It’s Apple Month!

by Emily

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.

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

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

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.And this cake flavored marshmallow dipped in white chocolate and stuffed with birthday cake cookie dough!Trader Joe’s scallion pancakes are always exciting. Or maybe Kewpie and Sriracha are exciting?I 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.

23Aug2019

BLT FTW

by Emily

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.

Hey Day Cold Brew.

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

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.

This mango and nut mix is perfectly spicy-sweet.

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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.

Leftover salad with delicious crab cakes that my cousin made.

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

17Aug2019

All By Myself

by Emily

<– that title is facetious, I’m actually living with my cousin and her fiance and they are taking very good care of me! But this was my first week surviving solo without Adam and Webster. On a related note, look at the stickers I just bought!!!

We had a fantastic, fantasmic, over-the-top wonderful vacation, by the way! We hung out with some of our favorite people, ate some of our favorite things, and got to walk up and down the beach fifteen times, all the while exclaiming how beautiful the water was.

I brought back the best ever cold brew (Grady’s) from New York.

Plus my new favorite cup, from St. Thomas!

I got back to Charlottesville from New York on Sunday night so I didn’t have time for a grocery trip this week which meant I mostly ate a bunch of (tasty) nonsense. Like cafeteria food that I carted home. Chicken tenders + fries + seaweed salad.

A Beyond Burger with hot sauce and tomatoes.

And Wegman’s hot bar. I pretty much got every chicken and vegetable option from the “Asian” section.

One night my cousin threw a dinner party and cooked an honest-to-god, grown up meal – eggplant parmesan and garlic bread (plus a fancy cheese plate and homemade chocolate chip cookies).

And Thursday I finally made it to free pretzel night at Hardywood because my work hosted an after-hours journal club there.

19Jul2019

Vanilla Beans And David Bowie

by Emily

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!

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.

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

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.

Goses. Passion fruit and sour tropic fruit.

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.

12Jul2019

Local Love

by Emily

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.

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

28Jun2019

Super Salad

by Emily

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.

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

This cranberry sour ale was a total winner.

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

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.

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!

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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21Jun2019

On The Move

by Emily

It was an odd week here because we are moving all of our stuff to New York today. Note – we’re not moving, all of our stuff is moving; we’re living out of suitcases in Charlottesville for the next month+. Anyway, I was afraid to dirty anything in the kitchen while we were trying to sort and pack so 90% of our food this week came in a take-out box.

Here were the highlights…

Coffee combo – Starbucks Komodo Dragon blend with sweetened condensed milk.

This month’s Snack Crate from Poland.

Poke bowl from Poke Bowl. Sushi rice with tofu, krab, cucumber, edamame, spicy mayo, seaweed salad, green onions, and onion crisps.

Dumplings from Got Dumplings. More seaweed salad plus tofu dumplings and curry chicken dumplings.

One night we did sneak away from packing to get dinner and play in trivia night at Firefly.

I had a mango margarita and totchos – tater tots with house-made cheese sauce, avocado, pico de gallo, black beans, and sour cream.

We are crossing our fingers for a smooth move today and then tomorrow we’re heading to Pennsylvania for some friends’ wedding. Hope everyone has a nice weekend!

14Jun2019

I’m Not Crabby About It

by Emily

Highlights from the week…

Coffee combo = Trader Joe’s Kona with chocolate milk.

My snacks were all 10/10 this week! TJ’s newest candy bar – white and dark chocolate with mini gummi bears. I love the chocolate + gummi combo.

CoolHaus milk and cookie crumb. CH is quickly becoming my favorite ice cream brand.

A Monster smoothie at Juice Laundry – cacao, cashew butter, banana, dates, and almond milk.

Crazy good buffalo chicken pizza from Whole Foods.

My dinners were not bad either. I made crab salad! Lump crab meat with mayo, dijon, lemon, paprika, and celery. Served on butter toasted whole wheat hot dog buns. Plus sauteed kale with lemon, celery, and onion.

I turned my leftover salad into an okonomiyaki-esque crab pancake with flour, water, ginger, and eggs. Plus roasted green beans on the side.

Another night I stuffed a hot dog bun with two turkey dogs and ketchup. Plus rainbow cauliflower (a frozen bag from TJ’s sauteed with taco seasoning, lime, and butter) and potato wedge fries from Wegman’s hot bar.

Finally, we made cauliflower quesadillas that actually turned out pretty yummy. Plus a side of fajita veggies.

Eating Chalk

Tag Archives: veggies

It’s Apple Month!

BLT FTW

All By Myself

Vanilla Beans And David Bowie

Local Love

Super Salad

On The Move

I’m Not Crabby About It