If I'm going to eat junk anyway - why not work around it! The main idea is to not eat real meals and instead substitute fruit cake, buttertarts, shortbread, chocolates etc. You get the idea.
For the last week or so with the desserts at the office and Christmas parties - this is what I've been doing.
Normal breakfast of toast + PB
Light lunch of coleslaw/fruit with some dried fruit or a few nuts
Dessert/party pig out!
Steamed or sauteed veggies for dinner or snack at night
Friday, December 21, 2007
Sunday, December 16, 2007
Ho Su
We walked in the "Blizzard" to return Ian's library books so to reward ourselves for the bravery, there was basically no choice but to go to Ho Su for an early dinner.
We both partook in the specials for the day- I had the vegetarian roll set with avocado maki and kappa/yam tempura maki (12 pieces in total). Ian had the Korean chicken which came with a horrendous amount of reasonably tasty chicken in sauce, glass noddles, bean sprouts/carrots, rice and coleslaw.
Also included were two (only lukewarm) bowls of miso soup, salad x 2, edamame, sweet potato, beans and kimchee.
All this tastiness for only $15.80 including tax/tip and tap water x 2!
We both partook in the specials for the day- I had the vegetarian roll set with avocado maki and kappa/yam tempura maki (12 pieces in total). Ian had the Korean chicken which came with a horrendous amount of reasonably tasty chicken in sauce, glass noddles, bean sprouts/carrots, rice and coleslaw.
Also included were two (only lukewarm) bowls of miso soup, salad x 2, edamame, sweet potato, beans and kimchee.
All this tastiness for only $15.80 including tax/tip and tap water x 2!
Saturday, December 15, 2007
Martin's Party
I have been keeping track of years working at my current company by number of boss' Christmas parties attended. This year is number three and they went with the same caterer as for party #2.
The drinks started off well - this year quite a selection of wines with 6 to choose from. I went with Pino Grigio. Pretty tasty.
Appetizers were pretty good - salmon springs rolls, mushrooms on toast, thai beef stuffed in cucumber and some shrimp/salmon on toast things that Ian partook in.
The real theme of the night seems to be stuffed items. Dinner was stuffed tomatoes, stuffed zuchini, more salmon stuffed in pastry, stuffed pork of some sort and lamb chops. Also a lettuce salad with pine nuts.
The real highlight was dessert. Not a lot of selection, but the tastiness made up for that! The usual two bite brownies were on the menu, but were made extremely tasty with the addition of some icing and spinkles. Basically I feel that you cannot go wrong with anything that has sprinkles on top so perhaps I am a bit biased. Also some cranberry & chocolate scones arranged precariously on a layered tray and a platter of oatmeal chocolate chip cookies....mmmmm....
To top off the night, the big boss was giving away very cutely wrapped boxes of chocolate as a parting gift. We each sampled one when we got home - my maple cream was yummy and Ian seemed to enjoy his boring solid chocolate.
This year, they went with some door prizes by pulling names out of a bag. Most prizes seemed to go to the higher up dudes on the board of directors including our CEO.
I think the only thing that we can conclude from this is the board of directors got to their positions through luck??
Although, now that I think about it, I suppose we were all lucky that the stairs did not collapse with 70 of us on there for a photo op!
The drinks started off well - this year quite a selection of wines with 6 to choose from. I went with Pino Grigio. Pretty tasty.
Appetizers were pretty good - salmon springs rolls, mushrooms on toast, thai beef stuffed in cucumber and some shrimp/salmon on toast things that Ian partook in.
The real theme of the night seems to be stuffed items. Dinner was stuffed tomatoes, stuffed zuchini, more salmon stuffed in pastry, stuffed pork of some sort and lamb chops. Also a lettuce salad with pine nuts.
The real highlight was dessert. Not a lot of selection, but the tastiness made up for that! The usual two bite brownies were on the menu, but were made extremely tasty with the addition of some icing and spinkles. Basically I feel that you cannot go wrong with anything that has sprinkles on top so perhaps I am a bit biased. Also some cranberry & chocolate scones arranged precariously on a layered tray and a platter of oatmeal chocolate chip cookies....mmmmm....
To top off the night, the big boss was giving away very cutely wrapped boxes of chocolate as a parting gift. We each sampled one when we got home - my maple cream was yummy and Ian seemed to enjoy his boring solid chocolate.This year, they went with some door prizes by pulling names out of a bag. Most prizes seemed to go to the higher up dudes on the board of directors including our CEO.
I think the only thing that we can conclude from this is the board of directors got to their positions through luck??
Although, now that I think about it, I suppose we were all lucky that the stairs did not collapse with 70 of us on there for a photo op!
Sunday, December 09, 2007
The "Maddy" aka Madison Avenue Pub
On Friday night, we ventured over to the "Maddy" after the grad student party for a work/french class person birthday party. This joint was a good follow-up to the somewhat grungy scene from Ian's party.
It seemed to mainly consists of drunk people packed into a two renovated houses of fire hazard-y-ness quality. Again with sketchy bench seating - but this time I sat down and made a mental note to throw jeans direct into the washer!
Kelly and Ian has pints and total cost was about $14 including tax and tip- not a bad deal at all for the barely north of bloor area.
Some other people in the crowd ordered fries and nachos - overall pretty decent and I was a bit surprised to taste fresh cilantro in the salsa! Ian was easily impressed by the inclusion of some festive green and red chips with the nachos.
I note from the web-site that appetizers are half price from 3-7 with purchase of a drink. So a similar deal to the Unicorn Pub, but much, much, much closer to us!
It seemed to mainly consists of drunk people packed into a two renovated houses of fire hazard-y-ness quality. Again with sketchy bench seating - but this time I sat down and made a mental note to throw jeans direct into the washer!
Kelly and Ian has pints and total cost was about $14 including tax and tip- not a bad deal at all for the barely north of bloor area.
Some other people in the crowd ordered fries and nachos - overall pretty decent and I was a bit surprised to taste fresh cilantro in the salsa! Ian was easily impressed by the inclusion of some festive green and red chips with the nachos.
I note from the web-site that appetizers are half price from 3-7 with purchase of a drink. So a similar deal to the Unicorn Pub, but much, much, much closer to us!
Further Uninteresting Followup to the Discussion about Our Uninteresting Blog
The discussion about our blog that Janice linked to earlier was interesting. Kudos to Sheryl Kirby for defending us in her comments and setting Douglas straight about a few things.
I feel the need to more vehemently attack douglas though but I'll stick to just reminding him that:
1) Yes BK & PC are everywhere but they're also in Toronto. If I only talked about foods that are only available in Toronto, would I have anything to post about?
2) If I didn't eat it should I really talk about it? I'll stick to stuff I know - what I ate for dinner.
And where exactly does the idea that my ideal meal consists of a whopper come from? I eat whoppers, yes, but I'll go so far as to say I don't really like them. They're a decent deal (well at least before the massive price increase) but I sometimes specifically work from home on Wednesdays so I don't have to partake in Whopper Wednesday.
And just to reprise the discussion about island foods now that I've had a few weeks to calm down, I did like the food. They make a decent roti. In terms of decent service though, it appears the Village on the Grange location is best avoided. It sounds like things are better at the Parkdale location.
I feel the need to more vehemently attack douglas though but I'll stick to just reminding him that:
1) Yes BK & PC are everywhere but they're also in Toronto. If I only talked about foods that are only available in Toronto, would I have anything to post about?
2) If I didn't eat it should I really talk about it? I'll stick to stuff I know - what I ate for dinner.
And where exactly does the idea that my ideal meal consists of a whopper come from? I eat whoppers, yes, but I'll go so far as to say I don't really like them. They're a decent deal (well at least before the massive price increase) but I sometimes specifically work from home on Wednesdays so I don't have to partake in Whopper Wednesday.
And just to reprise the discussion about island foods now that I've had a few weeks to calm down, I did like the food. They make a decent roti. In terms of decent service though, it appears the Village on the Grange location is best avoided. It sounds like things are better at the Parkdale location.
Bedford Academy
Besides the aforementioned terrific grad student christmas party, I also had the TA union christmas party last week too. It was at the Bedford Academy up on Prince Arthur (I know north of bloor but only by a block)
We of course arrived just as the party started to ensure we'd have maximum time there. We found our union brothers and sisters in a nice room off to the side that was set aside for the party. The food soon started coming and it was pretty good. The usual bar fare with fries, nachos, pita + other dip-ables with sketchy dip and chicken wings was all reasonably tasty. There were some terrific surprises though. First decent sushi arrived which made the night for me. It wasn't the mediocre california rolls that I would expect (if I were expecting sushi) but instead decent pieces sushi nigri. Then much later on platters of mini-burgers came around and conveniently came to rest right in front of me. Once we also procured the condiment tray we were set for the night.
The food was plentiful and it definitely makes this month's union dues seem like good value. I just need 7 other events like this to make me happier about the other months of dues.
In general we upheld the stereotype of introverted engineers but we did end up talking to our "Grievance Officer" for a while. The union's key phrase is "Don't work for free" so it was funny to hear that this guy who handles all the "Don't work for free" quarrels feels like he's working too many hours.
We of course arrived just as the party started to ensure we'd have maximum time there. We found our union brothers and sisters in a nice room off to the side that was set aside for the party. The food soon started coming and it was pretty good. The usual bar fare with fries, nachos, pita + other dip-ables with sketchy dip and chicken wings was all reasonably tasty. There were some terrific surprises though. First decent sushi arrived which made the night for me. It wasn't the mediocre california rolls that I would expect (if I were expecting sushi) but instead decent pieces sushi nigri. Then much later on platters of mini-burgers came around and conveniently came to rest right in front of me. Once we also procured the condiment tray we were set for the night.
The food was plentiful and it definitely makes this month's union dues seem like good value. I just need 7 other events like this to make me happier about the other months of dues.
In general we upheld the stereotype of introverted engineers but we did end up talking to our "Grievance Officer" for a while. The union's key phrase is "Don't work for free" so it was funny to hear that this guy who handles all the "Don't work for free" quarrels feels like he's working too many hours.
Fun things of only marginal interest to most
Fun link to us...
So it appears as though our blog was discussed on another TO food blog. The general consensus is that we suck!
It mainly appears that way because we admit to eating fast food (well Ian does) and we are obsessed with PC! What the heck is wrong with that? PC is tasty!
Check it out.
Ian's Party...
Ian hosted a little grad student party at school on Friday evening and he has been talking about it every since. Hopefully by posting on the blog world, he will stop harassing me about it!
The party was in full swing when my friend Kelly and I arrived after work. The party had sort of a dingy/low-class feel to it that I haven't been involved with since my university or perhaps Thompson days. The couch was a bit sketchy and we avoided sitting on it. Poker was in session too, so the other two girlfriends and Kelly and I were stuck making only mildly awkward conversation.
The beer was marginal, but in good supply - three varieties of Lakeport and Ian really splurged and got some Labatt Honey priced at an additional $0.04 per bottle. I would have to say that Lakeport Honey is probably the tastiest, although lowest alcohol content of the three.
Pizza seemed pretty good - the vultures has swooped in already and polished off 15 large Pizza Pizzas. Only a few strays left by the time we showed up, so I avoided. I have to give Ian credit though - he did manage the pizza situation beautifully and ended up with only a few slices leftover! Nice work!
