Pumpkin Oolong

by Emily

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.

Pumpkin oolong milk tea(!) with boba and Oreo.

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.

Candy break.

8Nov2019

Bunnies And Bears

by Emily

My Ohio trip was absolutely perfect! My grandma had a great 90th birthday and it was fantastic to spend time with my family!

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Highlights from the week back home include…

La Colombe caramel oatmilk draft latte.

Adorable elderberry Wild Kombucha with adorable Trader Joe’s tiny gummi bears.

I had the best yogurt bowl toppings – Made Good Cocoa Crunch granola and Noosh cupcake almond butter.

So I made the best yogurt bowls! Plan Greek with almond butter, granola, and blackberries and blueberries.

A friend and I met up at Hardywood to celebrate the release of Gingerbread Stout and discovered their newest beer – Christmas Pancakes, aka GBS with maple syrup!

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25Oct2019

Apple Pumpkin Chia Chocolate

by Emily

The eight best things I ate this week –

(1) Chobani pumpkin and spice yogurt with (2) pecan butter and (3) a Lady Alice apple.

(4) Siggi’s pumpkin and spice yogurt with (5) chocolate sunflower seed butter. <– the sunbutter was the best thing of the week!

(6) Vanilla chia pudding and (7) a SnapDragon apple.

It was a (8) sandwich week for dinner. Whole-wheat brioche buns with Kewpie mayo, smoked turkey, and Whole Foods’ plant-based smoked gouda.

21Oct2019

Pumpkin King

by Emily

It rained all day Sunday but luckily Saturday was beautiful. One of my coworkers invited me to the UVA-Duke game and we had a wonderful time (bookended by stops at local breweries!).

Five food highlights include…

This cold brew from La Colombe is so velvety! (fyi, the stuff in the cup has half and half mixed in)

Trader Joe’s pumpkin yogurt with vanilla peanut butter.

I saved my two favorite pumpkin beers for last. I typically don’t drink imperial ales but Pumking is the best.

Crispy carrot sticks.

Waffle flavored chicken nuggets(!!!) with roasted green beans and honey mustard.

11Oct2019

Breakfast Totcho Hash

by Emily

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.

And an orange-y yellow nail polish (Urbanized by Cirque Colors).

Food highlights include…

The original bests in packaged cold brew – Stumptown and Blue Bottle.

Wegman’s pumpkin pie yogurt with blackberries and maple pecan granola.

Wegman’s pumpkin Greek yogurt with almond butter and honey butter almonds.

A hazelnut, coffee, maca bar and some surprisingly good chickpea-based cookie dough.

Two best pumpkin beers so far this season – coffee Pumpking and Schlafly Pumpkin Ale.

Breakfast totcho sheet pan hash! I baked sweet potato tots, with peppers, onion, cheddar, and scrambled eggs and it was delicious.

It was so yummy it was even good mashed in a container and served leftover.

7Oct2019

Pumpkin And Paw Paw

by Emily

I am headed to NYC next weekend so I kept these past three days especially low-key. I went out for drinks with a coworker, bought a couple of sweaters, and caught up on tv while eating take-out. And that was it! I didn’t even make it to the gym.

Highlights in TV so far include All Rise, Evil, SNL, and The Rookie.

Highlights in food this weekend include…

A paw paw margarita from Vitae.

I didn’t really care for this latte but I loved the new pumpkin pie Perfect Bar.

These seaweed thins are delicious and way easier to eat than typical seaweed snacks (less crumbly and less greasy).

Yogurt bowl perfection. Pumpkin Noosa with blackberries and vanilla almond butter.

Biggest wins so far in Pumpkin Month = Prairie Artisan Ale‘s Basic Becky (an imperial stout with pumpkin, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, coriander, clove, and caraway) and Coolhaus pumpkin pie cheesecake ice cream (pumpkin and cheesecake ice creams with a graham cracker swirl).

27Sep2019

Superior Salads

by Emily

Fun things from this week: It’s Friday! // I have plans to see my boys again in less than 15 days! // Yesterday I went to Hardywood with a coworker for happy hour and free pretzels and pimento cheese. // I finally made it to the farmer’s market that sets up on the hospital grounds and had a really excellent iced mocha with macadamia milk. // The weather is starting to get a bit cooler but still isn’t cold yet.

Highlights included…

Local nitro cold brew with maple.

Nothing beats Stumptown.

Strawberry lingonberry yogurt with chocolate peanut butter is a pretty great combination. Plus a Pazazz apple.

Bars on bars.

I had some really excellent topping ingredients on hand so I made this a week of salads. Honey butter almonds and zhoug are fantastic on their own and even better when paired together. Especially with a fun variety of proteins!

Romaine / Greek feta dressing / zhoug / honey butter almonds / baby tomatoes / chorizo seitan.

Romaine / champagne vinaigrette / zhoug / honey butter almonds / celery / vegan chicken salad.

Romaine / champagne vinaigrette / zhoug / honey butter almonds / baby tomatoes / turkey pepperoni. <– pro tip: if you bake pepperoni at 350 degrees for 15 minutes it turns into pepperoni chips!

23Sep2019

Quality Time

by Emily

It was the best weekend ever; my boys came to visit me!!!!!

The three of us had just the absolute best time. It helped that we ate and drank such yummy things but mostly it was great to hold Adam’s hand while Webster sat in my lap.

We really made the most of Charlottesville too, we went to our two favorite restaurants and our two favorite drink spots, walked a ton downtown, ran at Riverside Park, and even went to a polo match with a group of my coworkers.

Highlights (including some random things I ate on Friday) include…

An Apple Month breakfast, Trader Joe’s caramel apple yogurt with cinnamon cereal.

Brunch at Quality Pie. We split an egg and cheese biscuit and salmon with scrambled eggs and cream cheese on rye.

Also a chocolate chip cookie.

Hail Merry cookie dough bites.

Beers at Hardywood. Tropic like it’s Hot sour with dragon fruit, blueberry, passionfruit, and pineapple // Tropication IPA // The Great Return IPA // Raspberry Short Kate milkshake IPA brewed with milk sugar and fresh raspberries.

Cocktails at Vitae. S’mores = smoked rum, chocolate bitters, marshmallow simple syrup, orange, and a graham cracker rim.

Hawaiian take out from Mochiko. Mochiko fried chicken with cucumber kimchi, slaw, and rice. Plus a passionfruit shortbread bar.

A simple salad at home. Romaine with champagne vinaigrette, celery, cashews, and curried chicken salad.

Dinner at Little Star = the best meal of the weekend and also maybe the best thing I’ve eaten in 2019. We ordered all of the things but it was serendipitous that we overordered because now Adam has dinner for tonight after his long drive.