Boo-zy

Highlights from last week included…

Chameleon cinnamon vanilla cold brew.

Is it supposed to be a balanced breakfast or a gourd-based breakfast? La Colombe pumpkin spice canned coffee plus Perfect Bar’s pumpkin pie seasonal flavor.

Lifeway pumpkin spice kefir. I am on a years’ long hunt for the eggnog version.

Trader Joe’s pumpkin Greek yogurt with plucot, chia seeds, and granola.

We liked but didn’t love Elysian’s Night Owl pumpkin ale.

Trader Joe’s Howling Gourds pumpkin ale makes it into Adam’s top five favorite beers.

And Southern Tier’s canned craft cocktail of their Pumpking whiskey and cola is officially in both of our top five for all-time-favorite beverages. I bought this months ago and squirreled it away and devestatingly I have been unable to find it again.

The nights we didn’t get take-out (we’ve had kind of crazy work weeks) we hit it out of the park with what we cooked for dinners. Super salad night – local lettuce with miso caesar dressing, bacon-flavored crunchy mung beans, Gardein vegan crab cakes, red bell pepper, and avocado.

Broiled salmon with a miso glaze plus baked green beans. Adam had his with rice but I went with bbq potato chips.

Emily Mariko style salmon bowls! Plus a side of smashed cucumber salad.

Maple Ice Cream

I hope all of my readers and safe and not having horrible weather! If the rain isn’t too terrible in NYC this weekend Adam and I have some fun plans for tomorrow.

Highlights from this week included…

Greek yogurt bowl with chia, maple syrup, granola, plucot, and blueberries.

Apple snack plate. Apple pie rice cakes, dried apples, apple cider caramels, and smoked almonds.

Butterfly pea tea and matcha iced latte.

I impulse-bought some very fun desserts for the week. Refridgerated creme brulee! It came with little packets of crunchy sugar for the topping.

This Trader Joe’s salted maple ice cream was great; wonderful consistency.

Yummy homemade chicken congee. With brown rice, chicken thighs, and vinegary greens (kale and red chard sauteed with soy sauce, gojuchang, and rice vinegar). Topped with crushed peanuts and tons of chili crisp.

Buffalo chicken pasta salad. Whole-wheat pasta / chicken sausage / blue cheese / sauteed carrot, celery, and green onion / sauce made out of mayo, vinegar, and Frank’s buffalo sauce.

One Last Week Of Apple Month

Highlights from the past week included…

Over Easy apple cinnamon breakfast bar.

A yogurt bowl with Trader Joe’s honeycrisp apple cinnamon Greek yogurt. Plus granola nut butter, granola, and fresh bluberries.

My mom sent me a giant box of apple cider caramels for Apple Month! The spiced apple pie and apple brandy flavors were my favorite. I brought in a bunch for my coworkers and they loved them too. (Sidenote – they had no idea what Apple Month was. And when I brought in brownies for Rex Manning Day they had never heard of Empire Records, so they’re on thin ice!)

We finally got to try the much-lauded chocolate-stuff croissant from Lafayette Bakery.

Also treats from La Cabra. A rye and lemon tart and a cardamom twist.

And we had a fantastic lunch date at Yellow Rose. We shared chips and salsa.

A mezal margarita.

Sherry Cherry Coke, coca cola with sherry and jammy sour cherries.

Beef tacos.

Buttermilk chicken salad with Ruby Frost apples, pecans, and celery on Texas toast.

Honey Pie, Sugar Baby

Highlights from a yummy week…

Lots of Apple Month wins. Like caramel apple candies! Sugar babies and adorable/delicious mellowcremes.

Adam’s favorite apples are Gingergolds but he concedes that this Cripps Pink would be a close second.

Apple pie rice cakes and a fresh honeycrisp.

Snack mix with dried apple rings, smoked almonds, and cheddar cheese crisps.

Yogurt bowl with vanilla bean skyr, black plums, cinnamon, chia seeds, and Oaty Nut Butter.

An amazing sundae – warm banana bread with Ben & Jerry’s Phish food and sprinkles.

Dinners this week were all greatly enjoyed. Scrambled eggs with sliced turkey, sharp cheddar, garlic, and baby arugula.

Saucy chickpeas (sauted with butter, fire roasted diced tomatoes, and harissa) with feta dip and roasted baby cauliflower.

Patty melts. Toasted sourdough, Whole Foods plant-based burgers, sharp cheddar, and Emmy sauce. Plus roasted green beans.

Warm kale salads. Sauted lacinato kale with rice vinegar, onion, dried apple, smoked almonds, and beef bacon.

Apple Month

It’s September, aka Apple Month! Here is this year’s themed-food haul –

P.S. I started yesterday morning with an apple crisp macchiato from Starbucks and it was perfect!

My favorite eats this week were mostly fun beverages and eclectic dinners. Highlights included…

A yogurt bowl with blackberries and my newest nut butter obsession – oaty nut butter from Fix & Fogg.

The grapefruit lime is my favorite of this non-alcoholic tepache.

Yuzu brown sugar sparkling iced matcha.

We tried the newest Coke flavor – Dreamworld. It was a bit too fruity for me; I preferred the Starlight and would much prefer if they would just bring back Diet Cherry Coke.

Tangerine sparkling soju. <– we were not expecting to enjoy this as much as we did

Caramel apple margarita!!

Egg casserole with crusty bread, chicken soup sausage, sauteed mushrooms, roasted zuchinni, and gouda. Plus a side of blackberries.

