snacked on a servings’ worth of cashews and sliced bell pepper while we cooked.

Good friends, good eats, it was a good week!

Bushwick And Beyond

Weekend theme flavors: rose, tahini, coffee, and duck.

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I am super lucky that my husband feels the same way that I do about trying new foods and sharing foods; splitting things means we get to have tons of tastes!  I feel lucky to have him in general too! (<– see also: the gorgeous flowers below that he surprised me with after work on Friday)

For Saturday breakfast we shared a soursop smoothie. It couldn’t compare to the fresh stuff I had at home but was still yummy.  Frozen soursop puree, caramel almond milk, and cinnamon and nutmeg.

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I also had an iced Americano while we did a big grocery restock trip.  Pro tip – ask for “light water” so you can add some milk without losing espresso.

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Lunch was a smorgasbord at SmorgasburgDuck bun, smothered in sweet chili sauce.  The crunch from the fried shallots makes this our favorite bao in the city.  {A+}

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I cooled my mouth down with an earl grey egg cream. {A}

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We tried a savory crepe with egg, chili sauce, and a crunchy cracker.  {B}  The texture ended up not really being our speed, we both wished we had gone for the extra egg in it.

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Palm sugar with tamarind caramel ice cream for dessert. {A+}  This had such a unique flavor.

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I tasted a bite of cinnamon rose and it was pretty amazing as well.  We grabbed an unphotographed coffee at some point in there too.

Our evening plans included a tasting/tour of Owney’s Rum at The Noble Experiment so we wandered around Bushwick a bit.  We were parked about a mile from the distillery so we got to see a few cool spots.  And the tour was great; we really love factory/brewery/etc visits.

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I also had a vodka soda with cherries.  <– desperately needed lime

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For dinner we fell head over heals in love with Faro.  Gorgeous tableware, locally and humanely sourced foods, and delicious dishes.

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We started with ricotta gnocchi with ramps, morel mushrooms, fava beans, and cured egg.

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Plus a little gem lettuce salad with miso anchovy vinaigrette, pistachio, soft-boiled egg, and mint.  It was amazing, truly the very best salad we’ve ever had!  Adam and I both thought it was the best dish of the day.  The mint made it absolutely perfect.

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Drinks were a meh rosé and a sour porter which we loved.

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We shared our entrées (more tastes!).  Squid ink corzetti with peekytoe crab, uni, shiro dashi, and sorrel.  I really dislike long pasta – I should have looked up corzetti before I ordered – but Adam was swooning.

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And I lost my mind over our dry aged duck breast.  It was served on a fantastic turnip puree.

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Key lime tart with fresh strawberry sorbet for dessert.

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We will be back!

Sunday baking project – tahini granola.  Best granola I’ve ever made; I ended up eating a big bowl with milk for dessert at the end of the day.

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For breakfast I ate it on top of plain Greek yogurt, with fresh berries, and a single Luxardo cherry.

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Plus a rose latte in an amazing cup.

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We spent our afternoon wandering around Chelsea Market to get out of the unseasonable cold.

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Lunch was a sharp cheddar grilled cheese with a chocolate milk stout.

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Seed + Mill served the highlight of the day – goats milk yogurt with the best tahini I’ve ever had.  We couldn’t believe how delicious this was!  I can’t wait to take my parents there this summer.

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My home-cooked dinner was delicious as well, thanks, crockpot!

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Chicken, potatoes, and baby carrots were cooking away with 40 cloves of garlic while we spent the day out of the house.

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Served with roasted green beans with a sprinkle of almonds and cheese.

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Yum.  And I am basically stuffed again reading through this post!

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Last Week’s Top Ten

{1} Swapping out my wardrobe to welcome in the spring-ish weather.

So today and tomorrow are supposed to be pretty darn cold, but the rest of the month is looking so nice that I went ahead and traded my summer and winter gear.  Scarves and boots are still available but if we get a freak snowstorm I’m out of luck because all my coats are at the cleaners.  It felt good to get that big project done.

{2} Enjoying coffee again.

Extra espresso in my giant iced latte?  My health is officially back to 100%.

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This upcoming week I did brew a batch so I won’t have an excuse to buy coffee out every day.

