Weekend Wrap-Up; Last Days Of Summer

by Emily

I don’t know how it got to be mid-August already, but we are doing everything we can to make the most of our last days of summer. This weekend we grilled, ate too many bowls of ice cream, and even got our toes wet going stand up paddle boarding!

SUP has been on my bucket list for years and I am so thrilled I finally got to try it out. I loved it! Amazingly, given my general level of grace and athleticism (level: zero), I didn’t fall once.

We had an absolute blast and the hour flew by. SUP is definitely something I want to do again. I can see how on-board yoga would be a ton of fun too.

Here are some of our sunny eats…

lunch

A pink grapefruit bonanza Friday at work. Chobani 2% Pink Grapefruit Yogurt with two sliced red plums and Polar Pink Grapefruit Seltzer on the side.

I ran out of time in the morning to also pack an afternoon snack and, duh, this wasn’t enough food. Enter candy at my desk.

I’m not a big black licorice person either, but I don’t know how anyone dislikes Good & Plenty.

A strangely satisfying sandwich.

I put two split hot dogs on a Bagel Thin (toasted with butter) with shredded light three-cheese blend and balsamic ketchup and this throw-together-the-last-of-the-fridge-contents-before-grocery-shopping sandwich ended up rocking my face off.

snacks

Friday’s at-work breakfast. <– I wake up too late for breakfast most weekend days so I couldn’t make this a category

An Amazing Grass Chocolate Superfood packet (from Urthbox) with vanilla soy milk and a Pink Crisps apple.

I was all about the coffee this weekend. I ended up calling Adam on the ride home from work practically crying while I stared at a McDonald’s coffee advertisement. This home-brewed Starbucks espresso blend with fat-free sweetened condensed milk hit the spot.

I did go to McDonald’s for a $1 iced coffee the next morning though. Meh. These guys were much better.

All shared with the husband, who is another raging java addict.

It is fair to say that I was also all about the ice cream.

I’m retty damn excited about that Horchata spiced Blue Moon as well! I had Strawberry Biscoff Sour Cream Gelato over warm double-chocolate sour cream brownies two nights in a row.

The brownies were just the Baker’s One Bowl recipe with a heaping cup each chocolate chips and low-fat sour cream stirred into the batter once it was mixed up.

To end the weekend, on Sunday we went big before we went home, with Pat Bing Soo from Tous le Jours.

Now I get why people rave about TlJ, that bowl was Adam’s favorite shaved ice yet. Milk and strawberry shaved ices topped with scm, vanilla ice cream, red bean, watermelon, mocha, strawberry, kiwi, and mango. Everything was delicious but we could barely make a dent in that monster!

dinner

Friday, we ate the last of our veggie, turkey, and marinara pasta bowls.

This meal is really a better fit for fall and you will definitely be seeing it again in the months to come.

On Saturday, we grilled.

Adam did an awesome job making dinner and then the three of us ate our meals outside (the boys also had steak).

My plate had grilled asparagus, zucchini, and turkey hot dogs, oven-roasted corn on the cob, a few sautéed mushrooms (topping for the steak), and Jack Daniels BBQ Sauce for dipping.

We marinated the asparagus in A-1 citrus marinade and tossed the squash in evoo before grilling. Everything came out fantastically. I can’t believe we lived in this apartment for more than a year before we fired up our grill!

And on Sunday, we went out in the city. Haru unveiled a new Times Square Location and a new seasonal cocktail this summer and they invited me in to check them both out.

The restaurant is down a side street and out of the tourist foot traffic of Times Square and the location is quite pretty.

The lighting was terrrrrrrible for photos – too yellow for my crappy camera and nonexistent photog skills – but good for eating, and the tables were nicely lit at 7pm. I hate eating a meal in the dark. The music was unobtrusive – mellow and pretty quiet. I hate dark rooms and loud noises because I basically like to dine like an 80-year-old.

Adam ordered hot sake and said it gave him a nice warm feeling.

I am not a sake girl, but I stuck my tongue in and did have to agree that it was smooth.

I, of course, went with the seasonal cocktail – The Red Lotus.

