Christmas Cheer

by Emily

Holiday highlights…

For the 1st time in six years Adam and I were both off for Christmas! It was the perfect day. We opened presents in front of Nick Offerman.

And got Thai take-out and watched The Office.

A good 90% of my gifts were edible so I spent the rest of the day eating sugar.

Related – because my cousin knows me very well, her Christmas gifts to me included delicious homemade latkes

and Christmas-themed beer.

The rest of the week included…

I figured for my last round of coffee and ‘nog I should go big or go home – Homestead Creamery’s eggnog is the best I’ve ever tasted.

I spent more than an hour one night making dal that ended up being inedible but the roasted purple brussel sprouts I tossed into the oven as an afterthought we stunningly good.

We made red and green sheet pan crab fried rice. Use this method. With basmatti rice, crab, green onion, red bell pepper, and broccoli.

P.S. Today is our 11th wedding anniversary (and our 16 year!! dating anniversary) and we have super fun stuff planned ♥♥

24Dec2018

It’s Beginning To Taste A Lot Like Christmas

by Emily

I did not exactly hit it out of the park on dinners this past weekend – yesterday we went out to all-you-can-eat sushi with my cousin and that was the only night I deviated from Wegman’s hot bar. To be fair, I had to work Sunday and I needed to conserve my strength!

Five highlights from the past three days, four of which are on theme…

{1} La Colombe peppermint mocha latte can. Bonus – Trader Joe’s cedar balsam candle smells divine.

{2} TJ’s nog flavored coconut yogurt with gingerbread spice Life cereal. All I needed were some red and green sprinkles!

{3} Gingerbread and salted caramel gelato. I think I would like gingerbread items more if they were always paired with caramel, you need something to cut the spice.

{4} New Belgium’s Accumulation white IPA. This was the year I discovered I enjoy IPAs, especially double IPAs!

{5} We finally made it to Quality Pie and now we want to go back ASAP.

I had fried chicken on a biscuit with maple sriracha butter.

21Dec2018

…And A Partridge In A Pear Tree!

by Emily

This post includes five sweet things, four holiday theme items, three types of eggnog, two homemade dinners…

Stumptown Cold Brew with Trickling Springs egg nog.

Grady’s Cold Brew with Promised Land Holiday Nog.

I made my banana toffee magic bars for a cookie exchange at work and they came out really well! I subbed in caramel chips for butterscotch and it think it was an upgrade.

Sweethaus‘ holiday cupcakes are somehow eight times better than their already fantastic regular offerings. Eggnog and gingerbread with meringue frosting.

Hardywood’s gingerbread stout is stupid good and dangerously easy to drink.

This lavender can from Kombucha Town is my current favorite kombucha; it’s very mellow.

Fancy tuna salad makes an easy dinner. A mix of tuna and smoked sardines with mayo, dijon, and capers / roasted brussel sprouts / baby carrots / Trader Joe’s everything crackers.

But Wegman’s take-home meal section makes an even easier dinner. Spicy general tso chicken with fried rice and seaweed salad.

And one night I did legitimately cook – a protein, some veggies, and even a sauce. Asian take-out style tofu! This recipe but with oven fried tofu (similar to this method) in place of chicken. I also used rice vinegar instead of red wine vinegar and added in some cashews.

17Dec2018

Naughty Or Vice

by Emily

I did not do such a hot job taking photos the last week so I only have a minimal amount to post. We’re at that point in winter where I hate everything – particularly having to wear jackets, boots, and multiple layers – and just want to hibernate. Let’s just share the top five from the last week. More accurately, five photos of the top eight things…

Blanchard’s Dark as Dark coffee. Roasty and smooth. And yes, I stick with iced even when I’m holding my cup with a begrudgingly gloved hand.

Peppermint gummy bears and licorice bears. The mint-anise combo is surprisingly delicious.

Holiday spice kombucha is my favorite Health-Ade flavor. And Trader Joe’s eggnog yogurt is one of the very best holiday items, second only to actual ‘nog.

Vice Cream ice cream.

We generally only buy unsweetened (and unsulphered) dried fruit but I will absolutely make an exception for Trader Joe’s hibiscus. They are sweet, chewy, and just a bit tangy, plus they look totally alien and cool. And Adam and I were both very impressed with this vegan jerky.

7Dec2018

Stuffed With Joy

by Emily

Peppermint and egg nog > nonholiday flavors. But even the nonseasonal bites were tasty this week. Highlights include…

Coffee = Coffee Mate sweet cream cold brew.

Also a peppermint mocha La Colombe can with a surprisingly good peppermint bark Clif Bar.

Limited seasonal item eggnog shake from Cook Out.

The best snacks of the week came from our Snack Crate. Particularly these chewy items that were all a bit milky in a delightful way.

Chicken fajitas stuffed peppers. A blend of shredded chicken, sauteed onion, fajita seasoning, cream cheese, cheddar cheese, and cojita cheese, baked inside green bell peppers.