{3} Berry smoothie.

Maple kefir, dates, and frozen mixed berries.

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Kefir was the perfect smoothie liquid.

{4} Dessert-y oatmeal bowls for lunch.

Oats with chia, freeze-dried raspberries, pecans, and strawberry shortcake M&Ms.

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Oats with chia, freeze-dried raspberries, and a big scoop of Biscoff.

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I bought a jar of Biscoff last Saturday and it is practically empty now – – I am the only member of the household who eats Biscoff.

{5} National Pecan Day is April 14th and Nonni’s sent* me some Turtle Pecan Biscotti to celebrate.

*Free sample alert – no additional compensation was provided for this post, all opinions are my own.

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The biscotti was quite good next to my coffee – crunchy but not toothbreakingly so and a good balance of salty and sweet.

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But even better crushed into my all-time best yogurt combo.  Turtle pecan yogurt bowl: maple yogurt, toasted pecans, chocolate-covered cocoa nibs, biscotti, and chopped plucot.

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Or check out Nonni’s Pinterest page for some other pairing ideas.

{6} Binge-watching “Hart of Dixie” on instantwatch.

Yes, the show where Rachel Bilson plays a doctor in the deep south.  And yes, it is totally a soap opera.  But it is completely addictive!  I am a woman obsessed, or I should say I was a women obsessed – I may have already finished watching all four seasons!

{7} Kombucha.

The Master Brew line from Kevita has been knocking my socks off.

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Grapefruit was perfectly sweet and tart.

{8} Healthy sticks to scoop up less-healthy dips.

Baby carrots and green pepper in spinach and artichoke dip.

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Apple slices in melted Biscoff and dark chocolate peanut butter.

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Apple dippers in cookie butter are even more satisfying than licking it off of a spoon like I usually do.

{9} Taco brinner.

We loved our fish tacos so much the week before that I knew we needed a repeat.

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This time our hard shells were stuffed with sautéed onions and peppers, shredded cheese, roasted tomatillo salsa, and scrambled eggs.  This was practically the only meal I cooked all week, the other nights I mostly ate chips with cheese and salsa so I’d have time to watch my stories!

{10} Chuko Ramen.

I introduced a girlfriend to the joy that is their veggie miso with a soft egg and chili garlic oil on top.

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It is the perfect dinner spot because Ample Hill’s ice cream is just a short walk down the block!

What are you looking forward to this week?

A Week Of Super Bowls

 

I was a bit under the weather last week, nothing too bad, mostly a lot of coughing and headaches, but I just didn’t have it in me on Thursday to blog a recap.  I was not too sick, however, to eat a bunch of yummy stuff that’s worth sharing.  Last Monday through Sunday, here are the highlights*…

*highlights within the highlights, I obviously drank more coffee than this

coffee

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Caramel-flavored Chameleon Cold Brew!  With half & half.  I adore CCB, it’s so smooth.

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Served one day with citrus seltzer and a sumo mandarin.

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This wins for my all-time preferred citrus, it is sweet and firm, and there are seeds but they are big enough to pop out easily.

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In homemade instant bowls for work (just add hot water!).

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Rolled oats, chia seeds, dry milk powder, freeze-dried raspberries, and toasted walnuts.

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And smoothies.

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Vanilla almond milk + chia seeds + oats + frozen banana + brown sugar + cocoa powder.

old-school-style cafeteria lunches

Sliced turkey and cheese with a less than healthy “veggie” side.

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My school didn’t actually have a cafeteria (I graduated in a class of <40 and we had iguanas running the halls) but this is how I imagined the lunches would have been.

pepperoni-ish pizza

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Oh. My. God.  We sliced up a TJ’s turkey summer sausage and put it on the best homemade pizza we’ve ever had.

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Usually I try to overdo it with pizza – lots of veggies, too much cheese – and the crust ends up soggy, but this was a crispy masterpiece.  With a simple side salad.

sugar

Haribo salty licorice.

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Cake pop flavored gum.  There are sprinkles in it!

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We finished this month’s Skoshbox the day it came.

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Tj’s dark chocolate mini cookies.

