Lunch Detour

Lunch today -> Vermicelli.
Lunch detoured from a planned Korean BBQ outing on Merivale to the Kanata Noodle House.
Marc and Steve got B7: Grilled Beef with Spring Rolls.

B7.

Ed and I got B9: Grilled Shrimp, Beef, and Chicken.  A couple spring rolls were thrown in too, but it doesn't say that in the menu. 
It was pretty good.  I'd get it again.  The only thing I found annoying was that all the vermicelli was cut into short little noodles.  Not sure why?  That made it too hard to pick up a bunch with chopsticks.  I had to scoop them up in a spoon.  Ed noticed the same thing.

B9.

Useless Idol Info:
Got a package in the mail today.  It had my set of Maeda's 2nd single "Kimi wa Boku da" CDs with the bonus photo.

Kimi wa Boku da CDs.

I also got June and July issues of Smart Magazine.  AKB's Kojiharu and Mariko on the covers with some Not Yet and Yuko coverage.  They included some free designer Beams grooming kits and Stussy sandals too.

Smart Magazines with Extras.

I got extra copies of the magazines and stuff for Emi.
The Beams grooming kit is neat.  It includes a mirror, nail clippers, tweezers, ear picker, and nose hair trimmer? :) all packed in a leather folding case.
The Stussy sandals are nice too, but it was too small for my feet.

Junk Food

Lunch today -> Junk Food.
I had to hussle home to fix my stupid Yahoo email account (couldn't access it at work), so I dropped by Sobey's and Booster Juice on the way back to pick up something to eat.  There was nothing at Sobey's that looked good, so I just got a bag of chips.  I figure the Doritos and Cookies n Creme drops were balanced out by the Booster Juice.

Junk Food Lunch.

Useless Idol News:
Official english cover of AKB48's "Flying Get" and endorsed by AKB48 producer Akimoto Yasushi.  Check it out below or download it from iTunes/Youtube.

Compare it to the AKB version here.

Yahoo EMail

ALERT!!!
If you got a yahoo email from me with no title, delete it.  It was not from me.  I will rarely send mail from my yahoo account.

Win #2

Useless Softball News:
CMC Strike Fighters finally got our 2nd win of the regular season!  We beat the same team we got our 1st win from to do it.  We won 17-13 over Hellcats.  They were matching us run for run every inning until the last 2 innings, where we shut them down.
Julie got injured again.  She jammed her thumb during warm-up catching Jeno's grounder.  By the end of the game, it was all black and blue.  She's been hurt in every game she's played this year!  She is jinxed ;)
I hit 4-for-4 today with 4 singles.  .

Useless Idol News:
AKB0048 episode 9 subbed is out.  Get it here at Evetaku.  Good episode.  They performed Heart Virus, RIVER, and Sasae.  I thought for sure, they were going to kill off Takamina in this episode... Something must happen to explain why all the 77th generation girls are crying in the opening credits.

Happy Birthday Charin!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHARIN!!!

Home-made Rice Dumplings

Linda and her friends made 300 rice dumplings and she gave Ben and I a few of them.  I re-heated them by nuking them in the microwave.

Home-made Rice Dumplings.

They are different than what I'm used too, but they were good.  The insides included chinese mushroom, chinese sausage, pork, and yellow bean.

Home-made Rice Dumplings Revealed.

The 1/2 normal rice and 1/2 sticky rice with red bean ones were OK.  For these, I think there is too much rice and needed more filling.  I'm not sure if the normal rice works for this too.  It tastes kind of like onigiri but without the seaweed.  Not sure about the red bean too.
I like the full sticky rice one.  Just needs abit more salt.

Weekend Report: Ribs Overload

Useless Gaming New:
Ben, Jeff, and I played "Eaten by Zombies" and "RoboRally".
"Eaten by Zombies" is like "Dominion" but with a survival twist.  I think it was pretty fun, but I just re-read the rules today and found out we played a couple parts wrong.  I killed all the zombies and was the only survivor in game 1 for the win, and Ben won game 2 by 1 card over both Jeff and myself.
In game 1 of "RoboRally", we got jammed up in the side of the board, but I zipped away and got the win.  On the 2nd map Ben got the win easily, while Jeff and I were have trouble with the conveyor belts.

