February 2022 - NY Foodie Family

Five on Friday {February 25, 2022}

Posted on February 25, 2022 by nyfoodiefamily@gmail.com

*This post contains affiliate links. Please read our Disclosure Policy for additional info.*

Hello Friday! I am enjoying a day off from work since we got hit with another snow storm. The kids had the week off for winter recess and we spent this past weekend up in Rochester exploring the city. A big blog post and lots of Instagram posts will be coming soon! Here are five from this week:

1. Eating- we had so much tasty food up in Rochester. This vegetarian crepe from Simply Crepes was so good!

As were these empanadas from Juan and Maria’s at the Rochester Public Market. But seriously, everything we ate on our trip was delicious!

2. Reading – I haven’t had much reading time but did manage to finish one book this week. I read My Darling Husband by Kimberly Belle. I need to take a break from mystery/suspense books. I’ve been reading a lot of them and just haven’t been wowed.

3. Cooking – This week one of our favorite dinners was this Spicy Pesto Pasta Alla Vodka. This was really easy to prepare and was very good! Half Baked Harvest recipes don’t disappoint!

4. Watching – My husband and I started watching Reacher on Amazon since we need a new show to watch together. I’ve never read the books but I hear the show follows them fairly well. I just wasn’t into the show so now my husband is watching it on his own.

I finished Cheer on Netflix. It’s a show that I don’t have to put all my attention on, so I’ll write while watching. I’m also caught up on Abbott Elementary on Hulu. This is a fun comedy!

5. Vegan Dinner – Last night my husband and I went to The Bit for a special 4-course vegan dinner. Although we are no longer following a strict vegan diet (I’m now pescatarian and my husband and daughter are vegetarians) it’s so nice to see more restaurants offering vegan options.

ICYMI this week on the blog:

Wednesday I posted about the recently opened LOOK Dine-In Cinemas in Dobbs Ferry.

Sharing with Friday Favorites! Have a great weekend!

LOOK Dine-In Cinemas Opens in Dobbs Ferry

Posted on February 23, 2022 by nyfoodiefamily@gmail.com

*NY Foodie Family was invited to the VIP Ribbon Cutting Event at LOOK Dine-In Cinemas. As always, all opinions are our own.*

Dinner and a movie just got elevated to another level at the recently opened LOOK Dine-In Cinemas! The movie theater had its grand opening earlier this month and is now welcoming guests. The newly-opened Dobbs Ferry location is the company’s tenth theater and the first in New York.

The Experience

Visitors to LOOK Dine-In Cinemas have the opportunity to enjoy an elevated movie experience.

Guests can preorder movie tickets online and select the seats of their choice or use the ticket kiosks in the lobby. The theaters open 20 to 30 minutes before show time so visitors can get comfortable and order any food and drinks prior to the movie starting.

The Theater:

LOOK Dine-In Cinemas has eight theaters that can seat between 60-100 guests. The front section of the theater has chaise lounges that seat two. These are great if you prefer to lay down and snuggle up with your date. There is a row of seats behind the chaise lounges that do not recline but offer a generously sized and cushioned seating space. The remainder of the theater has rows of black recliner seats.

Each seat has a QR code that guests scan on their phones to access the menu. Each unique code is cleverly programmed with the seat number, so servers know your order and where to deliver your food.

The Food:

Now let’s talk about the food! The theater has an expansive food menu with something for everyone. For those that want a classic movie experience, you can order the traditional popcorn, candy and nachos. However, you can also enjoy a full meal, with menu offerings of appetizers, mains and desserts.

The night of our visit my husband and I shared a Sausage + Mushroom Pizza, minus the sausage. Taking items out and adding items on is so easy with the online ordering system.

We also shared the Southwest Chicken Salad. I love that menu items are clearly customizable with the menu buttons, so as a vegetarian, I could enjoy the salad without the chicken.

The pizza was better than I was expecting at a movie theater, but I probably wouldn’t order it again because the menu has so many other choices. I’m looking forward to trying out a bunch of other dishes on future visits, like the Impossible Sliders and Coconut Shrimp. However, the Southwest Chicken Salad was really tasty! I loved the combination of ingredients and the Chipotle Cilantro dressing really complemented it all. I will definitely reorder this salad!

