Goodbye, 2014! Weekly Wrap-Up

by Emily

I cannot believe that it is almost 2015! Doesn’t it sometimes feel like life is flying by? I hate the idea of waking up late and tired in a new year, so our big plans for NYE consist of cuddling on the couch and trying to get in bed extra early.

Posting my recap a few days ahead of schedule so I can feel like I wrapped up one final thing…

breakfast

Yummy hot chocolate and an apple.

After coffee, obviously. Per usual, I was all about the coffee.

This giant (I had a freebie) was an iced vanilla latte with extra espresso.

I have been weirdly obsessed with vanilla all week and it’s making me kind of crazy; I don’t even like vanilla! You’ll see Greek and frozen vanilla yogurts below, and I’m pretty much going to die if I don’t find pudding this weekend. Hopefully this craving will pass soon.

lunch

Salted caramel Greek yogurt with coconut butter and an apple on the side.

Plus a vegan monster cookie sandwich from Babycakes. <– amaze!

And some jerky while I did my charting.

Tuesday I got lunch from the cafeteria that tasted better than it looked.

A strange Caesar pasta salad (it was chicken and dressing with pasta AND croutons?!) topped with mushrooms and broccoli from the salad bar.

Another day I brought in dinner leftovers.

Apple on the side; I had SweeTango and Kiku this week and both were great.

snacks

Chocolate! Some nice (this Coffee & Cream bar from Theo is gritty good),

and some inedible.

Sorry, Mom, this Christmas gift was too spicy.

Adam is now as obsessed with this fruit mix as I am.

But no one is as obsessed with vanilla as I am currently! Vanilla bean yogurt with some candy cane Oreos crushed in it.

And vanilla frozen yogurt with sprinkles.

This was literally the first time I’ve even ever tasted vanilla froyo. Who orders vanilla?! But today I looooved it.

dinner

A dinner in three parts – (1) Leftover, cold, spicy cashew chicken straight from the container.

(2) A tray of roasted green beans with truffle salt. I have been finding green beans to be particularly buttery tasting lately.

And finally, (3) a chile relleno from Trader Joe’s.

The chile looks a little rough but it was so yummy; cheesy without being too heavy.

We went with the TJ’s freezer section the next night as well.

Pad See Ew and orange chicken with broccoli.

We wouldn’t get the chicken again, but years ago we had the vegan version of it and loved it.

Tonight we were supposed to eat lentils with broccoli and coconut rice.

That bowl is in the garbage. Apparently I have forgotten how to cook lentils that don’t taste like dirt. It looks like I’ll be ending the year with take-out instead.

Happy New Year’s Eve!!

27Dec2014

Season’s Eatings; Christmas Wrap-Up

by Emily

Merriment and good cheer all around! I hope my readers who celebrate had a merry Christmas. Adam, Webster, and I cuddled around the fireplace (Netflix had a fireplace video complete with crackles!) and had a grand time.

It’s been a busy week of eating, so instead of the typical wrap-up I’m just going to share some of the amazing seasonal goodies I enjoyed…

Lump of Coal dark holiday stout. So good, we were impressed.

Yes, you see crackers in the background. We made a cheese plate for Christmas dinner and it was just wonderful.

Stumptown Winter Cheer Cold Brew split with the husband on Christmas morning. Also so good, festive but not too spicy.

A big batch of cold brew which I mixed with low-fat eggnog for ahh-mazing breakfast coffees all week.

Paired with holiday bars.

Mint sparkling water from Whole Foods that rocked my face off. Not as good as the strawberry variety, but a close second, especially when paired with a candy cane that my coworker delivered.

Gingerbread Greek yogurt for lunch. I enjoyed this even more than I was expecting to because it was sooo thick.

Awesome pasta. Leftover snow-shape pasta tossed with turkey bacon, sautéed mushrooms, onion, and kale, and hunks of creamy blue cheese Cambozola.

Egg ‘n’ Grog pie from Four and Twenty Blackbirds. Basically creamy, sweet rum in a gingersnap crust. Heavenly.

Growing up, for as long as I can remember, my family would open stockings and then eat scrambled eggs with red and green peppers before opening Christmas presents, so you know what we ate for brunch on Thursday.

Bonus – two off-theme snacks that were too good not to share. The juice bar at Whole Foods is great, unsurprisingly, but the make-your-own option was surprisingly cheap. I recommend this combo.

This Crispy, Crunchy, Mixed Fruit – coconut, pineapple, mango, and jackfruit – is fan-freaking-tastic! I seriously could not stop eating it. Crunch City.

Does your family have a Christmas food tradition?