Chips were in sufficient quantity and variety, but were unfortunately of the Price Chopper house brand for the most part. Since I was hungry, I ate a few bbq and called it dinner.
Anywho, in summary - the food was plentiful and the price was right and Ian is the king of party hosting.
So it appears as though our blog was discussed on another TO food blog. The general consensus is that we suck!
It mainly appears that way because we admit to eating fast food (well Ian does) and we are obsessed with PC! What the heck is wrong with that? PC is tasty!
Check it out.
Ian's Party...
Ian hosted a little grad student party at school on Friday evening and he has been talking about it every since. Hopefully by posting on the blog world, he will stop harassing me about it!
The party was in full swing when my friend Kelly and I arrived after work. The party had sort of a dingy/low-class feel to it that I haven't been involved with since my university or perhaps Thompson days. The couch was a bit sketchy and we avoided sitting on it. Poker was in session too, so the other two girlfriends and Kelly and I were stuck making only mildly awkward conversation.
The beer was marginal, but in good supply - three varieties of Lakeport and Ian really splurged and got some Labatt Honey priced at an additional $0.04 per bottle. I would have to say that Lakeport Honey is probably the tastiest, although lowest alcohol content of the three.
Pizza seemed pretty good - the vultures has swooped in already and polished off 15 large Pizza Pizzas. Only a few strays left by the time we showed up, so I avoided. I have to give Ian credit though - he did manage the pizza situation beautifully and ended up with only a few slices leftover! Nice work!
Chips were in sufficient quantity and variety, but were unfortunately of the Price Chopper house brand for the most part. Since I was hungry, I ate a few bbq and called it dinner.
Anywho, in summary - the food was plentiful and the price was right and Ian is the king of party hosting.
Sunday, December 02, 2007
Dim Sum and Inca Kola
One of the new items in the insider's report was Dim Sum. It comes with Har Gao and a bunch of other dim sum items but the har gao was enough to make the sale. I tried them last week in the microwave and they were alright but this week I decided to do things properly with a homemade steamer arrangement since we were too lazy to find the steamer in storage
Up close and personal with the best looking item
Me eating the meal with inca kola. I assume you can't get any more authentic than that?
Overall, the items were pretty good. I hate to bash the president but the real issue is the price, $7.99. The president certainly isn't a benevolent leader with those prices which work out to 53 cents a piece. Sure that's cheaper than the places on Dundas I go to with 2 buck items (3 or 4 pieces per basket). I don't know if this is a well known rule but Ian's rule indicates that eating at home should be 50% cheaper for it to be a good deal.
Up close and personal with the best looking item
Me eating the meal with inca kola. I assume you can't get any more authentic than that?
Overall, the items were pretty good. I hate to bash the president but the real issue is the price, $7.99. The president certainly isn't a benevolent leader with those prices which work out to 53 cents a piece. Sure that's cheaper than the places on Dundas I go to with 2 buck items (3 or 4 pieces per basket). I don't know if this is a well known rule but Ian's rule indicates that eating at home should be 50% cheaper for it to be a good deal.
Saturday, December 01, 2007
Gluttonous Insider Report Item of the Week - Dulce de Leche
We went to our usual Joe's (a.k.a. No Frills to the rest of the Toronto and other areas served by them) today for the first time in a few weeks. (As a complete aside, it hardly seems surprising that Loblaw's is in trouble with confusing name issues like Joe's and the Rennie and Liz's we frequent). Anyway they have a pretty decent selection so we were able to pick up some Dulce de Leche. We'd seen the ads on tele and eyed it hungrily in the Insider report so it was only a matter of time before we picked it up.
We had it straight up with some frozen yogurt and it was terrific. I would have taken a picture
but it didn't last long enough. Next time I may mix it up and have it with bananas. I didn't this time so I could fully appreciate it on it's own.
In the mildly concerning department there was no foil or wrapper on the container when we opened it. Nor did I hear it pop when it opened (but an examination of lid seemed to suggest it might not have made a noise). So if this is our last blog post it looks like contaminated food or botulism? may have been our downfall. Given the tastiness though, we have no regrets.
Coming up tomorrow if all goes well, up close and personal shots of the President's Choice Dim Sum I had today (along with my comments of course!)
We had it straight up with some frozen yogurt and it was terrific. I would have taken a picture
but it didn't last long enough. Next time I may mix it up and have it with bananas. I didn't this time so I could fully appreciate it on it's own.
In the mildly concerning department there was no foil or wrapper on the container when we opened it. Nor did I hear it pop when it opened (but an examination of lid seemed to suggest it might not have made a noise). So if this is our last blog post it looks like contaminated food or botulism? may have been our downfall. Given the tastiness though, we have no regrets.
Coming up tomorrow if all goes well, up close and personal shots of the President's Choice Dim Sum I had today (along with my comments of course!)
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Island Foods
Well today was the usual Thursday lunch. I was in favor of the korean bbq place that I really should have blogged about weeks ago. The place was amazing, all-you-can-eat for 7.99 + tax. Sadly I don't remember the name of the place (hence the lack of blogging about it, well that and laziness) but if you're ever at Yonge and College (not Carleton as then you'd be on the wrong side of yonge) walk north for a few blocks and look for a good deal! Seriously, I guess I'll post details when I convince the gang to go again.
Back to today's lunch, we went to the food court across from the OCAD building. I think they building may officially be called the Village by the Grange but I call it the food court with the McD's. As opposed to the Taco Bell food court which goes by the name "College Park" to the rest of the world. Anyway, there aren't really a lot of good options. There's McD's obviously but with Whoppers still sitting heavy in the belly from Whopper Wednesday I figured I'd give the heart a break. Others were fans of Wiki-Chicken and hit that up but I generally don't like the pick a few items format. Instead I made a big mistake and went to Island Foods.
The place always has a long line which you'd think is a good sign. Not exactly, they're just trying to compete for world's worst service. I'd been to their location at the Ex before. Same deal, long wait. Their menu is reasonably large so you'd think that might be the problem but no everyone gets the exact same thing, boneless chicken roti and I was no different. You'd think that would enable them to churn them out as fast as Ronald makes Big Macs but no that is not the case. The final product was alright but it wasn't worth the wait. At 6.95 the price isn't terrible but again the wait is unforgivable. I had been to Ducky's on Lakeshore earlier in the week and sure that place definitely qualifies as sketchy and hole-in-the-wallish but they manage to deliver a tastier roti with comparative haste. (With Ducky's I do find it a mildly troublesome sign that the guy is always shocked that we'd eat in but that's forgivable - bad service isn't!)
My recommendation, if you like getting frustrated by bad service and you enjoy long lines then give Island Foods a try. Otherwise, stay away.
Back to today's lunch, we went to the food court across from the OCAD building. I think they building may officially be called the Village by the Grange but I call it the food court with the McD's. As opposed to the Taco Bell food court which goes by the name "College Park" to the rest of the world. Anyway, there aren't really a lot of good options. There's McD's obviously but with Whoppers still sitting heavy in the belly from Whopper Wednesday I figured I'd give the heart a break. Others were fans of Wiki-Chicken and hit that up but I generally don't like the pick a few items format. Instead I made a big mistake and went to Island Foods.
The place always has a long line which you'd think is a good sign. Not exactly, they're just trying to compete for world's worst service. I'd been to their location at the Ex before. Same deal, long wait. Their menu is reasonably large so you'd think that might be the problem but no everyone gets the exact same thing, boneless chicken roti and I was no different. You'd think that would enable them to churn them out as fast as Ronald makes Big Macs but no that is not the case. The final product was alright but it wasn't worth the wait. At 6.95 the price isn't terrible but again the wait is unforgivable. I had been to Ducky's on Lakeshore earlier in the week and sure that place definitely qualifies as sketchy and hole-in-the-wallish but they manage to deliver a tastier roti with comparative haste. (With Ducky's I do find it a mildly troublesome sign that the guy is always shocked that we'd eat in but that's forgivable - bad service isn't!)
My recommendation, if you like getting frustrated by bad service and you enjoy long lines then give Island Foods a try. Otherwise, stay away.
Sunday, November 25, 2007
East
First of all - thank you KP for the run for the cure donation!
Last night we went to East - I strayed away from the usual veggie and tofu red thai curry with rice and went with a special - salmon with peanut sauce and sticky rice. The price was about double my usual, but it was about double in tastiness so it worked out fairly well. Predicable aka boring Ian went with his usual seafood satay pad thai. He ate the whole thing and seemed to enjoy.
The KP and Steve had noodle seafood type things. Not my favorite - but they seemed to like!
Veggie spring rolls also tasty and decent value for $3.
Then we went (minus Ian) to the Grey Cup Great Big Sea + others Molson Canadian Rocks Party, where, not surprisingly, we drank some Molson Canadian.
The highlight of the night were some hooligans sitting in front of us...spilling beer and flicking illicit cigarette butts onto their own pile of coats.
Then, one dude decides to go topless (and he is not the most attractive guy either), and attempts to bellyflop onto a rather high bar table with their 20 half empty cups of beer. He kinda misses and just knocks the table down. Then, they grab a garbage can, so he jumps up on that, then hops onto the table (about chest high), then tries to leap onto a chair from there. He kinda misses the chair and ends up hitting the ground pretty hard. Surprisingly, he seemed to have no broken bones. I guess 20 beers loosens you up a little?
Last night we went to East - I strayed away from the usual veggie and tofu red thai curry with rice and went with a special - salmon with peanut sauce and sticky rice. The price was about double my usual, but it was about double in tastiness so it worked out fairly well. Predicable aka boring Ian went with his usual seafood satay pad thai. He ate the whole thing and seemed to enjoy.
The KP and Steve had noodle seafood type things. Not my favorite - but they seemed to like!
Veggie spring rolls also tasty and decent value for $3.
Then we went (minus Ian) to the Grey Cup Great Big Sea + others Molson Canadian Rocks Party, where, not surprisingly, we drank some Molson Canadian.
The highlight of the night were some hooligans sitting in front of us...spilling beer and flicking illicit cigarette butts onto their own pile of coats.
Then, one dude decides to go topless (and he is not the most attractive guy either), and attempts to bellyflop onto a rather high bar table with their 20 half empty cups of beer. He kinda misses and just knocks the table down. Then, they grab a garbage can, so he jumps up on that, then hops onto the table (about chest high), then tries to leap onto a chair from there. He kinda misses the chair and ends up hitting the ground pretty hard. Surprisingly, he seemed to have no broken bones. I guess 20 beers loosens you up a little?
Monday, November 19, 2007
Going Overboard with the New Insider's Report
A little while ago we talked about all the exciting stuff in the latest insider's report. Well this weekend we went out and bought a lot of the stuff.
I guess the Chocolate Granola wasn't in the report but I hadn't seen it before so we couldn't resist. Anyway we've now tried all the products.
Sticky Toffee Pudding - As Janice said, very tasty. Also very unhealthy.
BBQ Chips - I haven't had BBQ chips in ages so I can't really say if they're better than average but they are definitely tasty
Pistachios - Janice's thing not mine
Maple-Flavoured Butter Fudge - Very tasty. I went into this thinking, "Fudge, it's going to be disappointing if it isn't chocolate fudge" but in the end I was very surprised. It's great
Chocolate Granola - This is pretty good. It actually makes me consider eating cereal. I haven't quite gone that far though, and I'm sticking to mixing it with fro yo.