Homemade buffalo chicken macaroni and cheese. Plus simple side salads, dressed with evoo, honey, lavender salt, and garlic and herb cashews.

3Dec2018

Gingerbread Galore

by Emily

So many holiday flavors consumed this weekend! <– Squee! It was just kind of a great weekend in general – we had no major to-dos looming and the weather was fantastic. We got to go to brunch with my cousin and her boyfriend and on a long walk with the dog. Next weekend brings out of town plans so it was really nice to keep things low-key.

Highlights…

Forager’s coconut cream cashew milk cold brew. It was yummy but way too filling to consume all at once.

Starbucks’ Juniper iced latte – I recommend getting double the espresso and half of the syrup so it’s not too pine-y [holiday flavor #1].

Plain Greek yogurt with maple, almond butter granola, and the last of the cranberry sauce.

Brunch at Renewal was delicious, we will definitely be back. I had a gin fizz with egg white and cream.

Roasted brussel sprouts with garlic fondue and sherry gastrique / field greens side salad with grapefruit vinaigrette / fries with pimento cheese and aioli.

Sugar cookie frozen yogurt and eggnog gelato [holiday flavors #2 and 3}.

King of Pop’s gingerbread was the best popsicle I’ve ever eaten, it was like a cookie dunked in milk [holiday flavor #4]. Enjoyed at Hardywood where I also had a Christmas Morning – gingerbread stout with Black Hand Coffee [holiday flavor #5].

This Sweethaus gingerbread cupcake with meringue frosting was the best baked good we’ve ever eaten, hands down [also holiday flavor #6!].

Trader Joe’s cauliflower latkes for the first night of Hannukah [holiday flavor #7] with a chicken thigh take on this Mississippi Roast recipe.

19Nov2018

A New York Weekend

by Emily

Adam and I went on a quick vacation and just had the best weekend in NYC! We got super lucky with weather that was warm/dry enough for a long day of walking (including two trips across the Williamsburg Bridge and a spin around Washington Square Park). We tried a some new spots that totally knocked our socks off (see below). We met up with friends for a fantastic dinner at Bellwether (highlights included duck liver mousse with ramp mustard, strawberry preserves, and crostini and a Oaxacan Sour cocktail with mezcal, luxardo, agave, egg white, and lime).

The best Thanksgiving item and the entire impetus for this trip = Milk Bar‘s Thanksgiving croissant stuffed with turkey, stuffing, and cranberry sauce.

The best coffee = a quad, non-fat, iced latte of Stumptown at Black Brick.

The best doughnut = Alimama‘s sweet and savory mochi doughnut. It was topped with salted caramel and Nutella and was unbelievably, perfectly chewy. Plus we had a great ube cream puff.

The best brunch = Bricolage. There were so many things that sounded amazing we ended up ordering/sharing three entrees! Duck bahn mi with chicken liver pate, shallot mayo, pickled daikon, carrot, and herbs // five-spice fried chicken and waffles with red cabbage and fennel slaw, sriracha butter, and maple syrup // croissant french toast topped with Vietnamese coffee whipped cream, condensed milk creme anglaise, and blueberries.

The best ice cream = Morganstern‘s papaya guava ice cream alongside a scoop of American egg. P.S. the new location was beautiful and the line was far less out of control.

I ♥ New York.

2Nov2018

All Hallow’s Eats

by Emily

Pumpkin Noosa for breakfast. I sprinkled some crunchy granola from the cafeteria on top and it was fantastic.

Maple glazed doughnut with a maple pancake iced latte from Sugar Shack.

Snack attack. Is it even Halloween week if you don’t make yourself sick eating too much sugar? None of fun-sized candy at work was exciting to me and I had to drive myself to Wegman’s to buy my own chocolate.

Crispy honey garlic tofu bites served on top of roasted broccoli and cauliflower. The tofu recipe was perfect, I couldn’t believe how crispy it came out. After I took that photo I smothered my plate in Kewpie and Sriracha!

This Pumking version was toooo much bourbon for me.

Sweet potato hash success. Crispy sweet potato (cooked similarly to this method) / sauteed red bell pepper and spring onion with tumeric and smoked paprika / garlic chicken sausage / topped with a fried egg / and copious amounts of Cholula hot sauce.

Our Halloween dinner was perfectly on theme – vampire killer pumpkin pasta. Pumpkin shaped pasta / garlic chicken sausage / sauteed spinach with tons of garlic / tossed in aioli / topped with pan-fried haloumi.

Plus the best pumpkin beer of the year and a chai pumpkin ale.

Eating Chalk

Tag Archives: sweet

Christmas Cheer

It’s Beginning To Taste A Lot Like Christmas

…And A Partridge In A Pear Tree!

Naughty Or Vice

Stuffed With Joy

Gingerbread Galore

A New York Weekend

All Hallow’s Eats