22Dec2014

Weekend Wrap-Up; Coffees and Burgers

by Emily

Hooray for low-key weekends with lots of dog snuggles! We spent lots of time on the couch, but I did manage to pre-prepare dinner for the next few nights (go me!).

coffees

We went to a new coffee spot in Great Neck to get me a Christmallow latte.

It was only ok, not as exciting as it looked, but I had practically been having a heart attack about getting one so at least I can shut up now.

Much better was the espresso I mixed with eggnog at home.

That ‘nog is low-fat but it is damn good, super creamy.

burgers

We ate burgers for dinner and brunch on Sunday. Bareburger for a classic first.

Turkey on a bun with grilled onions, mustard, ketchup, and tons of pickles.

Plus a smokey bloody mary made with bbq sauce.

And I stole many bites of Adam’s fried extravaganza chicken and waffle plate.

The balls towards the back were banana fritters.

Dinner was homemade round 2.

My Jalopeno Popper Turkey Burgers (one of my best recipes!) with cheddar on top.

Plus roasted broccoli.

And fries from Trader Joe’s.

So good!

also

The above wasn’t everything I ate this weekend, obviously, but there wasn’t much else worth mentioning. I will brag about getting dinner on the table like a boss on Saturday though.

We had a party to go to with Adam’s friends and I managed to get us fed by 6 pm versus the usual 9. And that was with a dinner-prep drink!

I made a dish from Cooking Light with some snowman pasta.

And roasted up these cool kale-brussels hybrids.

We thought they were quite tasty.

Hope everyone has a great, festive week!

20Dec2014

Five Things – Weekly Wrap Up

by Emily

five things i ate last week

{1} Really great breakfasts.

I killed it on the breakfast front this week. Two different days I managed to bring in yogurt (TJ’s strawberry and then 2% plain Fage) with tons of pomegranate and blackberries for topping.

Plus I had cold-brew coffee with soy nog for the train.

Another day I did toast, followed by a juicy apple, and caramel hot chocolate to spruce up my coffee at work.

{2} Party food!

My lunches were a bit ridiculous this week, lots of work parties to attend. First, the Dietitian party.

My profession always has the best food. Salad, fruit salad, glass noodles with shrimp, and chicken Pad Thai.

Plus lots of dessert.

And later in the week there was a hospital wide celebration.

Salad, green beans, jerk chicken, eggroll, macaroni. Plus a chocolate fountain.

{3} Sandwiches, still.

The days without parties, I was still loving the cafeteria sandwiches. Jerk sliced chicken with mayo, mustard, provolone, and lettuce.

Plus a similar ‘wich with seaweed and a tangerine from home on the side.

{4} Dinner at Whole Foods.

We went on the first night of Hannukah hoping to find lattkes on the hot bar. No such luck, but we did make super tasty giant salad bowls. P.S. That seltzer was so good that I went back and bought a case of them!

Salad base with yummy chipotle almond dressing, tons of shredded veggies, roasted veggies, and a big scoop of mac and cheese.

And we stopped at Ample Hills to check out the seasonal flavor on the way home.

Did not disappoint.

{5} Super thick hot chocolate.

I made my own (super thick) hot chocolate. But I messed up the proportion of things a bit so the recipe is still not ready to share.

It looked good though!

five things i read/watched/listened to

{1} “Take Me to Church” from Hozier. I am still obsessed.

{2} “Snowfall” from Ingrid Michelson. This is my all-time favorite “Christmas song.”

{3} Blood, Bones, & Butter, Chef Gabrielle Hamilton of Prune’s memoir. <– do not recommend. Parts of the story were great, but I wasn’t a fan over her writing style and by the end I wasn’t a fan of her either.

{4} The mid-season finale of “Brooklyn-99.” Loooove.

{5} “Rick and Morty,” an amazingly smart and funny cartoon that we just discovered.

five things from instagram

{1} My new favorite top ever, a sweater my parents sent me with a giant icebear.

{2} I’m super proud of this wrapping job I did on my in-laws’ Christmas present… working a toy store over the holiday season in Buffalo definitely taught me a few things.

{3} Another shot of that tasty marshmallow I ate in the Bryant Park Winter Village.

{4} I like this drawing, but I took this photo back in November, before Thanksgiving! Slow down!

{5} Puppy love. His fat little arms slay me.

Have a great weekend!

8Dec2014

Doughnuts And Coffee; Weekend Wrap-Up

by Emily

coffee, coffee

So, you know how we’re obsessed with coffee? Like, problematically obsessed? I might like it as much as Diet Coke. This post is going to include a coffee brewer review. Adam, who drinks at least two cups a day, prefers his hot. I get iced 95% of the time, but when I’m home I’ll drink it hot if it’s fresh. Long story short – even though I mostly stick with cold-brew in my French press, we do in fact need a more traditional brewing option in the house. So when iCoffee offered to send me an Opus Single-Serve Brewer to review, I said “yes!”

