Hello and welcome back to Five Things I Ate! This week, we try to eat breakfast, and drink cheap beer. Check out past posts here, and please follow my Instagram @fivethingsiate.
Grainless granola at Trader Joe’s
Here’s a very overpriced version on Amazon, for image reference.
The good Dr. Cow, err, Dr-Cow, has gone missing. Either that, or the website of Dr-Cow, the fancy vegan foods brand that makes the best granola ever, has gone down, which means I cannot order extremely expensive granola for special occasions. The good news is that I found the perfect dupe at Trader Joe’s for a fraction of the price. The problem with most granolas is that they're basically clumps of oatmeal and sugar, or worse yet, bits of broken oats and sugar. This is where grainless granola comes to the rescue; there are no oats allowed, just the good stuff: Coconut flakes, sunflower seeds, and almonds. I’m not sure what other magic is going on inside, but the end result tastes so, so good, like a salty-sweet coconut brittle, almost. I like to sprinkle it on top of the Best Ever Raspberry Yogurt Parfait (below) for a breakfast treat.
Best Ever Raspberry Yogurt Parfait at home
Ingredients from Trader Joe’s, but also scavegenbale elsewhere.
Like most Millenials, I wake up by stumbling out of my bed and opening the Outlook app on my phone, and then intermittently doing a five-step skincare routine while brewing coffee on the moka pot, checking Slack messages, and feeding the cat. Unfortunately, that means that the only time I eat breakfast is when I’m on vacation (an experience I’m already sorely missing). But recently, I’ve been trying to level out my blood sugar by pairing food with protein with my morning coffee. These yogurt parfaits are not only beautiful and delicious, you can prep them the night before. When a yogurt parfait is good, it is phenomenal. For that, you need a tangy, not-too-sweet whole milk NOT GREEK vanilla yogurt (reminiscent almost of sour cream), frozen raspberries, and a very good granola (see above). In a pretty glass jar (you can prep several at once), add about a quarter-cup of frozen raspberries, and then top with half a cup of the whole milk yogurt. Screw on the lid, and in the morning the raspberries will have melted into a lovely vibrantly colored coulis, which you can stir into the yogurt before topping off with granola for a crunch.
Aqua ViTea Blueberry Social Kombucha at the bodega
Here's the brand, I’ve seen it in a few groceries.
I feel like kombucha is the greatest example of “YMMV” (your mileage may vary). Depending on the brand, its taste can range from basically fruity soda in disguise to carbonated vinegar, or sometimes just straight-up beer. My favorite kind of kombucha leans towards fruity soda, but less sweet, with a little tang. (GT’s kombucha, which is deeply vinegary and a bit hoppy(?), is my least favorite brand; it is good as a cocktail mixer, though.) Aqua ViTea is a less common brand in New York that I really enjoy. I am not usually very concerned with the sugar or alcohol content in kombucha considering that I like both boba tea and frozen margaritas, but the fact that this drink is alcohol free and lower in sugar means that it has a more pleasant, lighter taste.
Presidente beer at home
Available at most bodegas and grocery stores in New York.
People are always completely shocked that I drink beer. It’s sort of funny to me, but as a Blueberry Kombucha girl, I can see why that may be. But I am here to counter stereotypes. While it is true that I only drink beer when I’m eating spicy food, and during the summer months, not only do I enjoy drinking beer, I pretty exclusively drink cheap beer: Sapporo, Blue Moon, Corona, and Presidente. Expensive beer is totally lost on me, precisely because it has a lot of complex flavors; to me, beer serves the function of a not-sugary soda and therefore it should be buzzy and light, and very, very cold. After traveling to the DR for vacation two newsletters ago, I started stocking Presidente at home, because it checks all the boxes and lets me enjoy a little slice of vacation in my studio apartment.
Mixed dumplings (potato and mushroom, chicken) at Daa! Dumplings
886 9th Ave, New York, NY 10019
The last time I ate pelmeni, or Russian dumplings, was in Brighton Beach, about three years, a literal plague, and several lifetimes ago. I liked the ones at Cafe At Your Mother-in-Law much more, because they were hot and served in fresh broth, but that would be a lot to ask of Daa! Dumplings, which is a takeout window. I also think everything tasted better before COVID-19, both literally (I lost my sense of smell from being sick, and I sometimes wonder if it’s still a tiny tiny bit dulled), and emotionally. Still, I really enjoyed being able to get a plastic takeout container of freshly boiled pelmeni without having to take the Q all the way to the end of the line.
XOXO,
Soph
P.S. If you’re a fan of my writing, please consider a paid subscription. It gives me the financial and emotional support to continue this newsletter, which I write in my limited free time!