WIAW Archives - Frolic Through Life

#WIAW – Penthouse 808, Long Island City

May 1, 2013 12 Comments

On Saturday, Tommy surprised me with dinner at Penthouse 808 in Long Island City. The restaurant is located on the roof of the Ravel Hotel and has a gorgeous view of the 59th Street Bridge and Manhattan. Our reservation was for 6:45, perfect timing to enjoy the sunset over dinner. Even though the restaurant is on the roof, it is open year round. There is a retractable glass bubble, for lack of a better word, which they close up when it’s too cold to dine al fresco.

We started dinner with drinks. I definitely needed a drink after two days of studying. The Wasabi Margarita caught my eye right away. The margarita itself wasn’t spicy, but the glass was rimmed in sweetened wasabi which did had a bit of a kick.

We were pretty hungry going into dinner since we had only eaten breakfast that morning, so we started with some appetizers. Being a huge fan of tuna, Tommy immediately suggested the Tuna Tartare Tacos. This was probably the most interesting presentation of Tuna Tartare that I’ve ever seen. The tuna was served in a crispy shell and topped with Wasabi Guacamole.

We also ordered the Korean Style Chicken Wings. I had read in multiple reviews that the wings were great and I since couldn’t remember the last time I had wings, it struck a major craving. The wings were spicy, but not too spicy and hit the spot. The chili flakes on them make the eating process a little messy, but wings are always messy.

We also split a sushi roll – the Smoke Stacks. Spiced tuna, avocado, kani and oshinko in marbled seaweed topped with tobiko.

Finally, for my entree I went with the Pan Roasted Chicken Breast which was marinated in Sake Teriyaki and served with a side of Chinese broccoli and pineapple fried rice. I don’t usually order chicken when we go out to eat, and I was this.close to getting the salmon, but the pineapple fried rice caught my eye and I couldn’t say no. The chicken was very moist and the teriyaki gave it a great flavor. The rice didn’t disappoint either!

Tommy went with the Soba Noodle Stir Fry with chicken.

Overall, we had a great dining experience. The food was very good, the service was decent and the views were amazing. I definitely recommend it!

What’s the best thing/place you ate this week?

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: asian fusion, dinner, long island city, NYC, penthouse 808, restaurant, review, sushi, WIAW

My Week in Eats – #WIAW

April 24, 2013 28 Comments

It’s been a while since I’ve shared some eats, and since it’s Wednesday, I think a WIAW post is in order. My eats are a bit all over the place lately. I’ve been focusing more on school and less on the kitchen, since finals are just around the corner. Just two more weeks and I’ll be free for three months and back in the kitchen in full swing. Until then, these will have to do.

After eating eggs for about three months straight, my breakfast of choice has changed. Whole wheat toast with Trader Joe’s Almond Cocoa Spread topped with bananas. I know that the spread is just glorified Nutella, but it is so good!

Over the weekend, I tried something that I had been wanting to make for a looong time. I took pre-made cinnamon rolls and put them in the waffle maker to get cinnamon bun waffles. These babies were delicious and cooked in a quarter of the time that they would’ve taken in the oven. One of my fav lunches of the week was Southwestern Quinoa Salad topped with a Trader Joe’s Mahi Mahi burger. Super quick to throw together in the morning and it keeps me full for hours.

I got this Avocado Salad from a new cafe that opened up down the block from my office. I was pleasantly surprised to see that they actually grated the carrot and cut the cabbage fresh in front of me. Little touches like that make all the difference, and the grilled bread wasn’t half bad either.

Tommy made this yummy stir fry over the weekend. We bought a bunch of pre-cut stir fry veggies from Trader Joe’s and dinner came together in like 15 minutes.

Another delicious dinner was this Lobster Ravioli. I tossed it with some melted garlic butter and ate it with a small salad.

You know that Spring is here when grilled pizza enters the menu. Tommy made this veggie and a pepperoni on Sunday while I was studying. Grilled pizza is the best because it comes together in minutes – way faster than baking in the oven and it gets a wonderfully crispy thin crust.

And last but not least is some Chobani goodness. Kammie and I met up at Chobani Soho last week for some yogurt, since she was visiting NYC for a few days. When I first heard about the place, I thought it was another frozen yogurt place, but they actually serve Chobani yogurt with a bunch of interesting combinations of topping. I went for the Pistachio + Chocolate, which was plain Chobani topped with dark chocolate, clover honey, pistachios, orange, and hint of Fresh Mint. I really enjoyed my yogurt and was very excited when they told us we could keep the bowl!

What’s the best thing you ate this week?

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: WIAW

Meatless WIAW Trois

March 27, 2013 4 Comments

There is only three days left until I can eat meat again, and that means that this will probably be my last meatless WIAW. Even though I was successful in giving up meat for Lent, I’m not sure its something I want to continue, but more about that later. Let’s get to the eats!

