This is Lacey. This is my Lion Hair.

I need a hair cut so bad! Who will chop it for me?! Anywho..

NESCAFÉ Dolce Gusto is hosting 8 Foodie Feed Ups around the country for bloggers to check out some of their local chefs’ favorite dishes and also try their yummy new coffee line.

They’ve already hit up Cleveland and New York City; next they’ll be in Tampa, Chicago, Seattle, Houston, LA and Denver.

Pretty neat, right?! I love the event planning world.

The NYC Foodie Feedup was hosted at Almond, a cozy restaurant in the Flatiron District with indoor twinkle lights, rustic decor and distressed wooden walls.

It’s funny because blogger meetups can potentially be pretty awkward at first, but the inviting ambiance and good people always make you feel right at home.

Love that.

10 bloggers in total made it to the event.

I’d only met one in real life before (Hi Andrea!), so I was pretty excited to make new friends!

Before dinner, we all sampled homemade layered lattes and cappuccinos from the NESCAFÉ Dolce Gusto Single-Serve Coffee System.

What makes the Dolce Gusto different than your regular ol’ coffee maker?

This one whips up hot or cold drinks using tiny futuristic capsules of coffee and milk. Ok maybe not that futuristic, but they were pretty neat.

The presentation in the glass was what me likeyyyyy.

In about 2 minutes, you can make pretty layers in your latte and then serve them to your party peeps, college buds or most importantly, for yourself right before work.

Pretty clever little machine.. and it looked like something from Wall-E!

Seriously. So. cute.

Blogga moment!

Next, we all sat down at a family-style table in the back of the restaurant for din din.

The Almond Chef (Iron Chef spinoff?) came out and introduced each of the 4 courses. I assure you, he did a better job than I’m about to do…

#1 Shrimp cocktail

I spy a cute little bottle of hot sauce.

#2 Charcuterie and Select Cheeses

It looked like bacon. Me like bacon.

#3 Goat Cheese Ravioli garnished in Local Corn & Smoked Tomato

We went back for seconds.

Thank you, Mister Chef Man Sir! At ease, sergeant.

#4 Lamb Two Ways

Not really a huge fan of lamb, but I am a fan of the I Spy game.

I spy the cute little hot sauce bottle… again.

Wine, frothy lattes and new friends. Why yes, yes that’ll do.

PS – Meet a few of my new friends!

• Eliana was born and raised in the city and has run 7 marathons. She’s getting her first car soon!
• Emily moved to NYC from a small town in North Carolina to design graphics for Fashion & Apparel. Her brother scored a sweet gig as a Chef in Tokyo.
• Justin – A cookbook writer and editor.

Bloggers out.

What’s your favorite kind of latte?

* NESCAFÉ Dolce Gusto invited me to this event. We received wine, a yummy dinner, more wine, warm gooey chocolate chip cookies, a mini hot sauce bottle (actually wait…), a cookbook and surprised with our own Piccolo NESCAFE Dolce Gusto Coffee Maker. All opinions are my own. Kthxbai.

Last week, I had a severe “wrap attack” and went through an entire package of La Tortilla Factory Smart & Delicious Tortilla Wraps. Their tortillas are incredibly yummy and versatile! In the past, I’ve tried other tortilla brands, but sadly they always seemed to fall apart. The La Tortilla Factory’s Smart & Delicious Tortilla line are amazing because the wrap actually stays together when you match up the two sides. You should definitely give them a whirl if you haven’t already. Here a few of my favorite ways to eat these tortillas.

Breakfast:

Breakfast Burrito with scrambled eggs, sausage, melted cheese, and salsa

After my breakfast burrito, I went into the library basement to read an interesting case of the Cola Wars: Coke vs. Pepsi. A Starbucks Skinny Cinnamon Dolce Latte really helped me focus. I’ve never had this flavor before, but I would definitely buy it again. If you like sweet coffee drinks, you will love it! I think it tastes better as a hot drink rather than an iced one though.

Fun Fact: A long time ago, the CEO of Coca-Cola had the opportunity to purchase Pepsi, but he didn’t think it was that great of investment at the time.

