Home-made vegan meal

I made some Upton's seitan chorizo along with Spanish rice, black beans, and avocado for a delicious, vegan, Mexican inspired meal.  The seitan chorizo and italian crumbles are both really good substitutes for ground meat.  Both types are seasoned so well, and crisp up like ground meat does, so you can really trick your mind (if you are so inclined).  For me, I realize texture is a big thing in my mind when I am eating meat substitutes.  These have very similar meat-like texture, so I'm happy.

Dessert from Ice and Vice in Long Island City, NY

After dinner at El Born, we had ice cream at Ice and Vice.  Shockingly it was just as fast coming home from LIC as from BK due to PATH issues.  The ice cream was delicious, though not too many flavor options.  There were a couple of seats so we got to enjoy it there.

(top) 9am - Vietnamese coffee, donut truffles; (bottom) Milk Money - toasted milk, sea salt chocolate ganache

(top) Basic B - Mexican vanilla, black lava sea salt; (bottom) Opium Den - white sesame, toasted poppy seeds, lemon bread croutons

Dinner at El Born in NYC

Dan and I met up with Julia and Rob and went to dinner at El Born, a tapas place in Brooklyn, after going to NY Distilling Company.  We got a LOT of food, which was awesome because you definitely need to have lots of dishes to have a legit tapas experience.  The food was authentic and decently priced.  Probably on par with Manhattan prices.  Made me miss Espana for sure.

Garlic shrimp with bread.  Oddly not on the regular menu but a "special"

Croquetas of the day.  Can't remember what they were stuffed with, but they were goood

Braves El Born - Potatoes, brava sauce, aioli

Special clams dish

Hmm I can't remember but I think another special Julia and Rob got

Pan roasted mushrooms mix, ibérico ham, rosemary aioli

Spanish cheese selection, apple and candied walnuts

Spanish cold cuts selection

  

Grilled octopus, potatoes, fresh herbs, paprika, charcoal salt

Some meaty special

Bone Marrow and steak tartare

Dinner at Calle Dao in NYC

Went to Calle Dao by Bryant Park for happy hour/dinner for a law school reunion.  The drinks were solid and the food was great, though some of the "deals" on the happy hour menu were the same price as the regular menu.  Love fusion spots - this one is Cuban and Chinese.  Overall, a good HH stop for both food and drink, and there's a few Calle Daos around the city.

Crispy Wings with sesame chili sauce

Steamed Pork Dumplings and Cuban Sandwich Springrolls

Crispy Pigs Ear (my FAV!) with Cilantro and Sesame Chili Sauce

Cuban Sliders on tostones - Roasted Pork, Ham, Gruyere, Dill Pickles

Lechon Bao Buns - 3 Steamed Bao Buns with Lechon, Pickled Ginger Salsa, Sesame Hoisin

A history of the name.  HP loves knives

Calle Dao Sliders - Spicy Ketchup, Bacon, Gruyere, Brioche Bun

Dinner at Miso Ramen in Jersey City, NJ

Miso Ramen is always so reliable for a fast, inexpensive, delicious ramen meal where you can BYOB.  Even their non-meat ramen is delicious and super flavorful.  I got the beef stew for the first time, and I dare say it may be my fav ramen there.  Super meat-y and hearty, not too salty, and super warming.

Our go-to Crispy Salmon buns -  Japanese radish, cucumber, ginger sauce, mayonnaise

Vegan v. Beef Stew

My Beef Stew -  beef broth with sliced beef, sesame, bok choy, scallions, soft-boiled seasoned egg

Dan's Vegan ramen - seaweed broth with golden mushrooms, wild ear mushrooms, mushrooms, sesame, bamboo shoots, scallions, black garlic oil, and soft-boiled seasoned egg.  Super shroom-y broth

Snack from BBQ Olive Chicken in NYC

Dan and I picked up a late-night snack from BBQ Olive Chicken in Koreatown.  Besides a sit-down restaurant, they have a to-go section where you can get cooked korean fried chicken in different flavors to go.  I got soy garlic and Dan got spicy chicken.  The soy garlic was definitely more on the garlic than sweet side (compared to Bon Chon).  The spicy chicken also was legit spicy.  The portions were very large, lasting multiple meals.  I'm definitely glad we tried it, but Bon Chon will always be my #1 KFC spot.

Soy garlic

Spicy chicken

Brunch at Buddy Who's in Jersey City, NJ

I went to brunch with my parents and Dan.  I had to order one of their cereal-stuffed pancakes dishes and it was super delish, though obviously leaning towards the super-sweet side.  So, of course I had to get a side of bacon to balance it.  Buddy Who's definitely has fun child-hood inspired dishes.  And it's usually pretty inexpensive.  I hope it sticks around in its spot for a long time.

