Lunch

Now that I have a baby, I miss my mom more than ever. Chicken cacciatore soup helps bring back great memories of mom and me. My mom and I are extremely close. She’s caring, loving, funny and protective. She taught me to be strong but cautious, to love your family and friends but always put […]

This weekend was a chilly one. But turkey chili, and snuggling with our playful baby girl, kept us warm. Temperature wise, it was nose-numbing cold outside. E and I only left the house (separately) to go to the gym and get groceries, but it was too cold to take little Q anywhere with us. Poor […]

The vegan thing is trickier than I thought. I’ve been surviving for 9 days as a vegan, mostly on vegetables and quinoa, bread and chia seed pudding. I’ve reintroduced myself to oatmeal, which I haven’t eaten in years. But I’ve made several non-vegan mistakes, just out of habit I can’t seem to break. I accidentally […]

This is what you need to make in the morning of Thanksgiving, when you somehow have digested all of the food from the night before but you are STILL STARVING! One cannot subsist on Patti Labelle’s sweet potato pie alone. Not even if your name is James Wright and you sing like a bird. I […]

You want a good reason to use the rest of your cheese plate for a sandwich? Here’s something creamy, cheesy and perfect for a post-Thanksgiving brunch: Thanksgiving leftovers croque tartiflette.

We’re a week away from Thanksgiving. And while I’ve given advice on how to plan your ideal holiday, I admit, I’m a little behind.

The past week, I’ve been making easy dinners for E and I in an effort to expand my recipe book and avoid eating out. I’ve been pretty successful. There was honey mustard chicken with apple and walnut couscous on Monday. And the other night, a supereasy turkey meatball dinner. 

Fried chicken is having a moment. Shake Shack has people clucking after the chain added a deee-licious fried chicken sandwich to its menu. Momofuku just opened a fried chicken shop in the East Village. I would not be surprised of the sale of home fryers was also on the rise. Or, at least, vegetable oil.

Because it’s so hot outside that we cannot be bothered to sweat on the beach and would rather sit inside in our air conditioned apartment and start packing for our honeymoon, I made homemade lobster rolls. Just as good as the first time I did them.

This is what you need to do with your ripe peaches this week: Make BLPs.

The Fourth of July is upon us! And you need ideas to keep the masses happy while they’re dipping in your pool and drinking your beers.

I held out until the end to make the ultimate stacked sandwich—the Dagwood.

These bad boys. These are not for your ladies who lunch.

I used to have a French bulldog named Lucy. E hated that animal.

Some sandwiches take me outside of the kitchen. Like this Brazilian sandwich, the Bauru. It reminds me of beaches, jeeps and sand dunes.

E and I were lucky enough to go to the Wladimir Klitschko/ Bryant Jennings fight on Saturday night at MSG. But before the fight, we had snacks.

Mmmm beet hummus. With roasted sweet peppers.

You know you’ve really compromised for your man when you can tolerate runny egg yolk AND hollandaise on the same sandwich.

You must have plenty of eggs lying around your house after Easter.

I was away for work in Miami for a few days, and ate my face off on South Beach in between events and meetings and writing by the pool with the warm sun beaming down on my skin. Now I’m back in New York City. In the cold. With no pool.

Yes, it took me two weeks to get this right. But boy was it worth it.

Spinach. I went there. E didn’t come with me.

I was lucky enough to have lunch with Jean-Georges Vongerichten the other day for a boozy holiday celebration sponsored by Bon Appetit. Yes I get around.

Three more days until a four day weekend and eating until we pass out on the closest available flat surface. Bring. it. on. 

In order to satisfy my end of the 300 sandwiches challenge, I had to make sandwiches that E wanted to eat. This did not include spinach or avocado.

See this here? I ate that whole thing the other day. And I will not feel guilty about it.

I’ve done five versions of banh mi sandwiches since I started this blog. I guess I really love cilantro or something.

Oh how I love the smell of beer battered fish in the morning. Or at night. Or anytime really. Coming up tomorrow on 300 Sandwiches: beer battered mahi-mahi sandwiches. For today, I leave you with this mouth-watering teaser above. May your lunch today be as tasty.

This is a horrible thing to admit. But I have to be honest. I had one of those “everyone is engaged but me” moments yesterday.

I packed leftover pressure cooker pulled pork into a gyro for E’s lunch. I’ll post tomorrow, but wanted to leave a taste with you before I rush off… (E, don’t forget to take the sandwich with you to work!)

E was not going to let his new shiny birthday toys stay shiny for long.

E wakes up as if he’s gotten a promotion every day—smiling, happy, singing. This sounds horrible, but it doesn’t make me instantly happier to see him happy.

E did some mega gardening this weekend. You have a garden, you ask? In Brooklyn? Sorta.

Feeling guilty after all of those arepas?

