Weak-Sauce Weak Tea

by Emily

Did you know that I started my internship a week before the semester officially begins? The pediatric hospital I’m working with is in high demand and these dates were the only ones that worked for them. This is awesome because it means that I have a random free week in the middle of the semester. But it’s a little tricky because I haven’t gotten a ton of guidance; the meeting to review the expectations for our self-selected internships isn’t until next Monday!

The lack of guidance, coupled with my sub-clinical OCD, creates a few problems. For example, I know that we have to keep a journal that will help provide documentation to show what we did with our internship hours. I do not know exactly what is supposed to go in that journal. For now I’m recording every single freaking thing. Not surprisingly, journaling is taking forever. I worked most of the evening and have to wake up early tomorrow to get back at it.

As predicted, today’s lunch was delicious and filling. When I got home I snacked on a leftover Alexia Artisan Sweet Potato Roll with Smart Balance Light.

The rolls were even better leftover; they stayed very soft.

Also a Fig with Orange Zest Chobani Bite with 1/3 cup KIND Maple Walnut Clusters with Chia & Quinoa.

The granola was knock-your-socks-off good! I sampled some at FNCE and knew I had to buy a some immediately. Now Adam loves it too and I am predicting a fight as the bag gets lighter.

I drank a mug of tea with skim milk and sugar to warm up while I worked.

I so want to love tea but the cups I brew at home are too weak! I basically make (milky sweet) dirty water. This was 6 oz of water, microwaved for 90 seconds + 2 bags of Republic of Tea Red Velvet Tea steeped for 6 minutes. Where am I going wrong?!

Thank ~~God~~ Tasty Bite for a quick dinner.

I sautéed 2 pints of mushrooms in butter and evoo then tossed the packet of Vegetable Korma into the hot skillet. Split between two bowls, on top of a serving of Jasmine Rice each.

This is not a meal that photographs well (at all!), but it was damn tasty. Plus healthy and quick enough for a busy night.

I was still hungry after dinner (we’ve decided that we have temporarily ruined our stomachs with our out-of-control portion sizes and that we will probably just have to spend a few weeks being a bit hungry) so Adam and I split a minneola.

Gotta love citrus in the winter time!

Please help! Do you have any tea brewing tips for me?

21Jan2013

Winter Weight Gain

by Emily

I came through my first full-time day at the hospital with flying colors! Well, I guess I was a little in the gray when I ran out of time in the morning and had to skip breakfast, but that was the only hiccup. I had fun, learned a lot, and made it through 8 – 4 without thinking longingly of my couch once!

We were busy on rounds (walking around the floor and listening to the medical residents give an update on all of the patients) all morning and I was too busy to miss breakfast. Then I got to grab a tea latte from Tim Horton’s while we charted.

My earl grey with frothed skim milk was great. And the RD let me chart on a patient! I’ve got to do a lot of work independently to meet all of my internship curriculum goals so it was a good sign that they let me hit the ground running. In the afternoon, among other things, I observed a gestational diabetes education that I’m eager to try on my own.

I was worried about finding a table in the packed cafeteria, but thankfully the RDs invited me to sit with them for lunch. I’m with a different person each day of the week so it was great to get to meet some of them in advance.

I packed a really tasty sandwich.

A multi-grain Sandwich Thin with Crofter’s strawberry preserves, 2 slices of Applegate Farms Honey & Maple Turkey, Cabot’s 50% reduced sharp cheddar, and pickled jalopeños.

A pack of Annie Chun’s Sesame Roasted Seaweed Snacks.

And a Trader Joe’s 100-calorie milk chocolate bar.

This lunch was perfect – fun, healthy, and it helped fuel my brain through its first afternoon of actual thought!

Before I knew it, the day was over and Adam was picking me up. His lab was closed for Martin Luther King Day and I was thrilled that he could drive me because it is brutal outside. My phone’s weather forecast for Wednesday is a giant, ominous looking snowflake.

My workday may have flown by, but our errands took forever. Adam and I ended up splitting an ice cream Twix bar while we were out and about.

He {claims that he} hates Twix bars so the sharing portions were in my favor.

