Bee time

New York magazine has a feature I’ve been reading for some time called the New York Diet. They get a New Yorker of some renown to document everything he or she eats for a week and for some reason this is interesting to people like me. I thought this would be a fun addition to Mostly Food and I’m proud to introduce our inaugural post, Eating With Jill.

Jill and I go back at least ten years now. She is an artist, entrepreneur, and wonderful cook and food adventurer. When she’s not tending to her bees in Fort Greene, helping me photograph restaurants, or selling donuts on her stoop in Park Slope, she oversees photography at a multimedia company in Soho. Currently she is working on launching a local tofu project and when she does I will be sure to write about it.

Sunday
I started off the morning with some cold-brewed iced coffee made from Plowshares beans. I put some milk in as well. Then I went to Bark Hot Dogs and treated myself to an egg sandwich with veggie sausage and cheddar. I also got the grits and stole a bite of a hash brown from my boyfriend, Pat. It was a beautiful day, so we took a walk around the neighborhood and picked up a iced cinnamon roll from Blue Sky as a snack.

For lunch, I had a serving of this crispy potato roast that I had made Saturday evening. The recipe is from Smitten Kitchen, who adapted it from Martha Stewart. I made a side of some shredded Brussels sprouts that I pan-fried with butter, salt and pepper, and then topped with Sriracha. I got the idea for these from the restaurant Joseph Leonard, and it is so easy and delicious to make them at home.

In the afternoon I played Frisbee in Prospect Park and when it was over we ended up at Sharlene’s, this great bar on Flatbush Avenue. They have a weekend happy hour so I got two Six Point Sweet Actions for only $3 each.

After I got home from the bar, I had a snack of some Italian bread and Manchego cheese that I picked up from Union Market, and for dinner I had another serving of the crispy potato roast with some goat cheese sprinkled on top.

For dessert I had a scoop of brown butter almond brittle ice cream made by Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams, a company for which I have a huge soft spot because it is made in my home state of Ohio. Also, the flavors are just totally creative and delicious.

Monday
For breakfast I had an iced coffee with milk from Local on Sullivan Street and once I got to the office I made a package of Nature’s Path Optimum Oatmeal with cinnamon, blueberry and flaxseed.

Lunch was pizza from Spunto. My company ordered it to provide a welcome lunch for some new people in our office. Good call, company. Spunto pizza has a very thin crust, so I had three slices of the plain cheese (my favorite), and then I had a slice of the Shroomtown pizza, which was just too much mushroom for me. Since it was a pizza party, I had a few sips from a can of Coke.

For my afternoon snack I had a single serving packet of Justin’s maple almond butter. I love Justin’s nut butters and the single serving packets are super convenient to throw in your bag or in a drawer or in a pocket for a quick snack. There are a bunch of awesome varieties and you can buy them in bulk on Amazon.

For dinner I went to Caracas Arepa Bar in the East Village and ordered the Cocada (coconut milkshake with cinnamon), an arepa filled with guacamole and paisa cheese and an empanada full of black beans and cheese. Yum.

Tuesday
Started off my day as usual with iced coffee with milk from Local and oatmeal made in the office.

For lunch, I tried this new Middle Eastern place on Sullivan Street called Ba’al Cafe. It was cozy inside and the man at the counter was super attentive; everyone in line got served so quickly. I tried the lemonade with orange flower water (a bit sweet for me), the falafel sandwich and the lentil soup. I’m a sucker for lentil soup–I will always try some if I see it.

I had an afternoon snack of a maple almond butter packet again.

After work I had another snack of Manchego cheese and Italian bread before I went on a run. I jogged along the Hudson and then over to Union Square to meet my boyfriend for dinner at Republic, which was one of the first places that I ever ate in New York and I crave it every so often. We shared the veggie dumplings and I had a bowl of noodles, veggies and tofu in curry broth. I added some Sriracha and it hit the spot. I also had a carrot and beet juice with dinner.

For dessert, we walked back to SoHo and tried the Emack & Bolio’s on Houston Street for the first time. I got a scoop of Oreo ice cream in a cup. Nice way to end the evening on a warm night.

Ba'al's falafel

Wednesday
Breakfast was iced coffee with milk and oatmeal again.

For lunch I went to a new-ish Italian cafe on Bleecker called Scali. Everyone is so nice there and the food is great. I love soup so much and this place has fantastic pasta fagioli (the pasta is so perfectly done), so I ordered that with a small slice of bread and some rosemary roasted potatoes.

After work I finished the Manchego cheese for a snack. Dinner was at Ofrenda with Pat, who found this place on Yelp. I had two cucumber margaritas with salt (and they were the best non-classic margarita I’ve ever had!), we shared an order of guacamole and chips, and I got the vegetarian enchiladas for my meal.

Pasta fagioli from Scali

Thursday
I broke my iced coffee streak and made some Irving Farm coffee with milk. Work was hectic in the morning so I took a packet of the maple almond butter into a meeting so I could have something for breakfast.

Lunch came late so I held myself over with a tiny bite of some stale Italian bread around 1 pm. A bit later, I treated myself to lunch at Snack. I had some lentil soup, which came with some crostini, and a vegetarian souvlaki sandwich. As usual, it was excellent and I washed it all down with a seltzer.

Most Thursday nights I am lucky enough to take a yoga class at my teacher’s home and after class is over, she serves us a homemade dinner. I can’t believe how sweet her family is for hosting us these evenings, and this week they served us salad, roasted eggplant in tomato sauce and white rice. The husband is always filling our wine glasses throughout the evening, so I think that I had two glasses of red. For dessert, we had some cantaloupe.

After I got back downtown it turned out that I needed some more dessert, so I went off in search of a root beer float. It was late, so again I found myself at Emack & Bolio’s this week. Mission completed with a tasty, fizzy float.

Friday
Breakfast was some more Irving Farm coffee with milk and back to my usual oatmeal.

I was hungry early so I plied myself with a packet of maple almond butter.

It was beautiful outside and my friend Misako came to meet me for lunch. We went to the Calexico cart and I ordered the black bean burrito. They do an awesome job of distributing the ingredients (especially the crack sauce) within the burrito and its pretty much my favorite burrito in New York. We enjoyed our food outside on some nearby steps.

Later in the afternoon I got hungry again, so I went to the office kitchen and found a decent piece of leftover bread from some executives’ catered meeting.

I played Frisbee immediately after work so for dinner I wanted something easy and just went to my favorite recipe: chickpea noodle soup from 101 Cookbooks. I love chickpeas and I love the fried noodles that go on top of this. On the way home I picked up some fresh Raffetto’s fettuccine for this, they are number one for all of my pasta needs in New York. I also steamed some asparagus with butter, salt and pepper and drank a Vignette Wine Country Soda, which sounds like a wine cooler but it is non-alcoholic and incredibly refreshing for a soda. I buy these at Union Market.

Saturday
Breakfast was an iced coffee with milk and a croissant from Cafe Regular du Nord. This is my favorite coffee place in Park Slope, they use La Colombe beans and their iced coffee is just the way I like it: cold-brewed, strong and tastes almost like chocolate. You also get a discount if you are a Food Coop member.

I had to return to SoHo again for work, so I met Pat for lunch and he was awesome and introduced me to my first sandwich from Alidoro: the Marco Polo, which consists of fresh mozzarella, hot peppers and arugula on pizza bianca bread from Grandaisy. Oh man, one of the best sandwiches I’ve ever eaten.

And finally, I went running in the evening and decided to keep things simple for dinner, so I made a Trader Joe’s roasted vegetable lasagna in the microwave. And it was excellent.