First up are Oatmeal Protein Pancakes topped with melted berries and bananas. These take literally two minutes to make in the blender and keep me full for hours. I make the melted berried by microwaving some cut up berries. It makes a great fresh fruity topping without the sugars of syrups.

A midmorning snack that I’ve been enjoying lately is the Designer Whey pre-mixed Protein Shakes. The Vanilla tastes just like a milkshake, and not a healthified milkshake either!

Another thing I can’t get enough of lately are dried fruits. These are apricots from the Polish deli near my job, but my absolute fav are dried white peaches from Trader Joe’s. I’ve been telling myself that I will make them myself in the dehydrator, but I haven’t gotten around to it…yet!

This is my fav salad from a local diner, the Thai Chicken Deluxe, which I ordered chicken-less. Avocado makes everything better.

I had a brave moment and decided to try something new from the Sushi restaurant we order from at work. This was called a Chirashi Lunch. It was pretty good, but I’m not sure what the white thing was which means I didn’t eat it. I think I’ll be sticking to my go-to rolls and sashimi from now on.

This is the Portabella wrap I got on my lunch date with my little man. Grilled Portabella mushrooms, spinach, roasted peppers and mozzarella cheese on a whole wheat wrap.

This is probably the best thing I’ve eaten lately – crab cakes made by Tommy! I had bought a can of crab meat at Trader Joe’s but wasn’t too sure of what I’d make with it. Tommy followed the recipe on the can and made some of the best crab cakes I’ve had, and it was super simple!

This pizza is my ultimate guilty pleasure – the Salad Slice. It is basically a cheese-less pizza topped with a lettuce, tomato, olives and red onions. It’s super simple, but the flavors go together so well and I literally crave it every time I walk past the pizzeria.

And last but not least is my go to lunch, dinner, midnight snack. A Dr. Praeger’s California veggie burger on toast, topped with cheese and sprouts and a side of veggies with chipotle hummus. I could eat this forever and a day and never get sick of it.

What’s the best thing you’ve eaten this week?

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: vegetarian, WIAW

Meatless WIAW Deux

March 6, 2013 11 Comments

Another Wednesday, another WIAW. WIAW is going green for March, and while there isn’t a ton a green in my eats, there are a whole lot of veggies, and still no meat. Today’s WIAW is just what I ate yesterday throughout the day.

I had a bit of extra time in the morning since my little man decided to sleep in. Instead of my usual two fried eggs, I kicked it up a notch with some sauteed portabella mushrooms and some American cheese.

I kept up with one of my March goals and packed my lunch for work. I used up almost all of the veggies that I had in the fridge – iceberg lettuce, snow peas, avocado, beets, and leftover mushrooms from breakfast. I topped it off with a little bit of Balsamic and it was to die for! I am so looking forward to packing my lunches because this was so good.

Dinner was a mish mash because I didn’t have a chance to go food shopping this weekend. A Praeger’s veggie burger on a slice of whole wheat toast topped with more yummy cheese. I had a chopped red pepper and beets on the side. I am out of hummus (and basically everything else) so I ate them plain. Praeger’s are hands down my favorite veggie burgers. I love that you can actually see chunks of different veggies when you bite into em, and the ingredient list isn’t a mile long.

After dinner, I had a little treat. Tommy’s aunt came back from Poland a few wees ago and she brought us Dumle. For all the years I spent in Poland, I had never had these amazing chocolates before. They are milk chocolate with a chewy toffee center. So flippin good! I didn’t grab a pic of them, but I found this one online. Maybe someone has had these before?

Finally, after Crossfit, I had a protein shake. I am currently using Fitmixer Skinny in chocolate as my protein and it is quite yummy. I also have the vanilla Sculpt, which is really good too, but I was feeling a little chocolatey today.

I apologize for the blurry picture, but I drank it while en route to a secret location to pick up something for a secret event, that may or may not be occurring this weekend. I can’t specify in case a certain someone reads my blog, but I will share it all next week. I’m so excited!

Enough with the speaking in code. Have a great Wednesday!

What’s the best thing you’ve eaten this week?

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: dumle, praeger's veggie burgers, vegetarian, WIAW

Meatless WIAW

February 20, 2013 21 Comments

Sooooo, I’ve been really bad with taking picture of my food lately, but since the start of Lent and the end of meat in my life, I’ve been snapping away. Soooo, that means it’s time for a WIAW! These are just some of the things I’ve been eating since going veggie. It has been way too long since I joined in this partay and thank to Jen for hosting!

First up, one of my favorite new finds at Trader Joe’s – salmon burgers. They come frozen, but completely raw and I just throw one on a skillet and cook it up. Top with some sriracha and a side of veggies and you’ve got an amazing lunch/dinner

Speaking of Trader Joe’s, I’ve also been enjoying their pre-made sushi. I love that they use brown rice!