Food this weekend ->
Jeff and Linda got me an ice cream birthday cake.  It was really delicious!  The ice cream was really soft and the cake portion at the bottom was moist.  I think it is better than DQ's ice cream cake.

Ice Cream Cake.

Ben, Susanna, and I went to the Ribfest Saturday morning.  We hit 4 places for Ribs, Chicken, and Pulled Pork.

We got Pulled Pork from Bibbs and Camp 31.

Bibb's Pulled Pork.

Bibbs was really moist and sweet.  The portions of meat was really generous too.  We ranked it better than Camp31.

We got Chicken from Bibbs and Camp 31.  Again Bibbs was really moist and the sauce was really tasty.

Fongpay Ranked Best Chicken and Pulled Pork.

We got Ribs from the top 3 rib places last year: Billy Bones, Camp31, and Uncle Sam's.

Ribs Galore!

After all the sampling, we ranked Camp31 with the best ribs.  They were moist and had a sweet, slightly spicy, and a little smoky sauce.

Fongpay Ranked Ribs 1st Place.

We ranked Uncle Sam's 2nd.  The ribs were super juicy, but the sauce was not as good as Camp31.

Fongpay Ranked Ribs 2nd Place.

We ranked last year's winner, Billy Bones, with 3rd place.  They were good, but the sauce was abit too spicy and smokey.

Fongpay Ranked Ribs 3rd Place.

Even after eating ribs and meat all weekend, I had more meat.  I had to cook a steak that was going to go bad soon.  I had it with some mini-bagels with cream cheese.

Steak and Mini-Bagels.

Happy Birthday James!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JAMES!!!

Poop Barrage

I saw this car in the parking lot.  The roof made me do a double take.

Bombarded Car.

It must have been bombarded by a squadron of seagulls!  I got say it's pretty accurate shooting for them to all hit the same area.  Did those birds aim using a targeting computer?  Or did they turn it off and used the force instead :)

Useless Food News:
The Ottawa Ribfest 2012 started on Thursday and ends this Friday.  Here is the link.  I'm pretty sure I ate the ribs from "Billy Bones" last year, and apparently they won Best Ribs.  If I go, I'll probably get from them again.

1st Day of Summer 2012

Today was the official 1st day of summer, and boy was it hot!  I ran some errands at lunchtime and picked up a pizza and some orange slush for Steve and myself.  I filled the slush containers to the top, but by the time I got back to CMC, they melted down about 2 inches!  I forgot to take a pic, but Steve and I kicked off our formal testing session with the pizza and slush.

Dinner today -> Chicken, Bean Curd, and Pork & Shrimp Dumplings.
Susanna and I went to T&T, Bayshore, and SuperStore tonight. (FYI: There is a huge sale at Bath & Body Works.)  I picked up some discount Bean Curd and Dumplings from T&T, and then discount fried chicken at SuperStore. 
I ate most of it while watching the 1st Disc of the AKB48 Request Hour DVD.  The bean curd was especially good this time. 

Dinner.

Noah is Born!!!

Congratulations to Emi and Gavin!!!

Noah was born May 26.  Mom, dad, and big brother are fine.  I only found out on the weekend.  I was waiting for a text from Gavin to tell me... someone dropped the ball :)

Yuro and Noah.

Useless Softball News:
CMC Strike Fighters lost again tonight.  This time to "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels", 11-4.  We had 1 bad inning and gave up 7 runs, but I dispute one of the calls by the umpire during that inning.  His call was wrong.
Anyways, I hit 2 for 3 with 2 singles.  I also caught 2 pop ups.  It's been while since I caught one, let alone 2.

Lunch today -> Peasant Pizza.
I dropped by Sobey's at lunch time.  They had a couple of day old Peasant Pizza's for 50% off.  I sliced it up and pan fried them in olive oil.

Peasant Pizza with Pink Lemonade.

Useless Idol Info:
Picked up a package at lunch time.  My limited edition 5-disc "AKB48 Request Hour Setlist Best 100 2012" DVD set.  I got the "Heavy Rotation" Version. 

Heavy Rotation Version.

The random photo's I got were pretty good too: Myao, Sasshi, Itano, Mariko, and Jurina.

AKB48 Request Hour Setlist Best 100 2012.