I also snacked on a Caramel Pineapple Chobani Bite with the last of the blackberries.

This snack was so flipping good, I can’t wait to eat the rest of the pack of Chobani and I must buy more fresh berries immediately! The caramel gave the yogurt a little extra sumthin’ sumthin’ compared to the regular pineapple variety and the entire gorgeous carton only has 100 calories. Plus it smelled delicious and made me want a big slice of cheesecake.

– – – Sidenote: Why, oh why did I keep scrolling through Chobani’s website? I need the Key Lime Crumble and Almond Coco Loco Flips, need. I’m sure they won’t hit Buffalo for another couple of months and I’m basically going to die. – – –

Dinner was a big salad with some confusion about its roots.

Inside the jumble –

baby spinach
peanut sauce
1 Tbsp ground flax
chopped green pepper
chopped red onion
buckwheat groats
chopped honeycrisp
leftover 1000 island bbq sauce pulled chicken

Somehow all of those flavors just worked together.

I’m still feeling a bit hungry but I did a lot of nibbling while I assembled dinner and tomorrow’s lunch so I’m closing my kitchen for the day. I’ve been steadily gaining weight since we moved to Buffalo but recently my unhealthy habits have been out of control and I’m officially too fat for some of my work pants. Pride and health may not have motivated me (though they really should of!) but my wallet sure does – it’s time to lose some weight! I’m not planning on going on a diet, far from it, I’m just going to stop being ridiculous. Wish me luck?

Did you gain any weight over the winter holidays?

16Jan2013

Lobster, And Marrow, And Boba, Oh My!

by Emily

The past three days were the best of 2013, and I have so much to say. We ended every day so exhausted/satisfied/full and blogging just felt like an impossible feat. But how can I not blog two of my favorite meals in Buffalo? I may not get to say as much as I’d like, but at least this post will help put my memories all in one place. If I had to state the theme of this post succinctly, it would be – I really, deeply, emphatically love good food.

This weekend we were lucky enough to have a visit from some of my Maryland family, my aunt and one cousin. They are some of the best people I know and I loved getting to share and explore Buffalo with them.

On the way to the airport, I drank a Zico Chocolate Coconut Water,

and split a Cascadian Farm Crunchy Oats & Honey Granola Bar with the husband.

When we got home I put out a little meze spread for lunch.

Cherry tomatoes, sliced cucumber with pink salt, baby carrots, Wegman’s roasted garlic hummus, and tamari almonds.

My plate, x2:

I also ate the bread ends off of a loaf I sliced up to make Adam a sandwich.

I need to do raw veggie spreads more often; this was a very satisfying lunch.

We took a wander down Elmwood to show the fam where I work and play, and stopped at Ashker’s for wonderfully velvety espresso.

With skim milk and sugar.

Then we were off to the falls!

We lucked out with the perfect weather – cold enough to scare away the crowds but warm enough that you could really take your time to appreciate Mother Nature.

Speaking of Mothers, that’s where we had dinner!

Mother’s restaurant is 10 steps from our old apartment but we never made it a priority because we thought it was steak house. The menu was mostly meat, but that didn’t keep me from having an absolutely fantastic meal.

Bread with salted butter.

Glass of wine, a Chablis that I enjoyed far more than I was expecting to.

Salad.

My picture quality went downhill at this point but the quality of food kept shooting up.

For an appetizer we all split the gnocchi.

Potato gnocchi with portobello, lump crab, peas, and a white truffle sauce.

My portion, x2.

All of those components are great on their own but together they became something amazing. Best gnocchi I’ve ever had; it was pillowy beyond my wildest dreams.

For my entrée: “sautéed red snapper fillet with gulf shrimp, mushrooms, artichokes, scallions, lemon butter sauce, and microgreen salad.

It also came with asparagus and perfectly roasted potatoes.

The dish was wonderful and the portion was gigantic (Adam actually ate the other half of my fish for dinner tonight!). Certainly a meal worth going back for.

But the best bites I took were actually from the husband’s dish.

The black (squid ink) pasta I could live without, but the scallops – like the gnocchi – were the best I’ve ever had. They were cooked to perfection, with a nice crust and creamy middle. Adam must love me a whole lot to have given me as many bites as he did!

