Also very pleasantly surprised by the Trader Joe’s chocolate peanut butter mochi.
I made brownies for Rex Manning Day! This is my favorite, most obscure tradition. These guys had tons of chocolate chips and espresso powder in them and were fantastically fudgy.
Thai take-out night – spicy chicken and long beans with veggie dumplings.
Roasted green beans with eggs, vegan pork floss, and chili crisp.
Leftover bok choy with the best pizza we’ve ever made. Just a frozen crust topped with tomato sauce gussied up with tons of garlic, chili crisp, and olive oil plus baby mozzarella and bresaola.
Turkey and cheddar sandwich (with black garlic mayo!) on toasted rye with roased brussel sprouts.
This was an exceptionally tasty week! My snacks were on point, we tried a fantastic new restaurant, and the dinners we cooked were total successes. Highlights include…
Brunch at Xilonen, a new vegetarian Mexican spot in Greenpoint. We were blown away by the scrambled egg tostada with salsa mache, queso, and a crispy blue corn tortilla.
Heirloom corn tamal, stuffed with sweet potato al pastor, and topped with smoked crema and poblano rajas.
Boba-studded popsicles are currently my favorite snack category.
10/10 leftovers from The Meat Hook. The french onion dip was the best I’ve ever had.
Farro / glazed, baked tofu / sautéed bok choy and green onion / chili crisp / fried shallots (which we made in the microwave!!).
Soba noodles / peanut sauce (loosely based on this one) / cabbage / zucchini / ground turkey / chili crisp and smashed peanuts.
Oven-baked crispy chicken tenders (loosely inspired by this recipe) with brown sugar chili crisp sauce + roasted broccoli with fried shallots. I went back for thirds of that chicken!
We had a great time this weekend visiting some of our favorite spots and discovering some new favorites! Highlights include…
High Low Beverage Company. Vietnamese-influenced with a gorgeous backyard. Cherry and lime leaf jelly doughnut.
Tiki New Fashioned – banana-infused Four Roses bourbon, Plantation pineapple dark rum, pandan syrup, tiki bitters / HiLo Hello – Thai chili-infused mezcal with lime, passionfruit, and cane syrup.
Papaya salad with sambal beef jerky, cabbage, herbs, peanuts, fried shallots, fresno chili, and plum vinaigrette.
Double Chicken, Please. Draft cocktails, massive sandwiches, and clever desserts! #2 – Teeling small batch whiskey, brown butter, black raisin, honey, verjus (warm) / #9 Barcardi Cuatro rum, St. Germain, verjus, amontilado sherry, banana, walnut.
Five spice and plum salt sweet potato chips.
Hen of the woods mushroom sandwich with seaweed and bamboo / fried chicken sandwich with shrimp, brioche, and salted duck yolk sauce.
Shot – mezcal with plum and shiso / ice ice weenie – chocolate ice cream on a potato bun with salted duck egg sauce, hot honey, and whiskey cream.
We found fresh soursop juice at the Dominican place in Essex Market.
All the beers (truly, almost all of the beers) at Evil Twin. My three favorites were the ET Stay Home 6 Royal Treatment – sour ale with peaches, papaya, pineapple, passion fruit, coconut, marshmallow, vanilla, and cacao / This Deli Needs a Bigger Double Kiwi Lime Coconut Muffin Lassi Gose / Luxurious Luxury – imperial Berliner gose with grapefruit, tart raspberry candy, coconut, and marshmallow.
We also finally checked out (and loved!) Bridge and Tunnel Brewery just down the street. Everything we tried was great but the standout was the F**k the Virus coconut New England IPA.
Super Moon Bakehouse. Epic baked goods. I loved this cookie butter, dulce de leche crunch cookie with my whole heart.
I also brought home a square of sourdough focaccia and made an insane turkey and cheddar sandwich.
I couldn’t contain myself but this terrible picture is to serve as a placeholder to remind Adam and I that we want takeout from The Meat Hook again immediately. We had several sandwiches and the best french onion dip I’ve ever tasted.
