Sneaky Dee's

Ian and I used to go occasionally when we lived in the Annex. It's a cheap beer and Mexican type place on College and Bathurst. I have been craving it for months since we moved to the new place, but Ian generally nixes it for inferior food such as sushi or quiznos.

Today he couldn't argue with the pick-up from school and the 1/2 price fajitas on Tue night. I had veggie, Ian had chicken+shrimp. Came with beans, rice, tortillas, sour cream, guac, mole and tomaotes.

Overall a lot of tasty food, for the low low price of $20 for both of us. They also have cheap beer, 60 oz for $12 I think, which is not bad for Toronto. There are nacho specials with beer other nights of the week too.

A "very tasty" rating in the tastiness department (keeping in mind the cheap Mexican genre) with 2 thumbs up in the cheapness department.

Ian cooks dinner

Grapefruit Moon

I went for brunch with friends to Grapefruit Moon (Bathurst north of Bloor). The place was a bit small and we had to sit at the counter, but overall the place was quite cute and it was fun to watch the people assemble breakfasts.

There was a good selection of eggs, pancakes, breakfast burritos, quesidillas, egg sandwhiches. I had a quesidalla with avocado, black beans and roasted red peppers. Jacquie's avocado, tomatoe and cheese sandwhich looked really good and I would get that next time. All meals served with homefries.

My main beef with this place is price. $10 for a quesadilla and a smallish mound of home fries? Yes, it was tasty, but a one thumb up and one down in the value department (or neutral for the mathematically challenged).

Life Lessons Part 1: How to Grocery Shop

I swung by the grocery store on the way home from work and came up with a few hints to make life easier for everyone...

1. DO push your cart on the right hand side of the aisle. DO NOT go down the middle where you will block traffic both ways.

2. If you are too drunk to stand up, grocery shopping is not a very good idea. If you are too drunk to avoid bashing me with your cart, STAY HOME!

3. While waiting in line at the checkout, organize yourself and find your credit card or cash. DO NOT act surprised, that yes, you will have to pay for your items and then proceed to dig around in a monster handbag for a few loose bills while the rest of us wait for our stuff.

Anyway, now I feel better...and it's sort of food related...right?

Mr Sub

I don't post much because most days I revisit the same old restaurants. Today it was back to Mr Sub which I usual hit twice a week. It was of normally tastiness and most importantly I remembered to get my student discount. The discount is 10% so it's definitely solid and that 40 cents of savings warms me up on the long cold walk back to school.

For those of you that care (I'm sure all of you) I had a small roast beef. I got it with green peppers (See earlier discussion), pickles and meatball sauce. All of this goodness was toasted and then tucked into the coat for long walk back to school. It's not the best sub on their menu but it's one of the best for 3.99. Some day I may go back to the meatball so I can do their sub and soup combo for 3.99. I'll post it here first when I do

Janice vs Ian: Breadmaking Showdown

My parents have a breadmaker so I have many loaves of bread when I lived at home, but Ian thinks that I don't measure accurately and he would be a better breadmaker with our new machine. He made one loaf of pesto that turned out well so he was a bit cocky. I made a so-so loaf of honey wheat.

Ian then made a loaf of "chocolate chip" cookie bread and it turned out AWFUL. Didn't rise at all, was burnt and mishapen. I was going to take a picture, but Ian ate the evidence before I could photograph it for the blog.

Today I made the same recipe and it rose well, far above the breadpan and was not burnt at all.

Ian is now making excuses....but I think he knows that I am the better breadmaker!

Queen Sushi

Ian and I were craving sushi and thought we'd try Queen Sushi again. It felt like we were cheating on New Gen, but they are still are closed due to fire, so it's ok.

I had the veggie box with ALOT of stuff including avocado cucumber roll, tempura, salad, soup, tofu, rice, edamame for $7.25. Ian had the St Patrick with assorted fishiness for $9.25.

The total including tax and tip was $22.50 which was pretty cheap for the amount of food we got.
Our chief complaint last time was the slow service, but this time we had no problems.

A "Tasty" rating with 2 thumbs up for cheapness is the official verdict.

Dim Sum Restaurant with Unknown Name

Friday lunch was dim sum. The place does have a name but as per usual I don't know it. We used to go to Golden Mile but that place has been closed for quite some time so now we go to the restaurant above it. Maybe one day I'll look it up!

