A Final Trip To Toronto

by Emily

We are leaving Buffalo in just three short weeks (there is a post on that to come!) and we’ve amassed a long list of “must-do’s” before we leave the area for good. Topping our list was a final day trip to Toronto.

We headed North on Wednesday and ate, and walked, and ate some more! Adam and I both decided that it was our best trip this year.

We started our travels at the St. Lawrence Market.

How had I not heard about this foodie heaven before?! It was a Canadian Reading Market or Faneuil Hall, packed with goodies. Adam got freshly made potato and cheddar pierogi with fried onions and sour cream.

I went with macarons.

They were beyond swoon-worthy. Maple toffee and Crème brûlée .

The texture was perfect, and yet, the utterly amazing macarons were not even the best thing I ate all day.

From the market, we drove to Bloor Street, where we parked and continued on foot. Usually we head to Bloor St. for froyo, but today we had a new destination.

BNC Cake House has been on my to-do list for two long years, ever since I starred this post from Callie in my Google Reader. Her description of Pat Bing Soo, or shaved ice, has basically haunted my dreams – “A bed of shaved ice … topped with red bean paste, assorted fruits, a scoop of vanilla ice cream and condensed milk.”

You guys, it was even better than I was hoping/expecting.

The sweet condensed milk and tangy vanilla frozen yogurt melted down into the shaved ice and melded into something amazing. The best analogy I have for the texture is to liken it to the Dairy Queen frozen hot chocolates I was obsessed with all year.

We ate every single bite.

To finish the day, we walked over to Koreatown for some grown up food at Pho88. Actually, I kept my sugar-buzz going just a bit longer with an egg yolk soda.

I tried this drink for the first time way back in 2009 (that link goes to my old blog! when we were living in Brooklyn) but thanks to Pho88’s menu I finally know what’s in it: club soda, egg yolk, and condensed milk. I adored it, the flavor is lightened-up egg cream.

I ordered grilled chicken and spring roll vermicelli for my meal.

I couldn’t eat much of my chicken since I’m not really a dark meat fan but that was fine, I mostly wanted to use the noodles and veggies as a base for all of the fabulous, spicy sauces sitting on our table.

I may have left food on my plate but Adam’s was practically licked clean.

He got grilled pork chop and rice with fried egg and he described his meal as “perfect.”

Perfect is how I would describe the day! We laughed as we wandered through Koreatown that our very favorite way to vacation is to spend the days walking and eating. Goodbye for now Toronto, I’m sure we will make our way back someday!

Have you ever tried pat bing soo? What is your favorite vacation activity?

28May2013

Highlights From OBX

by Emily

Hey there! Long time no see! It has been, and is going to be, a crazy summer.

Among other things, I went to the Outer Banks last week (whee!).

My in-laws took Adam and me for a couple of days and we had a glorious time. We beached,

climbed the sand dunes,

got a large chocolate-strawberry diet coke from Sonic that rocked my face off,

and met a Flutter Pony.

You don’t even want to know how excited I was about that damn horse statue.

We went to climb the sand dunes in between my spotting the pony and taking my picture with it and I muttered to Adam about The Smooze the whole time. <– if you got that reference I will kiss you on the mouth

I know I’m behind the times, but I want to post some of our trip eats highlights anyway, mostly so I have a record of them for the next time we visit OBX. This was a trip where sharing meant caring; the only meals Adam and I didn’t split were dessert!

Lunch at Mulligan’s.

Coastal Carolina She-Crab soup.

This was basically a giant bowl of crab meat; ah-maze-ing! We also swooned over the sherry floater.

California style fish tacos.

Soft tortillas with local fried fish, cilantro-lime slaw, pico de gallo, and Cajun tartar sauce. This was our first meal in NC and it set a great tone for the rest of the trip.

BBQ at Sooey’s.

Pulled chicken platter with cole slaw, hush puppies, and fried okra.

This stop was a repeat from my first OBX visit and I’m so glad we went back. Those were the best fried okra I’ve ever had, I was shoving them into my mouth by the handful!

Breakfast at The Dunes Restaurant.

