It’s unbelievable to me that we are almost half way through the year — I have been hibernating the past 2.5 months, so it feels a little surreal, and yet, here we are. Here is what I am currently loving!
It’s unbelievable to me that we are almost half way through the year — I have been hibernating the past 2.5 months, so it feels a little surreal, and yet, here we are. Here is what I am currently loving!
Hands down my favorite condiment is Momofuku’s Chili Crunch. Even though I am terrible with spice, there is something about this crisp that is so good that I can’t stop eating it (and yes always complaining how spicy it is). It adds so much flavor and pizzazz and makes eating more fun!
The other day when shopping at a bakery, I bought the most delicious sesame tahini chocolate chip cookie. And so of course, I became obsessed with finding best recipe to recreate my own version of this deliciousness. Sure enough, the NYTimes had the best reviews — and aw man, are they beyond! Run to get the ingredients and make these stat! I just ate TWO in half a second.
Ingredients:
HOLY cow, the best nut chocolate deliciousness, my gawd! These little squares are creamy, dairy-free, raw cacao sunflower butter squares — made with the best natural ingredients and none of the bad! The perfect bite of dessert!
Recommended to me by a friend who is the connoiusseur of everything and anything, McEvoy Ranch Olive Oil, is THE olive oil to use. She says it is the best of the best, and because I trust her with my life, I just placed a huge order of olive oil for my kitchen (and we go through a ton of olive oil, so I can’t wait for this order!) This olive oil is “Rooted in Italian craftsmanship with a bold Californian approach,” — and Italians and Californians, they know their EVOO!
In a need to have more veggies and green in my life (winter makes me only want carbs), I decided to search the best recipe for Green Goddess Dressing. After a lot of research, I chose the Green Goddess Dressing from the NYTimes and I am so happy with the end result. It is delicious, fresh, and easy to eat with crudites or salads — a great way to add more green to my day.
Ingredients:
I have been hearing a lot about Jennifer Fisher’s Flavored Salt for quite some time, but finally picked some up at a local market, and I am hooked! They only had the Universal Salt variety so that is what I purchased, but I can’t wait to try out the others soon (curry and spicy)!
I think it is January because the only thing I have been doing is EATING or thinking of EATING. I recently made Buckwheat Molasses Cookies from Shalane Flanagan’s newest cookbook and I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE them! They are so tasty and I highly recommend!
Ingredients:
Last Friday night, in dire need of a foot massage, Ken and I decided to venture to Chinatown for a couple of hours. It was a huge success and I cannot wait to go back. Not only did we get great (and cheap!) foot massages, but we also brought home super tasty dumplings.
From “Vegan At Times,” I found this recipe that is easy, filling, and delicious. A sweet potato, peanut butter, and banana sandwich. It is definitely unique, but so good that I plan to have it in rotation as an easy breakfast, snack, or lunch!
Ingredients:
I know that the month has just begun (Omicron — go away already! Winter — go away, too!), but here is what I am currently loving!
1. The Sex Lives of College Girls
One of my favorite Hanukkah / Christmas / Holiday presents was the new cookbook “Vegan, at Times” by Jessica Seinfeld. All of the recipes look delicious and the first one I made, Buffalo Cauliflower, is so delicious that I imagine all the other recipes are just as tasty and good. So flavorful, semi healthy, a great way to eat cauliflower, and something different! Here is the recipe for buffalo cauliflower!
My favorite restaurant in NYC is ABCV. It is an all vegetarian restaurant with so much flavor and deliciousness. Everything they make is incredible and one of my favorite items is the pea hummus. So I decided to try to make my own! It definitely isn’t as good as ABCV, but I was very happy with the result!
Ingredients:
* bag of frozen peas
* can of drained garbanzo beans
* 1-4 tablespoons of Olive oil
* a spoonful of tahini
* lots of salt
* a huge handful of mint
* juice from one lemon
Last month of 2021! I can’t believe it — this year has come and gone…..here is what I am currently loving this month!
