Tag Archives: sweet

Apple Of My Eye

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It was a good week in theme snacks, snacks in general, actually!

Today is National Coffee Ice Cream day and since I love coffee, and ice cream, and coffee ice cream (and dulce de leche!) I jumped at the chance when My/Mo Mochi Ice Cream offered to send me a box of samples to celebrate.  My/Mo Dulce de Leche = coffee ice cream, wrapped in mochi dough, with a caramel core.  I 10/10 loved them.  Hands down the best mochi I’ve ever eaten.  Now I’m dying to find their seasonal flavors!

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Meanwhile, in Apple Month… I ate a bag of Trader Joe’s freeze-dried honeycrisp apples that I forgot to take a picture of but totally recommend.  Also, pink lady kombucha and Siggi’s with apple.

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Other snack highlights include… cold brew with salted caramel dark chocolate milk.

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Black sesame cheese crisps.

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Cookie dough Perfect Bar with a maple chicken jerky.

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Birthday cake marshmallows (while reviewing glycolysis!).

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I really loved my dinners this week, thanks in no small part to the fact that they were all smothered in Trader Joe’s zhoug sauce.  Salads with romaine, baby heirloom tomatoes, TJ’s Greek feta dressing, TJ’s turkey summer sausage, tabbouleh, zhoug.

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The best sheet pan hash I’ve made yet – summer sausage, potato, sweet potato, green onion, and cabbage.

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It’s Apple Month!

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It was a good weekend.  The 4 miler race was fun (we walked at a leisurely pace and I ended up going for a run afterwards but I had a really great time hanging out with some of my coworkers who I don’t get to see often) and my shift on Sunday went off without a hitch.  And now it’s Apple Month!

My theme month food hauls will be a bit more subdued for now since I can’t push the leftovers off on Adam, but I still have to celebrate.

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And I kicked the month off with an apple cake doughnut from Sugar Shack.

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Other food highlights from the weekend include… Yogurt bowls.  Chobani vanilla and cinnamon with maple cashew butter and blackberries.

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My parents got me a giant box of fancy marshmallows for my birthday so that’s 90% of what I’ve been eating!  Standouts include this peanut butter dipped in chocolate.IMG_6225And this cake flavored marshmallow dipped in white chocolate and stuffed with birthday cake cookie dough!IMG_6237Trader Joe’s scallion pancakes are always exciting.  Or maybe Kewpie and Sriracha are exciting?IMG_6268I made that black eyed pea salad I’m obsessed with (original recipe = BEP, green bell pepper, smoked almonds, Dubliner cheese, Cholula) and ingredient shortages caused me to sub in tamari almonds and Sriracha which was even tastier.IMG_6245

 

 

BLT FTW

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Life highlights from the past six days –

  • I survived my 2nd week without my boys.  Adam has been super sweet about sending me a million photos of the most handsome dog in the world!
  • I’ve had a ton of TPNs at work lately and I realized the other day just how comfortable I feel managing them now – I will never stop being grateful for this job opportunity, I have grown so much as a clinician the past year.
  • I saw, and loved, The Farewell.  Such a sweet, funny movie; I can’t recommend it enough.
  • I went to a free yoga class with one of my coworkers and loooooved it!  I had forgotten about just how much I enjoy yoga.  I haven’t been in several years and it seems my balance has gotten much worse but my flexibility has gotten much better – I got myself into camel pose easily and comfortably.

Food highlights –

All of the coffee.

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Hey Day Cold Brew.

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Black and white milkshake cold brew – Grady’s with vanilla bean powder and chocolate milk.

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Still obsessed with this chocolate chip cookie dough Perfect Bar that seems to only be sold at Trader Joe’s and has no internet presence.

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This mango and nut mix is perfectly spicy-sweet.

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This yogurt bowl was amazing.  Strawberry quark with pluots, maple cashew butter, and homemade chocolate chip cookie.

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I had a great assortment of gummy candies for the movie, lots of cola options.

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These s’mores mochi have graham cracker ice cream and and a marshmallow center and all three of us thought they were fantastic.