– . – . – I need to stop and do some foreshadowing here: the meal at Mother’s was not even the best meal of their visit!

Monday morning my aunt and I walked Webster to The Spot for some coffees. The baristas gave me a gorgeous drink and were super sweet about the dog in my arms.

Tall skim latte, to go.

Back at home, I had a big bowl of Cascadian Farms Berry Cobbler Granola with fresh blackberries and homemade vanilla cashew milk.

While it clearly couldn’t compete with our dinners, this meal was pretty flipping good. I’m thinking that the cashew milk may be worth the effort after all.

The weather had shifted back to winter by that point so we spent our afternoon walking around the mall. My aunt bought me a couple of new work pieces at Old Navy – – can you believe I start school next week?!

You have to do self-serve froyo when you’re at the mall. I did a small amount of plain tart and coconut yogurt, a medium amount of fresh fruit, and tons of popping boba.

Is it sick that both bubble tea and self-serve froyo make an appearance on my “must have” list for next year’s move?

For dinner, we met the husband at Seabar.

I could talk about how fun the decor is, but when the food is this awesome, who really cares?

I got a spicy bloody mary to drink.

I know keep saying this, but seriously – best blood mary I’ve ever had!

It came loaded with Tabasco, Franks, and Sriracha.

My impetus for dragging everyone to Seabar was simple – “Bourdain’s Last Meal.”

Marrow, foie gras torchon, (and pork belly which I requested come on a separate plate), and toasted bread for spreading.

***This post is far too long already for me to go into my food philosophy. In short – yes, I ate marrow and yes, I still won’t eat read meat. If you would like me to post more about it just ask and I gladly will.

Trying marrow has been on my life list for years and it was like nothing I’ve ever tasted before. I totally concur with its description as “the world’s best butter.” We all shared the appetizer but I will totally cop to eating a lion’s share of the marrow. Also, I spread marrow between two toasts and ate it like a small, ridiculously decadent sandwich.

And then I closed my eyes and swooned.

Actually, I spent most of the meal with my eyes closed tight, straining to help my taste buds make the most of every flavor. I hate to knock my favorite place in Brooklyn off of the top, but this meal was the best I’ve ever eaten.

My family raved about their sushi – inventive combos composed of incredibly fresh fish – but my entrée was by far the best plate at the table.

“Lobster Ramen – Handmade Noodles, Lobster Broth Poached Egg, Shiitakes, Pickled Vegetable”

None of us could get over the texture of the lobster and the noodles were out of this world. Also, the pickled vegetables were nothing to frown at, but they were hard to focus on with poached lobster sitting at the table. When I took my first bite of homemade noodle with egg yolk broken on top I was pretty sure I would die of happiness.

And I haven’t even mentioned the broth yet. I shared many bites and was more than generous with my lobster claws, all while threatening everyone not to spill a drop. Then when all that was left was broth, I sucked it up with my straw! I regret nothing.

I ate a dark chocolate peanut butter santa when we got home.

And I collapsed into bed, basically drunk on marrow.

This morning we pulled ourselves out of our food comas and drove over to East Aurora. I know I don’t actually live in EA, but I always want to bring visitors to Taste.

I had the Santa’s Sleigh with skim milk.

A peppermint tea latte with white chocolate and a hint of coconut. It was delicious!

We were just admiring the cool industrial vibe when… I dropped my camera on the concrete floor. Please note – I stayed amazing calm, but if my memory card had broken too and I’d lost the pictures for this post I definitely would have cried.

I’m going to end my blogging here, because I just can’t see tacking cell phone photos on the end of this lengthy post.

Broken cameras be damned, we had a nice day. I managed to get buffalo wings into my aunt and cousin before they had to head to the airport. I had a good day of work. Adam and I shared a Dole Whip at the mall. And many (many) hours later, I have a new camera. So tomorrow, we can start all over again.

What/where was your best meal? Have you ever tasted something so good you had to shut your eyes?