Over Thanksgiving break, I decided it was time to start my food hunts again in NYC to find “the best ofs.” Last Winter, I found the best dumplings, the best pizza, and the best Italian Food. So, this time, I thought it would be fun to find the “best Vietnamese” in Manhattan. It was a throw back to when I was pregnant with my 12 year old, and only wanted gazpacho and Vietnamese Summer Rolls…..So after reading several articles and reviews, we headed down to 6th Street in the Lower East Side to Banh Mi Zon to pick up a selection of items.
One of my downfalls is that if I go in to a gourmet grocery store searching for one specific item, I leave with a huge bag. Especially if I am hungry. So the other day when I was on the way to my daughter’s school pick up and I went in to a get a watermelon lime juice (yes very specific), I walked out with every new sweet item I could find. My favorite was edible cookie dough, Do! I had heard about this phenomenon, and actually seen the lines at their downtown location, but I had never tried it. And of course, once I tried it, I fell madly in love, and have since returned to buy various flavors. The most recent purchase was their seasonal flavors of Pumpkin and Apple Pie.
A couple weeks ago on a beautiful Fall day, I got off at the wrong subway stop (to go to Trader Joe’s) and ran into a dear old friend, Christine, whom I had not seen in a decade. (A decade!) It was one of those powerful encounters that both brought us to tears as we were SO happy to see each other and be reconnected. She is magic — and everything around her is positive, joyful, and magical. Long story short, turns out Christine is now a full time bad a$$ actress as well as a baker (a good friend to have). She makes the most incredible cookies and granola (my favorite food group) and you can’t stop eating her creations. And she sells them!!!!! Savouries! Get them!
I blinked, and here we are in mid October. I know that as you get older, the time starts to fly by, but really, in the past year, it feels like a month ago was yesterday! And it literally feels like school JUST started, but here we are almost Halloween (gulp, my least favorite holiday). Here is what I am loving this month!
1. The Night She Disappeared (on audible)
Last Winter, on our “best pizza” of NYC, we wound up deep in Brooklyn at Di Fara. It truly was the most amazing pizza I have ever had, even with the hour long drive. So as soon as I found out that Di Fara had a pop up for 3 weeks in Manhattan, I jumped at the opportunity for us to go. Definitely worth it as still the best pizza I have ever had.
I love it when things just work out and you don’t expect it! Yesterday, I was ordering a cake for my son’s birthday from a Gluten-Free Local Bakery (that I posted about in May 2020) and then decided to take the subway down to Trader Joe’s (yes second visit this week), but got off at the wrong train stop. As I emerged from the train, I realized that the Union Square Green Market was taking place and that Knead Love (where I was in the process of ordering Cruz’s 12th birthday cake) had a booth!
During graduate school the only place I grocery shopped was at Trader Joe’s– it is where I got EVERYTHING. Vegetables, pre packaged food (I lived on their burritos and enchiladas), muffins, granola, everything. And yet since then, I rarely go as there is not one close by and I like things where I pick the quantity myself. That said, I was reintroduced to Trader Joe’s and it inspired me to try it again. I have gone twice in the past two weeks and I love it — not for everyday grocery shopping, but for random snacks and food to hoard in my house (I hoard food).
OK, so I have written about these sauces before, but I have to write a full post about it because they are just that good. They are SOOOOO good. Back in June, I bought the “Husband Sauce” and the “Caesar Sauce,” and they were delicious, but it wasn’t until this month that I purchased The Full Batch. The full batch includes: 1 8oz. Husband Sauce, 1 8oz. The Heat, 1 8oz. Soft Caesar, 1 8oz. That Good Grainy Mustard, 1 4oz. Garlic Confit, and 1 4oz. Garlic Rillette. Literally you can make the most scrumptious meal with any of these sauces.
At the very start of the summer, I was at a friend’s house where she served a plate of the most delicious cookies I had ever eaten. The cookies were all broken in to pieces which made it very easy to eat and sample all the different flavors. Each cookie was better than the last and I couldn’t stop thinking about them. Or eating them. They were BEYOND. Thankfully, these cookies, Synful Eats, can be bought in NYC / Hamptons — and hopefully soon nationally. They are the next Levain Cookies — top quality, incredible combinations, the best ingredients. I can’t wait to see what this company does next — and until then, I will continue to support (and eat!) these unbelievably tasty cookies.