New York Beanery‘s fall special line-up includes a tasty caramel apple iced latte.
Trader Joe’s frozen Southwestern style chicken quesadillas are actually pretty good. Served with smashed avocado with lemon, salt, and a Caribbean pepper blend.
These crispy tacos from Guac Shop were better. With tofu, sweet potato, cabbage, and cheese.
Buffalo chicken baked pasta. Whole-wheat macaroni, roasted cauliflower rice, sauteed ground chicken with celery, poblano pepper, scallion, cream cheese, and Franks, topped with shredded cheese.
P.S. Yes, writing this post totally put me in the mood for some kind of apple pie chaco-taco situation.
This week had a snack theme (apples!) and a dinner theme (seafood)! Here were some highlights…
Apple energy drinks. The Alani was too sour for me this year (does it seem different than last year to anyone else?) but I ended up really liking the Bloom.
I made an iced matcha spritzer with apple cider and lemon seltzer. P.S. I also made spiced apple brown sugar syrup this week – equal parts cider and brown sugar cooked down with some ground cinnamon and nutmeg – it was good in coffee and great in Diet Coke.
High Tide’s yuzu sparkling water is a new favorite.
Apple snack plate – Cripps Pink apple, Fix and Fogg super crunchy peanut butter, Whole Food’s apple cinnamon mini rice cakes.
This furikake snack mix from Trader Joe’s is hands-down the best snack mix we’ve ever tasted; it’s almost impossible to keep your hands out of.
On-theme peelable gummies make my heart happy.
I hated this dinner – udon noodles with a sardine-scented red sauce – so much I wouldn’t eat it and got pizza instead, but I am including this picture as a reminder to myself that oven-roasted baby broccoli is delicious and we should make it more often.
Crab pasta (that I actually liked). Buckwheat soba noodles and roasted zucchini with sauteed shallots and garleek with crab, butter, evoo, cream cheese, white pepper, gochujang, brown sugar, and lemon juice.
Salmon avocado toast. Toasted sourdough / mashed avocado with salt, pepper, gochugaru, and lemon / Trader Joe’s hot-smoked sockeye salmon. Plus roasted adult broccoli. No, this was not enough food for dinner. Yes, I loved the new cantina chicken chalupas I ended up getting at Taco Bell.
P.S. We are staying on theme this evening and heading out to a fun sushi dinner at Kissaki to hopefully eat all the rest of the fishes.
This weekend included a run on the Long Beach Boardwalk (one of my favorite weekend activities!), a long Manhattan walk, and some exploring in Brooklyn. It was a very tasty few days, here were the highlights…
Homemade iced coffees with banana cheesecake cold foam (in the blender – frozen banana, cream cheese, butter extract, vanilla bean powder, brown sugar, skim milk).
A wonderful smoothie – frozen banana and peaches, soursop juice, vanilla protein powder, and malted milk powder.
Other Half. We split a flight of mostly double IPAs but also their Mister Softee collab strawberry yuzu sour.
Saint Street Cakes. The hype about the chocolate chip cookie is real. We also really loved the miso peanut butter cookie and blackberry cornbread cake slice.
This mochi doughnut from Win Son‘s Manhattan location was probably the best thing we’ve eaten so far in 2025.
Post-run breakfast on the boardwalk! We split a turkey, egg, and cheese taco and a fresh juice with green apple, spinach, ginger, and lime. We probably wouldn’t get food from this spot again but I would definitely get another green juice.
An easy but exciting, mostly home-cooked dinner. Leftover brown rice reheated in the microwave with rice vinegar, furikake, and white sugar / mayak eggs (I also put some mini mozzarella balls down in the marinade! / broccoli roasted with evoo, five spice, and gochugaru / fried chicken tender from Dave’s Hot Chicken. P.S. I ate all of an order of fries on the drive home; they are fantastic.