Adam surprised me with a tres leches old fashioned doughnut from Comfortland, i.e., the perfect gift!
We had some crazy good beers. Prairie Artisan Ales Millennial Mansion – imperial sour ale with orange peel, lemon peel, lime, blueberry, cherry, and marshmallow (11/10). Interboro Swoon Units – imperial gose with blackberry, blueberry, lemon, marshmallow, and vanilla salt (9/10).
We got a ton of Chinese take-out. Chicken fried rice, crispy noodles with shredded chicken, garlic baby bok choy, stir-fried string beans, and taro puffs. Plus we had housemade soy milk!
I made a ridiculous take on okonomiyaki with turkey pepperoni and sharp cheddar. The million toppings make it – Kewpie, Sriracha, furikake, and Nowon’s chili oil.
Highlights from this weekend include – tons of coffee, tons of beer, tons of togetherness. Webster spent all of Saturday kicking it in Brooklyn with us, which was amazing.
Either Adam or I work the next several weekends so we tried to really maximize our fun date time!
Highlights…
We did a decadent car brunch picnic with take-out from Soul Brew in Huntington. Woop, There It Is weekend special – chocolate pancakes with marshmallow cream.
Scrambled egg burrito with potato, spinach, and smoked gouda.
I had pimento cheese and we split a chocolate peanut butter. Plus an ube iced latte!
Lavender toasted marshmallow iced latte from Pipeline Coffee.
Frozen cortado from Better Read Then Dead. <– the best thing I ate all weekend/month/year
We were 10/10 excited to buy/try this Gushers yogurt but it was, unsurprisingly, not all that good to eat.
Evil Twin Brewing is currently our favorite spot in the city/on earth. Everything is inventive and delicious and they offer smaller tasting cups so you can try a lot of things. Blackberry peach milkshake IPA // key lime pie milkshake IPA // gose brewed with soursop(!!) and sea salt.
Triple dry hopped IPA // Triple IPA with marshmallow // a Saturn frozen cocktail – Dorthy Parker Gin, L’Orgeat, Velvet Falernum, passionfruit, Rockey’s Milk Punch, citrus, and edible glitter!
Shredded potatoes with smoked mackerel salad and soft scrambled eggs. Topped with furikake.
Breakfast cheese fries. Sweet potato waffle fries with cheddar, eggs, maple chicken sausage, broccoli, and shishito peppers. Topped later with Kewpie and Sriracha.
My current favorite sheet-pan hash is Japanese sweet potato + bok choy + green onions. Plus salmon candy and cashews on top. Topped with furikake, Kewpie, and Sriracha.
I made a yummy version of this baked Spanish rice recipe. I added fish sauce and green olives and subbed in vegan soyrizo for chorizo. Topped later with Cholula.
FYI – there will be no post this weekend for the best reason ever: I am going home for a few days with a couple of NY friends! Ocean, rum, and warm weather, here we come!
Cold weather fully hit Charlottesville this weekend so I kept things pretty low-key. I did talk a walk around the neighborhood to stretch my legs on Saturday but then I spent the rest of the night huddled under the covers!
Amazingly, my food highlights from the weekend were not soup and hot chocolate…
Still loving plain Greek yogurt bowls with cupcake almond butter, MadeGood granola, and loads of fresh berries.
I also enjoyed a bowl with this new Chobani flavor, caramel mocha.
Whole Foods hot bar with a side of journal reading. Best bites were the popcorn chicken and Spanish-style brussel sprout salad with sherry vinegar and yellow raisins.
I made the best sheet-pan hash. Preheat the oven to 420 degrees Fahrenheit / prep a sheet pan with foil and baking spray / bake chopped Japanese sweet potato for 20 minutes / add chopped bok choy and green onion and bake another 25 minutes / top with smoked salmon candy / add kewpie mayo and Sriracha if desired.
2/3 of what I have to share this week (yes, I did the math) is appropriately on theme for October! Other fun in fall includes… Pumpkin-scented sanitizers.
Eating Chalk 