Please note – this product was sent to me free of charge to review. I was not provided with further compensation for this post. All opinions are my own.

According to the company, the iCoffee system uses steam to help create a nice, smooth, non-bitter flavor. A patent-pending SpinBrew needle spins, steams and stirs the coffee inside of the single-serve cup, creating a mini-French Press effect that cannot be achieved by other brewers.

The Opus has a “Dial-a-Brew” control which allows you to customize strength and taste by choosing any brew size between 4 and 12 ounces in half-ounce increments. It can brew 10 ounces in less than 60 seconds, so it’s nice and quick. The drip tray is magnetic, so it can pull out to accommodate my tall go-cup.

They sent me a few cups to get me started. Adam had one of the Marley Coffees and loved it.

The Opus is cool because it is compatible with all k-type cups, including K-Cup, RealCup, OneCup and all private label cups (unlike the Keurig system that only uses K-cups). That said, I find single use cups to be insanely wasteful, the reason I accepted the brewer to review is because it is compatible with a reusable iCup.

I have made a few cups that way with the coffee we already had at home (marshmallow flavored!) and it’s all worked out quite well. I could see how the cup could have the propensity to break but replacements are only $12.95.

In short – we are fans! We would rate the system 4.5+ out of 5 and plan on giving it a permanent spot on our countertop.

copycat Chipotle bowls

Another thing we’re obsessed with? Loaded rice bowls from Chipotle. After making (multiple!) weekly Chipotle runs for the past several months it was time for us to finally make our own at home.

So many layers of flavor! Including:

jasmine rice with chopped cilantro and lime juice stirred in
sautéed mushroom, onion, and green pepper
corn sautéed with chopped jalopeño
black beans reheated with cilantro and lime juice
chicken that was marinated with lime juice, sugar, and green tomatillo salsa
shredded cheese, light sour cream, and homemade guacamole

So darn good!

And round two the next night – topped with green Tabasco – was just as good, maybe even better.

Plus we split a Warlock.

And a Mokaccino TCHO bar that we brought home from Blue Bottle in San Francisco.

Roasty good.

coffee and doughnuts

On Sunday we did a bit of a walking brunch around Chelsea in Manhattan. Stumptown Coffee –> Doughnut Plant –> Blue Bottle Coffee –> Doughnuttery. It was great fun!

We shared cold brew and an espresso at Stumptown.

It was my first time at the Ace Hotel, which is stunning.

Then made our way to Doughnut Plant.

We shared a hazelnut chocolate doughseed which was only ok.

And I got a Tres Leches filled caked doughnut that was amazing.

Best doughnut I’ve eaten all year. The filling was definitely reminiscent of Tres Leches and the doughnut had a great, crisp crust. I’ve been wanting to go get this flavor since last summer and it did not disappoint.

Doughnuttery ended up not appealing to us, but we did enjoy another cold brew from Blue Bottle.

I told you we have a coffee problem!

city living

We may not have gotten Doughnuttery, but it brought us into Chelsea Market which we loved the crap out of.

It was gorgeous (Christmas decorations!),

and there were so many tasty things that we want to try.

We’ll be back.

Instead we headed uptown to Xi’an Famous Foods for hand-pulled noodles.

Flipping yum! I went with the vegetarian spicy noodles and they rocked my socks off. The chew was out of control.

Meanwhile Adam was positively swooning over his pork bowl.

Then we went to Rockefeller Center and stared at the tree.

I ♥ New York!

25Nov2014

The Slanted Woods {San Francisco}

by Emily

Wednesday morning we stopped at Peet’s for an eggnog iced coffee to go with my Ferry Building farmer’s market pear.

Then we made our way over the bridge through the pouring rain,

and up to Muir Woods for a stunningly beautiful hike.

We bought trusty $4 ponchos to get us through the 4+ miles in the downpour, but I wasn’t able to take many pictures.

Mostly we just got shots of Adam and me being goofballs.

We got completely soaked but still had a wonderful time.

Afterwards we went back to the hotel to dry off before our late lunch at Coqueta, a Spanish tapas place that knocked our socks off.

My cocktail – cream sherry, Luxardo amaretto, sherry vinegar, Manchego, and golden raisins – was one of the best I’ve ever had.

We split a variety of small plates, all of which we enjoyed greatly.

Huevos Nacional – deviled eggs filled with spring pea, smoked pimenton alioli, on pickled saffron potatoes and olive oil poached bonito.

