Loaded

Some highlights from a work weekend…

Aggressively eclectic work brunch snacks. Coffee Nutrament / chocolate pretzel bar / golden nugget mandarin.

Green juice and a Japanese jelly drink (the mango wasn’t actually ready yet).

Tropical candies from my Easter basket – Adam loved the chocolate but the nougat was more my speed.

Frozen cherry coke cocktail(!!). I blended whiskey and amaretto with frozen cherry coke cubes and dark cherries.

Loaded Trader Joe’s scallion pancakes plus roasted green beans. With hoisin, Kewpie, furikake, Korean chili flakes, and bonito.

Chewy

Highlights from this week include…

Chew frozen things. Black sugar boba popsicle and a passionfruit ice cream mochi.

Chewy vegan candies. I loved the tropical ones (grapefruit slices!) and liked the hearts and stars.

Grapefruit beverages. Hard seltzer and kombucha.

Takeout dinner from Roast. A roast beef melt and an on-special salad with arugula, asparagus, cauliflower, parmesan, crispy breadcrumbs, chicken, and pesto vinaigrette.

Easy rice bowls. Brown rice / Trader Joe’s green vegetable foursome frozen veggies / tuna salad with mayo, soy sauce, rice vinegar, furikake, and Korean chili flake / kimchi / chili crisp.

Homemade cashew chicken. With red bell pepper, green onion, and extra cashews. Served on roasted broccoli slaw.

Crumbs

This is an early post because it’s a short week – I am heading to Ohio today to visit my grandma! And my mom will be there too!

Pre-vacation highlights included…

This week’s coffee combo.

We brought home brigadero balls from Cafe Patoro and they were great. The caramel was my favorite.

I made a batch of milk crumbs and obviously put them on everything. Like an ice cream sundae with the last brownie.

And an insane yogurt bowl sundae with vanilla bean Greek yogurt, nut butter, and chocolate peanut butter granola.

Simple but great dinners this week. From the Trader Joe’s freezer section – veggie and sunflower seed bites and turkey corn dogs. Plus roasted baby cauliflower.

Faro / sriracha mayo salmon / spiralized zucchini / furikake / kimchi.

Homemade butter chicken. With roasted cauliflower rice and I added toasted cashews after I took that photo.

Damn The Man, Save The Empire

It was an absolutely fantastic weekend! We ate tons of good things, had a bunch of time together, and saw some gorgeous signs of spring all around the city. Highlights included… A long, gorgeous walk from Dumbo, across the bridge, around the Seaport, and up through Midtown.

Iced cortado from Interlude.

Brigadero iced latte from Cafe Patoro.

Vietnamese iced coffee from Lucy’s.

Iced matcha latte made at home.

Not surprised that I am into alcoholic seltzers now. My favorite so far have been from Trip and Topo Chico.

We made extra-chocolately brownies and rewatched Empire Records to celebrate Rex Manning Day 2022!

Affogato special from Caffe Panna – caramel and pistachio.

My leftover sesame noodles were even better stir-fried with extra eggs plus green beans and chili crisp.

We had lunch at Empire Diner and it was hands-down the best meal of this year so far.

I had a spicy Bloody Mary with everything bagel seasoning.

And a great cocktail with mezcal and fresh ginger.

Tuna tartar with avocado, ginger cilantro oil, white soy, frizzled shallots, and housemade chips.

I had the pastrami sandwich with melted swiss and horseradish coleslaw on marble rye. It came with the best mustard and the best herb fries I’ve ever tasted.

Yes, Yes, Yes

It was a very tasty week! Adam and I had a weekday off and a few evenings together (woo-hoo!) and we made the most of them. Some of the best highlights included…

Fun things in cans. Sparkling blackberry hibiscus tea. <– this was incredibly pleasant

Tepache.

Tiramisu latte from Kore.

Treats from 10,000 Coffee. A croissant with chocolate ganache and banana.

And an Einspänner and an espresso cream latte (we added espresso to the second and were in love with both).

The least exciting but best coffee of the week was an iced latte from Kodawari.

Fresh mango! With plain skyr with honey, chia, and granola.

We spent an afternoon walking around Chinatown and buying basically everything that sounded good! Including a black sugar tea with strawberry boba.

And a fantastic bun with pineapple jelly and salted egg yolk from Kamboat Bakery.

Lunch at Deluxe Green Bo. I got soup with seaweed and egg custard.

And rice cakes with veggies.

Great chicken salad melts with roasted baby cauliflower and Japanese potato chips.

Even better roast beef melts with roasted brussel sprouts and green beans.

Yes, yes, yes to dinner at NoNoNo.

We ordered a bunch of things and our favorites were – assorted charred mushrooms.

Chawanmusi, steamed egg custard with shrimp, snow crab, and salmon roe.