As with many dim sum places in Chinatown this place has two things going for it: tastiness and cheapness. In reverse order, it's $1.60 for most dishes. Fancy dishes that contain things like "vegetables" are significantly more expensive. Sadly we got two and they added 10 bucks to the bill with tip and tax. Their actual cost is and will likely continue to be a mystery. We had the usual fare and it is all of reasonable tastiness. We inadvertantly received deep-fried sardines but they didn't prove to be that bad. Not to everyone's liking and they would have undoutedly been better were they warm.

Quizno's

Yesterday's Quizno's was fairly good. Because of the coupons I was forced to order The Traditional. Not being a fan of lunch meats I"d never had it before. It turned out to be alright especially with the price. The deal was we had a coupon for a 2.99 Small Traditional. Savings of two dollars in my books = worth getting a sub I may not like. The overwhelmed Quiznite (a Quizno employee) thought my coupon was 2.99 off. When he told me the total was 2.14 I reluctantly told him, it's supposed to be 2.99 + tax. I argued a little but the guy was adamant and offered to show me the receipt. Trying to save him a dollar didn't seem worth arguing any further so I dropped it and enjoyed a very tasty 2 buck sub.

Janice and Ian: Queen and King of Cheap Eating

4 meals of eating out, $8.55 spent.

Ikea breakfast x 2 = $2.14

Quizno regular veggie -$2 with coupon $4.27 for Janice
Quizno small real traditional + coupon error by dim witted employee = $2.14. Ian tried to correct, but employee insisted he was right about the coupon and gave Ian a super-duper discout.

Jack Astors

After work yesterday I went with the work crowd to Jack Astors in Mississauga for my co-workers departure drinks. The boss bought spring rolls, calmari, chicken wings and brushetta and the first round. All was pretty good, but especially the brushetta. There was a deeeelightful garlic cream sauce in addition to the usual tomato.

There seeemed to be ALOT of families there so they must have some sort of good kids menu or something. Apparently in Montreal, you have to reserve 2 weeks ahead to get a table for 4 on the weekend...bizarre!

Wheat Sheaf

Ian and I went to Czehosk but it was super crowded and we couldn't even get a drink at the bar, so we went to the Wheat Sheaf on Bathurst and King. We were thinking of sneaky dees on college/bathurst but that was heading the wrong way for us in the rain.

The Wheat Sheaf looks good from the outside, but is a bit trashy on the inside (next time we may try the banknote like Ian wanted). I always like places that have moosewood on tap, so the wheat sheaf scored a few points with me right away. Ian had a rum and coke which was a bit odd for a hardcore beer drinking place. Crazy Ian obsessed with cola.

We ordered nachos which were pretty tasty and actually pretty cheap. I like that they threw in some guacamole for free.

The rest of the menu seemed to be good value, with a grilled cheese and fries for 4.25...although I do make a good grilled cheese...more on that some other day when we don't eat out.

Janice Makes Dinner!

Tonight I made an indian stew/curry from my most recent cookbook "Vegetarian Planet". It had the usual curry stuff plus red lentils, white beans, potatoe, carrots etc.

This cookbook is alright, but not really up to par with the most recent moosewood cookbooks.

SURVEY: Who's a better blogger?

Janice: posts ALOT, includes some pictures, moderate amount of detail, not that funny

Ian: very funny, rarely posts

Holiday Inn (AIST/CIM Dinner)

I went to an association for iron and steel technology/canadian institute of mining joint dinner at the holiday inn on the qew and geulph line. Speaker was some vp guy from Honda who read through a hard sales pitch.

Dinner was tasty, meativores had a turkey dinner and I got turkey dinner fixin's but pasta with yummy tomato sauce instead of turkey and dressing. Desert was tira misu, first course salad. Overall pretty yummy and I was somewhat impressed that they had a special veggie meal for me. Two free drinks were thrown into the mix this time around also. At the last AIST dinner at the Atrium conference centre, veggie meal was gross and no free drinks for the same $40.

Basically, the CIM seems to be much better than the AIST at the dinner meeting thing...