The Drinks:

There is currently one bar area, pictured here, where guests can enjoy drinks before or after their movie. It is a full-service bar serving beer, wine, and cocktails. Eventually, they will be opening the larger bar and lounge area near the entrance of the theater.

The drink menu includes signature cocktails like the Blue Revenge, which has Tito’s Vodka, Cruzan Rum, and sweet and sour mix, garnished with a lemon wheel.

If you are looking for an elevated dinner and movie experience, I recommend visiting LOOK Dine-In Cinemas. This is a fun, new entertainment option in lower Westchester County!

Special Promos:

LOOK Dine-In Cinemas has several special promotions including:

$5 tickets all day on Tuesdays.

The first show of the day, every day, has a discounted ticket price of $5.

The Details:

LOOK Dine-In Cinemas
1 Hamilton Street
Dobbs Ferry, NY 10522
website

Parking: There is free parking in the lot in front of the theater.

Hours: Open daily – showtimes vary with movie

Movie Tickets: $15.50/adult ticket, $12.50/children and senior tickets

Food: Prices vary depending on food choice. Pizza and a soda or a salad and a soda costs around $25.

*Movies listings are updated Tuesday evenings.

Five on Friday {February 18, 2022}

Posted on February 18, 2022 by nyfoodiefamily@gmail.com

Happy Friday! This afternoon we are headed up to Rochester for the weekend. I’m looking forward to sharing more about this city in upcoming blog posts! This week flew by, like most do. Here are five from this week:

1. Super Bowl – I am not a football fan. However, this year our office had a Super Bowl pool. I bought two boxes and wanted to watch the game to see if I won. Since we don’t have cable, we bought Peacock for the month so we could watch. For dinner we made a bunch of appetizers to eat while we watched the game. The best part was definitely the half time show!

2. Valentine’s Day – We celebrates a very low-key Valentine’s Day. We ordered sushi for dinner and I bought a fruit topped cheesecake for dessert.

2. Reading – I finished Reckless Girls by Rachel Hawkins. It’s her newest suspense/thriller book. I enjoyed her previous book, The Wife Upstairs, but this one was just an okay read for me.

3. Cooking – This week one of our favorite dinners were these Vegan Tofu Katsu Bowls. They were fairly easy to put together and my daughter helped me make them, which made the time go by even quicker.

4. Watching – Last week my husband and I saw Spider-Man No Way Home on the big screen. LOOK Dine-In Cinemas just opened in Dobbs Ferry and we were invited to the ribbon cutting event. It’s a great theatre where you can enjoy dinner and a show. I’m posting the full write up on the blog next week.

I also watched Marry Me on Peacock this week. It was a cheesy romantic comedy but was fun to watch on Valentine’s Day.

5. Eating – My husband is finishing doing our closet remodel. We needed a few pieces from IKEA that were only available at the New Haven, CT location. It was our quickest IKEA store visit ever! Since we drove so far to get there, we figured we would get lunch in the area. We found an Ethiopian restaurant, Lalibela. Our local Ethiopian restaurant in Mount Kisco recently closed so it was so nice to get to have Ethiopian food! If you’ve never had Ethiopian food before, you use the injera (a spongy, sour flatbread) to scoop up the food. There are no utensils.

I saw an ice cream shop, Milkcraft, that looked interesting when we were driving around looking for parking. We stopped in and shared a strawberry with aged balsamic ice cream in a bubble cone.

6. Puzzle – Over the weekend I finished this Wizard of Oz puzzle. I’ve been working on it for awhile and was glad to finally get it done.

7. Guilty Eats Contributor – I’ve recently become a contributor to Guilty Eats, a site that’s part of the FanSided network. I’d love for you to check out my articles:
Honey Graham M&M’s
Cereal Flavored Popcorn
National Snack Food Month

ICYMI this week on the blog:

Tuesday I posted about Snowshoeing at Winter Fahnestock Park.

Sharing with Friday Favorites! Have a great weekend!