Happy St. Patrick’s Day! In honor of the holiday—or, just a coincidence—I made a fairly, sorta, kinda green sandwich over the weekend.

I love E to pieces, because he makes me laugh when I want to destroy things.

In the drab days of winter, I have to remind myself to create my own sunshine.

E and I have a bit of cabin fever.

Last night I went to dinner with 3 of my good girlfriends, my major fashion executive friends Stacie and Stephanie, and DJ Kiss, who is a major DJ here in New York. We hadn’t seen each other since before the holidays, and it’s always tons of laughs and a late night when we do.

Rating: E is obsessed with Japan.

I took that kid’s idea from Pinterest and made it my own. I also got a tummy ache.

E and I have become obsessed with our homemade apple butter. We are finding ways to put in on everything.

Hey all, E here. I’m taking over today’s post to give my darling girlfriend a break. She deserves it. Here’s why:

When someone calls you names—own it!

Well yesterday was fun!

I made E a plate of Thanksgiving leftovers this weekend, including this grilled cheese pictured above. It got me thinking about the concept of making your man a plate.

Saturday nights used to be for dinners out and club hopping. But I do enough of that during the week for my day job at The New York Post. Now—nesting with my boyfriend in my mid-30s—Saturday nights are for roasting chicken.

Now that I finally had edible baba ganoush, I could make a light sandwich for E’s lunch, which I had to do to save face after hanging out late the night before.

E and I reconnected with some cool friends this weekend.

I had a post a few weeks ago about why one should not order the plain white sandwich. Unless you’re E, and your girlfriend is making grilled cheese sandwiches with sauteed brussels sprouts and you despise the green veggies.

I love pumpkin, but I needed a break from the ubiquitous pumpkin flavored goods in our house—biscuits and whoopie pies and even creme brulee that E made a few nights ago. I may have to get my flapper dress for Halloween an extra size bigger at the rate I’m inhaling these sugary treats.

Rating: Last weekend was sunny and windy, so E hightailed it out of the house to go kitesurfing. He deserved it, the poor thing had been working 12 hours days. He needed a break.

The weather is so delightful in New York City–it’s been a sky blue 70 degrees and sunny all week. But the sunshine got E and I thinking about our next vacation.

After I came out as the author of 300 Sandwiches in the New York Post last week, it seemed anyone with a computer had an opinion about the site. Who knew sandwiches could kick off an international discourse about gender and love?

E and I differ on sports. He’s into hockey and the America’s Cup (nice win, Oracle!). I am a raging Chicago Bears fan.

I’ve been trying to make this sandwich for two weeks! Finally, I got my ‘wich together!

The weekends are for slowing things down.

Oh no he didn’t!

E and I got all glammed up for a photo shoot this morning. Our directive was to put on our best looks and love up on each other for the camera. Easy enough, right?

Whenever my guy friends ask about the blog, they get so judgmental. “How many sandwiches are you on?” they ask. I’ll explain. “You better hurry up! You’ll never get engaged at that pace!”

I’ve been trying to figure out how to make a club sandwich that E would like.

E teases me because I like my food well done. “You like your food nuked until all flavor has exited,” he says. I took that declaration to heart the other night.

Vacation over. Back to reality.

During the Oregon Trail portion of our trip, activities will include summer snowboarding (!) at Mt. Hood, kitesurfing in the Columbia River Gorge and more wine tasting.

Here’s another sign that I’m turning into my mother.

I scored a major victory at home today. I got E to eat kale!

Our Fourth of July—also known as my birthday—was country fabulous.

My friends want me to have a birthday party for myself, but then I end up having to make the plans. I don’t want to do any work to enjoy my birthday. Instead, I’ll make E do it.

I did something that I’ve never done for E. I sent him off to work with homemade lunch.

You can get more done with your day when you get up early. Because I was up and at ’em at 8am Saturday morning, I had coffee on the balcony with E, drove to Fairway AND nabbed the closest parking spot possible to the front door, bought enough groceries for the week, unloaded them at […]

Here’s another difference between E and I. He is friends with just about all of his ex-girlfriends. In fact, I have met a majority of the women he’s dated because he’s either invited them to our dinner parties or taken me to their birthday bashes and Sunday brunches. I am not friends with any of […]

Ham and cheese is a good sandwich. Ham with spreadable fromage blanc, honey and caramelized pecans is a great sandwich. That is, if you know how to make carmelized pecans successfully.

Rating: It was Cinco de Mayo over the weekend. For us, it’s an legitimate excuse to drink margaritas—unlike the less logical ones, like “oh we’re out of wine, so we have to drink something else, preferably with tequila.”

Rating: I went to the most amazing wedding this weekend. THIS ONE!