Dinner at Kabawa. We had a great meal here – some of the best goat I’ve ever eaten. It wasn’t lit for photographs but I happened to get a shot of my two favorite dishes. The bread course with house-made roti and cassava dumplings and an assortment of sauces.
Birthday cake flan. This was the best flan I’ve ever eaten.
Roasted beets with hazelnut dukkah, brandied cherries, ricotta salata, and creamy herbed vinaigrette and shocking good deviled crab toast with, roasted corn and herbs and black garlic mayonnaise on toasted sourdough.
A single patty L.I. burger – dry-aged beef patty, pickles, cheese, and fancy sauce. Plus a yummy side salad.
I tried a new canned coffee and was fairly impressed. It was not too weak or watery.
I did not like the key lime Barebells bar as much as I was expecting to though.
Triple berry yogurt. Plain Greek with chocolate coffee granola and blueberries, blackberries, and a few raspberries (which I hate but added to be festive).
Soursop juice!
I used it in a matcha spritz with lime seltzer.
We are fans of this bougie Chex Mix.
Seattle Chocolate Moon Rocks bar with pop rocks! We bought a bunch of mini bars from this company while were are at the Seattle airport on our last vacation and they made the flight home exponentially more pleasant.
Red curry tofu. I loosely followed this recipe for the sauce but used light coconut milk and more broth. We used firm tofu, scallions, red bell pepper, green beans, and basil.
Chicken and rice soup. Sauteed shitake mushrooms and dinosaur kale with scallions, garlic, ginger, and white pepper / leftover brown rice / baked chicken breast / chicken broth, light coconut milk, white miso, fish sauce, and Sriracha. I topped my bowl with chili oil.
It wasn’t an exciting weekend; Adam worked and I spent a bunch of time working on a project for work. We did go out for a Sea Cliff date Friday night after work though! Some highlights…
My coffee needed more coffee, but the flavor of the milk in Dunkin’s new cereal milk iced latte is a 10/10!
This root beer float latte was ok, but less successful. Dr. Brown’s root beer (good, but possibly not sweet enough for this), espresso, and sweetened condensed milk.
Yogurt bowl du jour, skyr with blueberries and Rainer cherries, with Trader Joe’s chocolate coffee granola.
Sea Cliff Shave Ice! We shared cola and coffee with ice cream, mochi, and condensed milk.
Dinner at Sarin (our favorite Thai spot in Long Island). Tod Mun Pla fish cakes that came with an amazing plum sauce.
Pad Kee Mao with beef.
Leftover fish cake / sauteed green beans that were oddly terrible (I didn’t eat them!) / Trader Joe’s frozen scallion pancakes (one of my faves, super duper filling) with Kewpie and Sriracha.
Yogurt bowl! Plain Greek with blueberries, Rainer cherries, and cute Swedish gummies.
Iced matcha. With lime seltzer and strawberry and rose syrups.
Peach yogurt jelly gummies.
This baked chicken flatbread was the best thing we ate all week! Trader Joe’s whole-wheat lavash baked with evoo until crispy / topped with TJ’s Unexpected Cheddar / baked chicken breast / roasted red onions / and marinated artichoke hearts. Paired with great veggies – baby bok choy, brown beech mushrooms, and shallots sauteed with butter.
This taco turkey flatbread was also pretty good. Lavash / TJ’s shredded three cheese blend / ground turkey sauteed with taco seasoning / roasted veggies – yellow and orange bell pepper, white onion, zucchini, evoo, salt and pepper, Jamaican curry powder, smoked paprika, onion powder, and garlic powder. Served with smashed avocado (mashed with salt, gochugaru, and TJ’s mango vinaigrette).
Paired with chips and dip.
Nacho night! Mike’s Hot Honey kettle chips / all of the cheeses / three grain tempeh sauteed with salt and gochugaru until toasty / snap peas sauteed with pecans, piquante peppers, gochugaru, cheddar, and honey.
