{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.
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.
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.
Adam surprised me with a tres leches old fashioned doughnut from Comfortland, i.e., the perfect gift!
We had some crazy good beers. Prairie Artisan Ales Millennial Mansion – imperial sour ale with orange peel, lemon peel, lime, blueberry, cherry, and marshmallow (11/10). Interboro Swoon Units – imperial gose with blackberry, blueberry, lemon, marshmallow, and vanilla salt (9/10).
We got a ton of Chinese take-out. Chicken fried rice, crispy noodles with shredded chicken, garlic baby bok choy, stir-fried string beans, and taro puffs. Plus we had housemade soy milk!
I made a ridiculous take on okonomiyaki with turkey pepperoni and sharp cheddar. The million toppings make it – Kewpie, Sriracha, furikake, and Nowon’s chili oil.
I was off on Wednesday (I work the weekend again) and I took myself into the city for Dough Doughnuts. This key lime pie doughnut – enrobed in toasted marshmallow!! – was 100% worth braving the cold.
We’ve been in a pandemic for more than a year now and Winter 2021 already feels too long so I am looking to maximize the joy in my life wherever I can; hence, I declared chocolate-covered cherry the official theme flavor of Valentine’s week and I have been eating the combo left and right!
See also – vanilla milk and luxardo juice (plus a bit of red food coloring!) plus espresso blended with hot chocolate mix.
This chocolate cherry smoothie was hands-down the best smoothie I’ve ever made/consumed. TJ’s frozen sweet dark cherries, luxardo cherries, plain Greek yogurt, chocolate milk.
Ruby cacao covered cherries + strawberry and hibiscus chocolate.
Related note – I don’t even like Hershey’s Kisses but these lava cake ones are currently one of my top five favorite products.
All of our dinners this week were tasty and wonderful (and a snap to prepare!).
Meatball subs with roasted green beans. Turkey meatballs – stuffed with garlic, fish sauce, and urfa chili peppers – tossed in marinara sauce on a toasted hoagie roll with mozzarella. Our sandwiches were comically large but neither of us could stop from finishing them because they were so yummy!
Wild mushroom chicken sausages – topped with caramelized onion and yellow mustard / roasted broccoli / Lays chili chips.
Pizza casserole. I made a crust layer out of riced cauliflower (with spices, eggs, and cheese), topped with mozzarella, marinara sauce and caramelized onions, chicken sausage, and turkey pepperoni.
I did not watch any Super Bowl (instead I started watching Woke!) but I did eat a giant plate of cheese fries! Other highlights from this weekend included…
We retried the cola coffee with great success – espresso, Coke, and scm. Yes, I am furiously looking to get my hands on the newly released cans of Coke with coffee.
One of Adam’s friends delivered us amazing nutella, sea salt caramel brownies.
I obviously crumbled one into plain skyr with some berries and cinnamon.
Chicken nuggets with frozen broccoli wok-sauteed with honey mustard and pickled onions.
I bookended this week with two weekends in a row at work which meant I had Tuesday-Wednesday off and it was just lovely. New York has been too cold for venturing into the city to sound appealing but I did read two books and finish watching Schitt’s Creek!
Food highlights included…
We tried two new apple varieties. Evercrisp > Cosmic Crisp.
We also tried two great, new-to-us gummy candies. The Sour Patch Kids are officially my all-time-favorite cola candy.
We found our new favorite Chinese take-out spot and tried a bunch of dishes. Garlic baby bok choy / spicy crispy chicken / rice cakes with cabbage and shredded chicken / scallion pancakes.
One set of ingredients cooked two different ways. First eggs soft-scrambled with maple-smoked cheddar with chicken breakfast sausages and kale sautéed with tons of garlic and gojuchang.
Then all of the above baked into an egg casserole. Plus leftover scallion pancakes. This was the best meal of the week!
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.
One time in DC we had an iced espresso with cola that we’ve wanted to recreate for years. This attempt used Coke, half and half, and Dalgona-style espresso! It was good, but somehow not sweet enough?!
This cold brew with amaretto needs no further tweaking.
I obviously had to impulse-buy these Oreos. They were good, but honestly neither Adam nor I were as impressed as we were expecting to be.
Pimento cheese with chips and pretzels. <– eaten while we watched the entire part 3 of Disenchantment
All the pizza (vodka / buffalo chicken / rosemary potato!) with roasted cauliflower.