12Jan2013

Cashews, Coffee, And Curry

by Emily

First things first, I need to announce my Taste of Treme Giveaway winner –

Jordan, let me know how the cookbook stacks up against Abita’s! And please e-mail me with your mailing address. Congrats!

I apologize for not posting the results sooner; we have had a rough couple of days around here. Webster has been having seizures.

So far (that we know of) he had one Friday morning and another at 4:30 a.m. last night. I ran him to the vet in hysterics on Friday and she said that there could be a variety of causes but that seizures are not all that uncommon in dogs his size and that she wasn’t too worried. We are waiting for some lab results and I will be sure to keep y’all updated as we learn more.

Once he recovers he seems to be in good spirits but both episodes were pretty scary for me, especially because Adam has been out-of-town. It is a bad feeling to see someone you love out of control and not be able to help. Both times I just petted him and gave him kisses until it was over.

I had my sights set on a hot yoga class this morning but it just didn’t feel right to go, instead I stayed in bed an hour longer with the little man in my arms. I’m glad to spend time with him but I do need to get myself to a class asap. I have been to a grand total of 1 class during my unlimited two months; if I don’t get my act together over the next two weeks it will mean that I paid $75 for a single yoga session, yikes!

Once we got up, the dog and I did have a successful day. Lots and lots of cleaning was done. And I made homemade cashew milk.

How Sweet Eats’ Vanilla Cashew Milk was good, but probably not worth the time committment to ever make again. I’m glad I got to experience it once though.

I did a lot of taste testing while I made the cashew milk and then I took advantage of the dirtied blender and made a big smoothie for breakfast.

Midmorning we put on our sweaters and took a walk.

Webster is ultra-super-mega cute in his gray sweater and he got several compliments today.

Lunch was spread across some afternoon snacking. An apple.

An Almond & Apricot Kind Bar.

A Nutffles Red Velevt Truffle. (just 25 cents at 7-11)

A plate of baby carrots dipped in pineapple salsa.

And finally, I did some baking with the “pulp” from the cashew milk.

After I got out all of the liquid, I spread what I could salvage on a baking sheet and dried it in the oven at 200* for 20 minutes. Then I mixed up the cashew meal and baked it macaroon-style {vanilla extract, egg white, sugar}.

They were far better than I was expecting and I ended up having 4. I am very anxious for Adam to try them because he loves coconut macaroons and I think these were even tastier.

Basically all I’ve done over break is sit on the couch and eat junk (by the way, my pants currently don’t fit: oh crap, oh crap, oh crap!) so tonight’s dinner felt extra fancy and healthy.

I reeeeeeeeeally want to cook dinners like a grown-up this semester so I need to get back into the habit before school starts on the 21st. This meal was a good place to start.

Roasted asparagus.

White rice leftovers – from Chinese take-out I ordered on Friday 70% because I didn’t want to leave the dog to get food and 30% because I wanted someone to deliver diet soda to me in the apartment.

Green Curry Fritters from Cooking Light.

I was really impressed with this recipe; such a fun combination of flavors! I did make a few changes, all of which I suggest you follow my lead on if you make the recipe –

substituted turkey for chicken (am I the only one who greatly prefers ground turkey to chicken?!)
used an entire bunch of green onions, whites and greens
substituted nayo for canola mayo
used 2 Tbsp green curry paste
skipped the sesame oil
substituted 2 Tbsp of tamari for the soy sauce
substituted 1 heaping tsp Sriracha for the sambal oelek
substituted 1 tsp galangal paste for ground ginger
substituted coconut oil for canola oil
sized my patties to yield 10 instead of 12

Adam should be home in a couple of hours and tomorrow we are actually getting a visit from my Maryland aunt and one of my cousins! I haven’t seen that set of family in far too long and I could not be more excited.

Now the dog is curled up at my feet and I’m about to pour a cup of tea and make myself finally organize my school materials from last semester.

Everyone please give your pets a big smooch for me.

9Jan2013

From A Package

by Emily

food

My eats lately have been downright embarrassing. I badly need to go to the store but I worked this afternoon and didn’t want to move the car after dark. Today was ridiculous.

