While Amanda and Gee Gee were conquering New York City, we had a quieter day on tap at the Lewis apartment in Long Island City. Emmie discovered her love of frozen blueberry waffles, and I determined the avocado toast from Black Star Bakery and Cafe in Long Island City is in the mix with the waffle and bacon from Matt’s Big Breakfast in Phoenix as my all-time favorite morning meal.
Eilidh spent the last half of the night sleeping on the couch until she woke up around 9:45.
The green tea at Black Star (left) was better than my go-to at Starbucks.
The amazingly-delicious avocado toast: whole wheat toast, topped with avocado salad, an over-easy egg, and sriracha sauce.
Nola helped out by feeding Eilidh and giving her morning medicine.
While Caley and I were eating our avocado toast, the kids picked up where they left off last night, playing with toys and games around the house. We then cleaned off the table for a noon-time taste-testing exercise, where the kids sampled and rated a bevy of treats we brought back from our trip.
It had been a while since Eilidh had spent time with Caley, but she warmed up to her as our Saturday progressed.
Caley setup Eilidh with a pallet of pillows to chill and watch a little Peppa Pig.
For each snack sampled, the kids provided a rating between 1 and 10. There was a decent amount of groupthink during the exercise and a high tendency for all-or-nothing ratings of 10 or 0. The two snacks which received unanimous ratings: the Milka chocolate bar with TUC and Mlika chocolate bars with mini Oreos.
Ruby Kit Kat: 5.5/10
I loved these “ruby” Kit Kats when we were in Belfast, so I was excited Emmie and I had found them at the Lisbon hypermarket visit during our last night in the city. The kids generally weren’t as fond of the candy, with an overall 5.5 rating.
Matcha Green Tea Kit Kat: 5.2/10
These bars are made in Japan, but we found them at a grocery store in Portugal. Emmie had liked matcha green tea caramels we tried during our last New York City visit, but gave these Kit Kats a 0 rating and refused to complete her small serving.
Milka with TUC: 10/10
TUC crackers have historically been a favorite of ours when traveling, so the combination of milk chocolate and TUC crackers was popular with our family during the trip. The Lewis girls agreed with the older McMillin kids, and the chocolate bar received the first perfect rating of the tasting.
Milka Oreo Sandwich: 10/10
Milka is producing an Oreo candy bar in the United States, but this international version was a chocolate bar with mini Oreos embedded. Caley and I sampled these and enjoyed too.
Pistachios: 7.5/10
Noah fell in love with pistachios during the trip, so we decided to share our last Portuguese bags with the girls. Everyone loved them except Nina.
Sardines: 7.5/10
I was pretty excited to share the sardines we’d picked up a couple of days earlier in Lisbon. Caleb was skeptical that the kids would like the sardines but Caley figured their taste buds were diverse enough they may enjoy. Caley won out with her prediction, as Nola and Nina joined Noah in perfect 10 ratings for the boneless/skinless sardines. Emmie, refusing to try them, was rated 0, lowering the average rating to 7.5 of 10.
Emmie had fondly remembered her pedicure from our last visit to New York City and asked me to ask Caley if she could go with the girls to get nails done. They walked downstairs and spent the better part of an hour in a nail salon, while Eilidh slept, Noah got in his Minecraft fix, and Caleb and I watched Portugal play in the World Cup. My newfound interest in soccer came to a crushingly quick end, as Uruguay defeated Portugal in the round of 16 elimination game.
Caley reported that Nola and Emmie thought it was pretty special that they had their own room for their manicure and pedicure.