We got the Greek omelet (spinach, tomato, and feta) with asparagus. It came with hash-browns and a side and since we were splitting they let us do one hotcake and one biscuit. Even with two of us eating we couldn’t finish that giant plate of food.

Froyo at The Surfin’ Spoon.

Such good topping options! I got a little bit of yogurt with marshmallow fluff, peanut butter topping, bananas, and reese’s peanut butter cups.

Like a fluffernutter in froyo form!

Also, froyo at Wild Berry.

The yogurt flavors weren’t anything new, but the toppings bar boasted sweetened condensed milk!!! I was definitely in heaven.

All in all, it was a tasty, terrific trip.

8Apr2013

Me Jane

by Emily

Doesn’t it feel too late in the week to still be Monday? Anyone else? I have several personal/professional/school things going down at the moment and honestly my head is spinning. This post is going to have to be “Me Emily. Me eat food. Food good.” style.

Coconut Delight Raw Revolution bar from the bottom of my purse for breakfast.

Pear.

Dannon Oikos Cafe Latte Greek Yogurt,

with Justin’s Maple Almond Butter swirled in.

The last of the bbq pop chips (1.5ish serving) with dip.

Also Cheetos.

A new recipe for dinner.

Roasted green beans,

with a vegan chicken salad sandwich. <– me promise to share the recipe tomorrow

Drinks whilst brainstorming with a friend.

Jameson diet coke x2, lemon drop x1.

Bed.

7Apr2013

Bloody {Mary} Sunday

by Emily

My big plans of knocking off some school work didn’t come to fruition, but I did manage to do some day drinking. That’s a better use of time really, isn’t it?

I started the morning with this bowl of absolute incredibleness.

Dannon Oikos Cafe Latte Greek Yogurt, 1/2 serving Nature’s Path Coconut Chia Granola, fresh blackberries, 1 tsp honey, 2 Tbsp coconut butter.

Oh my goodness, you guys, the coconut butter. I have been reading Kath talk about coconut butter acting as a magic shell for years but I never quite knew what she meant. It was amazing.

I also snacked on (approximately 2 servings each) BBQ Pop Chips with reduced-fat french onion dip.

If I had known I was going to have chips with dinner I might have done a veggie-based snack instead, but at that point I planned on having soup! Sidenote – did you know that Pop Chips has a new ketchup flavor?! I’m pretty sure that sounds terrible.

I spent my afternoon at work. The weather has finally gotten the memo that it’s Spring so lots of people were out and about.

At the end of my shift some friends stopped by to invite me to Blue Monk. They were having a Bloody Mary special, with celery, hot sauce, tomato, etc infused vodkas.

A girl from our program sweetly got us a 2nd round so I ended up having two.

Bloody Marys make me crave stick-to-your-ribs food so instead of soup I ended up with Moe’s for dinner. A rice bowl – rice / black beans/ sautéed onion / mushroom / green pepper / cheese / sour cream / guacamole / corn salsa.

Plus chips with queso.

Apparently there’s always room for chips.

Do ketchup flavored chips sound good to you?

6Apr2013

Weekend Welcome Back

by Emily

Hello again! I know I kind of dropped off the face of the earth. This semester has been busy. I don’t have a lot to say tonight, and my pictures are poorly lit and blurry, but it was a good day so I wanted to share.

I slept in this morning; we’ve got a serious stayed-up-too-late-watching-Battlestar-Galactica-every-night-this-week sleep deficit going. I ended up eating “breakfast” during the afternoon at work. Chobani Vanilla Golden Crunch Flip.

I love most of Chobani’s flavors but I have really disliked the Flip line*. This was my 2nd try with this flavor and both times the vanilla yogurt was so tangy I was actually a little afraid it had gone bad. *the Honey BeeNana one was really freaking good

I also drank a Dr. Pepper 10.

The first in a fun line-up of beverages today.

After work I met up with a friend for bubble tea; strawberry green tea with both kinds of boba.

We hung out for the rest of the evening and had a fun night. Next was drinks at a bar in Allentown. I enjoyed this Genesee Cream Ale more than I was expecting to.