My number one new favorite thing in life is the Almond Coco Loco Chobani. If you can find these in your supermarket, jump on them. They are like dessert in Chobani form.

Another thing that I’ve been slightly obsessed with are English cucumbers. I have been eating these as a crispy treat with Chiptole Pepper Hummus. Delish!

This is Vegetarian Duck with Mushroom in Garlic Sauce from Chai Thai, where we went for dinner over the weekend. I’m not sure where vegetarian duck comes from, but it might just be heaven.

Lox are one of favorite things to get when we go out for bagels for breakfast, so I decided to recreate it at home. Not as great as it would be on a fresh bagel, but not too shabby either.

Black Bean Veggie Meatball Pitas. When I told Tommy what I was making for dinner, he told me that he wasn’t looking forward to it until he tried them. They were very yummy.

Soy Glazed Salmon. Only 15 minutes under the broiler and dinner was served.

So these are my meatless eats so far. I thought that I would miss eating meat, but it’s been a week and I haven’t had a single craving. I always had a feeling that I would do well as a vegetarian. I think that Lent will show me that I don’t really enjoy eating meat as much as I thought I did and that veggies are my BFFs.

What was the best thing you ate this week?

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: breakfast, dinner, lunch, meatless, snack, vegetarian, WIAW

Thanksgiving #WIAW

November 28, 2012 8 Comments

Yay it’s Wednesday! One day closer to the weekend and one day closer to me being done with this semester. I’m counting down the days to freedom my friends, and I am finally seeing a light at the end of the tunnel. It’s tiny, but it’s there!

I wanted to start with a sorry to anyone who commented on yesterday’s post. There was some kind of corruption or error or something I know nothing about going on, but luckily Ryan came to the rescue and fixed me right up. He is truly great, if you ever need some tech support, he is your man!

Mooooving on, since it is Wednesday, and I ate a ton of food over the last week thanks to the little holiday known as Thanksgiving, it’s only right I share some with your guys. Right? Right!

First up was my turkey veggie plate. I found the idea for this guy on Pinterest and I just couldn’t say no. If you think he’s cute, just wait and see what I’ve got up my sleeve for Christmas!

I managed to snap a picture of the table(s) before we all sat down to dig in. We had turkey (duh), stuffing, my mom’s homemade cranberry sauce, brussels sprouts, garlic mashed potatoes, veggie rice, and two Polish salads and a bunch of other stuff that I probably can’t remember right now, but will end up remembering at the most random times. I’m pretty sure our Thanksgiving table doesn’t look like the traditional table, but when you come from a family of immigrants, you put your own spin on things.

And as if all the food we consumed for dinner wasn’t enough, my cousins brought dessert. We didn’t have any pie, but we did have cheesecake and Turkey cake! This guy came from the bakery my cousin works and he was so good! Nothing special, just a regular pound cake, but the Turkey shape made it so much better!

The days following Thanksgiving were different variation of the same stuff. We actually made kopytka with the leftover potatoes and that made em even better than on Thanksgiving! Hope your Thanksgiving was just as yummy as mine!

What’s the best thing you ate on Thanksgiving?

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: thanksgiving, turkey, WIAW

Fall Eats #WIAW

November 21, 2012 8 Comments

I can’t believe it’s been like 3 weeks since I’ve posted a WIAW. Even though I love WIAW posts, I kept forgetting to take pictures of my food, or I just wasn’t eating anything pretty enough to share. Either way, I’m back with some gooood shtuff! Gather round kids, and get ready to get hungry.

Let’s start off with some of my own creations. First up, one of my favorite things to make, Mexican Lasagna. This one wasn’t vegetarian because I threw in some ground turkey and it was so, so good.

Next up, sushi! This was my first attempt at making sushi, and it came out pretty amazing!

We went to the Asian Market hoping to find sashimi grade tuna or salmon, but no dice. We settled on crab meat and veggies and made a bunch of different rolls. I cannot wait to try making sushi again!

Trader Joe’s Pumpkin soup with a side of grilled cheese with avocado. The combination of flavors might seem a little strange, but it was everything I was craving at the time and it tasted amazing!

These babies are delicious, and not as bad for you as regular brownies.

Instead of butter, milk and eggs, I took a box mix and just added a can of pumpkin puree and cooked according to package directions. When the brownies were baked, I topped them off with mini marshmallows and put them under the broiler for about a minute. These were a HUGE hit!

Mason jars of iced coffee from the Blue Stove. The pies and pastries at this place and to die for!

The last two are some yummy lunches I’ve had at work. I’ve been pretty good at bringing lunch from home, but sometimes you just want a little something different.

Union Street Salad from Calexico - Romaine, radicchio, avocado, grilled corn, goat cheese, cucumber, avocado, radish, tomato, toasted sesame seeds, sherry vinaigrette. So, so good!