A Loblaws outing last night allowed us to pick up another fun item, Smoking Stampede Beef Brisket. We had some tonight with fresh bread.
And because it was whole wheat we didn't feel bad about clogging the arteries with Brisket. If only BK would have whole wheat whoppers, then I could have as many as I want.
I guess the Chocolate Granola wasn't in the report but I hadn't seen it before so we couldn't resist. Anyway we've now tried all the products.
Sticky Toffee Pudding - As Janice said, very tasty. Also very unhealthy.
BBQ Chips - I haven't had BBQ chips in ages so I can't really say if they're better than average but they are definitely tasty
Pistachios - Janice's thing not mine
Maple-Flavoured Butter Fudge - Very tasty. I went into this thinking, "Fudge, it's going to be disappointing if it isn't chocolate fudge" but in the end I was very surprised. It's great
Chocolate Granola - This is pretty good. It actually makes me consider eating cereal. I haven't quite gone that far though, and I'm sticking to mixing it with fro yo.
A Loblaws outing last night allowed us to pick up another fun item, Smoking Stampede Beef Brisket. We had some tonight with fresh bread.
And because it was whole wheat we didn't feel bad about clogging the arteries with Brisket. If only BK would have whole wheat whoppers, then I could have as many as I want.
Saturday, November 17, 2007
President Back in the Good Books
So we sampled two new items from the PC Insider Report today. Sticky toffee pudding did not disappoint. Highly recommended with some chapman's or PC fro yo.
PC BBQ chips (aka smokin stampede bbq flavor) also very tasty and cheap!
PC BBQ chips (aka smokin stampede bbq flavor) also very tasty and cheap!
Katz's Deli
Last night we had a little kayak meeting at Katz's deli near Yorkdale. They have a delightful little room perfect for these kind of events.
They ran out of smoked meet so I went with a corned beef on rye with a side of dill pickle. I found the pickles a touch watery, but the sandwich was pretty good. The meat was perhaps a bit dry, but maybe that is the nature of corned beef? Who really knows since I don't think I've ever had it.
For my $7.50 sandwich, it was a horrendous amount of meat - far more than you would ever want to eat! I ended up shoveling some off!
They ran out of smoked meet so I went with a corned beef on rye with a side of dill pickle. I found the pickles a touch watery, but the sandwich was pretty good. The meat was perhaps a bit dry, but maybe that is the nature of corned beef? Who really knows since I don't think I've ever had it.
For my $7.50 sandwich, it was a horrendous amount of meat - far more than you would ever want to eat! I ended up shoveling some off!
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Fressen
I went with some friends last week for brunch at Fressen. All was well with the organic loose leaf blackberry/blueberry tea in the fun tea-maker thingy except for the price at $3.50!!!
There were 5 of us in total and I convinced them all to order the ultra-tasty corn fritters (usual post Run for the Cure staple). It went a little wrong when they came out kinda burnt and a bit more pasty than usual :(
Potatoes, salsa, guac, fruit, bread etc that came with the fritters was good. Price was right at $9 for a rather hearty plate of food!
Waitresses were rather overworked but the food came out extremely quickly! So at least they have improved in the speed department on one front!
There were 5 of us in total and I convinced them all to order the ultra-tasty corn fritters (usual post Run for the Cure staple). It went a little wrong when they came out kinda burnt and a bit more pasty than usual :(
Potatoes, salsa, guac, fruit, bread etc that came with the fritters was good. Price was right at $9 for a rather hearty plate of food!
Waitresses were rather overworked but the food came out extremely quickly! So at least they have improved in the speed department on one front!
Saturday, November 10, 2007
The Winter Insider's Report
It's almost as if the world knows how obsessed I am with the PC products because yesterday in the paper we got two copies of the insider's report. This also works out well with our poor sharing abilities.
Anyway from my preliminary perusal of the Insider's report here are the items I plan to check out on the next visit to the grocery stores. Purchase will of course depend on trans fat content.
Dolce de Leche - Janice is quite excited about this. It's unfortunate that they imported it from Argentina though. At 2.99 though it will certainly outshine the William's Sonoma version that she used to be obsessed with.
Chinese Dim Sum - They have Shrimp Har Gao so that pretty much sealed the deal that I would want to look int it. At 7.99 not super cheap but definitely something to check out. I'm curious to see if the from frozen will work well with har gao
Crunchy Rippled POtato Chips - Everyone knows ripple chips are the best so these may be interesting to check out. Smokin' Stampede seems like it will be the flavour of choice.
Seafood Medley in Garlic Butter Sauce - Sounds good but don't anticipate it being a repeat purchase with the 4.99 price point.
Chocolate Chip Miche - who knows what miche is but chocolate chip like bread seems brilliant. At 3.99 a loaf we'll have to see how big the loaf is!
More to come
Anyway from my preliminary perusal of the Insider's report here are the items I plan to check out on the next visit to the grocery stores. Purchase will of course depend on trans fat content.
Dolce de Leche - Janice is quite excited about this. It's unfortunate that they imported it from Argentina though. At 2.99 though it will certainly outshine the William's Sonoma version that she used to be obsessed with.
Chinese Dim Sum - They have Shrimp Har Gao so that pretty much sealed the deal that I would want to look int it. At 7.99 not super cheap but definitely something to check out. I'm curious to see if the from frozen will work well with har gao
Crunchy Rippled POtato Chips - Everyone knows ripple chips are the best so these may be interesting to check out. Smokin' Stampede seems like it will be the flavour of choice.
Seafood Medley in Garlic Butter Sauce - Sounds good but don't anticipate it being a repeat purchase with the 4.99 price point.
Chocolate Chip Miche - who knows what miche is but chocolate chip like bread seems brilliant. At 3.99 a loaf we'll have to see how big the loaf is!
More to come
Funny stuff
Refer to a previous post to see Ian fighting with someone who obviously has some sort of connection to the hosters of the worst party ever - EQ3. Don't get me wrong, the couch we purchased from there is decent and $800 well spent.
The link!
The link!
Friar and Ferkin
Last night we went out with some of the work crowd - well more with one person in my french class who also happens to work at the same company as me and the people she works with. She also happens to have gone to school with my carpool buddy so he came too!
Anywho, the beer was pretty good at the Friar (John/Queen) and decently priced at about $5.50 a pint. Ian liked his chicken fingers with assorted greasy sides for $10. Kelly liked the sweet potato fries. I make it seem like I did not eat anything - but I did in fact graze on all of the aforementioned stuff and it was pretty tasty, although a little greasy for my new healthy eating regime. Falling off the healthy eating wagon for one night hopefully will not kill me!
Anywho, the beer was pretty good at the Friar (John/Queen) and decently priced at about $5.50 a pint. Ian liked his chicken fingers with assorted greasy sides for $10. Kelly liked the sweet potato fries. I make it seem like I did not eat anything - but I did in fact graze on all of the aforementioned stuff and it was pretty tasty, although a little greasy for my new healthy eating regime. Falling off the healthy eating wagon for one night hopefully will not kill me!
East Side Marios
Yesterday we went for a little b-day lunch to East Side Mario's on Winston Churchill.
I think I've only been once - back when I lived in Sudbury. I do not have good memories. My grilled veggie and portabello on panini with pesto mayo was certainly tasty, but the food poisoning started shortly thereafter!
This time I kept it simple and went with pasta + tomato sauce. Tasty and cheap at $5.99. Others seemed to enjoy their sandwiches, pizza and pasta. Only complaint here was the service. They botched up the B-day gals order and seemed like they were having a hard time keeping up with drinks etc.
I think I've only been once - back when I lived in Sudbury. I do not have good memories. My grilled veggie and portabello on panini with pesto mayo was certainly tasty, but the food poisoning started shortly thereafter!
This time I kept it simple and went with pasta + tomato sauce. Tasty and cheap at $5.99. Others seemed to enjoy their sandwiches, pizza and pasta. Only complaint here was the service. They botched up the B-day gals order and seemed like they were having a hard time keeping up with drinks etc.
Wednesday, November 07, 2007
Week Late News Flash - Burger King Price Increase
Sorry faithful blog readers but I forgot to announce last week that Burger King upped their prices on the daily value (or whatever they're called) burgers. Combos are still 3.99 (at least they understand the benefits of staying below 4 bucks) but burgers are now 1.89. I usually get two Whoppers on Wednesdays but partly because of the whopper of a price increase I skipped it today.
It will take a few more price increases before I head to Buffalo and the land of the dollar value meals for lunch but this certainly wasn't a step in the right direction.
It will take a few more price increases before I head to Buffalo and the land of the dollar value meals for lunch but this certainly wasn't a step in the right direction.
Monday, November 05, 2007
Classic Louie's Pizzeria
I went to a little event on Friday night and we ordered some pizza from Louie's (mid-townish). Tastiness factor was high with the veggie pizza (carmelized onions, spinach and mushrooms with pesto sauce). The meat-lovers people had the onions with two kind of processed beefiness. They also seemed to enjoy.
Anywho, highly recommended, but perhaps not as cheap as Domino's etc.
Anywho, highly recommended, but perhaps not as cheap as Domino's etc.
Sunday, November 04, 2007
Ho Su on Queen
Ho Su, as usual, was pretty tasty and quick. Better yet, it is delightfully close and doesn't seem to make Ian sick like our old favorite, New Gen.
Ian had the $10 lunch sushi special with 3 pieces tuna, 3 salmon, 3 piece some mystery white butter fish and 8 piece california roll. More fish than you would want to eat in a sitting and indeed he did not finish! I had a more modest meal with 8 pieces avocado and cucumber maki ($3).
Despite Ian's big spending ways, total was $16.70 including tax, tip, tap water, side dishes (potato tastiness, gimchee, edamame, beans).
Ian had the $10 lunch sushi special with 3 pieces tuna, 3 salmon, 3 piece some mystery white butter fish and 8 piece california roll. More fish than you would want to eat in a sitting and indeed he did not finish! I had a more modest meal with 8 pieces avocado and cucumber maki ($3).
Despite Ian's big spending ways, total was $16.70 including tax, tip, tap water, side dishes (potato tastiness, gimchee, edamame, beans).
Saturday, November 03, 2007
TD Free Booty
It's not food related, but it does fit with our cheapness!
A flyer came to our place a few days ago - the goal seemed was to advertise the new hours for the TD attached to our place.
The new hours only resulted in us having to get up horrendously early on a weekend so we dragged ourselves out of bed at 7:45 in order to be one of the first 25 customers to get a free gas card ($10 each at Petro Can). $20 seems like the best alarm clock ever. Both of us were relativity awake before the alarm even went off. Nothing unusual for me, but quite odd for Ian!
Anyway, today free gas. Next week $2 tim's and papers. Week after (for 5 days) - $10 chapters card and/or tote bag. Then week after - draw for a flat screen TV!
A flyer came to our place a few days ago - the goal seemed was to advertise the new hours for the TD attached to our place.
The new hours only resulted in us having to get up horrendously early on a weekend so we dragged ourselves out of bed at 7:45 in order to be one of the first 25 customers to get a free gas card ($10 each at Petro Can). $20 seems like the best alarm clock ever. Both of us were relativity awake before the alarm even went off. Nothing unusual for me, but quite odd for Ian!