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Raspberry Short Kate!  Hardywood‘s newest IPA brewed with milk sugar and raspberry.

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Whole Foods hot bar – kale salad, cabbage crunch salad, carrot and harissa salad, breakfast potatoes, chicken sausage – with a side of chicken and waffle chips.

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A swoon-worthy sandwich – local heirloom tomato, turkey bacon, and kewpie mayo on a bun.

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BLT salad.  Sweet baby lettuce with champagne vinaigrette, heirloom baby tomatoes, bacon, Dubliner cheese, and hickory smoked peanuts.  Plus spicy roasted okra that my cousin made.

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Leftover salad with delicious crab cakes that my cousin made.

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Trader Joe’s frozen scallion pancakes with mayo, sriracha, and a side of roasted green beans.

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Life Updates, Part Deux

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I briefly shared some of our personal life excitement a few months ago but I am definitely overdue for an update!  FYI:

{1} Adam is only a fellow for another 9 days and then he’s going to be an attending in New York. (Woo-hoo!)

{2} We move out of Charlottesville to the city next Thursday.

{3} Adam has a tiny window of break-time between his two jobs and we’re taking a quick vacation back home to St. Thomas!

{4} I’m actually not moving to New York… for the moment anyway.  The time frame is still unclear but I’m staying in Charlottesville for a bit before I join the husband, my current job was just too good to walk away from yet!

{5} Our apartment lease was short and I am off of work today because we’re moving into a motel for the next week and a half.

Phew!  You guys are all caught up now!

This past weekend Adam had his last weekend coverage call in Culpeper.  I went with him for support/to hang out in the hotel and watch cable tv.  We ate take-out and snacks, so I have a few exciting snacks to share…

Coffee!

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Mocha on mocha.

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Raven’s Nest is our favorite coffee in the state of Virginia.

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This watermelon rose kombucha was a total winner.

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Exciting yogurt flavors.

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Snacks on snacks.

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Local bbq – smoked chicken and hush puppies, cole slaw, and fried okra.

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National Ice Cream day was Sunday.

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Cake from the Salvadorian bakery.

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Rompope (aka eggnog!) popsicle.

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Vanilla Beans And David Bowie

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Fun things from this week –

Double vanilla bean coffee.  I added ground vanilla to the coffee grounds and the final cup.  Plus sweetened condensed milk!

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A tiny ice cream scoop.  Bluegrass Creamery does a “two bite” cup, which I think is the best idea ever and wish all eateries would offer.  Plus it came with a free topping!  This was cookie conundrum topped with chocolate chip cookie.

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Chicken nachos.  Black bean chips with cheese, shredded chicken, heirloom tomato, fresh corn, and homemade guacamole.

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Labyrinth on the big screen.  Yes, the Labyrinth.  Our local theater is showing old movies for $5 a ticket this summer.  It was great!  And I had the very best movie snacks.  A chocolate covered marshmallow from Kilwins + these new baby gummy bears from Trader Joes.

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Goses.  Passion fruit and sour tropic fruit.

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Tacos.  Three cheese (Oaxacan cheese, manchego cheese, and queso fresco, with refried black beans, sliced avocado, roasted corn pico, and pickled watermelon) and fish (blackened tilapia, red cabbage slaw, red onion, avoverde, cilantro, and lime)  from Brazos.

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Local Love

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Highlights from this week – my in-laws are in town and we had fun showing them Charlottseville one last time // we had some great dinners out, including a new spot that’s a new favorite // Wissotzky Tea Company – an international, family-owned tea company based in Israel with offices in London and the United States – sent me some of their inventive flavors to try…

Coffee for the week: Trader Joe’s espresso blend with sweetened condensed milk.

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Tea samples; their four newest, spiciest flavors: Ginger and Turmeric Spiced Chai, Pumpkin Spiced Chai, Salted Caramel Chai, Spiced Nana Mint Chai.  I cold-brewed my cups per the company’s instructions – a ratio of 4 cups cold water to 5 tea bags, covered in the fridge for 15-36 hours.

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Salted Caramel Chai with a splash half and half (added post picture).