I wanted leftover rice for dinners so I ordered a bunch of Thai food! This bowl was chicken pad see eiw, cashew chicken, and shrimp dumplings.

Salmon roll bowls. Thai sticky rice, baked salmon, spicy cucumber salad, avocado, roasted zucchini, Kewpie, Sriracha, and furikake.

Fried rice with onion, bok choy, chicken sausage, eggs (plus aromatics and seasoning).

Sandwich Week

Another themed dinners week — sandwiches!

Buffalo chicken salad. Shredded chicken (breasts and thighs cooked in the crockpot – this is our favorite method, especially because it creates a no-salt-added broth for Webster!), mayo, Frank’s, green onion, and celery on an everything ciabatta roll. Plus roasted baby cauliflower.

Crab rangoon grilled cheese. Sourdough bread, sharp cheddar, and a blend of blue crab claw meat, Kewpie, cream cheese, sugar, Sriracha, green onion, and Swiss and Gruyere. Plus roasted purple cauliflower.

Bagel and lox inspired. Everything ciabatta, homemixed scallion cream cheese, heirloom tomato, smoked sockeye salmon. Plus leftover cauliflower sauted with honey, horseradish, and honey dijon.

Chicken biscuit-inspired. Sourdough, breaded chicken patties, sharp cheddar, and a maple butter spread. Next to homemade biscuits which ended up being too crumbly to serve chicken on. Plus roasted brussel green beans.

Paired with a peach tea IPA to drive home the Southern theme. We liked this in theory and complexity but it was way too sour for us. The key lime blonde was much more our speed!

Sweet and spicy. Sourdough, turkey, sharp cheddar, blueberry jam, and pickled jalpenos.

See also – pb&j yogurt bowl. Plain Greek with peanut butter, fancy blueberry jam, and fresh blueberries.

Ice cream sandwiches.

P.S. If you are feeling inspired may I suggest – turkey reuben mac and cheese, casserole, or stuffed burgers.

Saucy, Spicy, Stupendous

I’m late on this post but we had too many wonderful things last week not to share! Mostly lots of very (very, very, very) good restaurant meals. Three different days I got to take a super-long city walk (including a Central Park date with the husband!). Highlights include…

Coffees with brown sugar syrup.

A tamarind Americano from Le Phin.

Breakfast at Ursula. We shared a strawberry chamoy pastry.

And a sopaipilla with grassfed beef, green chile, refried pinto beans, and cheddar.

Breakfast at the Blue Light Speaky Cheesy pop-up. The workers could not have been more wonderful here and everything was fantastic! We shared a sandwich with pesto scrambled eggs, goat cheese, blueberry jam, and arugula; a maple lavender latte (<– topped with orange zest, which apparently is my new favorite thing); and an iced Getaway Latte with sweetened condensed milk, cinnamon, and vanilla.

Malted berry smoothie. Frozen cherries and strawberries with Greek yogurt, chocolate almond milk, and malted milk powder.

Yogurt bowl – vanilla skyr, pecan granola, chia seeds, blueberries, and cherry plums (<– both Adam’s and my new favorite fruit).

Cookie dough granola (<– amazing, the flavor is spot on!) with blueberries and chocolate almond milk.

Lunch at Bahn (<– best meal of the whole week!). Iced Vietnamese egg coffee.

Summer rolls with shrimp and mung bean sauce.

Rolls with crispy shrimp, beef jerky, green mango, Sriracha, and egg yolk cream.

Noodle salad with sizzling butter beef.

Dumplings from Mimi Cheng. Their monthly special is a collab with Pecking House and is stuffed with buttermilk twice-fried chicken and topped with the best chili crisp I’ve ever tasted.

Homemade(!) grain bowls. Farro with pesto, chicken pesto sausage, fennel greens, and sauteed celery and baby orange tomatoes.

Adam forgot his credit card at BKNY Thai so we went back sooner than we were expecting to. A serendipitous mistake because our take-out was 11/10. Fish cakes / dumplings with ground chicken, shallot, peanut, and preserved radish / beef Pad See Ew with extra Chinese broccoli.

Omekase at the Chemisty Room at Sushi Lab. We ate at the counter and the service was impecable. I only took a few photos but everything was delicious and gorgeous.

Dinner at Wen Wen. My daiquiri with rum, Cachaça, and birds eye chili was perfect and balanced.

We had numbing celtuce salad with garlic, red vinegar, and Sichuan pepper.

Hot honey popcorn chicken.

Cold sesame noodles with cucumbers and egg ribbons.

Beef noodle soup with pickled mustard greens and a 16-hour oxtail broth.

Take Me Out

I work all this weekend but we do have some fun Long Island dinners planned. Highlights from this past week included – lots of take-out and homecooked meals better suited for fall!

Smoothie time – plain Greek yogurt, frozen strawberries, chocolate almond milk, and taro powder.

I made beer bread, which meant I spent the week very happily snacking on beer bread with cheese.

Adam and I were both fans of this kettle corn.

Chinese take-out leftovers – sesame noodles and fried tofu.

Wednesday Adam and I both worked exceptionally long days and we salvaged the evening with a cocktail walk and an agressive amount of Mighty Quinn take-out. The leftovers made a great lunch. Burnt end fries, corn fritters, and mac and cheese fritters.

Homemade soup. Chicken, broth, tomato paste, urfa chili paste, diced tomatoes, kidney beans, and zucchini.

Sheet pan hash. Japanese sweet potato, zucchini, fennel bulb, sweet onion, chicken kale pesto sausage, sharp cheddar, and pesto.