Anyway, today free gas. Next week $2 tim's and papers. Week after (for 5 days) - $10 chapters card and/or tote bag. Then week after - draw for a flat screen TV!
Saturday, October 27, 2007
Farmer's Market - The Second Edition
Just a little bit more about the peameal concoction. I was reading the paper today and the "new" Weekend Edition of the globe and mail now has a column from that much over-hyped Richard Florida. That's a rant for another day but, anyway, he mentioned having the uber-Toronto peameal and egg sandwich at the St. Lawerence market so that planted the idea in my mind. We spied the shop hawking these sandwiches while at the market so we couldn't resist. 4.95 with tax so certainly not cheap (maybe that helps make it authentically Toronto-ish?). It was pretty good. Just like the Tim Horton's egg mcmuffin is a better version of the original McMuffin, this sandwich was better than the TH edition. However, the bacon wasn't as flavourful as it could be. No other complaints except obviously the price. Except for rare special occasions, I'll have to stick to clogging my arteries with the chain versions.
Oh and sure Janice claims to "care about the environment" but you should ask her whether she'd still be carpooling if her company didn't pay her to do it.
Oh and sure Janice claims to "care about the environment" but you should ask her whether she'd still be carpooling if her company didn't pay her to do it.
St. Lawrence Market Adventure
In the last few months I've become obsessed with the concept of the farmers market. I guess one too many article about eating "local" food etc.I am also starting to feel a bit bad about killing the environment and have taken on a carpooler (yeah, he would be taking public transit...so not really taking people off the road...but it's a start!)
Have also ditched the plastic bags, even the little produce ones too! Ian claims that I am putting the petrochemical people out of business, but the in-laws are pretty much retired so that's ok right?
I decided to turn the farmers market obsession into action and convinced Ian to walk over to St. Lawrence market with me. They have a special warehouse type thing across the street from the regular market on Sat only. Supposedly, these are authentic farmers.
I picked up all sorts of good stuff! 3 squash for $5. 4 colored peppers for $1.50. Some tasty tomatoes and some beets that I plan on eating tomorrow. Also picked up a broccoli that I turned into some not very tasty soup. Not really the broccoli's fault though.
Ian couldn't stop stressing that these farmers were likely not reporting the income from these transactions, but a peameal bacon egg cheese bun combo cheered him up slightly!
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Cleveland Fun
I went on a two day trip to Cleveland for a course. The location was pretty good - hotel was right beside the police headquarters so the potential for mugging and drug dealers was actually quite low! Should have brought the running shoes....
We were near the trendy "warehouse" district, so I walked over and went a place called Crop on Sunday night. In general, it was packed with an older crowd, but I thought busy is good and went in. They have a special Sunday dinner deal for $23. I got some cornbread with three tasty butters, some salad with all sorts of fun pickled stuff on there, my choice of main - I went with salmon, but there was also pasta, steak etc, then some rasberry ganache cake type thing for dessert! All very tasty, but the salmon was slightly undercooked in my opinion.
Then some sushi the next night. Overpriced and poor selection but nice restaurant and friendly people sitting at the sushi bar.
We were near the trendy "warehouse" district, so I walked over and went a place called Crop on Sunday night. In general, it was packed with an older crowd, but I thought busy is good and went in. They have a special Sunday dinner deal for $23. I got some cornbread with three tasty butters, some salad with all sorts of fun pickled stuff on there, my choice of main - I went with salmon, but there was also pasta, steak etc, then some rasberry ganache cake type thing for dessert! All very tasty, but the salmon was slightly undercooked in my opinion.
Then some sushi the next night. Overpriced and poor selection but nice restaurant and friendly people sitting at the sushi bar.
Thursday, October 18, 2007
ROM Fact or Fiction
Last night I scored some free tickets to a fundraising event for the ROM. The basic idea was there were 20 tables - each with 1 artifact. Each table had two curators - one telling the truth about the artifact, one with a fake story. Our job was to pick the correct one. Winner got a trip to Egypt!
I got 10/20, Ian got 12/20 and winners tied for 17/20!
The best part was the free food and drink - and I guess $500 worth of tickets for free! Caterer was "Presidential Gourmet".
Ian enjoyed the appetizers ...
-peking duck in rice paper rolls
-ice cream cones with melon balls and some meat
-bbq eel in sushi format
-shrimp on a stick
-deep fried eggplant on a cracker
-yellow tomato gazpacho in espresso cups
Food stations included:
- antipasto with lots of roasted veggies, bread, cheese, meat, salad etc - very tasty
- mushroom risotto with braised short rib - mmmm
- Japanese coated tofu with mushrooms - so so
- pickerel with squash - mmmm
- ricotta spinach pasta with tomato sauce- also mmmmm
Dessert included:
-chocolate, caramel, pecan squares
-raspberry square tastiness
-fruit
-petit fours
Also highly tasty. Drinks were ok - Ian sucked back a couple of his fav - vodka + fruity juice and later some rum and coke. I went with a white wine and a red wine. White wine smelled extremely alcohol-y, red wine was pretty good.
I got 10/20, Ian got 12/20 and winners tied for 17/20!
The best part was the free food and drink - and I guess $500 worth of tickets for free! Caterer was "Presidential Gourmet".
Ian enjoyed the appetizers ...
-peking duck in rice paper rolls
-ice cream cones with melon balls and some meat
-bbq eel in sushi format
-shrimp on a stick
-deep fried eggplant on a cracker
-yellow tomato gazpacho in espresso cups
Food stations included:
- antipasto with lots of roasted veggies, bread, cheese, meat, salad etc - very tasty
- mushroom risotto with braised short rib - mmmm
- Japanese coated tofu with mushrooms - so so
- pickerel with squash - mmmm
- ricotta spinach pasta with tomato sauce- also mmmmm
Dessert included:
-chocolate, caramel, pecan squares
-raspberry square tastiness
-fruit
-petit fours
Also highly tasty. Drinks were ok - Ian sucked back a couple of his fav - vodka + fruity juice and later some rum and coke. I went with a white wine and a red wine. White wine smelled extremely alcohol-y, red wine was pretty good.
Sunday, October 14, 2007
The More Litter Free Way to Grocery Shop
With the addition of a few more PC bags, we now have enough for a week of groceries! Today, I was on my own and decided to ditch the plastic bags that you put fruit and veggie in! They really have no use and I just end up throwing them out anyway.
It wasn't all that bad! I just put them all on the top shelf and it only seemed to take the cashier an extra few seconds overall. More deelightful for unpacking too!
Woodbine Race Track
We had a little work related conference type thing-y this past Friday and Saturday. For Friday night, we headed over to the track for a buffet dinner and some racing. The buffet was pretty tasty - salad, roast beef that was actually pretty good, fish/seafood, chicken etc. The highlight was some squash that had an eggplant type skin. I was a little thrown off, but the tastiness level was quite high!
The gambling went alright - initially down $6, but made most of it back with a win prior to leaving! They only had the carts - it's a bit ridiculous - whoever can trot the fastest wins! That's like Ian winning $50 K because he can walk the fastest!
Ian is getting all upset by my comments. He said, "they are younger horses. Well, I don't know if they are younger - they just aren't as good." Sounds like an argument gone wrong for Ian!
The gambling went alright - initially down $6, but made most of it back with a win prior to leaving! They only had the carts - it's a bit ridiculous - whoever can trot the fastest wins! That's like Ian winning $50 K because he can walk the fastest!
Ian is getting all upset by my comments. He said, "they are younger horses. Well, I don't know if they are younger - they just aren't as good." Sounds like an argument gone wrong for Ian!
Lone Star
Not being people to turn down coupons, we headed over to the Lone Star on Front to collect our free bag of chips and container of salsa. Sure, they give this stuff out for free at the start of the meal, but we thought it was good value to take some home with us too!
For the meal, we shared a 1/2 lb of steak + chicken fajita with rice, beans, guacamole, cheese, tomatoes and lettuce. Pretty tasty overall and decent value for $26 for two including t,t &tw x 2.
Tuesday, October 09, 2007
Healthy Snack Food for Those Who Do Not Want to Die
PC fig newtons. Seriously tasty, fat free and 60% whole wheat. They even pass the Ian taste test. Check out this link. He may be off the chocolate for good - at least for between meals. He still eats at breakfast and the non-newton desserts.
PC flax seed chips. Ian likes plain, I like spicy. No trans, low in saturated and include fiber and other good booty that flax seed seem to have (it's hard to keep track of the omega's).
Who doesn't like m-wave popcorn? Just remember steer clear of the fumes while opening the bag to avoid popcorn lung.
No trans here! Yeah!
Sunday, October 07, 2007
Boston Pizza & Hockley Valley
Yesterday, we went on a little hiking adventure to Hockley Valley Conservation Area near Orangeville Ontario. Halfway through, the rain started, so we cut it short and took one of the short-cut loops back to the start and only went on a 2 hr adventure instead of 4.5 hours.
This seems like a pretty popular place. An old-people hiking group was there and a bus load of tourists seemed to be arriving as we were leaving.
For the last stretch, the hike went through a farmers field. The cows made Ian hungry, so stopped off at BP's so he could have an individual Meteor Pizza (3 kinds of meaty topping and meat sauce instead of regular tomato) and get his meat quota for the week. Actually, that is a lie, the gift certificate situation is a bit out of control and BP's was the original plan, even before the cows.
I had a half penne + tomato sauce with garlic bread. All food was sufficiently tasty and quick. Final bill with tax, tip, tap water x 2, cola x 1 was about $27...but only $7 for us after the certificate! Nice! The funniest part came on the way out the restaurant. This family was walking in front of us to the parking lot, and this little dude -about 2-3 years old - was walking slow and staring at Ian. Dad got mad and told him to hurry up, but then the kid points out "those big kids are following me!" Ha ha!
Tuesday, October 02, 2007
Run for the Cure and Aroma
Thanks to the faithful blog readers that sponsored us on the run this past weekend. Those who thought they were sponsoring us on a 5km run will be pleased to hear that it was actually 5.6 km according to mapmyrun.com (the route was very different than previous years). That's a bonus of over 10%! For free!
Anyway it was a relief to see that it was longer than expected. I took 28:01 minutes and Janice was 30 and change. Somewhat disappointing as it ends our multi-year streak of continuously getting better times. Also disappointing is how much faster some people ran than us on Sunday
- the fastest marathon on Canadian soil happened in Toronto (2:09:30)
- the fastest marathon ever was run in Berlin (2:04:26)
so if I had run 5km alongside any of those people during their races they would have beat me by 10 minutes while still going on to run for almost another 2 hours.
After the run we broke with tradition and skipped fressen. Instead we went to Aroma for lunch. It lived up to it's usual standard except for gulab jamon which was awful. All of my gulab tim bits were rock hard. Disappoint but of course we'll likely forgive and forget.
Anyway it was a relief to see that it was longer than expected. I took 28:01 minutes and Janice was 30 and change. Somewhat disappointing as it ends our multi-year streak of continuously getting better times. Also disappointing is how much faster some people ran than us on Sunday
- the fastest marathon on Canadian soil happened in Toronto (2:09:30)
- the fastest marathon ever was run in Berlin (2:04:26)
so if I had run 5km alongside any of those people during their races they would have beat me by 10 minutes while still going on to run for almost another 2 hours.