If you scroll down to the bottom of this post, I have the recipe to share with you!

Yum! The drink was not too sweet but it felt nice and juicy. It went down very easily. I adore lychees and am always sad that you don’t see them on more menus but now that I have the recipe I can make this drink at home.

Adam started with the miso soup.

He said it was what you would expect.

And we shared an order of the appetizer special – Lobster Gyoza.

Holy lobster meat, ~~Batman~~ Aquaman! The dumplings were bursting with lobster – this dish is a steal for just $10. The gyoza were a good size and they were easy to bite; I hate struggling with stringy foods and chopsticks. The flavors were very straightforward, which let the lobster shine.

The husband went with the sushi for dinner. 2 tuna / whitefish / yellowtail / albacore tuna /shrimp / tobiko / and a tuna roll. (I count an extra piece but I’m not sure what it was.)

His fish was fresh and flavorful. Adam said the size, texture, and temperature were all good. Usually you see yellow caviar instead of red so he was very excited about his tobiko roll.

I did the vegetarian sushi.

Avocado / eggplant / shitake mushroom / tofu / asparagus / oshinko / inari / and an avocado cucumber roll.

My plate looks simple, but this was the best veggie sushi I’ve had in years. The rice was nicely seasoned and the vegetables were all cooked beautifully. The mushroom had an almost smoky flavor and that bite of eggplant was the best tasting vegetable I’ve had at a restaurant this year!

All in all, we both agreed that the menu was straightforward but on point. Haru isn’t doing anything unique – there weren’t any specialty rolls that thrilled us – they are doing the basics incredibly well. We’ll be back!

Please note – I dined at Haru free of charge. I was not provided with further compensation for this post. As always, all opinions are my own.

The Red Lotus Seasonal Cocktail, for 1

2 oz. peach vodka
1 oz. cranberry juice
3 lychees
1 lime wedge
1 lychee for garnish

Muddle lychees and shake with vodka, juice and syrup. Squeeze in some lime, drop the wedge in and shake, and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish the drink with lychee for soothing effect.

15Aug2014

Friday Favorites

by Emily

Here are the things that rocked my face off this week…

1: Easy, giant, veggie-laden pasta bowls.

Hearty and healthy is always a good combination – pasta / zucchini roasted with truffle salt / 2 pints of browned mushrooms / ground turkey sautéed with spices and chopped green peppers / red sauce

I could not even believe how buttery the roasted squash ended up tasting. Zucchini may just be my new favorite pasta addition, after soft-boiled eggs, of course.

2: Roasted Red Pepper Falafel and Moroccan Red Lentil Cakes from Veggie Patch.

Please note – these products were sent to me free of charge to review. I was not provided with additional compensation for this post. All opinions are my own.

I had not tried VP products prior to their media team reaching out to me, but now I am looking forward to buying more on my own. Both products had about 7 grams of protein per ~200 calorie serving and were nice and filling as the “meat” to a meal. We thought that red pepper was a zippy take on falafel and we very impressed with the texture of the red lentil cakes – the carrots studded throughout were neither soggy nor crunchy and they provided a nice note of sweetness.

Fittingly, we ate the goodies on top of Greek salads two days in a row.

All Veggie Patch products are free of GMOs and trans fats.

3: Pumpkin Yoghurt from Noosa.

OMG!! I know, I know, Pumpkin Month is still 7 weeks away, but this flavor is a Target-exclusive and I could not run the risk of it disappearing. p.s. if any New Yorkers spot the new coconut flavor, please tell me immediately so I can go buy it.

The ingredients list includes cream cheese and cinnamon, which is probably why this tastes like flipping cheesecake.

4: 4-Ingredient Strawberry Biscoff Sour Cream Gelato.

Gah! I made Lady and Pups’ Self-Made Sour Cream Gelato and swirled in cooked strawberries and Crunchy Biscoff before putting it in the freezer.

There’s no going back. This stuff is too easy; the base is literally just sour cream and sweetened condensed milk that you stir together. FYI – I used low-fat sour cream and fat-free SCM and encountered zero textural issues.

