Sub, Hoagie, Grinder, Hero

It is no longer coat weather in NYC, woo-hoo! Other highlights from the week…

Banana bread frozen coffee. Coffee blended with ice, cream, frozen banana, cinnamon, brown sugar, butter extract, and vanilla protein powder.

The rest of the week I did this cookie x cookie combo. The Javy cookies and cream coffee concentrate and Chobani cookie dough creamer were both good but not great.

Beautiful nougat candies my parents made for Easter.

This week’s dinner theme was sandwiches so of course I had some peanut butter and jelly snacks. Yogurt bowl – plain skyr with chunky peanut butter, concord grape jam, and blueberries.

Reese’s peanut butter and jelly big cups(!!!). These were 10/10’s (but still not as good as the chip ones!).

Egg salad. Whole-wheat bread with egg salad (hard-boiled eggs, mayo, Dijon mustard, plain skyr, scallion, poblano, and cornichons). Plus baby carrots and blueberries.

Turkey meatball. Brioche buns with Trader Joe’s pizza sauce and baked turkey meatballs (with pizza cheese, panade, and tons of garlic). Plus roasted broccoli.

Spicy chicken. Whole wheat bread, baked chicken (marinated in yogurt and Sriracha), chunky peanut butter, Kewpie, Trader Joe’s sweet and spicy jalopenos, and sharp cheddar. Plus steamed green beans sauteed with caramelized kimchi and Dijon mustard.

Tuna smash-melts. Tuna salad (canned albacore tuna and smoked trout, capers, scallion, sweet gherkins, mayo, Kewpie, Dijon mustard, and paprika) and sharp cheddar on a brioche bun that I squashed in a skillet with butter. Plus roasted zucchini.

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Highlights from the week…

New York Beanery is doing a pistachio cold foam iced mocha special. The pistachio, while a lovely green, could have been more flavorful but I loved their mocha.

My homemade blueberry iced latte was better – coffee blended with brown sugar, vanilla protein powder, and frozen wild blueberries.

This week’s yogurt bowl – plain skyr with Kodiak cookie butter granola (fantastic) and blackberries and blueberries.

An array of watermelon things. 9/10 for all but positioned from least to most favorite.

Whole Food’s pie cookies are great. These were pineapple and guava. <– this is foreshadowing

Tuna salad sandwiches. Canned tuna with mayo, dijon, chopped pickles, scallions, and crushed bbq kettle chips on toasted Trader Joe’s whole-wheat bread with gouda spread.

Monday night Adam and I met up at Gup Shup for dinner in the city and had the best Indian food in recent memory. I had a non-alcoholic refresher with kokum and fig purée, mint leaf, and club soda. Adam had a cocktail with clarified tamarind that I will be going back for.

We shared a bunch of things and ended up with to die for leftovers. Mutton Sukka – goat meat, onion-curry leaf, black pepper, bone marrow stock, and malabar parotta (poppy seed).

Butter Paneer Masala. I was pleasantly surprised by how spicy this dish was.

Chicken Biryani with saffron basmati rice and burani raita. This was the most succulent and flavorful chicken. The dish came topped with a seeded bread dome that they excavated tableside.

Our favorite dish was Nizaam’s Haleem – lamb shank cooked overnight, haleem garnish, and butter naan.

Dessert was fantastic too; carrot halwa with gajar halwa ice cream from Caffè Panna.

Friday night we made a homemade pizza pie for Pi Day! Two ingredient crust topped with spinach pesto (spinach and basil food-processed with water, evoo, salt, pepper, and parmesan), extra-sharp cheddar, and tons of sauteed mushrooms.

I, of course, actually did a Pie Week. Turkey cottage pie. I loosely followed this recipe but used ground turkey and added baked cauliflower rice.

And chicken tot pie.

I very loosely followed this recipe but added sauteed mushrooms and substituted frozen potato tots for crust.

Long/Mom Weekend

My mom was in New York this weekend! She came up to see our condo and celebrate her birthday next weekend. We had a fabulous time and did all sorts of NYC things like – admiring the ceiling at Grand Central Station / admiring the ceiling at Albertine Bookstore / admiring the ceiling at Chelsea Market / admiring the snow in Central Park / shopping in Greenpoint / getting a flight of fruity milkshake beers at Evil Twin.

Here were some food highlights…

Morning coffees at home with this power duo (brown butter cookie cold foam!!?).

Egg foam Vietnamese coffee from Larry’s Ca Phe.


Brunch at Empire Dinner. The roasted broccolini was a standout. And I had the perfect bite of mac and cheese, egg yolk, and Calabrian chili.

