Week of March 28th Through April 3rd
Holly and I don’t claim to be experts in anything besides finding a great bargain and figuring out how to go a few months without doing laundry. And though food is something we love, admittedly, we eat more refined sugar than most people over the age of 6. So, we’d never kid ourselves into thinking we are real-deal “foodies”. But, once again prompted by an article we love on NYMag.com, we decided it might be funny to give a glimpse into our eating (and, okay, drinking) habits for one week. I’m kicking-off this new chapter in FDP by taking you through the week where I experienced Passover AND Ballpark fare with plenty of candy thrown in for good measure.
Bon Appetit!
Sunday:
I woke up early with a sore throat and a headache so I went to the fridge and got a carton or orange juice and 6 Vitamin B-12 pills. I drank the orange juice in bed and watched the entire first season of
Party Down, you should too.
After that I got up and had about 8 gourmet malt balls Holly’s mom sent us for Easter, I needed fuel for the gym. After the gym I had a grape popsicle while watching
Pretty Wild, don’t watch that. Then I took a shower where I ate a cherry popsicle.
Later, I met Liz in the village for drinks. We love the happy hour at The Dove Parlor, really amazing cocktails for $6, I had a grapefruit margarita with cinnamon-infused tequila.
After that Steven took me to dinner at a tiny restaurant in the West Village where you could sit at the counter and watch the chef make all the food, the chef wasn’t even a little nervous, we had carrot ginger soup, he had chicken enchiladas, and I had scallops with creamed potatoes and cauliflower and braised Brussels sprouts. I drank a Stella. On the way home we shared a
Chipwitch from a bodega.
Monday:
At work I had an orange juice and a few cups of green tea. My office has been gifted this huge parcel of amazing green tea that we’ve all been raving about, then we realized it was Kirkland brand (aka CostCo tea) but we all still drink it ravenously.
For lunch I had chicken Udon from the deli downstairs it cost $7.25 but was totally worth it and I saved half of it for a snack for later.
On the way to Passover with Steven's family we had to stop so I can get cough drops and a candy snack. I had gummy bears and Steven had some peanut butter cups.
For Passover we eat a traditional Passover Seder, this is the second time I’ve ever had Seder and it does take some palate-adjusting. We had lots of Matzoth (which is yummy with horseradish), some brisket, a hard boiled egg, bitter herbs, gefilte fish, then, a salad with fennel, and turkey with gravy and fresh fruit for desert. I had four glasses of Kosher wine, too (four glasses are mandatory for the ceremony, for reals!)
Tuesday:
I woke up very hungry because I passed on so much gefilte fish, so on my way to work I grabbed a $1 buttered bialy from the bodega under my office. It was divine, I also had some pineapple orange juice because my throat was still super sore. At my desk I had two CostCo teas with honey.
For lunch I had what I like to call a “fancy salad” from the too-expensive gourmet grocery store in DUMBO, Foragers. On my fancy salad I had beets, feta, corn, chicken, pretentious croutons, couscous and olives. That fancy salad cost like $11 and was by far the most expensive thing I’d buy myself all week.
After work Chrissy, Kristy and I wandered through the rain trying to find this new bar in our neighborhood, to no avail. So we went to our old standby, Soda Bar, I had a frankfurter
for $3.25, they are so good there, and they give you a huge pickle and spicy mustard. I had two Blue Moons as well.
After this we went home and I had three grape popsicles while watching Lost.
Wednesday:
I still had a sore throat so I had three glasses of orange juice with my vitamins. At work I drank tons of CostCo tea with honey at my desk. For lunch I had miso soup for $1.75, my wallet was still really hurting from the previous days fancy salad. Later in the afternoon Sarah and I went to this amazing candy store in DUMBO, Dewy’s and I got $3.89 worth of sugar-free malt balls, I ate so many at my desk that I had to ask Sarah to hide them from me.
After work I met Liz for celebratory (she’d just quit her job) sushi on Mott street. Originally I was really craving yakatori but the place where we were going was closed that night so we wandered into a slightly-sketchy looking Sushi (and Thai?) place and it was actually delicious. The rainbow rolls totally melted on our mouths. But the edamame was way to salty. I had a tall Sapporo. Sushi total was around $20.