Black sesame panna cotta with salted whipped cream / raindrop pudding with soy bean powder and kuromitsu sauce.

Best meal of the week/month/year was Taiwanese from 886. These fried fish cakes were a spicy, delicious standout.

Crispy silken tofu with shredded radish.

Black pepper beef.

Pea shoots.

Sesame noodles.

Oreos And Mung Beans

I worked six of the last seven days so we’ve eaten a lot of take-out chicken nuggets but also managed to go on a few nice dates! Highlights from the past week include…

Mint pour-over with chocolate sweetened condensed milk.

This week’s probiotic beverages – tamarind citrus tepache / hibiscus rhubarb kefir.

Sparkling calamansi matchas. I’m not sure why that photo is so swampy, it was lovely in real life.

I am still very into these Kishu mandarins. I used to love Cara Cara oranges but I tried one recently and it paled in comparision.

Newly into these Crunchsters sprouted mung beans which are perfectly savory and crunchy.

And no one is surprised that I am excited about these limited edition confetti cake Oreos.

They are sprinkled!

Also impressed with this new Noosa chocolate gelato.

Drinks and snacks at The Linwood. I had a cocktail with tequila, sage, honey, lime, blood orange, and grapefruit soda.

Plus housemade chips with onion ranch dip.

Caribbean-inspired food at Coastal. My jerk chicken rice bowl was great.

But we were there for the drinks! Like a painkiller made with Soggy Dollar Bar rum (aka rum from the place that invented painkillers).

I also had a lovely drink with vodka, butterfly pea flower, chamomile, guava, pineapple, lemon, and soda.

Homemade chilaquiles with Trader Joe’s guajillo salsa, tortilla chips, shredded chicken, sweet onion, and bell peppers. Topped with sharp cheddar, sour cream, hot sauce, and a fried egg.

We made the best salads. Local lettuce with dijon balsamic dressing / stir-fried/charred snap peas / crunchy mung beans / cheddar / bbq chicken – shredded chicken breast and thighs from the crockpot tossed with homemade bbq sauce and roasted in the oven.

Vegan buffalo chick’n sliders with roasted green beans. The sandwiches were good but the green beans were great.

Pandan, Ube, Black Sesame

Adam and I had both weekend days off together (!!!) and we ate ALL the things and had a glorious time! Saturday we wandered around Williamsburg, over the bridge, and into the Lower East Side (almost 9 miles!) and Sunday we did a foodie tour loop around Woodside/Elmhurst/Jackson Heights. Some highlights included…

Coffee Booth‘s March special – birthday cake iced latte. I’d like all of my coffees to have an icing swirl!

We tried two different kinds of pandan and coconut pudding. A creamy one from Pata Market.

And a chewy tapioca and corn version from Three Auntie’s Market.

Kuih Cafe‘s black sesame burnt cheesecake was perfectly balanced with sweet and savory.

Purple Dough‘s halo halo is my new favorite.

This strawberry guava alcoholic Topo Chico is basically all of my favorite things in one.

We went to L’Industrie for the first time and now I totally get the hype. Our cheese slice was both crispy and chewy.

Plus we had a lemon cream doughnut.

Miss Lilly‘s jerk chicken was so juicy! With rice and peas and mango chutney.

Fantastic Thai food at Ayada. Thai iced tea and Thai iced coffee.

Green papaya salad with salted egg.

Crab and chicken dumplings in tofu skin.

10/10 chicken pad see ew; wok hei galore.

We made great breakfast for dinner bowls. Hashbrowns, roasted riced cauliflower, soft-scrambled eggs, avocado, heirloom tomatoes and red onion sautéed with butter, sharp cheddar, sour cream, and sweet and spicy jalapenos.

Fizzy

It was a yummy week! Highlights include…

A yogurt bowl with tons of fresh mango. Plain skyr with honey, granola, and chia seeds.

This week’s fizzy, fermented drink line up. Pineapple mint kombucha (too sweet – I prefer other flavors from this brand) / strawberry ginger prebiotic soda (too ginger spicy) / grapefruit lime tepache (just right!).

I made a mule at home and it was delicious. I tossed in a splash of pickled jalapeno juice too.

This Trader Joe’s cinnamon dragons are good but not quite strong enough for me.

We made a batch of simple but tasty chili with black beans and shredded chicken. Topped with sour cream, TJ’s sweet and spicy jalapenos, and sharp cheddar.

The chili was even better leftover (duh!) on loaded baked potatoes. With tons of cheddar, sour cream, and hot sauce. Plus roasted baby cauliflower on the side.

In my ongoing quest to turn every dish into fries and/or nachos – bagels with lox. This was fries and roasted cauliflower topped with TJ’s smoked salmon dip, hot smoked salmon, capers, quick pickled red onion, and chopped cucumber and tomato.