Housemade potato chips with shaved Manchego and vermouth vinegar salsa. A play on bagels and lox of smoked salmon, queso fresco, and truffle honey.

Wild and cultivated mushrooms with garlic, chili, and sherry.

And Catalan-style vineyard greens with a caper-raisin puree, raisins, pine nuts, and garlic. <– my favorite dish of the day

For dessert we did caramel popcorn with Manchego cheesecakes that were amazing caramel lollipops with a liquid cheese filling.

And churros with drinking chocolate and a mixed berry powder for dipping.

Every last bite of this meal was inventive, fresh, and freaking delicious.

After more walking,

a stop at Humphry Slocombe for fluffernutter ice cream with butterscotch sauce, (<– Adam got ice cream almost every day)

and a New Orleans style coffee from Blue Bottle,

we were ready to drink our dinner at 21st Amendment Brewery.

21st Amendment brews Hell or High Watermelon, one of my top favorite beers, so we were excited to taste our way through their menu.

We shared Hell or High Watermelon, Vina, Framboise Forte D’or, Belgian Chocolate Stout, and a yummy honey meade from a guest brewery.

Also, a giant plate of fried cheese curds.

Ridiculous! And we were completely sober by the time we finished the 4 mile trek back to the hotel.

Thursday morning I fueled up with a praline chestnut latte and a local apple.

Plus a great rose macaron that we picked up along the way.

But the super steep hills still totally kicked my butt.

We were supposed to spend the morning in Golden Gate Park but unfortunately the crazy rain scared us away. We ended up eating our way through Japantown.

And actually even getting some Whole Foods hot bar while we hid and tried to keep dry.

Thankfully our afternoon plans were an indoor tour/tasting at Anchor Brewery.

We had a great time and definitely recommend it.

The rain cleared up in the afternoon while we spent some time in Chinatown.

And Boba Guys served us the best bubble teas of the year.

My almond milk coffee with boba and housemade almond jelly was delicious.

Then we were back to the Market Building where we couldn’t resist a final Vietnamese iced coffee from Out the Door.

An ironic choice considering our dinner reservations.

The Slanted Door has been on my list for years and it did not disappoint.

Piña colada – El Dorado 3 year white rum, house coconut cream, fresh pressed pineapple juice, pineapple gum, and lime.

Adam got a truly fabulous steak and I did three veggie options for my meal. Fried kabocha squash – palm sugar & lime caramel sauce, thai basil.

A green papaya salad – pickled carrot, rau ram, crispy shallot, roasted peanut – that was my favorite dish of the day.

And the Catalan Farm spicy broccoli – braised tofu, lion’s mane mushroom. The spongy mushrooms were so cool!

We did another round of churros for dessert.

As well as a brown butter cake trifle with huckleberries, lemon curd, and hibiscus meringue.

The meringues were as tasty as they were gorgeous. A great way to end our fourth day!

24Nov2014

San Francisco Recap, Day 1 & 2

by Emily

If you follow me on instagram you’ve already figured this out, but {surprise!} I’ve been in San Francisco for the past week. Adam had the last two weeks of November for vacation again this year so I took the time off as well. We spent week 1 on the West coast and now we are headed off to Ohio for Thanksgiving family time. So far it’s been great!

I have a ton to share from SF – we basically walked and ate all day, every day – so I’m going to try to keep myself from being too wordy, but I’ll still need to split this up into three posts…

We had non-stop flights each way which was awesome. Monday we flew out around noon so we had a little time at home in the morning and then with the time change a full afternoon of vacation. Plus there was free television and movies on the plane which was basically the most exciting thing ever.

Plane food. Coffee, plus a white cheddar and pumpkin butter sandwich and tasty pretzel sticks.

The time flew by and before we knew it we were struggling up super steep hills on our way to dinner.

We had a late reservation so we stopped for bubble tea first. Brown sugar ice milk with egg pudding and grass jelly. Apparently I love egg pudding. And grass jelly.

And we got to keep our cool bottles.

Dinner was Waterbar, a sustainable seafood spot right near the Bay Bridge.

I got a cocktail with Buffalo Trace bourbon, Heering cherry liqueur, Benedictine, and orange zest.

We split a leek and parsnip soup with smoked trout that was very yummy (I had lots of good trout this trip).

And for dinner I did pan-roasted sablefish – caught in Fort Bragg, CA – with globe artichokes, butterball potato, grapefruit, nicoise olives, and chervil.

I adored the artichokes, but sadly didn’t like my fish at all. This was the only meal that I didn’t love on the trip. My food was practically floating in a watery sauce and I hate that. Adam, on the other hand, thought my dish was great and basically licked his plate clean. He enjoyed his ono with uni butter so much that I still definitely consider the meal a win.