It was basically water, but at least it was quite refreshing. Plus it is locally made.

Finally we headed to Seabar for a late dinner.

I was very disappointed that they were out of the (the) lobster ramen bowl, but I rallied with three small plates.

Seaweed salad.

Pickle cucumber salad over sushi rice.

Udon noodle bowl served with tempura shrimp.

All three were quite tasty but the cucumber salad was my favorite.

I brushed my teeth the minute I got home and now I’m actually blogging from the bed! Sweet dreams!

26Mar2013

Charleston, Day 1 And 2

by Emily

Hello from the South! I’m blogging in a spring-ish 50-something degrees (it’s better than Buffalo!). Actually, I’m blogging from Adam’s computer this trip, so I’ve got to keep things quick. We are having a terrific, delicious time.

Breakfast day 1 – brunch at the famous Hominy Grill.

I got a(n extra spicy) bloody mary.

And a bowl of she crab soup.

Charleston is famous for its she crab soup; this bowl was super creamy and loaded with pieces of crab. I adore anything with sherry.

We ordered a piece of buttermilk pie for the table.

But it was much drier and less custard-y than we were hoping so we all just took a small taste.

It was a rainy first day so we did lots of inside and driving activities. We got in some good sight-seeing and scoped out a few spots to hit up during the rest of our trip.

One of our stops was Whole Foods for stocking up on goodies. <– chocolate coconut butter packets, it’s good to have you back in my life!

There was froyo next door.

I didn’t really love any of the flavor offerings so I got a small cup of cheesecake yogurt with tons of popping boba.

Can’t go wrong with boba.

We went to Hyman’s Seafood for dinner and they brought us complimentary hush puppies.

Best hush puppies ever; they had the perfect amount of sweetness.

We also started with fried pickles.

Lots of fried food in that dinner. I got french fries as my side,

with steamed shrimp.

Every component of my meal ended up smothered in tartar and cocktail sauce. I’m a girl who loves her condiments.

I was exhausted by the end of the day and crashed into bed hard. Let’s pretend it was the 20 minute stationary bike ride I started the day with, and not the heavy dinner!

Day 2 we skipped the gym and slept in. Instead I made it a healthy morning by starting my day with an apple.

Then we headed to Bakehouse for breakfast.

The offerings were as delicious as the space was adorable. The cookies and bars looks amazing but the closest we came to them was splitting a caramel marshmallow.

I also did a toasted marshmallow cappuccino.

Adam and I shared breakfast.

We had a mixed berry scone.

And a piece of Greek turkey strata.

It was a great breakfast.

We spent our second day exploring on foot. King Street and Meeting Street provided lots to look at.

We even got to see dolphins!

I couldn’t get a picture to save my life, but we saw lots of waving flippers and even a mama/baby combo.

Tastes from the day included…. Praline,

a drop of the spiciest hot sauce available (I stuck a toothpick in it and touched it to my tongue; I honestly didn’t think it was that hot!),

honey,

an Earl Grey macaron (<– squeeee!),

a KIND bar,

and some watermelon Zots from one of the many old-time candy stores.

All good, but I am definitely a lunch eater; when we got back to the hotel to change for dinner I was starving. Enter the perfect snack –

Diet coke and Cacao Bliss? Yes please!

But I sure was glad I saved room for dinner. We had an incredible Southern meal at Magnolias.

Bread with ridiculous cream cheese herb butter came when we sat down.

And we ordered a pimento cheese plate to start.

Sadly, the cheese wasn’t quite as sharp as I was hoping for, but everyone else at the table loved it. Pimento cheese was at the top of my to-do list for the Southern vacation though, so I hope to try again tomorrow.

I ordered a Bellini to drink (champagne/peach nectar/and a touch of grenadine),

but ended up swapping with Adam halfway through for his vodka/creme de cassis/pineapple juice martini.

For dinner I went with the “Fresh, Local, and Vegetarian.” You can’t go wrong with a name like that!

Sautéed spinach, fresh corn salad, roasted carrots, fried green tomatoes with jalopeño pimento cheese, and mashed potatoes.