Snowshoeing at Fahnestock Winter Park

Posted on February 15, 2022 by nyfoodiefamily@gmail.com

Over the past couple of years, my husband and I have become hiking fans. I personally prefer hikes that lead to a waterfall or a scenic view. But when winter comes, I usually become a homebody since I dislike the cold. For several years snowshoeing has been on my winter bucket list. I figured it was like hiking, but in the snow. And it’s a good activity to get me outside in the winter. Unfortunately, there hasn’t been much snow this winter. I also didn’t want to invest in a pair of snowshoes to potentially discover that I don’t enjoy it. After the most recent snow storm, my husband and I finally went snowshoeing at Fahnestock Winter Park.

Fahnestock Winter Park is located on part of a New York State Park (Clarence Fahnestock Park) in Carmel, NY. It is open only in the winter and has approximately 12 miles of groomed cross country skiing trails, three snowshoeing trails and a small sledding hill. With a small café onsite as well, it makes a perfect place for a winter weekend visit.

We arrived at 11 AM and had to wait to park. If you have your own skis or snowshoes you pay the trail fee at the parking booth. If you are renting equipment you pay the rental fee and trail fee at the rental office. While the parking lot is large, the park gets a lot of visitors. Especially the day after a decent snowfall! Once we parked we put on our snow pants and hats and headed to the rental lodge.

Although the rental office is busy, they have a process in place that moves the line quickly. There is a rental form that you can complete with the available pens while you wait on the line. Once you make it to the register you pay and get your day pass. Then another employee grabs your rental equipment. There are several benches in the room and most people leave their boots or shoes under the benches while they ski.

The snowshoes easily attach to your own boots or footwear. The heel swivels from the snowshoe frame, making it easy to walk. This was our first time using snowshoes and we found them fairly easy to walk in.

Fahnestock Winter Park has three snowshoe trails: an easy, moderate (Ojugwan Path – orange) and more difficult (Appalachian Way -blue). We opted to try Ojuwan Path, since it was close to the rental office.

This snowshoe trail is marked for easy navigating. It only got a little confusing when we discovered we had to climb the stairs adjacent to the sledding hill to continue the trail. This section of the trail was the most challenging, since it was uphill. Overall, there were no “wow” sights to be seen on this snowshoe trail, but everything looked beautiful covered in snow.

Although the Ojuwan Path crosses Route 301 and then proceeds around the campground, we opted to end our hike early. We stopped at Route 301 and walked through the park entrance back to the rental lodge.

If you are hungry, there is a cafe onsite that sells a few lunch items, plus muffins and baked goods, chips and beverages. There are tables outside the cafe where you can sit and eat.

Snowshoeing takes a little getting used to but has a quick learning curve. If you’ve never been snowshoeing, Fahnestock Winter Park is a great place to go since they offer rentals at a reasonable price. Our next adventure will be trying cross country skiing at the park, since they have rentals and several trails.

The Details:
Fahnestock Winter Park
1570 Route 301
Carmel, NY 1050
website

Open: Operating schedule is weather dependent.
When there is snow the park is open daily 9:00 AM – 4:30 PM

Rates: **The Empire Pass and Golden Park Pass are not accepted at this park
Trail Pass for skiing and snowshoeing: $12/adults, $10/seniors (62+ and kids under 17)
Sledding Pass: $3/person
Ski Rentals: $18/adult, $15/junior (under 17)
Snowshoe Rentals: adults – $15/day or $7/hour, juniors (under 17) $14/day or $7/hour
Sledding Tube Rentals: $4/hour
Baby Sled Rental: $20/day or $7/hour

Tips:

*Arrive early! The park gets busy, especially after fresh snow fall.
*There are bathrooms and changing areas.
*There is a café onsite that sells snacks, hot cocoa and chili.

Picanha Brazilian Steakhouse {Nyack – Palisades Center}

Posted on February 10, 2022 by nyfoodiefamily@gmail.com

A vegetarian and pescatarian walk into a Brazilian steakhouse. You’re probably thinking this is some kind of joke…..but it’s real. Picanha Brazilian Steakhouse opened recently on January 8 at the Palisades Center Mall in Nyack and NY Foodie Family made a trip. This is their only New York location, with two other restaurants in Philadelphia.

We skipped the parade of various cuts of meat served tableside. We came for the Market Table, the restaurant’s hot and cold salad bar. For $27.95/person, you can have endless visits to the different salads and sides. If you don’t know already, I’m a fan of a good buffet. I’m not in it for the unlimited food. I simply enjoy being able to taste a variety of dishes.