Re-dic-u-lous.

fashion

I just wanted to share a few fashion notes from today. First, check out my two new bracelets! This one my dad bought me in Miami.

And this one I made during an especially slow hour at work.

Next, I finally figured out what to call my favorite look – aka one of Adam’s shirts with a nice blazer and too much eyeliner – “walk of shame chic!”

Marrying a boy I met in high school means that I’ve never actually done a walk of shame, but that doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate the look!

funny

I take it back, Mom. Apparently* Webster didn’t want to eat my scarf, he wants you to knit him one of his own!

*Photo not staged. I swear to god, I left the office to go to the bathroom and when I came back that is what I found.

30Dec2012

A Meal That Should Have Been Put Out To Pasture

by Emily

Goodbye, Sunday; and hello, work week. More importantly, soon it’s goodbye, 2012! And that first sentence was especially unimportant because I worked today and only have two shifts during the actual week; go figure.

This day got off to a great start and then rapidly went downhill. Sometimes that happens. And I plan on doing some baking to cheer us up as soon I hit publish.

On a good note, check out this awesome box of new flavors that Cascadian Farm sent me to sample –

I guess they heard my incessant raving about how good their Dark Chocolate Almond Granola is 😉 I ended up trying both products today, since I have no self-control when it comes to trying new things. Both products (plus the Crunchy Bars in Peanut Butter and Oats & Cocoa) will be available in January of 2013.

Granola with yogurt for breakfast.

I ate a big bowl of the Cascadian Farm Organic Berry Cobbler Granola on top of Wegman’s low-fat vanilla maple yogurt.

The granola was marvelous; I might like it even more than the dark chocolate almond! It was sweet without being too sweet and crunchy without being tooth-breaking. The light isn’t tricking you either, it actually is pink! Even the bites without dried fruit leave you with a lovely taste of berry cobbler. Adam ate a big bowl too and said that the granola held up nicely in milk. He reported that he found it to be delicious, with a good amount of clumps.

The bar I ate as my snack at work.

The Cascadian Farm Organic Crunchy Oats & Honey Granola Bar gets the same review as the granola.

I loved it! And did a little bit of incessant raving this very afternoon as I tried to tell the husband how good my snack was. It had exactly the texture I’m looking for in a crunchy granola bar and crumbled nicely. And the oats had this amazing aftertaste of honey. I wish I had a better food critic’s vocabulary because I don’t really have the words to describe how good the honey flavor was. I’m going to go with – round, clover, and authentic (vs. honey flavoring). Does that make sense?

And I can now report that both the granola and the bar did a good job of keeping me full. The only other thing I needed to eat before the end of my 4 o’clock shift was this handful of hard candy that I was using as a cough drop.

Also delicious, by the way. They were milk coffee candies I found in an Asian market in Philly and I wish I had bought another bag-full.

My Cascadian Farm goodies kept me full through work, but by the time my shift was over I was starving. Adam picked me up from work and we headed to an early dinner at DeFlippo’s with a Living Social deal.

Fun right? Nope, it sucked. Like super sucked; sucked, sucked, sucked, sucked, sucked, sucked, sucked. I was served the worst plate of food I’ve ever had in my life. But on a positive note, it was so terrible that it was actually funny, so at least we got a good laugh out of the deal. P.S. The lighting is that bad in the rest of the pictures.

Caesar salad that was swimming in dressing and cheese and randomly came topped with tomatoes.

Cold bread with even colder butter.

Shrimp cocktail appetizer that Adam and I split.

Randomly, this was delicious. I don’t know how DeFlippo’s pulled it off – my guess is that microwaving the rest of the meal gave them time to shine with the appetizer! – but this was some great shrimp cocktail. The shrimp had good texture and tasted very fresh. They were served with enough cocktail sauce that you could actually dip each shrimp and the sauce was tasty as well. Overall the dish was yummy; it was a very good deal for the price.

And then came my meal.

French fries were inexplicably offered alongside my “Italian” “food.”

These actually weren’t bad and I ended up eating most of them in desperate hunger.

“Eggplant parmigiana” {strong emphasis on the quotation marks} that was the single worst dish I’ve ever been served.