5: Blue Moon Cinnamon Horchata Ale.

Just, are you kidding me?! Add this to the list of short beers that I can happily finish a full bottle of myself. It was the perfect balance of cinnamon sweet to, you know, beer. And when I went to the website to link I discovered that they have a Caramel Apple variety and my heart actually skipped a beat. How do I get my hands on that???

Food for My Brain Bonus: Streaming the old seasons of the American version of “The Office” on Netflix. I realize that I am several years late, but now I’m obsessed. I started watching last weekend and I’m up to season 5, if that tells you anything! It is horrifically awkward – I suffer from severe secondhand embarrassment and had to watch the entire first season with squinched eyes, through my fingertips – but also incredibly funny and sweet.

How much do I envy you – have you gotten your hands on a caramel apple beer yet?

1Aug2014

Weekly Wrap-Up; Greek Week

by Emily

“Greek Week” because half of the eats in this post are Greek yogurt and the other half are dinners infused with Greek flavors. It was a repetitious, but quite tasty, week.

No weekend post because I did all of my birthday excitement a week ahead of schedule. Adam had a giant, two-day test this week so we’ve been keeping things low-key. Unfortunately, I’ve also been feeling a bit under the weather. I actually stayed home from work on Monday with a migraine.

This week I kept my meals a bit smaller and planned in more snacks. This schedule worked well for me and is one I will probably continue next week too. The random snacks mostly came from my UrthBox {UB}, another new thing that I’m a fan of.

Minus many, many unpictured troughs of coffee or popcorn, here are most of my bites for the past week…

breakfasts/lunches

Coffee and cherries.

Coffee, Strawberry/Blueberry/Banana SMOOCH {UB}, and a Don’t Go Nuts Gorilla Power Bar.

The bar was insane, it tasted like freaking coffee cake!

Chobani 4% plain with maple syrup and chopped red plum and dapple plucot.

I tried the yogurt because it was a limited edition but I think I’m definitely a 0 – 2% girl; fuller fat dairy always tastes a little sour to me.

Fairway soursop yogurt with blueberries and roasted coconut and a Jax soursop coconut water.

Another new item, Chobani Banana Maple with Steel Cut Oats plus blueberries.

Not a fan. I was expecting everything to be blended into a homogenous product but this was (strangely thin) yogurt with random clumps of soggy oats.

At least pink grapefruit – with more plum and plucot – is always delicious.

On the only non-yogurt day, I made myself a “taco salad” from the cafeteria. Romaine with black olives, red peppers, cheddar and pepperjack cheese cubes, avocado, and tons of salsa.

Yeah, no. The avocado was frozen (why on earth would you ever freeze avocado??!) and what I assumed to be salsa was actually roasted red pepper. Yuck city.

snacks

Chameleon Cold Brew is (briefly) back in our life! We carted a bottle home from Whole Foods in Philadelphia.

Served iced with chocolate and skim milk.

CCB is my favorite cold brew ever. <– I looked up the website to link toin this post and saw that they now make mocha and vanilla varieties and I’m basically dying

Thai coconut curry popcorn {UB}.

Crème Brulee hard candies from Chinatown.

So good. They have a roasty, coffee-like flavor that is wonderful.

TJ’s turkey jerky with Mary’s Gone Crackers Everything Pretzels.

Those pretzels are downright addictive, perfectly salty with great crunch.

dinners

Easy, vegan pasta bowls.

Whole-wheat rotini with broccoli, roasted zucchini, and tons of marinara sauce.

Greek nachos! I baked pita chips topped with three-cheese blend, crumbled fat-free feta, tomato, red, onion, and chickpeas that I tossed with lemon juice, evoo, and oregano.

This meal was easy but super fun.

And we took the leftovers on a picnic to Corona Park the next day.

We tossed together the leftover red onion, tomato, chickpeas, and cheese with TJ’s Greek dressing, capers, cucumber, and spinach to make a tasty Greek salad.

Everything was yummy and we had a wonderful time on our picnic, but we did totally end up going to Panera for food later that evening!

Spicy shrimp pasta bowls.