College Grill

The weather wasn't that great today so I didn't feel like walking to Mr Sub. After checking the line at the caf in a nearby building I opted for College Grill (near College and Beverley). I've been there before but this is the first time I got the chicken leg plate (6.89 with tax) which includes a leg, rice, 2 tiny potato things and a nasty salad. Overall the place isn't that great but it's convenient. Not really recommended unless you're stuck in the area.

Croutons

I made the leftover bread into croutons. Here's how you do it...

Cut up dry bread into crouton shape cubes, toss with olive oil, salt, pepper, dried herbs (basil, oregano, parsley). Cook at 350 F for about 10 minutes depending on how crispy you like. Much tastier and cheaper than purchasing at the grocery store.

Pesto Bread

No eating out today, but Ian did make some pesto bread in our new breadmaker. It turned out quite well, but made a grotesque amount of bread, even with the "medium" loaf. Will have to make the small next time. Don't worry work crew, will make later this week to bring in for sampling!

Here is Ian for the first time ever appearing on the internet!

Quiznos on Wellington

To counteact our lack of eating our during the week, Ian and I went to Quizno's for lunch today. We used a coupon for buy one get one sub free with drink and chip purchase. The bottom line was $9.06 for the two of us. I had a veggie which included guac, mushrooms and assorted other tasty stuff. Ian had mesquite chicken which he seemed to like.

The real problem with this place is price, the tastiness is way, way, way, way, way better than subway, mr sub etc. The real deal thing seems ok, but it's generally more than you'd like to pay for a sandwich.

We also noticed, three small subs for $9 after 3 on Monday I think...Ian and I will be back for some of that action!

Final verdict, Very Tasty with a 1 thumb up for value (only if you have a coupon or some sort of deal).

Fun Hand Held Blender!

For Christmas Ian's parents bought me a PC Handheld blender item. I used to blend soups and stuff in my food processor, but that meant horrendous amounts of cleanup. Now I pop off the blade and am finished!

Back in day, Ian used to make milkshakes with one of these things so he is thinking of getting back into it!

Here is a picture of me making some tasty beet-carrot soup.

Thanks Ian's parents (I have been instructed by secretive Ian to not reveal names!).

Young Thailand

Went with some friends for dinner to Young Thailand on Church. This may be the first thai restaurant in Canada, but it certainly is not the tastiest.

To start with, the waiter seemed quite preturbed by the people requesting separate bills and he refused to do it so we decided to split into two groups. Then when I tried to pay my share with a $20 he said he did not have change, nor would he let me bill less than $25 on my credit card. All very inconvenient and un-cool.

I had sweet and sour tofu and it was the hardest tofu I have ever eaten. Not sure if the tofu was old and/or just sadly overfried. The other veggie eaters red curry tofu, glass noodle salad and fried rice....dishes were ok but a bit overpriced. Most veggie dishes 8-11 with meat 10-13. Not really worth it in my opinion. Also upsetting, I ordered sticky rice with peanut sauce which they did not have so they brought me steamed rice. Then they charged my 2.50 for the steamed when it should have been 1.90. Very upsetting and a major ripoff to have to pay that much for rice, when most decent places include steamed rice for free.

The final verdict, not very tasty and a thumb down for value :(

Wacko Bread Maker

Ian and I just got married and got lots of bay $ so I went and bought a cuisinart breadmaker. I will review more later, but it appears to have some jam cycles. How is that for bizzare??

Fun Thai Avocado Salad

I used to be against avocado and called it "green butter" but it is actually pretty tasty.

I made a salad type item with:

Avocado, diced
Red pepper, green onion diced
Lots of fresh cilantro
Dressing with lime juice, olive oil, salt
Throw some dried coconut and peanuts on top
Put on top of some normal lettuce/carrots/red cabbage mix''

Assembling is pretty self explanatory and if you cannot figure it out, I would just recommend going out for some thai food...

The TO Grocery Store Low-down

For those who are new to the area and/or feel they are paying too much for groceries, here's the situation from a cheap person's point on view.

AVOID: Dominion, it is your worst enemy and only ok if you are settling in for a night of drinking and fogotten to buy chips or perhaps you are heading out to a party and said you would bring desert and everything is closed.

AVOID: Rabba, yes it is convenient, but believe you me, you pay for that convenience. The fried chicken items do smell tasty though...