After the run we broke with tradition and skipped fressen. Instead we went to Aroma for lunch. It lived up to it's usual standard except for gulab jamon which was awful. All of my gulab tim bits were rock hard. Disappoint but of course we'll likely forgive and forget.
Green Mango Take Out Version
In the infamous summer of 2004, I couldn't get enough of Green Mango - the take-out version, not the restaurant version. Well I haven't been back in years - not due to a lack of tastiness but rather because it wasn't really convenient. Anyway last Thursday I was in the area so I couldn't resist going back. First the bad news, they've raised prices! Significantly! Previously they were the best deal around with the 6.88 (with tax) combo but alas now it was 7.40. So we'll downgrade it to an alright deal.
Anyway, the choices seem the same as always. I had pad thai with 1/2 lemongrass chicken and 1/2 curry chicken. I was quick enough on my feet to remember to say no peanuts on the salad. In the end it seems like they put them in a container on the side now and if I had known that I would have accepted the peanuts to add to my collection of McD peanut bags!
Now on to the actual meal. It was basically as tasty as I remembered. However, I remember that I used to find it a disgusting amount of food - hence me thinking it's a good deal. Sadly, while I left full, it didn't seem like that much food. So I'm not sure if I eat more now or the servings are smaller?
Anyway, the choices seem the same as always. I had pad thai with 1/2 lemongrass chicken and 1/2 curry chicken. I was quick enough on my feet to remember to say no peanuts on the salad. In the end it seems like they put them in a container on the side now and if I had known that I would have accepted the peanuts to add to my collection of McD peanut bags!
Now on to the actual meal. It was basically as tasty as I remembered. However, I remember that I used to find it a disgusting amount of food - hence me thinking it's a good deal. Sadly, while I left full, it didn't seem like that much food. So I'm not sure if I eat more now or the servings are smaller?
Muppet Wedding Extravaganza!
This was a few weeks ago, but since Ian has turned into the world's laziest blogger, I have to pull stuff out of the brain archive to keep the content "fresh" as they say in internet land and at the grocery store.
Anywho, gist of the whole thing was, my mom was in charge of the drink tickets and they served perogies. How can you go wrong with that? And I guess my cousin actually getting married - that was alright too.
Venue was Shalom park waterski club outside of E-town (Edmonton for those in live in ontario).
Anywho, gist of the whole thing was, my mom was in charge of the drink tickets and they served perogies. How can you go wrong with that? And I guess my cousin actually getting married - that was alright too.
Venue was Shalom park waterski club outside of E-town (Edmonton for those in live in ontario).
Sunday, September 30, 2007
Random Pizza Joint in Mississauga
Last week I went out for lunch with my friend/ex-co-worker Gordie. This time it was his pick and we went to a pizza place by the Giant Tiger on Erin Mills north of Dundas. It has a name similar to Pizza Nova - but I'm pretty sure that is was something else.
I had a the special -1 topping pizza sub with pop for $5. Moderate amounts of saucy-cheesy-pinaepply tastiness. It was rather large, so I brought home 1/3 for Ian to take care of as a pre-dinner snack.
I would go back again for a quick lunch - although wouldn't give it a hearty recommendation!
I had a the special -1 topping pizza sub with pop for $5. Moderate amounts of saucy-cheesy-pinaepply tastiness. It was rather large, so I brought home 1/3 for Ian to take care of as a pre-dinner snack.
I would go back again for a quick lunch - although wouldn't give it a hearty recommendation!
Sunday, September 23, 2007
Jack Astors
Ian and I went on a little camping adventure to Awenda this past weekend and swung by Jack Astors in Barrie for a late lunch. We went there a year or so ago and it was reasonably tasty - but perhaps that was just the deelightful individual apple pie lard/sugar talking.
Today was only alright - I had some veggie kung pao stir-fry with rice, Ian had a cajun chicken sandwich with guacamole + veggies and fries. I have taken up a new healthy eating regime and Ian did not feel up to a whole pie, so no desert for us :(
The real problem this time was the service. The waitress gave us a fair bit of attitude and seemed visibly upset when we refused the drink special - $10 sapporo bottles or an equally overpriced slushy type drink. Like you honestly can't be that upset when we turn down the liquor 1:30 on a Sunday afternoon? Then more snitiness when we didn't want to order the feature crab/cheese dip special appetizer.
She seemed to neglect us for quite a while and it took forever to bring the bill after she took the dishes away. Apparently, some sort of computer malfunction. I had my doubts though...just before the bill came, she came round the corner, looked at our table, did a 180 and came back with the bill in 1 minute. Almost like she just forgot about us???
Update from Ian
Another source of annoyance for me was the fact that she argued with me when I asked for the Cajun Chicken without Mayo. She tried to tell me that it doesn't come with Mayo. I was thinking I must have misread but I argued back anyway saying the menu claimed there was mayo (fortunately I see now that I was right). She fights back a little so I just respond that as long as the thing doesn't have mayo I'll be happy. Whatever happened to the customer always being right?
Today was only alright - I had some veggie kung pao stir-fry with rice, Ian had a cajun chicken sandwich with guacamole + veggies and fries. I have taken up a new healthy eating regime and Ian did not feel up to a whole pie, so no desert for us :(
The real problem this time was the service. The waitress gave us a fair bit of attitude and seemed visibly upset when we refused the drink special - $10 sapporo bottles or an equally overpriced slushy type drink. Like you honestly can't be that upset when we turn down the liquor 1:30 on a Sunday afternoon? Then more snitiness when we didn't want to order the feature crab/cheese dip special appetizer.
She seemed to neglect us for quite a while and it took forever to bring the bill after she took the dishes away. Apparently, some sort of computer malfunction. I had my doubts though...just before the bill came, she came round the corner, looked at our table, did a 180 and came back with the bill in 1 minute. Almost like she just forgot about us???
Update from Ian
Another source of annoyance for me was the fact that she argued with me when I asked for the Cajun Chicken without Mayo. She tried to tell me that it doesn't come with Mayo. I was thinking I must have misread but I argued back anyway saying the menu claimed there was mayo (fortunately I see now that I was right). She fights back a little so I just respond that as long as the thing doesn't have mayo I'll be happy. Whatever happened to the customer always being right?
Friday, September 21, 2007
Alice Fazooli's
We went out for a b-day lunch on Thursday. The bread, as usual, was pretty tasty with some olive oil and garlicy type weird stuff to mix together.
I went healthy and just had some pasta e fagoli soup with three beans, pasta and veggies. It came in a fun little pitcher type thing that the waiter poured into my bowl. The soup was odd tasting, and did not have the afore-mentioned beans or pasta. A bit of a disapointment, but at $4.95 for lunch at an expensive restaurant, I guess you can't complain too much.
I went healthy and just had some pasta e fagoli soup with three beans, pasta and veggies. It came in a fun little pitcher type thing that the waiter poured into my bowl. The soup was odd tasting, and did not have the afore-mentioned beans or pasta. A bit of a disapointment, but at $4.95 for lunch at an expensive restaurant, I guess you can't complain too much.
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Subway Pizza
We'll blame the lack of recent posts on the fact that we were out of town so our meals didn't qualify for weeattoronto posting.
Anyway on my way home from the airport, I was pleased to pick up a few slices of pizza pizza pepperoni for a buck a slice. I don't know the full scoop behind why the TTC is selling pizza but I think it has something to do with raising money for the United Way. Last Tuesday, I left the city horribly disappointed because I had grabbed a quick lunch of a slice of pizza only to find out once I hopped on the subway that I could have eaten for much cheaper.
Maybe if the TTC sold pizza more often I would actually use public transit regularly. Well, that's unlikely and with the proposed upcoming additional 15 cent hike on TTC fares they're going to need a lot more than pizza to get me on board.
Interesting note that may or may not be true. When I first came to Toronto fares were 1.80 (using tokens) and in November they will be going up to 2.25. It seems like I would have been better off buying tokens then saving money in ING?
Anyway to bring the discussion back to food, the moral of the story is when you're eating out, walk
Anyway on my way home from the airport, I was pleased to pick up a few slices of pizza pizza pepperoni for a buck a slice. I don't know the full scoop behind why the TTC is selling pizza but I think it has something to do with raising money for the United Way. Last Tuesday, I left the city horribly disappointed because I had grabbed a quick lunch of a slice of pizza only to find out once I hopped on the subway that I could have eaten for much cheaper.
Maybe if the TTC sold pizza more often I would actually use public transit regularly. Well, that's unlikely and with the proposed upcoming additional 15 cent hike on TTC fares they're going to need a lot more than pizza to get me on board.
Interesting note that may or may not be true. When I first came to Toronto fares were 1.80 (using tokens) and in November they will be going up to 2.25. It seems like I would have been better off buying tokens then saving money in ING?
Anyway to bring the discussion back to food, the moral of the story is when you're eating out, walk
Sunday, September 09, 2007
Random Stuff
A few fun topics for the limited number of readers we actually have:
1. On Friday night, we went to the veggie food fair. Some of the magic from other years seemed to be missing for some reason. It could be that I'm no longer a veggie. Perhaps it was Ian in tow? Could have been the King's Cafe ladies trying to upsell me on my dumpling/sticky rice purchase. Maybe the lack of power bar type items to sample?
2. We went to Aroma yesterday for buffet lunch. Tasty as usual, and a deeeelightful new curry cabbage dish. As you walk in and leave the joint, they have a glassed in tandoori area with a guy making naan bread. In the last year or so, it's been my thing to wave at the guy and he usually waves back. Yesterday, he got to the wave before I did! Ha ha! We've got quite the little thing happening.
3. The original plan was to go camping, but we ditched it due to rain and a leaky tent. Instead, we planned to go for a picnic to Bronte park. The Gardiner was closed so we made alternate plans to go to Cherry beach. All was deelightful, but they had half of the park blocked off with a chain link fence. Ian speculated that it was due to some sort of contamination. I tell him to not be silly. But alas, we get home and he checks the web and he appears to be correct!
Anywho, had some veggie burgers with hummus, avocado, cheese, ketchup on Pita Break cooked on old school coleman stove. Pretty tasty. Ian wants to upgrade to a hibachi so we can do meat in style.
The back was slightly burnt in the parents day, but the real damage happened earlier this summer with a scrambled egg/overpressured fuel cylinder incident.
Ian puts away lawn chairs.
4. T&T asian food markets come to town off Cherry Street across from the Cirque near the Docks.
Stocked up on dumplings, buns, fried tofu, seaweed and veggies.
1. On Friday night, we went to the veggie food fair. Some of the magic from other years seemed to be missing for some reason. It could be that I'm no longer a veggie. Perhaps it was Ian in tow? Could have been the King's Cafe ladies trying to upsell me on my dumpling/sticky rice purchase. Maybe the lack of power bar type items to sample?
2. We went to Aroma yesterday for buffet lunch. Tasty as usual, and a deeeelightful new curry cabbage dish. As you walk in and leave the joint, they have a glassed in tandoori area with a guy making naan bread. In the last year or so, it's been my thing to wave at the guy and he usually waves back. Yesterday, he got to the wave before I did! Ha ha! We've got quite the little thing happening.
3. The original plan was to go camping, but we ditched it due to rain and a leaky tent. Instead, we planned to go for a picnic to Bronte park. The Gardiner was closed so we made alternate plans to go to Cherry beach. All was deelightful, but they had half of the park blocked off with a chain link fence. Ian speculated that it was due to some sort of contamination. I tell him to not be silly. But alas, we get home and he checks the web and he appears to be correct!