This recipe was one of my favorites growing up, but I don’t think mine tasted as good as my mom’s does.

***Whoops! If anyone decides to try this recipe – I meant to write 4 SERVINGS not cups of pasta.

You just toss everything together in a baking dish, cook, and serve on top of noodles with a little parmesan. I also tossed a bunch of chopped spinach in with our bowls.

Adam loved it, thanks, Mom!

When was the last time you went on a picnic?

25Jul2014

Weekly Wrap-Up; Birthday Weather

by Emily

It was a big week here, we had a birthday and a serendipitous, surprise visit! I turned 29 yesterday; that sounds old, old, old. I may not have a house or a baby, but I have a husband and a dog who I love beyond words so that feels pretty good for almost-30.

We didn’t have time for a real grocery trip after our Philadelphia weekend and we relied a ton on packaged and purchased food. Here are some highlights…

breakfast

Coffee (I’m still doing the 1/2&1/2!) and a Blackberry Bliss Mama Chia.

I probably wouldn’t have bought the chia on my own – it came in my UrthBox – but I ended up really liking it.

KIND Bar.

Madagascar Vanilla Almond.

Birthday freebie coffee! I love that Starbucks does that. You’ll notice that I stuck with my birthday tradition of doing tacky, glittery nails.

Venti iced skim latte with an extra shot of espresso, 2 shots of white mocha, and caramel drizzle. I was buzzing.

And this doesn’t go here but speaking of sugar, I’m not sure I ate enough candy this week…

lunch

Oatmeal (with Cacao Bliss) and freeze-dried apples.

That fruit is so flipping good.

Cereal and yogurt.

Total on Chobani 2% Pink Grapefruit. I was equally impressed with the yogurt the 2nd time around.

Lots of packed snacks during a 4 hour afternoon meeting. I ate a salad beforehand, and also required lots of coffee.

Chocolate-covered gummy bears, applesauce, and Everything Pretzels from Mary’s Gone Crackers. The pretzels were from a bag that the company sent me to try.

Delicious! I thought these were much better than the sea salt flavor I tried before, which wasn’t bad either. These were just like eating a very crunchy everything bagel. And still made with whole grains including brown rice, quinoa, amaranth and millet, and seeds including flax, sesame and chia, just like the original flavor.

My dietetics co-workers brought in lunch for my birthday! They are pretty much the sweetest.

Salad with a great, thick balsamic glaze, homemade spinach and feta pastries, and chocolate zucchini cake for dessert. Everything was delicious; I tried to bring leftovers home for Adam and I ended up eating them all on the train!

dinner

Half salad and sandwich deal from Panera.

I did the Thai chicken salad and the Thai chicken flatbread and was impressed with neither.

The sauce was too sour and the apple on the side was sadly the best part of the meal.

Thankfully, things get much more festive from here.

On Wednesday, my parents were traveling to Ohio to visit my grandmother. They were flying on miles so they had a long day with lots of connections, including a 3-hour layover at LaGuardia. When the got off the plane in NY, they learned that inclement weather had grounded their final flight, and then would be stuck until the next morning. Silver lining – they stayed at my house for the night and we got to visit and go out to birthday dinner!!!!

It ended up being the best “bad news” ever. We teased them that they jinxed themselves by complaining about not making it out for Indian food during their June visit, so of course we had to take them for Indian food.

It was too dark for pictures, but we shared several appetizers and a bunch of dishes and all left full and happy. Everything was amazing and our waiter was the sweetest man. Namaste is great. We even found froyo nearby with birthday cake flavor.

I topped my “cake” with marshmallow, strawberry pie filling, and a million sprinkles.

And I actually ended up having froyo last night on my real birthday was well.

Frozen yogurt > cake!

For my birthday dinner we did takeout from Bare Burger.

Turkey with ketchup mustard, spinach, tomato, a fried egg, and tons of pickles.

We ate burgers and giant diet cokes while we watched Longmire and it was a great way to celebrate 🙂

23Jul2014

Weekend Wrap-Up, Fun In Philly

by Emily

My 29th birthday is tomorrow and the husband and I celebrated a weekend early with a trip to Philadelphia.