Before we committed to eating at the restaurant, my husband and I asked to check out the Market Table. For a vegetarian (my husband) and a pescatarian (me), we concluded that there were enough options for us to eat. The cold section had a variety of vegetables, salads, cheese and fruit.

The hot section included Brazilian cheese bread, plantains, rice and mashed potatoes. There were several meat dishes on the hot table including ribs, chicken wings, a meat lasagna and pieces of fried fish. Unfortunately, none of the dishes at Market Table were labeled, which made it difficult to know what we were eating.

If you’ve never been to a Brazilian Steakhouse before, one of the big draws is the rodizio: the endless meats brought tableside. Each guest has a token at their setting with a green and red colored side. If the green side is up meat servers will stop at your table to offer you what they are serving. If they see a red token, they know not to come to the table. For carnivores, Picanha Brazilian Steak House has plenty of meats to try. Depending on your visit, there is filet mignon, leg of lamb, beef ribs, pork, Brazilian pork sausage, chicken, lamb chops, ribeye and more! You will feast until you are full.

For wine drinkers, Picanha has a glass-enclosed wine cellar. If cocktails are more your thing, they have a menu of handcrafted cocktails.

The fruit at the Market Table was the perfect sweet ending to our meal. Baked desserts are not included in the price of the all-you-can-eat dinner and we were so full that we didn’t order dessert. The menu includes treats like cheesecake, a molten chocolate cake and tres leches.

We visited during the second week of the restaurant’s opening. There are some minor kinks that need to be worked out – one batch of white rice was undercooked and crunchy. But the next batch that came out was cooked perfectly. The mashed potatoes were on the salty side. And our waiter never came to fill our water glasses. These minor glitches can easily be fixed. Since the departure of Texas de Brazil, Rockland County needed a good Brazilian steakhouse. Picanha is a welcome addition to the area.

The Details:
Picanha Brazilian Steakhouse
website
Palisades Center Mall
1584 Palisades Center Drive B112
West Nyack, NY
(845) 608-2403

Open:
Monday – Thursday: 4 PM – 10:00 PM
Friday & Saturday: 11:30 AM – 10:30 PM
Sunday: 11:00 AM – 9:00 PM

Price:
$49.95/adult
$24.99/ages 7-12
$13.99/ages 3-6

Market Bar Only: $27.95/person

Desserts priced separately ($8-$12)

You may also enjoy reading:

Time Mission: A Family Fun Adventure

13 Things to do at Bear Mountain State Park

January Reads 2022

Posted on February 8, 2022 by nyfoodiefamily@gmail.com

How is January already over?! The first month of 2022 flew by so quickly. I surprised myself by reading 7 books this month. They were all great books that I would recommend and include two of my favorite authors, Colleen Hoover and Jodi Picoult. I even had my first 5 star read of the year. Here are my January reads that I’m sharing with Steph and Jana’s monthly book link up.

4 stars:

Heart Bones by Colleen Hoover (Contemporary Romance, August 2020) Beyah has grown up poor and basically raised herself, since her mother is always high on drugs. She is spending the summer with her father, a man she hardly knows, and his new wife and stepdaughter at their summer house on the Texas shore. There she meets Samson, a rich boy she has nothing in common with. As the two become closer, they realize that they have more in common than they think. But they agree that they will only have a summer romance and then he will answer all of Beyah’s questions that he has left unanswered. But the truth comes out sooner than he anticipates and both their lives are changed. If you’ve never read a Colleen Hoover book, I high recommend giving one of her books a try. This was another great book of hers.

My Oxford Year by Julia Whelan (Contemporary Romance, April 2018) Ella Durran has a Rhodes scholarship and is spending a year studying in Oxford. She has a rough first encounter with Jamie Davenport, whom she soon discovers is her English Literature professor. The two start a romance but then Ella discovers Jamie has a secret, which will ultimately affect her future plans. I read this book not knowing much about it and honestly, didn’t have high expectations. But I was surprised at how enjoyable I found it to be.

The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot by Marianne Cronin (Contemporary Fiction, June 2021) Lenni is seventeen and living in the terminal ward of a hospital. She ends up meeting 83 year-old Margot at an art class. The two become fast friends and decide to embark on an art project where they paint events for each year of their lives, creating 100 pieces in total. As they paint the pieces, we learn more about each of them and their lives. This was such a great book about friendship and love.