And we did have brown sugar brioche bread pudding, with butterscotch pecan ice cream, for a fabulous dessert.

’twas a great first night.

Tuesday morning we headed out for a run in the neighborhood around our hotel. We ended up happening on the Palace of Fine Arts. It was beyond gorgeous.

I am so glad we got to see it.

We had a beautiful morning exploring Fisherman’s Wharf.

Including a stop for a fresh bowl of crab chowder.

We took the ferry for a tour of Alcatraz.

Then we spent the afternoon at the Ferry Building Marketplace.

We loved it there and went back almost every subsequent day. I was crazy jealous of people buying fancy mushrooms.

We shared a greens 2 juice from Pressed.

An iced coffee with milk and sugar from Blue Bottle.

And a Duck Yeah sundae – vanilla ice cream on duck fat pecan pie – from Humphry Slocombe.

I thought the ice cream was great, but not as good as Ample Hills. Adam looooooved it.

We also hit up Slanted Door’s Out the Door for Vietnamese iced coffee and buns.

Chicken bun for me.

We had dinner reservations at SD later in the week and this first taste got us very amped up.

We spent the rest of the afternoon walking around the piers and staring at the sea lions.

Snacks included salt water taffy,

chunks torn off a loaf of sourdough from Boudin,

and a very lackluster drinking chocolate from Ghiradelli.

The chocolate was literally the only dish that didn’t knock our socks off all week, a pretty good track record if you ask me.

We were exhausted from walking around all day so we did Mexican take-out and hotel room cable tv for dinner.

Mushroom nachos for me.

It was a great first two days!!

Wednesday and Thursday coming tomorrow…

14Nov2014

Weekly Wrap Up

by Emily

As of this morning, the cold of winter is finally here. Ugh. But I had a good final week of thin hoodies and no gloves. Good eats too! I did a lot of train eating – bars for breakfast, guava cheese empanadas… – but the LIRR was too packed for stealthy photography. Here’s what I did capture…

breakfast {coffee, coffee, coffee}

Never hot, I don’t care if it drops below zero, you can pry my iced coffee out of my cold, dead hands.

Chameleon cold brew with the last of the honey almond milk, which I loved.

Espresso! With milk and sugar.

I tried the chestnut praline latte from Starbucks. I really liked it.

Marshmallow cold brew.

lunch

Turkey, sharp cheddar, and pumpkin butter sandwich on a pumpkin spice English muffin. With an apple and bbq chips.

Plus the last cookie.

Maple raisin oatmeal with a red pear.

And an afternoon treat of Turkish coffee that a coworker brought in.

Dannon Creamery cherry cheesecake (yum, much better than the strawberry!) with chopped strawberries and blueberries. TJ’s kale chips. I passed the kale around the breakroom and my coworkers all said they might buy some themselves.

Dannon Creamery vanilla pudding with strawberries, plus the last of the kale chips and bbq chips. This was the best store-bought pudding I’ve ever tasted. And Adam stole the milk chocolate pudding and loved it.

I tried, and did not love, the new Coke.

dinner

When I got home on Monday, dinner was waiting in the crockpot for me.

Chicken with bbq sauce, smoked brown sugar, and fresh cranberries. I ate mine on a big bed of spinach.

We had salted caramel cheesecake and a yummy pumpkin beer for dessert.

Pizza and salad.

A giant bbq chicken slice from Pinos. The crust on these is amazing, super fluffy and light but still crunchy.

Plus Whole Foods hot bar – garlic broccoli, pickled cucumber, and salad with veggies on top.

We also got hot chocolate that we’d been excited about all week – supposedly it was made with ganache – that ended up being a big cup of hot milk.

You cant win ’em all.

Eating Chalk

Tag Archives: veggies

Goodbye, 2014! Weekly Wrap-Up

breakfast

lunch

snacks

dinner

Season’s Eatings; Christmas Wrap-Up

Weekend Wrap-Up; Coffees and Burgers

coffees

burgers

also

Five Things – Weekly Wrap Up

five things i ate last week

five things i read/watched/listened to

five things from instagram

Doughnuts And Coffee; Weekend Wrap-Up

coffee, coffee

Please note – this product was sent to me free of charge to review. I was not provided with further compensation for this post. All opinions are my own.

copycat Chipotle bowls

coffee and doughnuts

city living

The Slanted Woods {San Francisco}

San Francisco Recap, Day 1 & 2

Weekly Wrap Up

breakfast {coffee, coffee, coffee}

lunch

dinner