It was a quick visit, we drove in on Saturday and out on Sunday, but it ended up being one of the best weekends we’ve had in years! It was great to have two full days to moon at each other. We spent pretty much every second walking and/or eating <– our two favorite things!

I didn’t take many site-seeing photos, but I had to snap some pictures of the beautiful mosaics at the Magic Gardens.

We loved our last visit to Philly, so we repeated a lot of the same stops. We even stayed at the same (perfectly located) hotel.

Unfortunately, I didn’t have the best luck with orders at our restaurant meals. I actually had to make a second stop to eat after both dinner and lunch. Thankfully, our fabulous bites in between meals more than made up for the less good dishes. I’ll write this post from worst to best.

Supper was near the Magic Gardens and the menu looked good, so we went there for {Sunday brunch}. I had a glass of sangria and was a little bit tipsy for the drive home!

Sangria Blanca – seasonal sangria made with sauvignon blanc, cantaloupe, honey dew, cucumber, lemon, limoncello, and honey mint simple syrup over ice topped with club soda.

We shared a deviled egg flight that was only so-so.

And my chicken salad sandwich sounded good in theory, but was totally flavorless. “Pastrami” Chicken Salad Sandwich – toasted grain bread, 1000 island dressing, caraway slaw, pickles / served with duck fat fries.

Those were so not duck fat fries! I ate a few bites, then got Whole Foods hot bar for the road. Adam loved his red velvet pancakes though.

I was so excited to get the vegetarian cheese steak from Carmen’s in Reading Terminal for {lunch on Saturday}.

I’ve been dreaming about this sandwich ever since I had it back in 2011.

It was ok, but sadly not as good as I remembered. The last time they charred the seitan more.

{Dinner} at FARMiCia has become a Philadelphia tradition for me.

I get the croquettes every time, but I just wasn’t a fan of this version.

Why would you serve corn and rice balls on top of more corn?! Carb City. The best thing about the fall version of dish is the buttery spinach bed.

The rest of the meal was wonderful though. Adam and I split a cheese plate to start.

The salty sheep’s milk cheese went perfectly with the sweet apple chutney.

I had a very refreshing watermelon mojito.

And we finished with cream cheese ice cream that was mind-blowing.

Gah! I could not stop swooning over that ice cream. This restaurant would have been worth the stop for dessert alone.

We stopped in at an adorable bar near our hotel on the way to dinner to split a flight of beer.

And then stopped back afterwards for nightcaps.

Then I iced my knees and ate bar food in bed and all was right with the world.

Our yummiest tastes were the things we ate while we walked around. Like the watermelon, spinach, and kale juice from Sip N Glo.

This was 80% fruit and normally I would be mad that it wasn’t more greens-based but you can’t complain about fresh watermelon juice.

A great iced cup from Old City Coffee.

And a Vietnamese coffee from The Last Drop.

Ending on a sweet note, a S’mores Bar from Flying Monkey Bakery.

S’mores with sprinkles! This tasted like honey and was ridiculous good. Adam and I both thought it was the best thing we ate all weekend.

15Jul2014

Weekend Wrap-Up; Driving Me Crazy

by Emily

This weekend was a bit of a whirlwind; I had a orthodontic emergency that sent me back to Buffalo at the last-minute. That trip ate up a fair amount of time – I spent more hours in the car roundtrip than I actually did in Buffalo! – so I don’t have a ton to share. My time in Long Island was pretty low-key.

Here are some of the highlights…

I am a big fan of Lindt’s “Hello My Name Is” line and Adam and I both loved this salted caramel bar.

We got Chinese take-out for dinner that was only so-so. My steamed broccoli with brown garlic sauce (and white rice) was delicious,

but the soup that was supposed to turn that into a full meal was basically dirty water with raw veggies floating in it. You win some, you lose some.

A much more amazing meal came out of our own kitchen.

Sautéed cabbage and turnip greens. I just cooked the veggies in some evoo and salt and they were delicious!

Plus onion-packed eggs.