Anywho, had some veggie burgers with hummus, avocado, cheese, ketchup on Pita Break cooked on old school coleman stove. Pretty tasty. Ian wants to upgrade to a hibachi so we can do meat in style.
The back was slightly burnt in the parents day, but the real damage happened earlier this summer with a scrambled egg/overpressured fuel cylinder incident.
Ian puts away lawn chairs.
4. T&T asian food markets come to town off Cherry Street across from the Cirque near the Docks.
Stocked up on dumplings, buns, fried tofu, seaweed and veggies.
Tuesday, September 04, 2007
Run For the Cure
Ian and I are running again this year. If you love or even remotely like us, you'd donate something to the cause. Go to this website! If you are torn about who to donate to, just go with me (Janice). It seems like the easy way out of dilemma!
Thanks to all the parents + Ian's favorite E-town aunt and uncle.
Thanks to all the parents + Ian's favorite E-town aunt and uncle.
Monday, September 03, 2007
Looking Where you Walk
At yesterday's Blue Jays game Janice snagged a foul ball (Snag may not be the correct term - she apparently ran away from the ball as it neared her and then managed to recover and grab it after it hit a seat. Surprising behaviour because when I go with her to games she wants me to be always ready to jump and run towards the ball).
That's great but even better was that Burnett picked up the seven strike-outs that earn us a free slice from Pizza Pizza (The deal is that if the Jays get 7 or more strikeouts on a Friday or Sunday home game you get a free slice of pepperoni on the subsequent Monday). Anyway we headed out at lunch today to get our free slice and we were going to blow the bank to buy another slice of cheese pizza for Janice. Quite the meal. As we were walking out of the building though, I happened to see a Jay's ticket on the ground. Luckily I stopped and examined it and saw that it was for Sunday's game! Another free slice. So we ended up having a completely free lunch! It seems like the moral of the story is that it pays to look where you walk.
For the record, I agree it is mildly disgusting to pick up dirty paper from the ground but, hey, for 3 bucks, who wouldn't.
That's great but even better was that Burnett picked up the seven strike-outs that earn us a free slice from Pizza Pizza (The deal is that if the Jays get 7 or more strikeouts on a Friday or Sunday home game you get a free slice of pepperoni on the subsequent Monday). Anyway we headed out at lunch today to get our free slice and we were going to blow the bank to buy another slice of cheese pizza for Janice. Quite the meal. As we were walking out of the building though, I happened to see a Jay's ticket on the ground. Luckily I stopped and examined it and saw that it was for Sunday's game! Another free slice. So we ended up having a completely free lunch! It seems like the moral of the story is that it pays to look where you walk.
For the record, I agree it is mildly disgusting to pick up dirty paper from the ground but, hey, for 3 bucks, who wouldn't.
Island Foods
On Sat night, Ian and I went to the Ex and ate at Island Foods. Ian claims that they have a store in Village on the Grange area (apparently Dundas & McCaul area), but it is generally lined up outside so he keeps on walking.
At the Ex, this seemed to be one of the more popular joints in the "food building", but we didn't have much else to do so we waited. I had the veggie meal for $5.25 which came with rice/beans, and various curried veggies - cabbage, potatoe, cauliflower etc. It was ok, but I was expecting some more variety. Perhaps some squash or spinach and maybe some chickpeas. Alright value for my money. Decent levels of tastiness. The rice was a bit weird tasting.
Ian has a boneless chicken roti for $6 something and his direct quote was "It is alright, smaller than I would have liked."
So that's the story!
At the Ex, this seemed to be one of the more popular joints in the "food building", but we didn't have much else to do so we waited. I had the veggie meal for $5.25 which came with rice/beans, and various curried veggies - cabbage, potatoe, cauliflower etc. It was ok, but I was expecting some more variety. Perhaps some squash or spinach and maybe some chickpeas. Alright value for my money. Decent levels of tastiness. The rice was a bit weird tasting.
Ian has a boneless chicken roti for $6 something and his direct quote was "It is alright, smaller than I would have liked."
So that's the story!
Sunday, September 02, 2007
The Ex
Ian waiting in line at the Island Foods Roti joint like a champ!
I was saving some seats....also champ like!
Ian goes to the casino
Mmmm. Dinner.
The Ontario Pork Association's slogan was "From Farm to Fork"
Baby cow
Wonder if this little guy is going to make it past Thanksgiving?
View from Ontario place across lake towards Hamilton.
Ian carrying my stuff home! Nice work!
Saturday, August 25, 2007
Fast and Slow Lanes
Well this isn't directly food related, as I was eating my Pita Break apple Cinnamon breakfast pita with PC Dark Chocolate Spread and PC Decadent Chocolate chips (yes both) cooked on my George Foreman Grill, I noticed an interesting article in the Globe and Mail. London (the real one) is considering adding slow and fast lanes for pedestrians on Oxford Street which is apparently Europe's busiest. Now if only the Taste of the Danforth would be consider doing the same as I suggested.
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Royal Ontario Golf Club
My company had their annual golf tournament last Friday. Not only did we get the day off, the whole thing was one incredible deal for the cheap person!
$40 got us....
Round of golf and cart ($109 value)
Driving range beforehand
4 pack of balls & tees
Royal Ontario Hat
Nike dri-fit golf shirt
Dinner with wine
Winners and big losers got a $25 gift card to LCBO!
We'll be back next year for sure!
Dinner was pretty decent - roast beef with all sorts of other good stuff. Dessert table was especially tasty!
$40 got us....
Round of golf and cart ($109 value)
Driving range beforehand
4 pack of balls & tees
Royal Ontario Hat
Nike dri-fit golf shirt
Dinner with wine
Winners and big losers got a $25 gift card to LCBO!
We'll be back next year for sure!
Dinner was pretty decent - roast beef with all sorts of other good stuff. Dessert table was especially tasty!
Sunday, August 19, 2007
Taste of the Danforth
I've tasted the Danforth a few times but it was Janice's first time when we went last Saturday. There isn't a lot to say about it. It was packed and every restaurant selling anything greek seemed to have massive lines. So we ended up hitting up some sushi places and thai places initially. They offered tasty food without the endless wait. I'm not sure why the lines were so long because as I've discussed before Greek isn't all that exciting. We couldn't leave without getting anything Greek in the end so we picked up a Gyro from some place whose name I have forgotten. It was more like a neighbourhood pub style place than a place focused on Greek food.
The big disappointment was crowd management (well the second biggest after the 8.40 in transit fare we had to shell out to avoid the traffic nightmare). In many (most?) places particularly around the Greek lines, the walking slowed to snail's pace so not surprisingly this drove me crazy. A collector and express system with some fences seems like it would be useful but I could see that not being a widely supported concept. Just like people think that baseball players shouldn't be replaced by robots. When will the masses learn?
The big disappointment was crowd management (well the second biggest after the 8.40 in transit fare we had to shell out to avoid the traffic nightmare). In many (most?) places particularly around the Greek lines, the walking slowed to snail's pace so not surprisingly this drove me crazy. A collector and express system with some fences seems like it would be useful but I could see that not being a widely supported concept. Just like people think that baseball players shouldn't be replaced by robots. When will the masses learn?
Sunday, August 12, 2007
The World's Easiest Chocolate Cake Recipe!
This is seriously easy and foolproof....try it tonight!You should even have the ingredients on hand. From Moosewood Restaurant New Classics Book.
Oven - 375 F
In square cake pan mix:
1.5 cups flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1/2 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
1 cup sugar
Mix wet stuff:
1/2 cup veggie oil
1 cup cold water or chilled coffee
2 t vanilla
Add to dry and mix well.
Then stir in 2 T vinegar - cider or white. Stir just till mixed.
Bake 25-30 minutes till done!
The Keg
On Friday night Ian and I went all out and went to the Keg on York between Queen and King. Ian started with some deep fried calmari which was alright. I had a piece and was not a big fan.
Then we both had the 1/2 lobster and steak special done medium well. I had baked potato and Ian had some rice.
I have never really had lobster (due to the long term veggie thing) and I thought it was ok. It seemed like a lot of work for how much you really get out of it. The steak was alright, but seemed a bit tougher than I would have expected from the keg. The price was the biggest pitfall - $35!
We were not planning on having dessert, but the $5 brownie sundae convinced us to! Very tasty and about double the size of the equivalent DQ $5 treat.
In the end, the bill was about $100 including tax, tip and after my $20 keg shareholder gift card that came with the annual report.
For a similar price, I would just go to North 44 or equivalent next time. The entrees and appetizers are in the same price range, but North 44 is must tastier and nicer!
Then we both had the 1/2 lobster and steak special done medium well. I had baked potato and Ian had some rice.
I have never really had lobster (due to the long term veggie thing) and I thought it was ok. It seemed like a lot of work for how much you really get out of it. The steak was alright, but seemed a bit tougher than I would have expected from the keg. The price was the biggest pitfall - $35!
We were not planning on having dessert, but the $5 brownie sundae convinced us to! Very tasty and about double the size of the equivalent DQ $5 treat.
In the end, the bill was about $100 including tax, tip and after my $20 keg shareholder gift card that came with the annual report.
For a similar price, I would just go to North 44 or equivalent next time. The entrees and appetizers are in the same price range, but North 44 is must tastier and nicer!
Monday, August 06, 2007
Ho Su
Ian and I went for a quick dinner tonight at Ho Su on Queen. All was delightful and cheap except for the tempura. Ian had some california roll/chiken teriyaki type item. I had veggie sushi combo. Total bill was $26 including t,t,t,s,s,e,m,b,k (tax, tip, tap water, soup, salad, edamame, mystery saucy veggie, beans, kimchee).
The poor customer service "Diet"
So this week I was in Hawkesbury working at a very exciting steel plant and thus had to frequent the local restaurants for meals.
Poor customer service prevented me from procuring some tasty fast food.
I stopped in at pizza pizza in town and there is one lady cleaning the bathrooms and the other guy cleaning out the drink cooler. The dude says something to me in french, I don't really speak but the gist of it was, just a minute. I say ok, but then wait about 5 minutes and finally walk out. It's been a while since I worked at DQ, but I think that serving customers in a timely fashion if more important than cleaning the joint!
One night I went to the Valleyfield River for some kayak action and stop in at McD's across the street for a drink. I wait about 5 minutes to get my order in, but then the pace is 1 car every 8 minutes or so. There was conveniently no porkchop between the order thingy and the food giver so I took off! It would have been like 5 cars x 8 minutes = 40 min? After 2 cars and 16 min wait I was fed up!
Poor customer service prevented me from procuring some tasty fast food.
I stopped in at pizza pizza in town and there is one lady cleaning the bathrooms and the other guy cleaning out the drink cooler. The dude says something to me in french, I don't really speak but the gist of it was, just a minute. I say ok, but then wait about 5 minutes and finally walk out. It's been a while since I worked at DQ, but I think that serving customers in a timely fashion if more important than cleaning the joint!
One night I went to the Valleyfield River for some kayak action and stop in at McD's across the street for a drink. I wait about 5 minutes to get my order in, but then the pace is 1 car every 8 minutes or so. There was conveniently no porkchop between the order thingy and the food giver so I took off! It would have been like 5 cars x 8 minutes = 40 min? After 2 cars and 16 min wait I was fed up!