We were too stuffed for dessert, though the menu listed a cream cheese pecan brownie with white chocolate ice cream that I’ll probably be dreaming about!

In fact, I’d like to be dreaming now; goodnight!

Have you ever been to Charleston? Is there anything we just can’t miss on our last day?

23Mar2013

South Carolina

by Emily

After a long day of travel, we are in Charleston! Our spring break matched up with my parents’ so we met up for a few days of fun. I’ve never been to Charleston before and I am very excited to explore.

Our flight wasn’t until 4 pm so we had a nice easy morning to pack and say goodbye to the dog. I made a sweet bowl for breakfast.

0% plain Greek yogurt, 1% large curd cottage cheese, sliced plum, fresh blackberries, and maple syrup.

We were a bit rushed in the afternoon (you know I waited until the last second to get ready!) so I saved lunch for the airport. Cherry tomatoes and baby carrots dipped in Greek yogurt asiago artichoke dip.

Plus cheese popchips shared with the husband.

And the last serving of quinoa dark chocolate for dessert.

Our flights were stupid (I hate Delta) and we ended up with a lengthy layover in Atlanta. We took advantage of the time and took a nice looooong walk. The movement was great, but then unfortunately I cut it too close to buy food-food.

Cheetos and a peanut butter strawberry KIND bar (and free pretzels), dinner of champions.

And now we’re here. Wheee!

23Mar2013

Break Begins

by Emily

Did you know that this was my last day before spring break begins? Of course not, I didn’t tell you. In fact, I was so tired this week that I kept forgetting about it, but then I was very happy every time I remembered. We are doing something fun for break, but I’ll tell you more about that later because right now I want to get in bed.

I mixed things up and packed breakfast this morning. Stonyfield Chocolate Greek Yogurt.

I ate on the walk from my car to the hospital.

Lunch was salad leftovers. When I made our dinners last night I went ahead and made four bowls at once – his & hers lunch and dinner.

My maple vinaigrette dressing was so good.

I also packed a Cascadian Farm Oats & Honey Crunchy Granola Bar (a free sample).

And I drank a coffee with creamer in the afternoon.

I had some really interesting patients today; lots of tube feeds, which I love.

When I got home I snacked on some BBQ Smart Fries.

Looking back I feel like I ate (more than) enough food today, but I was so flipping hungry this afternoon. A friend and I had plans for dinner and I could not have been more excited when she called me to go.

First though, we walked our dogs and had a drink.

The Honeycrisp Apple Shock Top is good, but not quite as good as I was expecting.

We headed out aimlessly down Elmwood and thankfully my friend thought of the “The Place” for dinner because I probably would have wandered down to Allentown!

My foodie co-worker has been raving about The Place’s buffalo chicken mac and cheese for weeks and I knew what I was going to get before I even sat down.

I was definitely hungry – I ate almost half of that skillet full of mac and cheese!

I thought the dish was ok, not all that exciting, but Adam polished off my leftovers in a matter of minutes and declared that we have to go back immediately, so apparently it were a hit with him.

After dinner my friend and I walked back up Elmwood (it felt so nice to take a walk!) to meet the rest of our group for drinks at Mezza. I am totally kicking myself that I didn’t get a photo of all of us, but I did manage a shot of my amaretto sour.

I’m an embarrassment. And I’m pretty sure the (cute) bartender thought I was special because I ordered a diet coke for my 2nd round and he refilled my glass free-of-charge at least three times. I basically wanted to move in.

I stopped at Starbucks on the way home for something warm to drink while I wrote this post.

Tall/toffee nut/black tea/skim latte.

Adam and his friends are in the middle of a poker game in the living room but I’ve got to fold… myself into bed.

My goodnight gift to you? Shots of the dog chillaxing.

Squee!

Eating Chalk

Tag Archives: yogurt

A Final Trip To Toronto

Highlights From OBX

Me Jane

Bloody {Mary} Sunday

Weekend Welcome Back

Charleston, Day 1 And 2

South Carolina

Break Begins