Saucy, Spicy, Stupendous

I’m late on this post but we had too many wonderful things last week not to share! Mostly lots of very (very, very, very) good restaurant meals. Three different days I got to take a super-long city walk (including a Central Park date with the husband!). Highlights include…

Coffees with brown sugar syrup.

A tamarind Americano from Le Phin.

Breakfast at Ursula. We shared a strawberry chamoy pastry.

And a sopaipilla with grassfed beef, green chile, refried pinto beans, and cheddar.

Breakfast at the Blue Light Speaky Cheesy pop-up. The workers could not have been more wonderful here and everything was fantastic! We shared a sandwich with pesto scrambled eggs, goat cheese, blueberry jam, and arugula; a maple lavender latte (<– topped with orange zest, which apparently is my new favorite thing); and an iced Getaway Latte with sweetened condensed milk, cinnamon, and vanilla.

Malted berry smoothie. Frozen cherries and strawberries with Greek yogurt, chocolate almond milk, and malted milk powder.

Yogurt bowl – vanilla skyr, pecan granola, chia seeds, blueberries, and cherry plums (<– both Adam’s and my new favorite fruit).

Cookie dough granola (<– amazing, the flavor is spot on!) with blueberries and chocolate almond milk.

Lunch at Bahn (<– best meal of the whole week!). Iced Vietnamese egg coffee.

Summer rolls with shrimp and mung bean sauce.

Rolls with crispy shrimp, beef jerky, green mango, Sriracha, and egg yolk cream.

Noodle salad with sizzling butter beef.

Dumplings from Mimi Cheng. Their monthly special is a collab with Pecking House and is stuffed with buttermilk twice-fried chicken and topped with the best chili crisp I’ve ever tasted.

Homemade(!) grain bowls. Farro with pesto, chicken pesto sausage, fennel greens, and sauteed celery and baby orange tomatoes.

Adam forgot his credit card at BKNY Thai so we went back sooner than we were expecting to. A serendipitous mistake because our take-out was 11/10. Fish cakes / dumplings with ground chicken, shallot, peanut, and preserved radish / beef Pad See Ew with extra Chinese broccoli.

Omekase at the Chemisty Room at Sushi Lab. We ate at the counter and the service was impecable. I only took a few photos but everything was delicious and gorgeous.

Dinner at Wen Wen. My daiquiri with rum, Cachaça, and birds eye chili was perfect and balanced.

We had numbing celtuce salad with garlic, red vinegar, and Sichuan pepper.

Hot honey popcorn chicken.

Cold sesame noodles with cucumbers and egg ribbons.

Beef noodle soup with pickled mustard greens and a 16-hour oxtail broth.

Best Of

We had crazy work-weekends but did manage to have a lot of fun in our evenings – exploring some new-to-us restaurants in Long Island and Queens and getting some great treats. Our favorite dish from each stop was…

BKNY Thai – Pad Kee Mao with beef.

Mochinut – pineapple guava mochi doughnut.

Mr. Pollo – Raspada, shaved ice with raspberry, passionfruit, and tons of condensed milk.

O Mandarin – Emperor’s Cabbage with sesame paste, aged vinaigrette, and honey.

Yedang – Dango (chewy sweetened rice cakes).

Eat Nice

Some things from the weekend…

Yogurt bowl. Plain Greek with maple, chia, praline pecan granola, and chopped aprium.

10/10 loved this new flavor from Over Easy.

On the other hand, this is a reminder for myself to stop buying this Oreo coffee because I do not like it. It tastes like a watery Oreo with no coffee whatsoever.

This Whole Foods almond milk ice cream was pretty good but not as good as non-vegan ice cream.

A breakfast bowl cheese fry situation. Trader Joe’s seasoned fries with mozarella, soft-scrambled eggs, roasted zucchini, and chicken breakfast sausage.

Chinese take-out!

So much Chinese take-out. Bok choy and mushrooms, fried tofu, sesame noodles, and a cheeseburger egg roll.

Mostly Bowls

Highlights from the past week include…

Dark roast coffee with ube condensed milk.

A loaded yogurt bowl – plain Greek, Mid-day peanut butter chocolate square, doughnut peach, aprium, praline pecan granola.

Cosmic Crisps are my new favorite apple.

We did not enjoy this key lime sour, but I am posting a photo as a reminder to Adam and myself because it so seems like something we would like.

On the other hand, we loved the flavor profile and political stance of this Greenpoint IPA.

Typically I don’t buy vegan ice creams but these bites are pretty satisfying.

Our favorite sheetpan hash – roasted Japanese sweet potato, bok choy, and green onion; topped with smoked salmon candy and roasted Norwegian salmon. I also added tons of Kewpie, Sriracha, and furikake.

Big summer salads. Local lettuce, honey mustard dressing, baby tomatoes, roasted corn, baked tofu, and homemade croutons.

Best bowl of the week – sauteed cabbage, snap peas, baby tomato, and green onions, with chicken maple breakfast sausage, peanuts, Korean chili flake, Sichuan pepper salt, and a nuoc cham inspired sauce.

Tons of Roast take-out – chicken taco sandwich, fries, buffalo-style roasted potatoes – plus roasted purple cauliflower.