Lunch on the Go:

Turkey Wrap with Lettuce, Tomato, Onions, and Mustard

Dinner:

Chicken Fajita with onions, green pepper, black beans, melted cheese, lettuce, and salsa

To make the chicken fajita extra crispy, I put in the George Foreman for about 3 minutes. It was sooo good! What’s your favorite meal idea for tortilla wraps?

**My latest College Lifestyles post: “Healthy, Nutty Snacks for College Girls“

Have a happy and healthy week everyone!

“Egg McMuffin”

Whole Wheat English Muffin Egg Sandwich with Canadian Bacon, Cheese, and Ketchup

“$1 Parfait”

Chobani All Natural Greek Yogurt with Total Cereal

“McCafe Iced Coffee”

Home brewed Iced Coffee with Eggnog Creamer

“French Fries”

Sweet Potatoes with Ketchup

And finally.. “The Real Deal”

McDonald’s Chicken Nuggets and Honey Mustard

Sorry, I had to.

What fast food meals do you reinvent in your kitchen?

]]> http://tropicaleats.com/2010/01/10/reinventing-mcdonalds-at-home/feed/ 25 tropicaleats DSC01945 DSC01953 DSC01730 DSC02031 DSC01652 http://tropicaleats.com/2009/12/29/productivity/ http://tropicaleats.com/2009/12/29/productivity/#comments Tue, 29 Dec 2009 16:56:25 +0000 Shannon [Tropical Eats] http://tropicaleats.com/?p=1020 ]]> I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas with your family! With winter break winding down, the pressure of  the senior year job hunt has fallen upon me. It is amazing how fast time flies and that I’ll be entering my final semester of college in less than one week. Today, my goal is to be productive, continue researching companies, and update my resume. It’s scary that college is ending, but it’s also exciting to begin a new life chapter!

Ezekiel Sesame Bread with Naturally Nutty Cinnamon Cherry Peanut Butter and Chobani Greek Yogurt

Iced Coffee with Coffee-Mate Eggnog Coffee Creamer

If you’re a coffee lover and haven’t tried this creamer, I highly recommend you do. It tastes better than Starbucks Eggnog Lattes and is cheaper too! I just used the last drop of creamer in my coffee this morning and need to stock up on a few more bottles before Publix takes them off of their shelves. I’ll miss all of the winter holiday seasonal products in stores!

Fried Chicken Salad

Nachos with black bean salsa and shredded cheese

Have a wonderful day! Time to get cracking on the job hunt.

**Checkout my latest College Lifestyles post on how to “Go Green” in 2010!

I hope the Fall weather is crisp and cool wherever you are today! A very big congratulations to Kaitlyn, for winning my Tropical Eats Giveaway. As some of you may know, I work part-time as an ice cream scooper at the local Ben & Jerry’s Scoop Shop. This semester, I’m very fortunate to assist with marketing opportunities for the store. I’ll be managing our new GroovyDeals Twitter account, promoting daily specials, and finding unique ways increase the customer’s experience. I can’t wait to share these exciting Ben & Jerry’s adventures with you.

Scrambled eggs, black bean salsa, ham slices, and a Granny Smith Apple

Before I went to tutoring one day, I made a trip to the local Publix and bought a Starbucks Double Shot Energy + Coffee Drink and a fresh fruit & walnut salad. I probably could have won a food competition, I drank and ate these both so fast.

Reading and old Women’s Health Magazine. I’m a Country music kind of girl, and I knew I had to buy this magazine when I saw Taylor Swift on the cover. Rascal Flatts, Jason Aldean, and Keith Urban are a few of my other favorite artists.

Learning Consumer Theory while eating an Apple Ginger Honest Foods Bar.

Review: This is my new favorite bar! The flavor was so interesting and it didn’t taste extremely sugary like CLIFBARs. This Honest Foods Bar was definitely the perfect snack to cure my late night “study munchies.” The bar has 5g of Protein, which is somewhat  low, but the unique flavor completely outweighs the nutritional stats.

I encourage you all to look at the Honest Foods website. Their marketing approach may shock you, but it will certainly get you to remember their product.

McDonald’s Chicken Nuggets.. my favorite! I promise there was a lot of honey mustard dipping action going on when I had these. Everything seems to taste better with honey mustard.

Have a great week friends!

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