Captain Crunch pancakes

Captain Crunch pancakes with a side of bacon

Brunch Burrito - Eggs, Pico de Gallo, Jalapenos, Hash Browns, Avacado & Chedder

Side Salad with chicken

Home-made sushi and lumpia

Dan and I got some fresh sushi-grade salmon at 99 Ranch  We made salmon rolls and I made shrimp and veggie lumpia.  A great, not-too-heavy Japanese/Filipino dinner. 

Lunch at Pret-a-Manger in NYC

I stopped by Pret for lunch since they have their new fall menu now.  Got a delicious autumn-themed salad, which apparently took awhile to come out because the boxes were missing the butternut squash, so the worker took time out to put in some hot squash.  Delicious, healthy, and I do love squash and ricotta together.

Fall Harvest Salad - grilled chicken, roasted butternut squash, ricotta, apples, beets, and candied pecans over a bed of mesclun greens w/balsamic dressing.

Home-made mushroom scallops with farro and vegetables

We put some King Oyster Mushrooms at an asian supermarket nearby.  They were huge stalks for under $2.  I cut them up and marinated them in home-made teriyaki, then seared them for 4-6 minutes each and they were incredible!  Wonderful flavor from the marinade, and also crazy similar texture to actual scallops.  I made farro with chicken broth instead of water to make it more flavorful, and sauteed kale, corn and mushrooms.  It was an incredible meal, and enough for Dan to take leftovers for lunch the next day.  Will definitely be making this meal again in the future.

"Scallops" cooking

Per recipes, I cut the mushrooms a bit to let the flavor steep in.  They were also huge so some pieces were quite large

Dan's plate

My plate

Texture so much like scallops!

Lunch at Dunkin Donuts in NYC

The Dunkin Donuts in Manhattan have beyond meat "sausage" breakfast sandwiches.  I got one for lunch and it was delicious, same flavor as their other sausage (shaped like hot dogs) but in a round patty, plus the signature Dunkin "egg" and english muffin.  I'm sure still not super healthy but nice non-meat option.

Dinner at Lenita's in NYC

Had happy hour at Lenita's on a tuesday and they had some food deals for Taco Tuesday.  I got a carnitas taco and a maduros taco, then mixed the two so I had an even better taco - carnitas with maduros :)  Not the best tacos of your life but super cheap and tasty when I combined them.

Carnitas (L) and Maduros (R)

Lunch from Eema's Cuisine in Jersey City, NJ

Whenever there are festivals or street fairs, Eema's is around and we have to get food from them.  As usual, we got a spam musubi and they had some Huli Huli BBQ chicken, which was excellent and as close to plate lunch as we're gonna get outside of the islands.  Missing Hawaii everytime we eat this food.

Huli Huli chicken with rice and mac salad, and Spam Musubi

Lunch from Flavors in NYC

Had a discount on Grubhub, so ordered a custom made salad from Flavors.  The salad was HUGE and delicious.  I ate it over two lunches because it was so large.  Good enough that I would actually order sans deal.

Custom Salad -  with Organic House Blend, grilled chicken, roasted cauliflower, brussel sprouts, portobello mushrooms, broccoli, chickpeas, edamame, craisins, fresh corn, mushrooms, and fresh avocado vinaigrette.  Sooo many toppings plus I loved the dressing

Lunch from The Grotto in NYC

I picked up cheap lunch via Ritual from an Italian place - The Grotto.  Got a pretty tasty and large filling Italian sandwich.  Not a particularly memorable place given the plethora of Italian places nearby, but good for lunch that day

Grilled Chicken Hot Sandwich with fresh mozzarella & roasted peppers

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Home-made vegan bolognese

I am so impressed with Upton's, which makes various meatless substitutes.  We bought some Italian sausage seitan and the texture and flavor was identical to real Italian sausage.  By far the most like real meat that I've had of anything so far, even the impossible and beyond meats.  I made red sauce by scratch - my first time fully - and it was an excellent dinner.

Rotini with red sauce and italian sausage seitan

Lunch at Tacoria in Jersey City, NJ

We went to a festival in JC and then stopped by Tacoria for lunch.  Great fast casual Mexican spot.  Not sure how authentic it is but very tasty and loved that they have al pastor as a protein option.

Tracy got tacos

Dan and I each got mission style burritos.  I got al pastor, and he got chorizo

Dan's chorizo burrito with rice, black beans, salsa, cheese, crema in a flour tortillo

My Al Pastor burrito with the same fillings.  It was hearty and tasty but the al pastor flavor seemed to be a little lost with the rest of the inside