Shepherd Salad with Chicken Kebab from Kestane Kebab. It was my first time trying this salad and it was delicious. Fresh tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, parsley topped with a delicious dressing.

That’s all I’ve got for today, but I’ll be back next week with some Thanksgiving eats! And thanks to Jenn to hosting the happiest food party on this side of the internet!

What’s the best thing you ate today?

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: brooklyn, dessert, dinner, takeout, WIAW

WIAW Oktoberfest

October 17, 2012 17 Comments

I’ve been majorly lacking on food related posts as of late, but this week has been a bit hectic around here with racing on Saturday and extra classes during, I haven’t had much time to spend in the kitchen. But worry not, I have some good eats to share!

Spooky Snacks and Healthy Halloween Treats

After running the Rock ‘n Roll 10k on Saturday, I headed home, napped for 45 minutes, showered and headed back out the door to Bear Mountain for Oktoberfest.

We bought some gigantic beers and dug into some German food – knockwurst with sauteed onions, German potato salad and a HUGE pretzel with spicy mustard.

On Sunday, we did some shopping at the outlets and stopped for lunch at Chipotle. I got my usual burrito bowl with chicken, brown rice, and all the veggies they have to offer. Oh yea, and guac!

Monday’s dinner was a surprise thanks to my mama. She found the recipe in Rachel Ray’s Everyday magazine and it was pretty darn amazing. Sausage and kale over linguine with some kind of butter based sauce. YUM!

For breakfast, I tried something new and I am in love. Spaghetti squash egg bowl anyone? I threw in some kale for some extra greens.

I’ve been on a fruit salad kick lately. This was fruit salad 2 out 3 so far this week. I say so far because I know there will be more in my future.

What have you been craving lately?

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: beer, chiptole, fruit, kale, oktoberfest, spaghetti squash, WIAW

First WIAW of Fall

October 10, 2012 21 Comments

So I’ve been away from WIAW for waaay too long, but I am back with a vengeance. I’ve got some awesome things so share that fit this month’s theme to a T! Without further ado, lets get to the eats, people!

First up are two of my favorite fall breakfasts – pumpkin pancakes and pumpkin french toast!

Dinners have been yummy too, and the perfect things to warm you up on a chilly afternoon.

Tortellini Soup with a side of Corn Bread.

Spaghetti Squash with Turkey Meatballs and Mushroom Marinara.

Desserts have been pretty amazing too!

We baked pink Madeleine’s for the Breast Cancer Bake Sale at my mom’s work. We also dipped some in white chocolate and sprinkles with pink heart sprinkles. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a picture of the final product…they were so cute, and a hit at the sale!

A 16 Handles opened up just a few blocks from my subway stop and I had to indulge. Fist Pumpkin, Salted Caramel and Graham Cracker topped with some berries, mini peanut butter cups and sprinkles.

I’ve also been loving Oktoberfest and Pumpkin beers, but those deserve a post of their own so I will leave you with just this teaser!

What’s the best thing you’ve eaten lately?

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: fall, fro yo, spaghetti squash, WIAW

Birthday Surprise WIAW

September 12, 2012 8 Comments

I can’t believe its been two weeks since I last shared all my eats for WIAW! I missed out on the partay last week, but I am back with some good stuff and some birthday eats..cake x2! Yes, I was spoiled!

First on deck is something I threw together after work one day. I was hungry, hungry, hungry so I just basically threw a bit of everything in a bowl, stirred and ate. Totally yummy and veggie and protein packed. Win-win!

This baby was inspired by a recipe in my Everyday with Rachel Ray magazine and came together super quick to make a yummy, Mexican Chicken dinner on a red of avocado and arugula. I wish I had leftovers!

Quinoa egg bowls have made a return! This was Trader Joe’s tri-color quinoa with corn, black beans and white button mushrooms. When the yolk breaks on a bowl like it, I swear it is magic!

This dinner brought back memories of my summers in Poland. Strawberry pierogi topped with a lightened version of the typical polish heavy cream topping. Instead of heavy cream and sugar, I used plain Chobani, a splash of skim milk and a bit of brown sugar. Y-U-M-M-Y!

This baby is Zucchini Cacao Nib Bread. The recipe will follow shortly, but I can say this is short of heavenly.

When I topped it with Coconut butter it was heaven on earth. Sorry for the blasphemy, but it is that good!

Last but definitely not least, my birthday surprises! Tommy had told me not to buy or bring lunch on my birthday, but I didn’t know what he had up his sleeve. He showed up with a huge cooler filled with sushi and a homemade cake, which he made! So sweet!

And as if that wasn’t enough, I came home after class to be surprised with a little party with some of my best friends, ice cream cake and champagne, all organized by Tommy too. Is he amazing or what?