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These hearts were way better than I was expecting; usually I don’t buy boxed cookies because I’m a pretty great cookie baker myself but there is no way I could make chocolate shortbread this crunchy.

fancy booze in Brooklyn

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Adam met me after work for a fantastic Friday night date in Boerum Hill.  We started at Grand Army for cocktail hour.

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My Alabaster Cavern – blended scotch, Lustau East India Solera, cinnamon, lime, coconut, pineapple, and bitters – tasted like a fancy painkiller.  We liked the space and the vibe (they have a penciled drawing of ET as Mr. T on the wall) and will definitely be back.

The drink menu at Colonie was no slouch either.  My Empire State Sour was American whiskey, NY apples, lemon, egg white, baked apple bitters, and cinnamon.

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Best drink of 2016.  That line of cinnamon stayed in place on top of the egg foam and made every sip smell delectable.

We shared two wonderful, duck-based dishes. Cavatelli with duck ham, béchamel, and soldier beans.

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And wheatberries, mushrooms, and arugula with a duck egg on top.

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I know the pictures are hard to see, but those black bits?  Were crispy mushrooms.  I don’t know how to describe the flavor (truffle? earthy?) but they were the single best thing I’ve ever tasted.

dinner bowls

I did not watch the game yesterday, but I have been eating some delicious bowls of dinner.  All but one include broccoli because apparently it’s our favorite.

We made a variation of our black-eyed pea mix.  Roasted broccoli, edamame, gochujang, smoked almonds, and cheddar.

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A super bowl on Sunday.  Orecchiette with roasted mushroom and baby zucchini, tossed with browned butter and Italian four cheese blend, topped with a sprinkle of smoked paprika.  Served on a bed of roasted green beans.

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Best bowl of the week – farro with ginger, garlic, lemon, gochujang, evoo, and salt and pepper / mackerel with stone ground mustard and a bit of mayo / roasted broccoli / toasted walnuts.

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This was technically a lunch bowl.  The cafeteria had a baked potato bar.

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I swear there was a potato underneath all of that cheese and broccoli.

dog love

I feel like Webster’s adorable mug hasn’t been on the blog much lately, but I have been snapping pictures of him for Instagram.  These are some of the best ones:

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Related – a girlfriend surprised me with this darling dachshund scarf.

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Here’s to a great week!

Merry Munching – Christmas Week Top Ten

I hope all of my readers who celebrate had a very merry Christmas yesterday!  Adam, Webster, and I had a great day full of cuddles, present opening, cheese eating, and “Frosty” watching!

The best present of all?  Yesterday was start of a four-day weekend for me, I’ve got Friday though Monday off.  The weekend’s fun includes our 8-year wedding anniversary, so I doubt I’ll make time for any blogging.  See you next weekend!

Here are the top ten from last week…

{1} Brunch with friends

They introduced me to j’eatjet in Park Slope.  I had an Aperol Sidecar and a yummy breakfast veggie burger with swiss and a fried egg.

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Then I spent time slowly perusing the giant Whole Foods.

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With a Vietnamese iced latte at my side.

{2} Holiday themed breakfasts

These made for very pleasant mornings.  All with ice coffee with full-octane eggnog!

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That Nutrament was seriously the best eggnog item of the season.

{3} Strawberry chocolate mint smoothies

We love this combo every winter.

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Chocolate peppermint soy milk + plain Greek yogurt + frozen strawberries.

{4} Roasted veggie sandwiches for lunch

One of my nutrition co-workers is retiring next week so we took her out to lunch at an Italian place near the hospital.  I got a roasted veggie and mozzarella panini.

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And another day there were roasted veggies at the sandwich bar.

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I got them on a (giant!) wrap with tuna and cheese.

{5} Christmas morning sugar rush

I don’t have any pictures because we tore into the bags too quickly but my mom bought me two different cola-flavored gummies from German Haribo.

{6} Thai food in the city

I wish I’d paid more attention to the name of this spot (near Union Square Park) because the food was great.  I had a Malaysian iced coffee.

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And the Night Market Noodles – a combo of egg noodles and broad rice noodles with chili paste, bean sprouts, and a boiled egg.

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These were super spicy, aka perfect, I was crying with each bite.