After dinner I went to Steven’s café, Ground Support, to hang out with him until he closed. I had two classes of this amazing white wine called Vevi, it tastes the way My Little Ponies smell. I also had a piece of citrus-tinged dark chocolate, my dream desert. I’m not just saying this because he’s my boyfriend, but Ground Suport has the best coffee in New York, I could, and often do, live solely off of his sandwiches and now that he has beer and wine, I see little reason to ever eat or drink anywhere else.
Thursday:
I woke up and had coffee and orange juice with my vitamins. On the way to the subway Steven got a pastry and coffee from up the street and I nibbled some of that.
I had a meeting in midtown so for lunch I met Emily and Holly around Columbus Circle and Holly showed us her favorite mid-town fro-yo spot. I had plain fro-yo with strawberries, rainbow jimies and chocolate chips, it was delicious AND under $4, I was floored.
For the train ride home to Delaware, Steven packed me a snack of my favorite
Ground Support sandwich, "The Veggie" with cauliflower, tomatoes, radicchio, mango pickle aioli, feta cheese and olive oil on a crunchy chewy roll from Tomcat bakery. I usually have this sandwich at least three times a week. I also have one of my first Ground Support Iced Coffees of the spring, so killer.
When I got back to my parents house my mom showed me that she’d stocked-up on all necessary items to make “pretentious” turkey sandwiches that I love, including ripe avocado, manchego cheese and wasabi mayo. I made a half sandwich, then split a bottle of Prosecco with my mom while we watched Real Housewives of New York.
Friday:
For breakfast I took advantage of all the food my parents have in the house that Holly and I usually refer to as “rich people food”, like yogurt, cereal and fresh fruit, things we never buy in Brooklyn because its “not as good of a value” as Turkey Pepperoni or fudgecicles.
For lunch I made a sandwich with all the gear my mom procured for me, I also had an apple with peanut butter on it, and I shared that with our dog, Chessie.
My family, Emily’s family and several other family friends went to Philly for a baseball game. My brother Will, and I sat in our families seats while everyone else went to a birthday
party in a box. Will did an awesome job showing me the ins and outs of eating/drinking in a ball park. First we had to find Budweiser that was at a specific temperature, never over 25 degrees (Doug Tibbetts law). We found Bud Heavy aluminum bottles at 22 degrees, score! Will had a cheese steak and I had a hot dog. Later we had more beer and then we got soft serve with sprinkles (not jimmies!) in Phillies souvenir caps (that would later go on Chessie’s head). Eventually we joined our fam in the box and I had a ton of peanuts.
Saturday:
Shamefully, I slept till 11 so I had a breakfast/lunch combo (different than brunch) that included a bagel of questionable flavor (spicy cheese?) and an apple and some yogurt and tea.
I laid around and read and ate grapes most of the day, drank a lot of water and Emergen-C because I STILL felt sick.
For dinner I made my “famous cold cucumber soup”, which everyone politely ate
and pretended to be really into. My mom made rosemary-roasted potatoes, and a Greek salad and my dad grilled hamburgers, Will and I put mayo on our burgers like a couple of Canuks. I drank Pino Grigio from my parents wine rack, I’m guessing probably cost more than my normal $4 bottle from Trader Joes.
After dinner we met our family friends at a sports bar and thankfully everyone else was hooked on the basketball game and no one noticed how many Bud Lights I drank, I also ate some of Emily’s soft pretzel sticks she ordered.
So over the past week I feel I’ve done a pretty good job of spanning several cultures of food, from Jewish, to Waspy, sketchy-Japanese, to Philly, my appetite knows no bounds. But after assessing all of the things I chose to ravenously force into my body over the past seven days, some things are certain, I love candy, popsicles and mooching. Holly will hit you with her FDP Food Journal soon, be ready for lots of Splenda and something we call "stink beans".
Forever your girl,
Paige
After that Steven took me to dinner at a tiny restaurant in the West Village where you could sit at the counter and watch the chef make all the food, the chef wasn’t even a little nervous, we had carrot ginger soup, he had chicken enchiladas, and I had scallops with creamed potatoes and cauliflower and braised Brussels sprouts. I drank a Stella. On the way home we shared a Chipwitch from a bodega.