Rating: E and I just got back from Miami, a super amazing trip full of dancing, eating, pool parties, beach time and Champagne. Between all of that, somehow we missed hitting up THIS amazing find while we were there! I blame traffic! I blame the uber alluring pool at the Delano Hotel! I blame everyone […]

E sure is dedicated to his craft. The first thing he does after putting on that godforsaken white (actually beige, after a year of wear) robe of mine/his is fire up his Apple MacBook Air and start coding. Seven days a week, he puts in a good 10 hours of work, often well past midnight. […]

Rating: E had a bad day. Work left him frustrated and sad, and Mr. Sunshine usually never lets work stress get him down. He had never looked so defeated as when I saw him after work, moping around in his trusty white robe. I couldn’t just make him a sandwich. I had to take him […]

Rating: After surgery to evict Lupita, I was supposed to take it easy. I can’t go to the gym, and I can’t lift anything over ten pounds until my chest heals. But I can’t sit on the couch forever. Plus, E and I had to eat.

Rating: Lumps and bumps. They come up every so often. Sometimes they’re caused by falls or accidents. Sometimes they’re caused by disease. I had one. It confused me. It confused my doctors. It freaked me the eff out.

Being at home with my parents during the holidays reminded me of a few things. Like how awesome it feels to be able to walk around without doing your hair and makeup for two days and having no one judge you. How much fun it is to watch football with my dad. How comforting it […]

Rating: I am feeling extreme Christmas anxiety. I haven’t finished Christmas shopping, and that includes buying a gift for E. And I just discovered that the store that I wanted to get his gift from is CLOSED ON SATURDAYS!!!! ACK! I am the worst. girlfriend. ever. EVER! This is why people drink Baileys in their […]

E is starting a new full time job today: the “minister of Q branch” at a tech start up, according to him. This job goes against everything E has worked so hard for—70 vacation days a year, hourlong lunches at Momofuku Noodle Bar, and no bosses to report to while he worked as a freelancer […]

Rating: Thanksgiving was amazing. Our turkey–brined two days in advance–turned out juicy and tender. Our sides–sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, asparagus, stuffing and a beautiful salad with butternut squash, bacon, pecans and roasted onion–were gobbled up quickly. And we had tons of booze, desserts and great company. Including E’s mom.

E and I were channeling our inner Olivia Newton John and Billy Blanks (remember him?! I used to do those Tae-Bo videos in my living room when my parents were at work) to get healthy after a decadent two-week vacation. Caipirinhas with every meal added tons of extra sugar and calories to our Brazilian diets. […]

And we’re back. Five days, six hotels and a ten hour flight, E and I arrived to a post-Sandy NYC. We knew we may have gone a bit too off the grid when our landlord sent out an APB e-mail on our whereabouts to the entire building asking if anyone had seen us. “We haven’t […]

E and I are in Rio de Janeiro, settled in the upscale Soho-like neighborhood of Leblon. From our room overlooking Leblon and Ipanaema Beach, we can see the locals in as little clothing as possible. The size of the bathing suit I bought to blend in with the cariocas is akin to the dimensions of […]

E and I are in paradise spending time by the beach with great people and great food. There’s only one problem–E is trying to get me familiar with kitesurfing, a fast, equipment heavy, highly intimidating sport that simply can’t be learned in a few days.

Fall arrived this weekend. E and I wanted to commemorate the event, along with his cousin’s birthday, with a dinner party at our place. Since E and I moved to Brooklyn to partake in some hard core nesting, we’d rather entertain at our place and be asleep by midnight than battle traffic to head back […]

I love big box retailers. Blame my Midwestern roots, but I love the promise of bargain basement prices and offers like “Buy 5, get 6 free!” and wandering through those wide aisles and seeing perfect facing stacks of paper towels and Clorox and Eggo waffles and Corn Flakes all lined on shelves. It’s like being […]

After that epic fail of that shrimp and avocado couscous pita thing I tried to make a meal, I had to recover, reboot, and rebound. My sandwich making ego had taken a blow. How I was going to make up for that bland nothingness of last night’s dinner? Do I cook up something truly gourmet, […]

On one of the last Saturday afternoons of summer, E and I decided to stay in the apartment. You’d understand why if you saw the state of our apartment–clothes needed washing, floors needed mopping, and hair needed deep conditioning (that speaks more to the haphazard state of myself, but add hair to the list of […]

E and I were headed to the country this weekend for my extended birthday celebration. I had a summer Friday this week, but E had to work a full day. I knew he would be a Hungry Hungry Hipster (the Brooklyn version of Hungry Hungry Hippo) when he walked into the apartment. But when he […]

E is not partial towards green vegetables. He loathes broccoli. “The devil’s vegetable,” he told me, adding if I ever dared cook it for him he would throw it at me. He also hates spinach–him and Popeye don’t share the same culinary preferences.

The first sandwich I ever made for E is the one that he loves the most–turkey and swiss with lettuce. Crispy bread, flavorful turkey, and pickles on the side are a must. It takes so little to make him so happy.