The Reading List by Sara Nisha Adams (Contemporary Fiction, August 2021) Aleisha works at the local library. Mukesh is a widower and begins to visit the library in hopes of connecting with his granddaughter through her love of books. When he asks for a book recommendation, Aleisha gives him books off a reading list that she finds left inside a book. The two end up reading through the books together, forming a friendship in the process. I had never heard of this book but am reading through some of the goodreads Choice Awards 2021 nominees and this one was a fiction nominee. While I haven’t read all of the books on the list, it was fun to read a book about books and book lovers.

Secrets of a Charmed Life by Susan Meissner (Historical Fiction, February 2015) Two sisters, Emmy and Julia Downtree, are evacauted during the bombings in London during WWII. When Emmy returns to London with Julia for an appointment she doesn’t want to miss, the two end up separated and their lives are transformed. The book is told between present day and 1940’s England. If you’re a fan of WWII historical fiction, like me, I recommend this book.

Wish You Were Here by Jodi Picoult (Contemporary Fiction, November 2021) Diana O’Toole works at Sotheby’s. Her boyfriend Finn is a surgical resident at a NYC hospital. They are planning a vacation to the Galapagos but then COVID hits and Finn is needed at work. He tells Diana to go on the trip without him since the trip is nonrefundable. While in the Galapagos she befriends a teen girl and becomes close with the girl’s father. While on the trip, Diana starts thinking about her life choices. It was weird reading a book about COVID while still living through COVID. For some people, the hospital scenes in this book may be too difficult to read. However, Picoult is an excellent storyteller and this book is another example of her well researched work.

5 stars:

Reminders of Him by Colleen Hoover (Contemporary Romance, January 2022) After a tragic accident, Kenna spends five years in prison. When she is released from prison she returns to the town where the accident took place, in hopes of reuniting with her daughter. However, her daughter’s grandparents will do everything to keep the two apart. Can Kenna be forgiven for a mistake that happened many years ago? Or will she have to leave town without her daughter? Hoover tells a good story and this one did not disappoint. It is very rare nowadays for me to be able to read a book in two days. But I couldn’t put this one down. I haven’t cried while reading a book in awhile but this one had me grabbing the tissue box.

Five on Friday {February 4, 2022}

Posted on February 4, 2022 by nyfoodiefamily@gmail.com

Hello Friday! As I write this Thursday evening, I’m hoping for an “ice” day tomorrow. We are expecting freezing rain all day. A day off would be so nice! ! Here are five from this week:

1. Snowshoeing – last Saturday we got hit with a big snowstorm. With the fresh snow, my husband and I went snowshoeing Sunday at Fahnestock Winter Park. This was our first time snowshoeing. It was a little more challenging than a regular hike. It was a fun experience, but I’m okay not doing it again!

2. Reading – This week I finished Wish You Were Here by Jodi Picoult. It’s weird reading a book about COVID, while we are still living through it. It was a good read, but I didn’t love it as much as some of her other books.

3. Cooking – This week one of our favorite dinners was General Tso’s Tofu. My husband got the tofu nice and crispy and the sauce was sweet. I didn’t add the red pepper flakes so it wasn’t spicy.

4. Watching – Friday nights have unintentionally become movie and pizza nights. Last Friday night we watched Dune. I kind of knew before watching that it wasn’t my type of movie. But I ended up watching the entire thing with the family and I was right. I will not be watching the sequel, whenever it comes out.

5. Eating – we bought this Cocojune lemon elderflower yogurt at Whole Foods. I’m not a huge yogurt lover. However, this yogurt was delicious! It’s non-dairy made from coconut milk and is super creamy. It tastes more like a dessert than a yogurt.

We made BLTs with Morningstar Farms veggie bacon. Since becoming vegetarian I do miss bacon. But this is a good substitute.

6. Science Honor Society – this week our daughter was inducted into the National Science Honor Society at her high school. We are super proud of her and her hard work.

ICYMI this week on the blog:

Monday I shared our Westchester County Valentine’s Day Dining Guide.

Sharing with Friday Favorites! Have a great weekend!