{7} Halo Halo at Bago

I’m obsessed with Halo Halo so as soon as my cousin sent me this NYTimes link I added Bago to my to-do list.

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Their version is a tapioca shake with taro ice cream on top and red bean, palm seeds, and young coconut on the bottom.  It was fantastic!

{8} Kale, and eggs

We made wonderful sautéed kale with garlic, golden raisins, and blue cheese.

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Alongside eggs that were just horrible.  It turns out that ground turkey and pizza sauce do not belong in scrambled eggs.

{9} Christmas nachos

Apparently I’ve decided that nachos are holiday food.  This version was red and green at least.

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Chips with mozzarella, ground turkey, broccoli, and red bell pepper.

{10} Eggnog treats  <– I saved the best for last

Like the coquita cupcake from Brooklyn Cupcake.

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Coconut cake soaked in a creamy coconut milk egg nog with a hint of rum flavor and topped with a mascarpone whipped cream.

And the eggnog ice cream from Ample Hills is their best flavor yet.

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Creamy, eggnog, rummy goodness.

S’Mores And S’more

Since I worked the weekend, I had Tuesday off this week, woo-hoo!  I used the time to get my holiday gift shopping 100% purchased, wrapped, and packed for shipping, woo-hoo x2!

daytime eats

This week’s tea – Chestnut.  This was my favorite flavor yet; not as good as coffee, of course, but still pretty sweet and roasty.  And the smell is unbelievable, I got a yummy whiff every time I opened my desk.

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With an almond cookie from my co-worker.

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Or s’mores trail mix.

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Wheat squares cereal, salted brown butter dark chocolate, sweet and spicy pecans, and these fancy marshmallows my aunt and uncle sent me for Hanukkah.

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That s’mores box was gone within 24 hours.

This week’s coffee:

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Also I enjoyed a Winter Cheer (Stumptown cold brew with mulling spices!) with a cocktail grapefruit (a mandarin and pomelo hybrid that has the tang of a grapefruit without the bitterness).

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And one morning I made us pink smoothies – plain Greek yogurt and orange juice with frozen grapes, blackberries, and pomegranate.

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I only have one work lunch photo this week, we have been slammed and I ate hurriedly at my desk while I worked so I mostly stuck to pizza.

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But Tuesday at home I did eat a tasty yogurt bowl.

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Plain Greek yogurt with the last of the cranberry sauce, fresh pomegranate, chia seeds, and Maple-icious Pecan Granola.  I’m going to miss that sauce.

nighttime eats

First things first – I started almost every dinner this week with an appetizer of a big hunk of ciabatta schmeared with Smart Balance.

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Also cocktail hour with this dream team:

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Adam bought me those ridiculously exciting Luxardo cherries for my birthday and I’ve been hoarding them for winter cocktail hours ever since.

Monday night we harnessed the power of the soft-cooked egg yolk and made easy but amazing bowls.

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Mine was roasted green beans, maple chicken breakfast sausage, and a sunny side up egg on top.  Best meal of the week!

The leftovers weren’t half bad though, scrambled eggs with chopped sausage, frozen spinach, and TJ’s sticky toffee cheddar cheese.

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Speaking of, I know it sounds a little a lot weird, but if you see that cheese a Trader Joe’s, buy it, the sweet and savory combo just works.  Full disclosure though, it does have dates and raisins in it.

Wednesday and Thursday we ate giant Chipotle-style salad bowls.

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Baby romaine base // sautéed onions and peppers // sautéed chicken that was marinated in ginger, garlic, chipotle, lime, honey, and canola oil // avocado // shredded cheese and sour cream.

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If I could figure out how to make those fabulous lime-y chips at home we’d be able to stop going to Chipotle!

P.S.  Happy birthday to my (funny, handsome, smart, kind) husband!!!

This Week’s Top Five; Product Reviews Galore

I didn’t plan on doing a bulk review, I just happened to use a lot of new product samples this week.  It works out well for those of you who hate product reviews because you can just skip this post and miss a whole set at once.

Disclosure – all of the starred (**) items in this post were provided to me gratis to review.  I was not given further compensation for this post.  As always, all opinions are my own.

Reminder – I only tasted one flavor each of the sauces and teas; I will continue to blog about the other varieties as I try them.