Luke’s Lobster roll flight with original, honey butter, and truffle.

Tofu sandwich with cabbage, scallion tahini sauce, and chili crisp from Radio Bakery.

Tuna melt slider at Twenty Grams Cafe.

The best dinner at Hellbender. We ended with every dessert on the menu (chocolate mousse, churros, coffee tres leches, strawberry chamoy jello).

Girl Dinner

Five things from the weekend…

Iced espresso with maple cinnamon cold foam at Wired Coffee House.

Pumpkin croissant from Buttercooky Bakery.

These Pop Daddy dill pickle pretzel sticks are delightful; savory but not too sour.

Dinner at Mekelburg’s. I ordered girl dinner – kale salad (with carrots, green apple, and candied sesame croutons) and curly fries with honey mustard.

Plus I stole half of Adam’s giant, wonderful tuna melt.

And had a spicy passionfruit mezcal margarita.

Baked buffalo chicken meatballs. Ground chicken with salt, pepper, smoked paprika, panko, Franks, half and half, green onions, sharp cheddar, and cream cheese. Plus roasted cauliflower.

Pita Pita

Some things from the past week…

We had the best coffee of our entire lives at Caphe Den. A (thick, delicious) phin brew topped with egg cream.

Homemade iced coffee with rose vanilla syrup.

Chia Smash chocolate peanut butter and raspberry jam bites are wonderfully tasty and satisfying.

I didn’t really like this brownie batter Noosa. Will I accept that I don’t like sweet yogurts? Never.

Reese’s Big Cups with gooey chocolate are the best candy on Earth; amazingly, they are even better than the chip ones.

Mochi breads from Croffle House. These were great. We got sweet potato, chestnut (our favorite), and pumpkin.

Pita pocket dinners! Cheeseburger-inspired. Sauteed ground turkey with green onions, pickles, and ketchup/mayo/yellow mustard/Greek yogurt, plus sharp cheddar. With sauteed broccoli slaw.

Tuna melt. A mix of canned tuna and smoked trout with Greek yogurt, mayo, pickle juice, capers, and green onion. With sharp cheddar and fried in an egregious amount of butter. Plus steamed green beans sauteed with butter, lemon juice, and garlic.

Mediterranean salmon. Frozen salmon patties with a homemade tzatziki (yogurt with lemon, cucumber, and ranch seasoning). Plus sauteed baby zucchini with capers and roasted red pepper.

Homemade pita chips! With roasted broccoli, honey nut squash (our favorite), red kuri squash (not for us, apparently), and salmon candy spread.

Plus a perfect take-out dinner. Memphis bbq rub popcorn chicken and cajun fries with peanut sauce steamed rice rolls. I also had some leftover broccoli and baby carrots with my dipping sauces (bbq and Cane’s – we stopped in to buy a Diet Coke and I wisely also purchased a single sauce!).

P.S. It is Pumpkin Month tomorrow!!

Americana Idiot

My other song title option was “Like It Was 1980,” and if you don’t get that reference you are sorely missing out! This week’s dinner theme was Americana/nostalgia. We made Salisbury steak, tuna pasta salad, macaroni and cheese, and chili and grilled cheese sandwiches!

Highlights from the past four days include…

After-school snacks. Apple + peanut butter (I didn’t have mini marshmallows to make smiles!). This was a Sugar Bee apple and it was wonderfully crisp and sweet.

Important note – the Whole Foods unsweetened crunchy peanut butter is wonderful. It is some of the best I’ve ever had and certainly outranks the other options at this price point. Just peanuts and salt.

This week’s yogurt bowl combo was plain skry, blackberries, peanut butter, and Nature’s Path honey almond granola.

Love Corn bbq corn nuts. These have a very satisfying consistency.

Junior Mints minis are fantastic. They are like the popping boba of chocolate candies.

Fun in sparkling waters – Target caffeinated cherry cola and Ruby tart hibiscus. Both were an 8/10.

I had never actually tried Salisbury steak before but I loved it. We loosely followed this recipe but I used ground turkey and way more mushrooms. Plus roasted purple and Japanese sweet potato and zucchini.

I did not use Italian dressing in my tuna pasta though that is how I grew up eating it. Whole-wheat macaroni, canned tuna, roasted zucchini, edamame, extra-sharp cheddar, and balsamic vinegar. Maybe Italian is the way to go though? Adam and I both went back and topped our bowls with hot sauce.

Macaroni and cheese muffins. I used extra-sharp cheddar instead of parmesan and added mustard powder. Plus roasted broccoli.

Plus we had bbq Wilde chicken chips.