Eggs scrambled with tons sautéed sweet onion and spring onions, sliced turkey, and cheese.

On Saturday we went into Brooklyn for Coney Island on Tap.

There weren’t a ton of beers I cared about (minus two watermelon brews!) so I mostly stuck with ciders.

Though I managed to drink just enough to later get into a hilariously intense fight with the husband over who would get to pee first! Afterwards we had frozen yogurt,

and Bareburger for dinner.

I couldn’t get a very good picture but I had a turkey burger (no bun) with pepperjack, turkey bacon, sweet apple grilled onions, red piquante peppers, avocado, and smoked paprika mayo. It’s my birthday next Thursday and I’ve already decided that I’m going to celebrate with Bareburger.

My road trip was a little ridiculous, like I said, I spent more time in the car than I did in Buffalo. I basically mainlined candy and coffee for two days.

But my orthodontist hooked me up, and even with gas and tolls I saved more than $1,000 by making the trip. And I got to stay with newlywed friends and see their gorgeous new house.

And we went to Thai Orchid, which I had been severely missing. My girlfriend and I both started with the soup special, broth with noodles, bok choy, tons of crabmeat, and great shrimp wontons.

I went with my old favorite for dinner, Pad See Ew with extra veggies.

It was fantastic, totally worth the whirlwind visit! 😉

11Jul2014

Weekly Wrap-Up; Play It Again, Sam!

by Emily

This week’s meals were so good that I went ahead and had most of them a 2nd time. Always nice when you can make leftovers work in your favor. And I even have a recipe to share.

breakfast

Breakfasts came from this sweet package courtesy of Nonni’s – Biscotti Bites.

Please note – I was sent these products free of charge to sample. I was not provided with additional compensation for this post. All opinions are my own.

They recently introduced two new flavors: Double Chocolate Salted Caramel (salty and sweet, with the occasional extra-exciting pocket of caramel) and Very Berry Almond (sweet in an understated way; nice for breakfast). All three flavors have ~40 calories per cookie.

I packaged them up for breakfasts at work. With coffee, of course.

These were not quite as good as the amazing Almond Thins, but I was still a fan. Want to try some for yourself? Nonni’s is hosting a giveaway –

To encourage fans to experience the fresh-baked greatness for themselves, Nonni’s Biscotti is hosting a series of giveaways on their social pages. The “Who’s on top?” giveaway will begin July 14, where fans can help Nonni’s decide which of Nonni’s three Biscotti Bites flavors is the most favored, for a chance to win free products!

On Tuesday, I mixed things up with a smoothie instead.

Frozen blueberries and banana with vanilla almond milk, maple syrup, and lavender. YUM!

lunch

Lunches were all about the (chicken)salad. I made another Asian-inspired take on the classic. This time, I borrowed the flavors from our favorite Vietnamese sandwich – the Bahn Mi.

Bahn Mi Chicken Salad, Yields: 6 servings; Hands-on Time: 15 minutes

2 cups shredded carrots
1 and 1/2 cups chopped cucumber
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup rice vinegar
1/2 tsp salt
16 oz cooked chicken breast, chopped
3/4 cup mayonnaise
1/3 cup chopped cilantro
1/4 cup Sriracha

In a large bowl, combine carrots, cucumber, sugar, vinegar, and salt. Let sit, stirring occasionally, for at least 20 minutes.
Drain all of the liquid off of the vegetables.
Add remaining ingredients to the bowl and toss until well-combined.

On Monday, I brought a bigggg bowl of chicken salad, with a piece of baguette, and fresh cherries.

Wednesday was chicken salad on a bagel thin with butter lettuce, plus cherries, and McClure’s Bloody Mary Chips. <– the chips were spicy, but not as flavorful as I was hoping they would be

I don’t have access to a fridge on Tuesdays, so I did regular green salad from the cafeteria. With black-eyed peas, pickled jalopeños, shredded mozzarella, and Italian dressing on top.

For Thursday, I packed leftover salad and the last of the cherries.

But then after a very quiet morning we were slammed all afternoon and I didn’t have time for lunch. I ended up eating coffee and a KIND bar at my desk while I worked.

