Tag Archives: deals

What I Ate Wednesday: New York & Astoria

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Usually my WIAW posts are days I’m most proud of. Today I’d like to confess share with you what I ate last Wednesday, as proof that I’m not always so healthy. Since I hadn’t planned on sharing, I only have one picture from the day but I’ll throw in some product shots so that you get the idea.

cookie

Since I was running late, breakfast was one Honolulu Cookie Company chocolate-dipped shortbread cookie my mom sent from Hawaii.

coffee

I also had a medium coffee with cream and stevia from Dunkin Donuts (they’d sent me a coupon for a free drink for my birthday; how could I resist a free coffee?).

Yo Art NYC

I brought a healthy whole-wheat tortilla with almond butter and homemade jelly to work for lunch, but I didn’t eat it because when I got in, I realized my Groupon for Yo Art at The Plaza expired that day, so I had to use it. This is the only picture I actually took last Wednesday, and I took it because I was thinking, wow, I can’t believe I’m eating pure sugar for lunch, this must be documented! Obviously I could’ve had some self-restraint but I allowed myself to go overboard on the toppings/chocolate (so typical!) since I was having a rough week.

annies

When I got home we didn’t have anything fresh in our fridge so Kiyo and I made Annie’s mac & cheese for dinner. I don’t really see how it could be a “good source of protein” as the box claims, but I sure hope it was since by this point I’d pretty much only ingested sugar and fat.

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Mexican Dinner at Toloache, New York

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For Kiyo’s birthday, my mom gave me some money and told me to take Kiyo out for Mexican food (two of her favorite things in the world are guacamole and margaritas). After some research, I chose to take him to Toloache, a place that is much nicer than the taco places we usually frequent for Mexican. The waiter came over and immediately tried to push $13 guacamole and gross, syrupy margaritas on us. Kiyo couldn’t understand him through his thick accent, and would have just nodded and gotten pushed around if I hadn’t been there to slow the waiter down and make it clear that we were in charge of our dinner!

Finally I ordered us cocktails; mine involved hibiscus and was lovely (this was during the summer, so I won’t be able to fully remember everything!).

To start we shared a dish that I didn’t like at all (I don’t remember what it was called, but it was meat, cheese and some sauce piled on top of a tortilla). Kiyo ate my half because he thought it was ok.

The salad we shared was my favorite part of the meal. It included jicama, avocado, mixed greens, orange, radish, and almonds topped with a tamarind vinaigrette. Usually ordering a salad at a restaurant is too boring for my taste, but since this one included jicama, radish and tamarind, three things I love but would never have in my kitchen, I really enjoyed it.

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Chicken Tacos, Brooklyn

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Kiyo and I recently read a list of the supposed best places to eat in Brooklyn in The L Magazine, and we are currently staying near one of the best taco places, Oaxaca Taqueria. Tonight we decided to try it out, and happily discovered that there was a deal going on: only $2 per taco between 4 P.M. and 7 P.M. Monday through Thursday. We each ordered two chicken tacos at the incredibly reasonable price of $4 per person for dinner!  Each taco included two flour tortillas (which made them more filling) stuffed with chicken as well as pickled onion, cilantro, cotija cheese, house-made salsa, and a tiny bit of house-made avocado lime sauce. Lately I love anything pickled so that was a nice surprise. I’m not sure if they make the tortillas in-house, but they were really soft and delicious. We smothered them in Cholula hot sauce and dug in! My only complaint is that  there was no drink fountain, so there was no free water; but this place is definitely a great place for fresh tacos.

Oaxaca Taqueria

Location: 251 Smith St., Brooklyn, NY 11231 Phone: (718) 643-9630

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D’Andrea’s Pizza, Saratoga Springs

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Right down the street from my apartment is one of my favorite pizza places, D’Andreas. They have an awesome daily lunch special, shown here, which includes any two slices of pizza and any drink for only $4.25! Kiyo and I always get the chicken bacon ranch (usually I think ranch is disgusting, but for some reason it totally works on this pizza).

D’Andrea’s Pizza

Location: 33 Caroline Street  Saratoga Springs, NY 12866 Phone: (518) 584-3632

Dinner at Traffic Bar, New York

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Another great Groupon find: $20 for $40 worth of food at Traffic Bar NYC. Since we got there in time for happy hour we were also able to enjoy $2 Coors and $5 glasses of white wine (I had a glass of Matua Valley Sauvignon Blanc, from New Zealand). Unfortunately I didn’t have my good camera on me, so these slightly grainy iPhone pictures will have to do.

Asian Steak Salad: grilled marinated skirt steak with mixed greens, crispy noodles, shaved carrots and cabbage in a soy dressing sprinkled with sesame seeds. The dressing actually tasted like peanut sauce, but it was good.

BBQ Chicken Quesadillas: pulled chicken, Traffic chipotle barbecue sauce, and cheddar and Monterey jack cheese with guacamole, sour cream (which for some reason was green) and salsa (chopped tomato and onion).

Kiyo’s entrée: Grilled filet Mignon topped with Gorgonzola crust over a rosemary wine sauce, served with sautéed asparagus and smashed red bliss potato. Whatever herbs they used in the crusted Gorgonzola topping really made the dish more memorable than what we expected to be just another steak.

Traffic Bar & Restaurant

Location: 986 2nd Ave. (Between 52nd & 53rd) New York, NY 10022

Phone: (212) 813-1595

Traffic Bar and Restaurant- Midtown East on Urbanspoon