Steak Drippings Peasant Pizza

Dinner today -> Steak, Tomatoes, and Peasant Pizza.
I was starving on the way home today.  I dropped by Sobey's for something to make and quickly put this together.  The peasant pizza is extra tasty when re-heated in the pan with the steak drippings and olive oil.  The bottom became really crispy too.

Dinner.

Useless Idol Info:
I got a package in the mail today.  It was Not Yet's "Suika Baby" Version C and D.  It came with a couple Sasshi photos too.  I really like this song, but I wonder if it will be last one since Sasshi got transfered to HKT48 now?

Suika Baby CDs

Weekend Report: Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day!!!

Family went to "Golden Restaurant" in Barrhaven for dinner.  There were only 5 of us, but we ordered Dinner for 6 B + 2 additional dishes.
We started with Crab Meat Fish Maw Soup.  The crab meat was real.  Not the fake stuff.

Crab Meat Fish Maw Soup.

Then we got 1/2 Steamed Chicken,

1/2 Steamed Chicken.

Greens with Bamboo and Mushrooms,

Greens with Bamboo and Mushrooms.

Tofu Delight,

Tofu Delight.

Fried Shrimp with Head on,

Fried Shrimp.

Fried Fish.  This dish was really good.  The sauce for the fish was sweet.  I didn't expect this, but it worked well with the fried fish.

Fried Fish.

Taro Duck,

Taro Duck.

and Green Onion and Ginger Lobster.

Lobster.

Dessert was Red Bean Soup and Tofufa.  Do NOT get the Tofufa.  It was not good.  The texture was not smooth at all and tasted like semi-firm tofu. (Forgot to take a pic, but it wasn't worth a pic anyways.)

Overall, the place is pretty good.  Their dishes are not very greasy, good sized portions, and the service is fast.  They are like Rideau Restaurant with additional dishes.
My biggest complaint is the disappointing Tofufa and the Taro Duck.  I'm pretty sure the taro in the Taro Duck was instant stuff.  It was too firm and tasted like mash potato.  It should be whipped more.  Chu Shing is better for this dish.

Done.  Shrimp to go.

On Sunday, I ordered 3 Pho #15 XL to go.  I dropped off 2 of them at my parents house :)  and took mine home to eat while watching AKB48 on Music Station.

Pho #15 XL.

Sasshi Transfered HKT48

Breaking Idol News:
Sashihara Rino of AKB48 Team A, just got transfered to HKT48!  Announced live by AkiP on "All Night Nippon" radio show.
He said because of her scandal, Sasshi needs to "reset" and begin again with HKT.
Article on Tokyo Hive.

WOW.  It's kind of unbelievable.  People are going to rage when they hear about this.  What will happen to Not Yet??? 
Back to your regularly scheduled web browsing or Diablo 3.

Birthday Lunch at Rideau.

Lunch today -> Rideau Restaurant.
Went out for my birthday lunch with some of the CMC crew to Rideau Restaurant.  We got 8 plates + 8 spring rolls.  We destroyed the Lemon Chicken and 1 plate of Schzewan Beef before the other plates arrived.  I got a pic off just in time.

Rideau Feast.

The other dishes were a General Tao Chicken, Tofu Delight (really good), Chicken and Scallop Birds Nest, Singapore Vermicelli, a 2nd Schzewan Beef, and Curry Beef (not shown).

Dinner today -> Curry Ramen.
I was stuffed from lunch so I had a really late dinner, 10:30pm.  I put together some curry ramen in 5 mins.

Curry Ramen.

Happy Birthday Fongpay!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY FONGPAY!!!

Yukirin and Kasai.

Pre-Birthday Dinner

Dinner today -> Chinese Food
I went home for dinner for a pre-birthday dinner.  My dad got take-out from Rideau and the Chinese restaurant by Arby's.  Not sure why my mom wanted to have my birthday dinner the day before my birthday?

Shrimp, Fish w/ Tofu, Steak and Broccoli, and Thousand Island Pork Chops.

Canadian Chow Mein, Dry Fried Rice Noodle with Beef, Singapore Vermicelli, Beef Chow Mein.

Black Forest Cake.

Curry

My birthday is coming up and I can really use one of these Oshima Yuko autographs.  I would prefer a Kasai one, but Yuko is just as good.  I'm sure some of you would really like to spend $500 on me ;)

Oshima Yuko Autograph Card.