The dish could not have more clearly been bought frozen. They must have tried to fry it at some point, because the eggplant had sopped up an astonishing amount of oil. The makeup was 80% breadcrumb, 10% cheese, 5% sauce, and 5% eggplant. It was terrifically bad. I made myself eat away a corner so as not to be rude, and when I made Adam taste a bite I laughed so hard I almost cried. <– he called it abhorrent.

We got milkshakes on the way home.

Peppermint swirl for me!

And now I’m off to make brownies.

Have you ever had a meal so bad it was actually funny?

26Dec2012

Our New Christmas Traditions

by Emily

Happy holidays, from our family to yours!

We spent the last two days making memories and building our own traditions. We missed our family like crazy, but other than it was one of our best Christmas days ever. It helped that most of our new family traditions involved eating lots of tasty food!

One event I hope not to turn into a tradition was December 23rd’s 3 am grocery trip. We had a slight misstep with the baking I did for my co-workers’ Christmas gifts. One of my pies burnt to a crisp and I had to go buy a replacement gift in the middle of the night. Also, we ate the salvageable half of the burnt pie… at 3 am.

I made my Hello Dolly Pies and they were delicious. I hope everyone liked them!

We exchanged gifts at our company holiday breakfast.

Our bosses took us out for a delicious meal at Mythos. I had never been there before but I’m still sure that what I ordered was the best thing on the menu. A burrito with turkey, eggs, potatoes and cheddar, smothered in hollandaise.

It came with berries and Greek yogurt on the side and everything was delicious. I ate half and brought the rest to Adam who loved it as well.

We ran a few errands when Adam picked me up from breakfast and we ended up going on an adventure. Vineeta International Market has been hiding under my nose on Grant for months!

We had a grand time wandering around and came home with lots of goodies.

Including the Thumbs Up cola we shared.

Then we trimmed the tree.

We couldn’t buy a big tree because the dog is a monster but we enjoyed this little magical grow tree I bought Adam for Hanukkah.

And then we had pie.

Gaaah; can this be a yearly tradition? That pie is so fricking good.

So was the eggnog seltzer I sipped on all day.

I had a salad for lunch.

Romaine with peanut sauce, buckwheat groats, chopped honeycrisp, and cheddar.

Plus the last of the sugar-plum candies.

We did pizza for dinner.

Why mess with our usual traditions?

Then we stayed up late watching “How I Met Your Mother.” We’ve decided that’s our new tv marathon of choice.

This morning (Christmas!!) we slept in late like a couple of old people. It was pretty great. The dog started his morning with sirloin and bacon wet food.

And I started mine with toffee.

Plus a glass of eggnog with nutmeg.

Then we got all fancy with breakfast.

Seriously fancy. Check out we bought at Wegman’s –

Lobster for Christmas breakfast? That can definitely become a tradition! We cooked turkey bacon and then used the skillet to sautéechopped lobster tail in butter. Then we scrambled in egg whites (leftover from the pies, plus one yolk) and baby spinach.

It was quite good. And lunch was a winner as well.

We used this Christmas tree pasta that my co-worker gave me.

I sautéed sliced mushroom, chopped red peppers, and baby spinach in butter and evoo. Then I tossed in pasta, a big dollop of Nayo, and a huge handful of shredded cheese.

Ridiculous good.

And the bowl Cannoli ice cream I had next was even better.

Ben and Jerry just keep getting it right.

For dinner we went over to our friends’ house for a party. We brought over a good dip, and terrible chips for everyone to try.

The White Chocolate Peppermint Pringle’s looked so nasty that there was no way Adam and I could pass up the experience of trying them for a measly $2. Pro tip – freaking terrible, aka totally worth the money to try.

My dinner plate.

Tons of salad with mashed potato and mac and cheese. With homemade strawberry shortcake for dessert.

I ate about half. Plus a candy cane.

That cane was actually my hook in a candy cane fishing game we played. We went through a series of challenges from Minute to Win It. Hilarious.

Adam and I won! Woot!

We took a long walk to get home and stopped for sushi on the way back.

I had two pieces of inarai (tofu skin) but some amazing fried thing. It was the perfect way to end a great holiday.