Saturday, August 04, 2007
Caribana Disappointment
The city of Toronto seems to like to ruin weekends by shutting down major thoroughfares early and often. This week's reason was Caribana. After eventually making it back home from groceries despite the traffic chaos, I decided to check it out to see if it was worth the inconvenience.
The official website for Caribana is sparse on information like times and locations so I set out on Lakeshore until I hit the action. One of the primary motivations for going was to get lunch in the form of Roti. (This is a blog about food). Anyway I walked and I walked and eventually found a range of vendors set up and there was roti. But that's not the only thing that was there, they had also brought high prices. Now I guess the location is nice and convenient for watching the parade but I am fundamentally opposed to paying prices that are greater than or equal to restaurant prices. At the restaurant, the level of sketchiness is likely to be lower and they provide seating. Here there's none of that - no nice yellow or green dinesafe signs or any dedicated seating. And the final straw, many places weren't that busy. If it's not good enough for the locals, it's not good enough for me.
Non-food related notes of interest
And where did I eat in the end you ask? I picked up a large pepperoni at Domino's. Total price 9.12 which is less than I would have paid at some of the stations and I'm having it for lunch and dinner.
The official website for Caribana is sparse on information like times and locations so I set out on Lakeshore until I hit the action. One of the primary motivations for going was to get lunch in the form of Roti. (This is a blog about food). Anyway I walked and I walked and eventually found a range of vendors set up and there was roti. But that's not the only thing that was there, they had also brought high prices. Now I guess the location is nice and convenient for watching the parade but I am fundamentally opposed to paying prices that are greater than or equal to restaurant prices. At the restaurant, the level of sketchiness is likely to be lower and they provide seating. Here there's none of that - no nice yellow or green dinesafe signs or any dedicated seating. And the final straw, many places weren't that busy. If it's not good enough for the locals, it's not good enough for me.
Non-food related notes of interest
- The parade itself was not stellar. "Floats" with prominent signs explicitly saying that "unauthorized personnel can not go on the float for insurance reasons" take a little bit away from the atmosphere. The thing that kills it more is that a bunch of floats would have this convoy of U-Haul's trailing behind. I'm not sure how these were connected to the main event. I guess we'll never know
- There seemed to be a complete lack of corporate give-aways aimed at buying my brand loyalty. My loyalty was left untouched so it looks like I'll have to stick to double bubble and milk-2-go.
- Advertising should consist of more than just whistling. A lot of the water sellers seemed to think using whistles was key and they were using them constantly. If I want overpriced water I'll stick with the quiet vendors
And where did I eat in the end you ask? I picked up a large pepperoni at Domino's. Total price 9.12 which is less than I would have paid at some of the stations and I'm having it for lunch and dinner.
Sunday, July 29, 2007
Free Milk
For those who know where we live, come and pick up some milk! Seriously...please come and get some.
St Louis
Yesterday Ian and I were rather lazy post nap and decided to hit up the St. Louis rib and wing joint basically attached to the building across the street from us. Despite the rather limited menu, the place is always busy..even when the Jays are out of town.
Ian and I both had the half rack of ribs with fries special for $10.95. It was a decent amount of food, although not enough bbq sauce. Ian had a pint of steamwhistle, but felt that due to the shape of the special steam pint glass, he got kinda ripped off.
The mints at the end were tasty and equally delightful were the plentiful hand wipe thingies.
That's about it. Sorry nothing funny to report.
Ian and I both had the half rack of ribs with fries special for $10.95. It was a decent amount of food, although not enough bbq sauce. Ian had a pint of steamwhistle, but felt that due to the shape of the special steam pint glass, he got kinda ripped off.
The mints at the end were tasty and equally delightful were the plentiful hand wipe thingies.
That's about it. Sorry nothing funny to report.
Thursday, July 26, 2007
The best things in life are ...
free!
A few weeks ago, I took some candy from a stranger. It's ok it was free
Today was the real score, milk 2 go. Faithful readers will not be surprised to learn I made multiple trips. Don't worry in the later trips I got closed cases so I could stack them! Needless to say the fridge is full. I still feel I should go back but I'm trying to restrain myself
A few weeks ago, I took some candy from a stranger. It's ok it was free
Today was the real score, milk 2 go. Faithful readers will not be surprised to learn I made multiple trips. Don't worry in the later trips I got closed cases so I could stack them! Needless to say the fridge is full. I still feel I should go back but I'm trying to restrain myself
Sunday, July 15, 2007
Ribs in the Oven
Ian and I walked over to the St. Lawrence Market yesterday and found some meaty looking pork back ribs for about $4.50/lb. The only problem was, the butcher wouldn't cut in half for us and we didn't want to buy $35 of meat for the two of us for dinner. We walked over to the next meat shop and bought a full rack of baby back for $7.50. Here's the little guys stacked up.
The marinade/rub had some brown sugar, soy sauce, oil, garlic, cilantro and chinese five spice powder...mmmm..The home-made sauce wasn't so hot, so I ended up doing a blind taste test with Ian. The half home-made, half PC sauce won out!
Here's the final result.
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Kit Kat Summerlicious
Ian and I decided to partake in some cheap eats and went to Kit Kat on King for the Summerlicious festival. It's basically three courses for $25 to $35 depending on the restaurant.
I started with a not so tasty asparagus soup - way too bland. Ian has mussels with a tomato wine sauce that he seemed to enjoy. For the main course Ian has chicken with prosciutto in a creamy white sauce with mashed potato and random veggies. I had pan fried sole with wild rice and the same veggie. Ian's portion was huge, but while it excelled in largeness, it lacked in tastiness.
I know that sole is kind of bland so I was expecting some sort of crust or sauce on there, but it came with neither. Overall very bland :( Sadly, my cafeteria at work makes better sole.
The desert was alright tiramisu but this time was a puny portion. With the summerlicious special we ended up paying $64 including tax, tip and tap water.
The real entertainment here were the tables on either side of us. To my left and Ian's right, there was the first date with the young guy and old lady. Neither seemed to have much to say, and the old lady admitted that her mom likes to cook for her so she doesn't really know how to cook anything. Sounds like a real catch! Awkward times all around for those two!
To my right, there was a three generation girls night out kind of event. The two older ladies got all upset about cold veggies with their meal and made a big stink about it. The waiter was extremely rude and made them feel like it was all in their head. Kind of comical. I think the waiter felt bad, so he came by every 5 minutes thereafter with awkward tidbits of what he thought was amusing anecdotes! Ian and I, as impartial judges, gave the effort a D. Awkward at best!
I started with a not so tasty asparagus soup - way too bland. Ian has mussels with a tomato wine sauce that he seemed to enjoy. For the main course Ian has chicken with prosciutto in a creamy white sauce with mashed potato and random veggies. I had pan fried sole with wild rice and the same veggie. Ian's portion was huge, but while it excelled in largeness, it lacked in tastiness.
I know that sole is kind of bland so I was expecting some sort of crust or sauce on there, but it came with neither. Overall very bland :( Sadly, my cafeteria at work makes better sole.
The desert was alright tiramisu but this time was a puny portion. With the summerlicious special we ended up paying $64 including tax, tip and tap water.
The real entertainment here were the tables on either side of us. To my left and Ian's right, there was the first date with the young guy and old lady. Neither seemed to have much to say, and the old lady admitted that her mom likes to cook for her so she doesn't really know how to cook anything. Sounds like a real catch! Awkward times all around for those two!
To my right, there was a three generation girls night out kind of event. The two older ladies got all upset about cold veggies with their meal and made a big stink about it. The waiter was extremely rude and made them feel like it was all in their head. Kind of comical. I think the waiter felt bad, so he came by every 5 minutes thereafter with awkward tidbits of what he thought was amusing anecdotes! Ian and I, as impartial judges, gave the effort a D. Awkward at best!
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
An Outsider's Guide to the Insider Report
I started this post a while ago (it looks like on 2007/05/24) after the Summer insider's report first arrived. I held off posting to make sure I had a chance to try everything that caught my eye (prefix PC to everything)
Oatmeal Chocolate Chunk Cookies - these are very tasty. Like the old school Dad's Oatmeal Cookies I used to eat but even tastier. Checking out the nutritional information was sort of a let down because if you care about your heart and saturated fats you'll have to scale back the cookie consumption. Tough but necessary.
Naan Chicken Tandoori Pizza and Pita Chicken Souvlaki Pizza - These were on for $4.49 when the report first came out. Supposedly each box will feed multiple people - I elect to eat the whole thing in a sitting. The Naan chicken tandoori pizza is the better of the two
Field and Grove Juice - There's a mango "based" one and a berry "based" one. "based" because there are a lot of other juices in there besides the one that forms the theme. These are $1.69 currently for 1L. For juice I think that's not bad. I'm a fan of both of these although the mango is my favorite. The concept is similar to the V8 Fusion that as far as I know isn't in Canada yet but was very tasty when I've had a sip down under (in the US).
PC Bento Chicken Yakitori & PC Bento Salmon Teriyaki - No real surprise Salmon is the winner here. They're both pretty good. It's pretty wild and crazy - the instructions say you should heat it up without lifting up a corner to let the steam escape. I followed the instructions and it turned out well. The gyoza is in a little too much sauce and it's sad you only get one. The rice is sort of weird and it wears on you but overall the meal's pretty good. Sure we use some of reusable bags Galen Weston is nuts about to bring the meal home but I still feel like maybe this massive fake bento box and chop sticks (which are a nice bonus that we save) might not be the most environmentally friendly meal. Oh well, the price again is the main deterrent that prevents me from getting these more frequently.
Start Digression
This is also part of a bigger rant (that I may continue late) I have that if food is packaged like it should be a complete meal then there should be enough calories for a complete meal. I'm tired of seeing all these "meals" with less than 500 calories. "Healthy" meals are the worst. It's not healthy to slowly starve to death and if it defeats the point of healthiness if I need to have multiple cokes to get enough calories. If it's a snack sized portion label and price it as such. I'll rant more about this some other time
End Digression
Those are all the products I seem to recall trying. Here's the full listing of new products. I may try some more so faithful blog readers can look forward to that!
Oatmeal Chocolate Chunk Cookies - these are very tasty. Like the old school Dad's Oatmeal Cookies I used to eat but even tastier. Checking out the nutritional information was sort of a let down because if you care about your heart and saturated fats you'll have to scale back the cookie consumption. Tough but necessary.
Naan Chicken Tandoori Pizza and Pita Chicken Souvlaki Pizza - These were on for $4.49 when the report first came out. Supposedly each box will feed multiple people - I elect to eat the whole thing in a sitting. The Naan chicken tandoori pizza is the better of the two
Field and Grove Juice - There's a mango "based" one and a berry "based" one. "based" because there are a lot of other juices in there besides the one that forms the theme. These are $1.69 currently for 1L. For juice I think that's not bad. I'm a fan of both of these although the mango is my favorite. The concept is similar to the V8 Fusion that as far as I know isn't in Canada yet but was very tasty when I've had a sip down under (in the US).