Useless Softball News:
CMC Strike Fighters lost to Chipworks 17-11 today.  I think we could have beaten them, but some of us had trouble hitting off their pitcher's slow lob balls.  Most of us kept popping it up for an easy fly out.
I only hit 1-for-3, single and 2 pop outs.  Very unlike me.

Team photo from the tournament on the weekend.

Strike Fighters Tournament Roster. (Missing Julie and Andrew)

Dinner today -> Curry
I started preparing for curry yesterday by boiling and cooling some marrow filled soup bones and rib-finger meat. 
Today, I scooped out the solidified fat, reboiled and added the veggies and Osaka curry.  It was a little bit too salty but still tasty.  The meat was tender.

Curry

Kings Win Cup

The LA Kings won the Stanley Cup tonight.  I forgot the game was tonight and completely missed it.  I caught the Matthew Perry interview and the celebration on CBC.

Lunch today -> Spaghetti.
Used up the last of the spaghetti sauce at lunch time.  I make it by mixing Bravo Tomato sauce, a spoonful of Garlic Butter, and a couple globs of Sour Cream.

Spaghetti with Sauce.

Dinner today -> Salmon.
Got some salmon right before Farm Boy closed today. 

Salmon.

2nd Place

Useless Softball News:
The CMC Strike Fighters continued playing in the softball tournament this weekend.  We made it all the way to the C Division Finals on Saturday.

On Friday night, we played Rockwell Collins (C Division).  It was an even match-up and we just beat them 17-16.  We won the game on the final at-bat.  We had the winning run at 3rd with 2 out.  Mark grounded the ball to the pitcher and it should have been and easy out.  When the pitcher went to throw the ball to 1st base, he threw the ball straight into the ground!!!  The runner on 3rd scored and we won on that error.

The 1st Saturday game was the Quarter-Finals vs Masterbatters (C Division).  We won 14-3.

The next game was the Semi-Finals vs Don Cherry's (B Division). Won 15-14 in a game where the Umpire made some erroneous calls.  The umpire's call is final and he explained his calls.  The other team was extremely unhappy and some of them were poor sports about it at the end.

In the Finals we played Risktakers (B Division).  We lost 20-8.  I think we could have beaten them, but our team looked really tired.  We were playing our 5th game in 3 days and our 3rd that day.  The player I was talking to on Risktakers told me it was their 2nd game that day since 12:30.

We finished in 2nd place.  I can't believe we made it to the finals.  We are a C division team and we faced 2 C teams and 3 B teams to get there.  We got there with only half the core players too.  If we had our standard roster, we could have taken it.

Food this weekend ->
Made spaghetti Saturday night after the games.  It was late and I was tempted to go to Rideau or Kanata Noodle House, but I didn't.

Spaghetti.

On Sunday I scrambled 5 eggs and added a can of tuna.  I was tired and my legs were too sore to stand and cook.

Eggs and Tuna.

Match 1 Loss

Useless Softball News:
We lost our 1st tournament game today against "The Crew", 20-2.  We only gave up one 10 run inning.  I was told they used to be an A-division team that dropped to B division this year, so we were expected to lose.  Plus we wanted to lose so we can stay in the C-Division bracket.
Even though we lost, we had some good plays:
- Dave (SS) to Alex (1st) double play.
- Alex (1st) to Fongpay (C) for an almost double play.  The guy turned around and went back to 3rd before crossing the commit line.  I almost did the splits in order to catch the ball AND keep my foot on home plate.  It would have been an awesome out.
I hit 1-for-1 today with a single and 2 walks.  Playoff Game 2 will be Friday night.
LOL1: I missed played one of Gary's pitches and popped the ball up over my head.  The umpire trying to catch it with a downward grab, somehow spiked it into his own groin!  LOL
LOL2: For some reason Alex kept yelling out "there's 2 away", when there was only 1 out; and one time there were 0 outs.  What game was he playing?

Lunch today -> Kanata Noodle House.
Some of the CMC gang went to the Kanata Noodle House for lunch. 
Steve and Marc got the Pad Thai.

Pad Thai.

The rest of us got Pho #15 of various sizes :)

Pho #15.

Dinner today -> Fish and Mash.
Baked some breaded fish fillets and made some instant mash potatoes.

Fish and Mash.

Useless Idol News:

Oshima Yuko #1.

Oshima Yuko's translated speeches.