At least I have a nice lunch waiting for me today!

snack

Several slices of leftover pizza, which grew on me once it was cold.

The leftover ice cream sandwiches were not bad either.

Jelly Belly.

This yogurt bowl was the best thing of the week. Fage 2% Greek yogurt with a layer melted Cacao Bliss underneath!

Coconut water to rehydrate after a trip to the gym. This TJ’s kind was delicious.

Speaking of the gym, I’ve been keeping up with it! I realized that yesterday had been 20 days since I started getting activity back into my life; another ten days or so and hopefully a month of being consistent will help the habit stick!

dinner

I was tooting my own horn pretty loudly every evening this week; these dinners were all fantastic. That said, I apparently don’t have pictures from Monday night and I cannot for the life of me remember what we ate! Probably more chicken salad.

These bowls seem like a mishmosh of ingredients, but everything went together well. Kath’s low and slow sweet potatoes, roasted broccoli, and canned baked beans, topped with shredded cheese, pickled jalopeños, and plain Greek yogurt.

Apparently Adam does not want baked beans with his sweet potato again any time soon, but I thought they was good.

Salad night.

Butter lettuce and shredded cabbage topped with Hemp Hearts and Mahi Mahi – I baked the fish with lemon juice, coconut oil, and smoked paprika. For our dressing, I mashed together tons of ripe avocado with lime juice, hot sauce, salt, fresh cilantro, and evoo. Everything tossed together was ah-mazing.

We morphed our salad leftovers into tacos the next night.

Soft tortilla with shredded carrots and cabbage, mahi mahi, avocado sauce, green Tabasco, and cheese.

Plus pineapple hard cider from ACE.

ACE’s website informs me that they sell a honey apple cider. I’m going to need to find that immediately.

Does your family rely on leftovers or do you crave something new each night?

2Jul2014

Weekend Wrap-Up; We Loved – {fill in the blank}

by Emily

I’m behind on my posts because I’ve been playing hostess for my parents. We were quite sad to see them go Tuesday morning, but we did manage to fit a TON into their five-night visit. We made it to SoHo, Tribeca, Park Slope, Williamsburg, Huntington, and Port Jefferson, among other places. And we ate and ate and ate. Rather than a full recap, I want to share some of the things we loved this weekend…

(1) – Cheeeeese

The four of us were very impressed with this cheese plate from C’est Cheese.

The Taleggio and Comte were the group favorites.

We went to Luigi’s – to celebrate my parents’ last night and Adam’s last day as an intern! – and I ordered eggplant parmesan and the three of them ordered chicken parm.

My sautéed spinach totally beat their house-made spaghetti, in my opinion.

(2) – Ice Cream

Every single day, at least one of us had ice cream. <– the perfect way to vacation

Grasshopper frozen yogurt from Emack and Bolios.

Ample Hills knocked everyone’s socks off because it is the best ice cream in the city.

I got Peppermint Patty and Snap, Mallow, Pop. {thank you, Jenna, for letting me know that those two flavors would work wonderfully together}

(3) – Ethnic Food

We did lunch at Katz’s Deli on Friday.

Broccoli knish and with pickles for me.

The counter system and Katz’s gives me serious anxiety, but the food is totally worth it in the end. My parents loved their matzo ball soups.

Lunch at Smorgasburg on Saturday.

You cannot go wrong with the duck bun – with sweet and spicy chili sauce – from Bite Size Kitchen.

They are my very favorite thing from Smorgasburg.

The Halo Halo from Lumpia Shack is a close second though.

What???

Pip Snack kettle corn / ube foam / leche flan / shaved ice / ube (purple yam) / green market strawberries / coconut jelly / coconut strips / palm seeds / sweet bananas.

It was just so ridiculous and wonderful. Apparently palm seeds are delicious.

(4) – Seafood

We were pretty pleased with Schafer’s in Port Jeff.

I had fantabulous lobster mac and cheese.

My big chunks of fresh lobster were in a brie and mozzarella sauce, so this one probably could get filled under “Cheeeeese” too. With shaved Brussels sprouts.