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Spiced Nana Mint Chai with sugar and fresh lime.  <– fair warning, this flavor was too peppery for Adam’s tastes

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Tropical flavors from the Mexican ice cream place down the street: passionfruit, guava, and mamey!

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Plus I picked up these super interesting gummy candies.  They have milk in them and the texture is extra soft and very unique.

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Roasted green beans and TJ’s turkey corn dogs.  Apparently I love corn dogs, I couldn’t stop raving about how tasty these were!

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Sheet pan hash: potatoes, onion, bell pepper, shredded brussel sprouts, and maple chicken breakfast sausage.

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Smoked Kitchen and Tap: a bbq spot we love in Crozet.  I had smoked turkey, cole slaw, and creamed corn with smoked jalopeno.

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The Local: an amazing spot in Bellmont.  I had the best, most Southern plate – buttermilk-brined fried chicken with pimento cheese mac and cheese, collard greens, and house made hot sauce and a buttermilk-chive drizzle.

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Modern Nosh: a newish, super cute deli (which means I finally have a deli in Charlottesville!).

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I had a half turkey reuben and soup with the best matzoh ball of my life.

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Plus we split latkes that were wonderfully full of garlic.  Yum!

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5 + 5

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Five random life updates –

{1} We took some stuff to Goodwill last weekend and now we are living in an empty apartment (minus a blow-up bed and all of my clothing).  Literally the only things in our living room are boxes of seltzer!

{2} Last weekend was the first time in 5 weeks that Adam and I were both home and not traveling.  Phew!

{3} This weekend we’re on the move again – we are heading to Solomon Island Maryland to spend some time with my family, including my youngest cousin who I haven’t seen since Thanksgiving!

{4} We finally saw “Late Night” and loved it.  If it’s still in theaters in your area I recommend going if you haven’t already.

{5} Then we watched “Always Be My Maybe” on Netflix and loooooooved it!  It’s officially our new favorite movie.  Super funny and touching.  Ali Wong is one my favorite comedians and she was fantastic as a leading lady.

Five things I ate and loved the last week – 

{1} Yogurt bowl.  Wegman’s chocolate Greek yogurt with pluots and Nature’s Path coconut chia granola.

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{2} Dehydrated rainbow carrot snacks from Trader Joe’s.

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{3} Cheese tea (aka bubble tea that you sip through foamy layer of milk and cream cheese sprinkled with salt) with strawberry heart jelly.

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{4} Marshmallow!  We shared a cup of carnival cake and marshmallow at Kirt’s Ice Cream.  And I was living my best life with this snack combo – Kilwin’s caramel chocolate marshmallow with iced coffee.

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{5} BBQ.  No Limits Smokehouse is a new-ish spot in Belmont and it’s wonderful.  I had a fried chicken sandwich (<– super juicy!) and collard greens, plus we got smoked mushrooms that were my new favorite savory thing I’ve ever eaten!

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Super Salad

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We are 85% moved to NYC and the move went swimmingly!  Plus we had a fantastic time at our friends’ wedding.

Here were the highlights from this week…

These new Trader Joe’s chocolate covered espresso beans are my new favorite thing.  They have the perfect ratio of bean to candy and the chocolate coating isn’t waxy at all.

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Ridiculously good cake from Marie Bette; chocolate with salted caramel frosting.

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This cranberry sour ale was a total winner.

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I got a smoked chicken quesadilla from Asado that was shockingly good.  Plus fries with queso!

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I had an amazing salad bowl from Mezeh.  Mixed greens // veggie kefta // tabouleh // olives // red cabbage slaw // cucumber // caramelized eggplant // roasted corn // baba ganoush // harissa and tzatziki dressings.

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Plus we made wonderful salads at home.  TJ’s cruciferous crunch mix // spicy peanut vinaigrette // sesame honey cashews // hot smoked salmon // hard-boiled eggs.  I made the eggs in the oven because we don’t have any pots and they came out great!

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Finally, we met my cousin and her fiance for dinner at Maya.  I had catfish with sweet potato fries and garlic broccoli.  Plus we shared a cheese plate (with pickled apples!) and peanut butter pie.

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