A Few Of My Favorite Things

My birthday was yesterday and Adam and I were both off Saturday and Sunday which meant I got to celebrate a birthday weekend! We tried to do/eat all of my favorite things which meant we spent a ton of time walking around the city and ate a metric-ton of sugar and caffeine. It was perfect!

We did almost all of my favorite things, including – a birthday morning run, time with Adam and Webster, a long city walk, a bridge walk, drinks at Evil Twin, and watching The Office (I only missed walking on a beach and having a drink in the ocean).

And we ate almost all of my favorie things, including – coffee, vodka, Diet Coke, Roast sandwiches, cheeseburgers, ice cream, sprinkles, halo halo, and brigadero (I only missed nachos and roasted green beans)!

Highlights included…

In addition to my free birthday Starbucks I had my two current favorite city coffees – a quad iced latte from Kodawari.

And a freddo cappuccino from The Grand.

Plus a homemade dalgona iced latte!

Homemade rose lemonade spritzers with vodka.

I bought all of the birthday-flavored frozen things.

Plus ice cream for Webster!

Brigadero Bakery. Their summer special vanilla was tie-dyed and my favorite thing I ate all weekend.

Roast take-out, fries and a roast beef sandwich.

A trip to Queens Night Market. I had stir-fried radish cakes.

And halo halo.

Brunch at Nowon. Milky Way cocktail – mezcal, cold brew, Cadamaro, and rum-condensed milk.

My favorite cheeseburger – double smashed patties, American cheese, kimchi mayo, bread and butter pickles. Plus ridiculously amazing honey butter tots.

Mellow

Weekend highlights include…

A ridiculous coffee daily. This was phin-brew with espresso powder, caramel, and half and half. I also made an iced coffee with fluff(!) and had a great Oreo cold foam cold brew from Wired.

Strawberry cheesecake smoothie bowl! Plain Greek yogurt, almond milk, cream cheese, brown sugar, chia seeds, and frozen strawberries; topped with maple pecan granola.

Fluffernutter dessert smoothie. Plain Greek yogurt, almond milk, frozen banana, peanut butter, and toasted marshmallows.

P.S. This Fix and Fogg super crunchy is the best peanut butter I’ve ever tried.

Also, the Half Day green tea with honey and ginsing is the best canned tea I’ve ever tried.

So excited about summer fruits. Green plucot + a blood orange.

We ordered crystal candies from Silky Gem and were big fans. We actually tried to make these ourselves a few weeks ago and they did not work out. The crunchy outside and chewy/soft interior make a great contrast.

Hash leftovers with roast sauce.

I made jalopeno popper turkey meatloaf! It was amazing and Adam and I both went back for seconds. Ground turkey, panko bread crumbs, ketchup, diced pickled jalopenos, jalopeno juice, chopped white onion, egg, and diced sharp cheddar. With roasted orange and purple cauliflower on the side.

Tastes Like Summer

Highlights from a tasty July week…

Coffee combo – Trader Joe’s dark roast with Chobani oatmilk horchatta.

We ordered marshmallows!

Vanilla Greek yogurt bowl with white peach, passionfruit, and fluff.

Toasted banana bread with marshmallow/fluff.

Summery drinks for a walk around our neighborhood – Blue Point Rainbow Italian Ice Sour and a vodka cocktail with fresh watermelon.

Adam and I are both head over heels for these vegan sweet potato cheese puffs.

Roasted garlic chicken sausage on a hot dog bun with Kewpie and kimchi. Plus roasted baby cauliflower.

Turkey sloppy Josephines! With roasted rainbow cauliflower.

Sheet-pan hash. With yellow potato, zucchini, green onion, pobablo pepper, fresh corn, chicken sausage, and sharp cheddar.

Walking On Sunshine

Adam and I randomly had one of the Best! Weekends! Ever! (TM) this past weekend. We lucked out with a good chunk of time to spend together and nice weather. Friday night we took a long walk in our neighborhood and went to a fancy yet lackluster dinner near our apartment. Saturday we drove into Brooklyn for a bridge walk and took long walks around Williamsburg + SoHo + Thompkin’s Square Park. Sunday we took the LIRR into the city and took long walks around Koreatown + Midtown + Central Park. You’ll notice a theme there! Food highlights included…

Fantastic mochi doughnuts and black sesame iced coffee at Bear Donut.

Cinnamon brown sugar cold brew at Now or Never.

We went to a different Felix Roasting Co location each day! For an espresso tonic and a smoked s’mores latte.

We scored new flavors in two of our favorite drinks.

Best beverages of the weekend were this combo from Blue Bottle – Nola Cola (New Orleans-style coffee with vanilla and sparkling water) and a yuzu lemon fizz.

Hanoi House has a dessert window pop-up this summer and it is my new favorite place. I got a Bright Eyes Sundae – vanilla soft-serve, hot fudge, egg custard, chocolate sesame crunch, and Vietnamese coffee over crushed ice.

Egyptian food at Zooba. We loved the tamarind chicken rice bowl.

Plus hawawshi and falafel with hibiscus tahini.

Lebanese food at Au Za’atar. We knuafe plus some of the best lamb we’ve ever tasted (no photo due to lighting but it was a truly gigantic serving and we’ll be happily eating leftovers all week!).

Sushi at Maki Kosaka. We ordered practically the whole menu; both of our favorites were the bluefin toro preparations.