{1} Starbuck’s Chicken Santa Fe Sandwich

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Not a freebie, just a product I’m obsessed with.  I don’t even have them heat it up!  The combo of crispy bell peppers, chewy flatbread, and creamy green-chile spread is so darn tasty.

{2} Pumpkin coconut chia yogurt bowl

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This was the week’s best lunch, though that’s not much of a victory considering the fact that I ate cold pizza at my desk for lunch on two separate occasions.  TJ’s coconut yogurt with pumpkin puree, roasted coconut chips, and chia seeds.

{3} Arbonne Essentials Protein Shake Mixes**

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While I don’t think that protein powders are necessary for most people – you can meet your needs with whole foods! – I acknowledge that they can be a good option when you are in a rush or eating on the go.  I am never going to bring eggs on the train but I can certainly pack a smoothie for my commute.  Each packet provides 20 grams of vegan protein and 2 grams of fiber for 160 calories and 3.5 grams of unsaturated fat.  <– mixed in a glass of cow’s milk that would provide more than 50% of my protein needs for the day.

Making protein smoothies is exactly what I did this week.  Vanilla protein powder with unsweetened vanilla almond milk, pumpkin puree, cinnamon, and ice.

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The next day was the same, but with chocolate.  And with a chocolate cranberry biscotti on the side.

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These certainly did fill me up, I didn’t even have room for coffee one day.  I thought the flavor was passable but not fantastic, but it is worth noting that these powders are sweetened with cane sugar and stevia and I generally can’t stand the taste of stevia.  I haven’t tried the daily fiber mix yet but I will report back when I do.

{4} Adagio Teas**

Adagio is a company that sells loose-leaf teas sourced directly from Artisan farmers.  Their product selection is divided up very helpfully, the website lists teas by type (white, black, oolong, etc, including a variety of tea blends) and they have several sampler variety packages as well as the option to purchase a small sample of each type of tea (and they list the cost per cup for each option).  Also cool?  There is a section of the site where consumers can design and list their own blends and there is an immense selection of fandom blends.  I basically had a heart attack over all the Supernatural and Buffy options but I decided to stick with the simpler stuff for now.

Adagio offered me a gift certificate and I was able picked a variety of teas.  I also ordered some paper filters to brew them in.  <– I’m sold, the filters were easy to pack and worked perfectly.

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I don’t usually drink a ton of tea (duh, I’m a coffee fanatic!) but I’m hoping including a cup or two in the afternoon at work will help me to get closer to actually drinking enough water each day.  This week I packed my paper filters with Earl Grey Moonlight.

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Since the tea is loose you can see the citrus rind and blue cornflowers in with the black tea leaves which I thought was fun.  It was no coffee, but this was the best Earl Grey I’ve ever had.  My sample pouch will make 10 very reasonably priced 20 cent cups.  I’m looking forward to teatime next week.

{5} Bertolli Riserva pasta sauces**

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The newest line from Bertolli is made with artisanal ingredients and no artificial colors.  The 24 oz bottles retail for ~$5.99 which is comparable to other similar (but less delicious) options.  Flavors include Marinara with Parmigiano-Reggiano Cheese, Balsamic Vinegar with Caramelized Onions, Asiago Cheese with Artichokes,  and Porcini Mushroom with White Truffle Oil.

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They all sound pretty wonderful to me but I decided to go simple and try Marinara first.  Each half cup serving has 110 calories.  Unfortunately each serving also has 450 mg of sodium (more than 20% of the no more than 2 grams of sodium most people should limit themselves to each day), but the sauce is so rich and yummy that a little goes a long way – we used the marinara in 5 dinner servings this week and still have a good third of the bottle left.

We let the sauce shine on a plain – but fantastic! – pizza first.  TJ’s frozen crust topped with sauce, fresh mozzarella, and torn fresh basil.

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Then we gussied it up with veggies and meat for pasta bowls.

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Roasted zucchini and tomato + sautéed ground turkey with basil and yellow onion + tossed with marinara / served on whole-wheat rotini / with sharp cheddar on top.

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The final product was full of umami.  These bowls were the best meal of the month!

What was your best meal so far this month?