PC Bento Chicken Yakitori & PC Bento Salmon Teriyaki - No real surprise Salmon is the winner here. They're both pretty good. It's pretty wild and crazy - the instructions say you should heat it up without lifting up a corner to let the steam escape. I followed the instructions and it turned out well. The gyoza is in a little too much sauce and it's sad you only get one. The rice is sort of weird and it wears on you but overall the meal's pretty good. Sure we use some of reusable bags Galen Weston is nuts about to bring the meal home but I still feel like maybe this massive fake bento box and chop sticks (which are a nice bonus that we save) might not be the most environmentally friendly meal. Oh well, the price again is the main deterrent that prevents me from getting these more frequently.
Start Digression
This is also part of a bigger rant (that I may continue late) I have that if food is packaged like it should be a complete meal then there should be enough calories for a complete meal. I'm tired of seeing all these "meals" with less than 500 calories. "Healthy" meals are the worst. It's not healthy to slowly starve to death and if it defeats the point of healthiness if I need to have multiple cokes to get enough calories. If it's a snack sized portion label and price it as such. I'll rant more about this some other time
End Digression
Those are all the products I seem to recall trying. Here's the full listing of new products. I may try some more so faithful blog readers can look forward to that!
Monday, July 02, 2007
BBQ Rib Showdown
Now that I am carnivorous, I am always searching for tasty bbq ribs. The Americans seem to be hard-core and use the word BBQ as a verb. What the Canadians call bbq is actually a grill.
Anywho, I was in Birmingham last week and went to Dreamland. It is quite the mini-chain down there and anyone who likes BBQ seems to be obsessed with this place. The first thing they bring is a plate of wonderbread and some bbq sauce. I didn't quite know what to do with this, so I dipped some bread into the sauce - it was alright - about as good as you would expect wonder bread to be. Then the 1/2 rack of ribs came out. I was a bit disappointed. The actual rib part of it was ok, but I'm not really sure what the other meat was that was clinging to the ribs. It was a combo of fat and gristle. Good thing I ordered the cole-slaw and banana pudding or I would have walked away hungry. Decent value for about $13 I think??
Then, Ian and I went on a camping adventure in the Adirondacks this weekend and spied the "Tail of the Pup BBQ" joint near Saranac lake. It was quite the monstrosity with about 10 buildings in the log cabin style, 3-4 huge tents, live band etc. I started with a Saranac Lake Pale Ale for $4. I had a full rack of ribs for $16 came with choice of two sides - I went with baked beans and cornbread. Beans were a little cold and cornbread was puny! Ribs were ok, as with dreamland - hardly any meat on them. Again some mystery cartiledy stuff on there.
Ian ordered the "meat lovers" plate - came with a piece of chicken, 1/2 rack of ribs, pulled pork and beef brisket. He ordered corn of the cob and cole-slaw as his sides. A fantastic deal for $19!! He seems to have gotten lucky and got some really good ribs - probably more meat on his half rack than my full.
All in all pretty decent and I would go back again but this time order the meat lovers plate!
Anywho, I was in Birmingham last week and went to Dreamland. It is quite the mini-chain down there and anyone who likes BBQ seems to be obsessed with this place. The first thing they bring is a plate of wonderbread and some bbq sauce. I didn't quite know what to do with this, so I dipped some bread into the sauce - it was alright - about as good as you would expect wonder bread to be. Then the 1/2 rack of ribs came out. I was a bit disappointed. The actual rib part of it was ok, but I'm not really sure what the other meat was that was clinging to the ribs. It was a combo of fat and gristle. Good thing I ordered the cole-slaw and banana pudding or I would have walked away hungry. Decent value for about $13 I think??
Then, Ian and I went on a camping adventure in the Adirondacks this weekend and spied the "Tail of the Pup BBQ" joint near Saranac lake. It was quite the monstrosity with about 10 buildings in the log cabin style, 3-4 huge tents, live band etc. I started with a Saranac Lake Pale Ale for $4. I had a full rack of ribs for $16 came with choice of two sides - I went with baked beans and cornbread. Beans were a little cold and cornbread was puny! Ribs were ok, as with dreamland - hardly any meat on them. Again some mystery cartiledy stuff on there.
Ian ordered the "meat lovers" plate - came with a piece of chicken, 1/2 rack of ribs, pulled pork and beef brisket. He ordered corn of the cob and cole-slaw as his sides. A fantastic deal for $19!! He seems to have gotten lucky and got some really good ribs - probably more meat on his half rack than my full.All in all pretty decent and I would go back again but this time order the meat lovers plate!
Sunday, June 24, 2007
How to Make Smores
I was slightly disturbed this past weekend to discover that smore making is not common knowledge. So here's how you do it!
1. Get out two graham wafer crackers. On one side, place a piece of chocolate. I recommend a square of milk chocolate from some sort of bar.
2. Toast two large marshmallows. Try not to light on fire.
3. Place marshmallows between cookies and enjoy!
That's it!!!
If you want to go really fancy, you can place the crackers with chocolate on a tray near the fire to better melt the chocolate.
1. Get out two graham wafer crackers. On one side, place a piece of chocolate. I recommend a square of milk chocolate from some sort of bar.
2. Toast two large marshmallows. Try not to light on fire.
3. Place marshmallows between cookies and enjoy!
That's it!!!
If you want to go really fancy, you can place the crackers with chocolate on a tray near the fire to better melt the chocolate.
Thursday, June 21, 2007
Lone Star
To cheer ourselves up after the EQ3 fiasco, we headed over to Lone star. The free tortilla chips and salsa at the start are fun and they seem to have moderately improved the salsa from last time.
We shared an order of steak and chicken fajitas for $19. It was more food than two people really should eat. Came with fixins - some veggies, rice, beans, guac, tomatoes, lettuce, cheese, sour cream etc. The best part is the home-made tortilla machine! Ian said that if we get a house, he is going to buy a tortilla machine. We'll see....
We shared an order of steak and chicken fajitas for $19. It was more food than two people really should eat. Came with fixins - some veggies, rice, beans, guac, tomatoes, lettuce, cheese, sour cream etc. The best part is the home-made tortilla machine! Ian said that if we get a house, he is going to buy a tortilla machine. We'll see....
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Shame on EQ3
We normally don't comment about furniture stores on here but today EQ3 was supposed to have an anniversary party with food, drink and 20% off. They sent me something in the mail as well as calling me which seemed a little excessive. Anyway we make the long trek over to the wrong side of Yonge and get to EQ3 only to find a disappointing anniversary party. We walked all through the store before we found one table with a few picked over veggies and dip and some "sketchy" (Janice's word obviously) salad. It looked like something that might have just been picked up at the corner store. Seems ridiculous that they advertised an event that was this bed. While we were there they found some more wine of which we got a drop-sized serving. Janice with her fancy expense account wine drinking habits couldn't even finish her drop. With my grad school palate I finished mine and hers without any complaints.
This is a controversial post, Janice thinks we should forgive EQ3 and shop there again in the future. I think with this big a disappointment one strike and you're done! So onto the wall of shame.
This is a controversial post, Janice thinks we should forgive EQ3 and shop there again in the future. I think with this big a disappointment one strike and you're done! So onto the wall of shame.
Saturday, June 16, 2007
North 44
Ian and I went all-out last night and went to North 44 for dinner. The chef at this place, Mark McKewan, also has a food network Canada TV show!! How exciting (mocking tone)! Of course, Ian worried that this would inflate the price due to a horde of TV lovers converging on the place. It certainly not cheap, but I think the high prices were more due to the tasty food aspect of it.
Ian started with the halibut and scallop cakes with some lime avocado stuff on the side. Was extremely yummy, but certainly not great value at about $10 per toonie sized cake. Our waiter was actually pretty good and helpful, but the person they had actually bringing out some of the food seemed to be kind of a dolt - she actually called them crab cakes! Ha ha!
We had a bottle of some type of white Italian recommended by our waiter - it was pretty tasty and went well with the fish cakes. The real highlight was the wine cooler - it appeared to be a two compartment steel bottle holder - where you put the bottle of wine on one side and ice on the other! If only Ian and I were more into welding, we could whip it up!
For the main course, Ian went meaty and had bison tenderloin placed on top of soy flavored spinach and a piece of ravoili. Was also some squash on the side. Ian ordered medium rare. The bison was pretty tasty and surprisingly not tough at all.
I had the snapper special with fingerling potato with some random veggies on the side. Ian called the fish "exquisite". Ha ha!
To end the night, we ordered the desert sampler. It was all very good, but they put a bit too much fruit stuff and not enough chocolate related items on there. They listed a couple chocolate/caramel related things on the desert menu, but they were nowhere to be seen on the sampler plate. A bit of a disapointment and next time I would just order one thing.
Overall, the tasty factor was very high, service was good, decor was good, but the price makes this a once a year event at most!
Ian started with the halibut and scallop cakes with some lime avocado stuff on the side. Was extremely yummy, but certainly not great value at about $10 per toonie sized cake. Our waiter was actually pretty good and helpful, but the person they had actually bringing out some of the food seemed to be kind of a dolt - she actually called them crab cakes! Ha ha!
We had a bottle of some type of white Italian recommended by our waiter - it was pretty tasty and went well with the fish cakes. The real highlight was the wine cooler - it appeared to be a two compartment steel bottle holder - where you put the bottle of wine on one side and ice on the other! If only Ian and I were more into welding, we could whip it up!
For the main course, Ian went meaty and had bison tenderloin placed on top of soy flavored spinach and a piece of ravoili. Was also some squash on the side. Ian ordered medium rare. The bison was pretty tasty and surprisingly not tough at all.
I had the snapper special with fingerling potato with some random veggies on the side. Ian called the fish "exquisite". Ha ha!
To end the night, we ordered the desert sampler. It was all very good, but they put a bit too much fruit stuff and not enough chocolate related items on there. They listed a couple chocolate/caramel related things on the desert menu, but they were nowhere to be seen on the sampler plate. A bit of a disapointment and next time I would just order one thing.
Overall, the tasty factor was very high, service was good, decor was good, but the price makes this a once a year event at most!
Monday, June 11, 2007
The Long Road Home
This is a post by Ian - not Janice as the tag on the bottom seems to suggest!Normally a trip east of Toronto isn't complete without a stop at our favorite tacky 401 roadside attraction - The Big Apple. This trip was no different and here's me on a bridge over grass with the infamous apple.
Now the big apple makes apple pies, lots of them in fact and they sell these pies both in slices and full pies. The catch, the slices are 3.50 but the pie is only 10 bucks. Not a tough decision but much to our annoyance they won't let us eat the pie in the restaurant area. We've been asked to leave on prior trips so this time we skipped the confrontation and took our mumble crumble outside to tailgate it up with our pie as you can see below (note how I'm standing underneath the hatch protecting the precision pie - this will be important later)
While tailgating is maybe cool before NFL games, it isn't particularly awesome for pie eating. I got over it and was enjoying the pie until a sea gull flew over and dropped off a present for Janice. Not good.
It gets worse, the present was large and we thought it splashed onto the pie. Initially, I had a brilliant plan to salvage the pie innards and remove the soiled crust but we thought better of it and ended up having to toss the remaining pie. A sad sad day at the Big Apple
Given this awful traumatic experience (for Janice getting hit, for me having to toss out over half a pie), we have to report that the Big Apple is on the No Visit List of Shame (NVLS). We do not plan to go back for a few reasons
1) If they had let us eat our pie inside this whole incident could have been avoided
2) If they're making us eat outside, at least control the sea gull population as there were quite a few circling (which we only noticed after the incident)
3) The mini golf course never seems to be open
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