This plate of leftovers was as yummy as it was orange. Leftover roasted veggies / leftover cauliflower okonomiyaki from Olmsted / leftover Indian take-out from Varli – butter chicken momo, house-spiced fries with cheese and minced chicken, and Baingan Bharta (spicy eggplant).
Space Cowboy is a new coffee spot in Long Beach this year and I’m a fan. They have some inventive drinks — like this root beer cold foam cold brew. Every weekend we can we go for a run on the Long Beach Boardwalk followed by an iced coffee and it’s a great date.
Salted peanut butter David Bar = 10/10. The texture (chewy with crunchies) and flavor of these is just right for me.
We had a perfect (delicious!) afternoon at Rockaway Beach. Rockaway Beach Bakery – yuzu and mixed berry bun with cream cheese frosting.
They also served us the best cheeseburger we’ve had in NYC this year! Makes my top three list, easily. Plus crispy yet creamy, well-seasoned fries.
And you can’t go to Rockaway without getting a perfect frozen pina colada at Connolly’s.
Olmsted is sadly closing and their final dinner service is tonight. We had a nice meal there Saturday sharing a bunch of dishes. Fava bean falafel with Calabrian honey, pea shoots, and pickled shallots.
King salmon crudo with rhubarb agrodolce and cilantro. <– our favorite bite of the night
Kale and crab rangoon.
Cauliflower okonomiyaki with hazelnuts, kosho mayo, and tonkatsu sauce.
Heirloom tomato schnitzel with whipped ricotta, yuzu piperade, and basil sunflower butter.
Pasilla rubbed scallops with roasted corn and a blueberry gastrique.
Finally – chocolate mousse.
Take-out dinner. Guac Shop is a fast-casual Mexican spot near us and while they don’t have roasted zucchini they do have fantastic tofu (and some great veggie topping options). This bowl was brown rice, hot sauce, tofu, cabbage, sweet potato, corn, and cheese.
P.S. We were so taken with Varli‘s Indian food that we are heading back there for dinner tonight!
This yogurt bowl was good in theory but unfortunately it was so wet. Plain skyr with blueberries, golden kiwi, and passionfruit. Scooping kiwis out of their skin (rather than trying to peel and cut them) has been a game changer for me; I eat them all the time now.
Hummus and crackers. Both good but not my favorites.
These Patagonia sourdough crackers are amazing though.
Trader Joe’s freeze-dried watermelon candies. Our bag seemed a little stale but the flavor is great.
Lindt Dubai style chocolate bar. 9/10 but nothing is as good as the original Nuts for Nuts Dubai bar.
The best candy is these sour slices from Whole Foods. The calamansi lime ones are ridiculous.
I got chili paneer which came with tons of onions and peppers and Adam had excellent butter chicken.
Greek baked turkey meatballs. Ground turkey with tabbouleh, feta, salt and pepper, urfa chili, onion powder, garlic powder, and egg. Served with fresh tomatoes and fantastic snap peas (sauteed with feta, piquante peppers, walnuts, honey, rice vinegar, and gochugaru.
In the style of orange chicken, Tangerine Apricot Yuzu Tofu. Firm tofu (I froze/thawed mine which gives it the best texture) tossed with gochugaru, white pepper, and cornstarch / baked with broccoli, red bell pepper, and green onions / tossed with sauce – cornstarch slurry, fresh tangerine juice, apricot jelly, yuzu ponzu, dark soy sauce, chili oil, rice vinegar, honey, and garlic whisked over medium heat / topped with sesame seeds. We added cashews afterwards too! Served on brown rice.
Crispy rice spicy California roll bowls. We love this meal. This iteration was imitation crab, cucumber, avocado, and green onion / tossed with yuzu ponzu and Kewpie / on top of crispy rice – leftover rice tossed with dark soy sauce, oyster sauce, rice vinegar, and chili oil and baked until crispy / topped with furikake.
Eating Chalk 