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

P.S. Here’s a video of Webster opening his Christmas present. You’re welcome.

24Dec2012

Use Your Noggin

by Emily

Hello, hello! The days I’m excited to blog are always the same days I’m utterly exhausted. Go figure. Saturday was a symphony of holiday flavors but also a 9+ hour day at work. Instead of posting last night I had a total tantrum and passed out fully dressed… so here is a 2-day recap.

Remember when I said “Saturday was a symphony of holiday flavors”? You know, like five seconds ago. Well, my day went eggnog –> candy cane –> gingerbread; bam!

Nog based overnight oats for breakfast.

I put 1/4 cup oats, 1/2 cup Silk Soy Nog, and 1 Tbsp chia seeds in the fridge overnight, then Saturday morning I added 1 sliced banana and a big dash of Christmas sprinkles.

So festive and delicious. Also, holy frick, I love chia seeds so much.

My candy cane came in the form of a Peppermint Stick Clif Bar during work.

This is Clif’s best seasonal flavor by far. The bar has the perfect amount of peppermint.

Gingerbread was a cupcake surprise from the husband.

He had an appointment near Fairy Cakes in the afternoon and he brought me home a gingerbread stout cupcake with cream cheese icing.

It was ridiculous good, maybe the best cupcake I’ve ever had! The cake had a great ratio of spice to sweet and was so fluffy and moist. I shared one big bite with Adam but downed the rest with gusto.

The rest of the day’s eats were out of season, but still good. From fall I borrowed an apple and a Blue Moon Pumpkin Ale.

I split the beer with Adam and ate the apple on my own.

I guess nachos are actually appropriate for any season, right?

Adam and I shared a tray, straight from the oven. We topped scoop-style tortilla chips with roasted brocoli and green pepper, Newman’s Own Pineapple Salsa, and Cabot Reserve Aged Cheddar.

We loved them. He was a little iffy on roasted brocoli as a nacho topping but it was delicious. And I was worried about that type of cheese versus a regular cheddar, but that ended up being perfect too. And the pineapple salsa is hands-down the best jarred salsa I’ve ever had.

Blah, blah, blah, and then I started having a fit and had to go to bed. I didn’t get anywhere near enough sleep during the weeks Adam was gone and I’m still really freaking tired.

Sunday was a super hungry day and I ate a ton ~~of crap~~. A brunch of sorts, was low-fat coffee yogurt with honey roasted peanuts and honey,

a few pieces of toffee candy from home,

and several handfuls (about 3 servings or 250 calories worth) of dried turkey.

During work I drank a Starbucks Vanilla Doubleshot.

Working with crowds of Christmas shoppers is exhausting but also really rewarding. Five different people today thanked me effusively for my help and that was a really good feeling. Actually, one super hot guy told another customer that I was fantastic and I about died!

Adam picked me up after work for a fun treat.

Bubble tea from Gin Gin! Best bubble tea I’ve ever had, and I’ve tried a lot. I got a medium red bean milk tea with regular and popping boba (the purple one is Adam’s taro).

We both swooned over how good they were and finished our drinks in the car long before we made it home. And we called my mom on speaker on the drive and drove her crazy scraping through our ice for errant tapiocas!

Dinner was pizza.

And we shared a beer.

We were gearing up for a long night of baking.

I’m giving my co-workers all pies for Christmas and we are not even close to finished still. Sorry, husband!

We made smoothies mid-baking for strength. Frozen strawberries and blackberries blended with So Delicious Mint Chocolate Coconut Milk.

And I’ve done a little nibbling while we baked.

I have a holiday breakfast with work tomorrow and then I’m spending Christmas Eve on the couch with Adam. I have two days off in a row for the holiday and I am so excited to spend them with my boys!

Did you give any handmade gifts this season?

Eating Chalk

Tag Archives: yogurt

Weak-Sauce Weak Tea

Winter Weight Gain

Lobster, And Marrow, And Boba, Oh My!

Cashews, Coffee, And Curry

From A Package

food

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A Meal That Should Have Been Put Out To Pasture

Our New Christmas Traditions

Use Your Noggin