OK: Loblaws, Zehrs, Real Canadian Superstore. I'm lumping these all together, yes the stores look pretty and you can buy fresh baked muffins and sushi sets, but prices are a bit steep compared to the discount genre. I was a bit mystified when I came to Ontario because real canadian is THE cheap place to go in AB. Not the case in Ontario. I should have known when they didn't make me pay $0.05/plastic bag and there were actually people bagging my groceries.

Good (by good, I mean cheap): No Frills. Ian and I (well I) shop at Rennie and Liz's No Frills. We used to shop at Joe's downtown, but they were on a subway line and beside walmart. In case you are mathmatically challenged, this means ALOT of people. Rennie's is a nice big store, not crowded and yes, very cheap, especially with some of their sales. Same deal for Mississauga stores. Generally clean/decent and CHEAP! Yeah! Also good, they carry the PC line of food which Ian and I are fans of.

Good: Food Basics and Price Chopper. Same deal as no frills, although IMHO not as nice and they don't sell PC items like the No Frill's do.

Anyway, that's the grocery store situation. My top pick is one of the larger, non-crowded no frills, but if you like nice and still not too steep, then go to the real canadian superstores.

Asian Farm Dissapoints, Whole Foods Good.

Got up somewhat early today and walked to the bank and then to Asian Farm to get Ian some fruit since the usual grocery store was a bit disappointing this week. It was about 9 AM and although they are supposedly open 24 hours, there was not a cashier in sight so I ditched the fruit and left.

They didn't seem to have very good deals on the fruit, no asian pears, no cheap pineapples. Also, there little outside tent didn't seem to be heated (aside from open doors to main building) and alot of the product seemed to be frozen.

On the way home from curling, I stopped by Whole Foods Market. It is the mother of organic/healthy/upscale grocery store chains. It is quite expensive, but really nice with lots of samples, weird vegetarian cooking related items, great bread, take-out, home-made sauces, soups etc. Ian and I went to one in NYC with a line-up basically circling the whole store. Yep, it's that good. Even better, for those gas guzzling types out there, they validate parking if you spend $25.

Fressen

Went with the brunch crowd to Fressen (Vegan, Queen West). Three people had my usual brunch item, sweet potatoe with corn fritters (come with about 8 side dishes and fruit). I tried a more lunch type item, a black bean avocado wrap with brown rice, dahl, salsa, guacamole, fruit. Quite tasty overall, the rest of the crew seemed to like their waffles, stews etc. The tea is kind of a fun item to get. Same with the fresh fruit juices.

Final verdict is Very Tasty with a 1 thumb up for price (most dishes $8-9 for ALOT of food).

Ikea

Ian and I occassionally go for the Ikea $1 breakfast. For this very small amount of $, you get a crossoint, potatoe, sausage and egg (or something like that). Only till 11am.

If you go after 3 pm, you can have a deelightful plate of pasta with tomatoe or alfredo sauce and some tasty cheese for $1. If Ian and I lived closer, this place would definately be a main-stay of our diet.

Also recommended is the fro yo. Large serving for $0.75? with a very tasty somewhat strong vanilla flavor.

Big Bowl

I went out with the work crowd to Big Bowl (I think?) on Dundas between Churhill and Erin Mills. The place is a vietnamese place that seemed to have some Thai stuff. As a general rule of thumb, I I avoid vietnamese food due to the extreme meatiness, but this place actually had a 4-5 item veggie section.

Vicky, who seems to be sort of an authority on pho, thought her dish was good. Two others had vermicelli and they seemed to like it. I had tofu and veggies on rice and it didn't have a heck of alot of flavor, although the fried tofu was fantastic. I think I made an ordering mistake and should have gotten the veggie pho like Anne recommended. I would give this place a tasty rating and a 1.5 thumbs up in the cheapness department. Most dishese were in the 5-6.50 range.

Tim Horton's

Sorry for the neglect, Ian and I were busy getting married in Edmonton and we didn't eat out that much + parents house only has dial-up.

Today I had to go to the vast industrial wasteland near Stelco/Dofasco. On the way home, I swung by Tim's and got a small egg salad with coke and a sprinkle donut, all for $4.27 tax included.

The sandwich was super tasty, bread was really good, egg salad light and yummy. Lettuce so-so, but didn't really detract from the sandwich. If you add up the whole meal, it is about $1 cheaper than our caf at work...must never eat there again, unless in a huge hurry!