Chili = ground turkey, celery, white onion, fire-roasted tomatoes, fire-roasted green chiles, kidney beans, chicken broth, evoo, salt, pepper, and smoked paprika. I topped my bowl with plain yogurt and hot sauce. Plus I made amazing grilled cheese sandwiches; the filling was a mixture of extra-sharp cheddar, marinated artichoke hearts, mayo, white pepper, mustard powder, and a pinch of sugar.

Frozen Eggnog

Highlights from the weekend (including some highlights of the whole damn year!)…

Eggnog dalgona iced coffee – after driving around with cocoa and the dog to look at lights this is our favorite holiday tradition.

Peppermint white mocha iced latte from Buzzed. We also shared an eggnog cold foam cold brew and were pleased with both. I wouldn’t go back all the time but I will definitely check out their next seasonal specials.

I’Milky oat milk iced matcha with chestnut creme. I was mostly getting this to be seasonal but we ended up both loving it – super balanced and satisfying.

Petit Chou tropical tres leches cake with a layer of jammy pineapple. I need to try more things from this spot.

Spudsy sweet potato snacks. I thought these would be like Chex Mix but they were actually the size of a small clementine.

Comfortland frozen eggnog (15/10) and a chocolate, coconut, marshmallow doughnut. This was the best doughnut I’ve ever eaten; the outside was sugary and crispy.

We also got the Everything Everywhere Tots at Once special – with cheddar, hot honey, marinated ribeye, gochujang aioli, ranch, chives, and everything bagel seasoning.

Brunch at Madre. This spot deserves the hype – the space was beautiful, the service was great, the food was all wonderful. We shared a Granddaddy Purp – sake, lavender, plum, cereal milk, and egg white. Gorgeous and delicious.

El Sancho – mezcal, apricot, campari, habenero, and cinnamon.

Jalapeño cornbread madelines with whipped honey butter.

The burger with gruyere and fennel slaw (didn’t make my top five but definitely in the top ten and Adam loved it).

And the brown butter french toast with caramel and roasted banana.

Scooping/dipping dinner. Baked wontons with togarashi / roasted broccoli / blended tuna salad – with smoked trout, mayo, and capers / pimento cheese dip – warm with honey and spiced pecans on top.

P.S. We checked out the Rockefellers tree and it was totally stunning and worth the crowd!

(Pepper)Mint To Be

Highlights from a tasty week…

Peppermint coffee – candy cane cold brew from Blank Street.

This week’s home coffee combo wasn’t my best. I did not care for the Browny cold brew, too sour. The Ronnybrook egg nog was crazy thick, almost too thick, so it was good but not my favorite.

Peppermint breakfast – a chocolate mint Perfect Bar and a peppermint mocha La Colombe can.

Peppermint doughnut – Doughnut Project‘s peppermint bark.

Peppermint watermelon is my favorite Aura Bora seltzer flavor.

Peppermint booze – Smirnoff peppermint vodka with lime and club soda (and food coloring!).

Six Point Bone Chill pear and spruce double IPA (8.5/10).

Peppermint mini meringues – from Trader Joes. 

Peppermint ice cream – with candy cane bits, fudge, and cookies.

I had the day off on Thursday and spent the afternoon admiring decorations in the city and got lunch at Chelsea Market. Very Fresh Noodles‘ very spicy vegan dan dan mian. These were super spicy and numbing and wonderful and topped with crunchy soybeans and cucumber salad that were the perfect foils.

It was Adam’s birthday on Monday and his dinner choice was Subway. I got a tuna salad sub with mustard, pickles, banana peppers, and cheese. Plus leftovers from Sunday in Brooklyn – brussel sprouts and the amazing roast chicken.

And I made him his favorite cinnamon brownies – just the Bakers Chocolate one-bowl recipe with 1 cup of chocolate chips instead of nuts and 2 tsp of cinnamon extract instead of vanilla.

Salad #1 – romaine / homemade ranch dressing – sour cream, dijon mustard, ranch seasoning / red bell pepper / pickled banana peppers / homemade croutons / baked chicken – marinated in Greek yogurt and banana pepper juice.

Salad #2 – romaine / homemade ranch dressing – sour cream, Cholula, lime, ranch seasoning / sauteed ground turkey with Rotel / avocado / hot honey cashews.

Salad #3 – mixed greens / homemade miso dressing – with brown sugar, lime, rice vinegar, and soy sauce / homemade baked wonton crisps with togarashi / cucumber / water chestnuts / baked extra-firm tofu coated in a mix of honey mustard pretzel and roasted seaweed.