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!
We go through a bottle per month, so this past time, I stocked up and bought 4 so I never ran out.
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!
LOOK AT THIS!!!!
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)!
Jennifer Fisher is a jewelry designer but also branched out into cooking and salts! Good for her to diversify and expand her business!
Over the weekend in one of my “best of New York” searches, we decided that the cold weather was perfect for Ramen. So in a quick search, I found out the Ippudo is ranked the best Ramen in NYC. So ten minutes later, we were in the car and on our way to Ippudo — and it did not disappoint. It was perfect in every way — full of flavor and depth, and oh so comforting.
Ippudo — three locations in NYC — East Village, UWS and Midtown. Great vibe with hip hop music, locals, and great food.
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:
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.
After a lot of research on the world wide web, I decided that we would get our foot massages at Renew Spa. It had great recommendations online (and also had a website in English). I made appointments for us and although I thought it would be empty, it was actually very busy. But it was very safe and clean — and I had my own private room, which I loved.
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!
Look at it — so colorful and delicious!
Ingredients:
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!
A new cookbook that I love! Can’t wait to try all the different recipes!
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
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.
Seasonal Flavors
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!
Savouries! Rosemary Cookies and granola.
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!
I mean — gluten free carbs and hot pink? Everything about Knead Love, I love (and yes I need love!)
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).
Huge bag of goodies — and SO inexpensive — less than 50 dollars!!!! UNBELIEVABLE!
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.
Even the jars are colorful and make my fridge bright and happy.
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.
Since it is local delivery, the cookies arrive in the most beautiful pink box and bag. Even the box is perfection.
Through a random rabbit hole instagram search (via Mandy Moore, who hiked Mount Kilimanjaro together in a group), I started following Chase Weideman — a dude Influencer. He and his husband created some sauces during quarantine, and what started out as some jars for some friends has turned in to a legitimate business, Batchworthy. Intrigued (and a lover of sauces), I bought two of the six flavors — the Husband Sauce and the Soft Caesar, and am THOROUGHLY HOOKED to both. They deliver locally and ship nationally, and you need to try them out! They are beyond delicious.
These sauces go on everything and anything!
This past weekend, on our final NYC day before heading out west for the summer, we walked across the Brooklyn Bridge (our favorite activity) and then had lunch at the Golden Diner. I have read about Golden Diner for many years as it serves classic NY diner dishes that are influenced by the neighborhood, Chinatown. Everything had an Asian spin to it — even the tuna melt.
First, the Brooklyn Bridge! And yes, we have a million of these pictures, but I love them….
Hands down my favorite dessert is key lime pie –(remember last year when I ordered 13 pounds of key lime pies by accident). And so I decided to start off the week on a sweet note by making key lime pie — but not just any key lime pie, but FROZEN key lime pie. The recipe is from Barefoot Contessa and is so stinking easy that I hope I dont start making it every week just to have in the kitchen…..
(Pre frozen — I couldn’t stop myself, it is that good)
Ingredients:
Adapted from the NYTimes recipe, here is an egg salad. It is SO delicious — yes, decadent; not vegan: yes rich — and OH SO GOOD! You must try!
Ingredients:
* 4 hard boiled eggs
* 1 crispy slice of bacon
* 1 minced shallot
* sprouts or parsley
* mayonnaise (very personal how much)
* salt and pepper
This past Friday, while sifting through magazines and food websites, I decided it was time to try “the best bagel” in Manhattan. So after researching some of “the best bagels,” I decided that we would try out “Absolute Bagels” on the Upper West Side (108th and Broadway). I liked it because it seemed gritty, authentic, unique, and off the beaten path. I like bagels — don’t necessarily love them — but holy smokes, these bagels were AMAZING and I cannot wait to return. Absolute Bagels has been run by a Thai couple for the past 27 years and although a typical bagel shop with all the different cream cheese offerings, they also have thai iced tea. Perfect random touch. It did not disappoint.
A huge line outside — mostly Columbia University students — but a mish mash of people. The lady in front of us waited in line for ONE bagel.
My favorite addition to the Upper East Side is the Israeli Gelato place, Anita Gelato. Everything about Anita is perfection; the atmosphere, the service, the packaging, and most of all, the gelato. It is unlike anything I have ever tasted and crave it regardless of the cold temperatures. It is truly AMAZING.
Look how gorgeous!
This past weekend, in an attempt to have an adventure and do something off electronics, we looked up “best pizza in Brooklyn” (in our 5 borough food scavenger hunt) and discovered Di Fara. So we hopped in the car, drove to a predominantly Hassidic Jewish neighborhood and got some pizza. And yes, it was the BEST PIZZA EVER and I am so glad that we went on this adventure. It was absolutely incredible.
Just a window. Incredible.
Homemade Hummus! I have never made hummus before and in the last three days, this is the second batch. It is so easy and even better, so delicious! A must make!
Ingredients:
Ingredients
As mentioned a couple weeks ago when we ventured to Arthur Avenue in the Bronx to eat Italian Food, we visited Queens several times to try out the “Best Dumplings in the City.” I am not a big chinese food or dumpling fan, but these dumplings from Dumpling Galaxy live up to their name and are absolutely incredible. I loved them so much that a week later, I went solo to get some for the family to eat for the Chinese New Year — they are absolutely incredible.
Right now, Dumpling Galaxy is shut down and only serving at a pop up store — a window next to a Chinese Food Market. Dumpling Galaxy is located in Flushing (past the airport) and only locals are there shopping and eating. When we were there, dozens of people ordered dumplings and the flow was nonstop!
