Happy Birthday Gavin!!!

HAPPY (Belated) BIRTHDAY GAVIN!!!

Sorry I'm late ^_^

Breakfast today -> Farmboy Breakfast Bar.
Drove to Farmboy and picked up breakfast this morning.  Got a pile of scrambled eggs, 4 sausages, 3 bacon strips, 3 perogies, and a couple of tomatoes and broccoli.  It really hit the spot this morning, but I should have gotten more sausages.  They were good.  Only $8 too.  I think next time I'll buy a bag of pitas and make breakfast wraps out of this.

Farmboy Breakfast.

Useless Gaming News:
We played Boss Monster 2 for the second time today at lunch time.  I don't think its that great of a game.  It plays way too long and it's difficult to get a flow going.  It's still an improvement over Boss Monster 1, but it lacks a fun factor.

Lightsabre Yogurt Tubes

All day today, I thought it was Thursday, but it was only Wednesday.  Too bad, because I took Friday off.

Snack today -> Tostitos.
Ate Bayshore leftovers for lunch and I then I ate some Tostitos corn chip for a snack.  I bought the rolled up version so it was easy to dip them into a bottle of cheese dip.

Cheesy Snack.

Useless Food News:
I bought a box couple boxes of Star Wars glow in the dark yogurt Tubes from Walmart.  They were on sale and I wanted to see how much they glowed.  They were kind of neat, but abit short for a lightsaber.  If they made a giant-sized Tube, that would be cool.  The yogurt itself was standard. 

Yogurt Lighsabers.

Wanted: Zootopia Infinity Figures

Food today -> Discount Bayshore Food Court.
Went to Bayshore tonight after gaming and got there 15mins before closing.  Picked up some sushi: 2 boxes for $12.  Also got some Manchu Wok containers: 2 boxes for $8.  Lots of meat in the Chinese food box.

Discount Bayshore Food Deals.

Useless Gaming News:
Gaming after work today instead of Wednesday this week.  Another round of Terra Mystica.  James ran away with it easily.  It was a battle for 2nd place for the rest of us.  I fell behind early, as my race was weak and couldn't get a good starting position to use my race powers better.  Still a very good game tonight that took us 3hrs to finish.

Terra Mystica.

Useless Toy News:
I was at Toys R Us at lunchtime today.  I noticed there were Disney Infinity Zootopia Figures. 

Zootopia Infinity Figures.

I WANT THESE!!!  Eventhough I don't have the game, I just want these figures.  I'll wait til there is a sale to get them.

McCafe Latte

Snack today -> McCafe Latte.
Ed, Steve, and I went to McDonalds to pick up a quick coffee and to cash in our free coffee stickers.  We all got a McCafe Latte with a vanilla shot.  As the guy was making it, we noticed that they had a new maple latte option.  So I asked him to top our coffees with whipped cream and maple sugar :)

Free McCafe Latte.

The whipped cream mostly melted by the time we got back to work (Steve's completely melted).  I couldn't taste the vanilla shot at all in mine.  Maybe the maple sugar overpowered it.  Pretty good, but it got too sweet at the end, where all the maple sugar settled at the bottom.

Dinner today -> Leftover Stew.
Just re-heated the stew and ate that for dinner.  Tofu curds held together and I added some soy sauce and an egg to the broth.

Leftover Stew.

Long Weekend Report: Happy Easter!

Food this long weekend ->
Thursday morning I had to payout 2 breakfast bet losses.  I also bought a breakfast for myself, so I payed for 3 breakfasts that day.  I got the Easter special breakfast, but I should have gotten the regular breakfast.  It came with 1 pancake, scrambled eggs, 1 bacon, 1 sausage, and abit of fruit.  It was OK, but I was still hungry afterwards.

Easter Breakfast from Cafeteria.

For Thursday dinner, I made Laksa Ramen.  I think this flavour was the #1 flavour in the world ramen competition.  It's ramen noodles in a crab, red curry, and coconut flavoured broth.  I added some leftover fish cake.  This ramen is unbelievably good!  The broth is OMG good!  I wanted to get more from T&T, but they either sold out or don't sell it anymore.  I have 1 pack left and a couple of other flavours from the same company (#2 and #9 in the world.)

Laksa Ramen.

Friday lunch I made steak and eggs.  I over cooked the eggs, because I was watching the shrimp in my fish tank eating.

Steak and Eggs.

Made steak, Eggos, and veggies for dinner on Friday.

Steak and Eggos.

Saturday for lunch, the family went to the Chinese buffet on Merivale.   I wasn't too hungry and only ate 2 plates plus a dessert plate.  I was disappointed with the food that day.  The sushi sucked (only weird sushi with not much filling), and most of the dishes didn't look appetizing (the boiled short ribs were way to chewy, even for me).

First Plate.

For my 2nd plate I put together my congee bowl.  That was good.

Congee Plate.

Sunday morning I got up at 11am and made pancakes.  I ate them with the fresh maple syrup I got.  The syrup was very good :)

Pancakes and Maple Syrup.

Made a big stew Sunday.  Just beef, potatoes, onions, and carrots.  I added tofu curds later Sunday night.  The tofu curds upgrade made it more tasty.

Stew minus Tofu Curds.

Full Terra Mystica Game

Useless Gaming News:
Gaming night after work today.  We played 4-player Terra Mystica again.  We played a full game from scratch.  James's Engineers got surrounded early, but Evan's Giants made alot of dwelling quickly and took over the map easily.  It took us almost 3hrs to finish but it was a good game.  Evan won by 1 point over James.  I got 3rd and was 7 points behind.

Terra Mystica Mid-Game.

Lego Dimensions Wave 4

Useless Toy News:
Picked up some Lego Dimensions sets from Toys R Us.  They are on sale with "Buy 1, Get 1 40% off".  I got the Homer Level Pack I'm missing from Wave 1, along with some of the new Wave 4 sets: Gamer Kid, Superman, and Stay Puff.  I'm only missing the Aquaman Fun Pack.  I'll get him later this week when I go back to Toys R Us. 

Latest Lego Dimensions Sets.

Ryu Amiibo

Dinner today -> Ribs.
Got the Monday Mania ribs special at Big Bone BBQ for dinner today.  I went in and ordered and in less than 5 minutes I got my order!  They were super fast today.  I got the full rack, fried wings with fiery honey garlic sauce on the side, and large fries for $25 even.  The car filled up with delicious rib smell while drive back home through slow traffic, and it made me so hungry!  The ribs were very moist and not too lean today.  I'm already planning to get more ribs on Easter Monday next week :)

Monday Mania Ribs.

Useless Toy News:
Picked up some new Amiibo's from Toys R Us.  I was planning to stop collecting these, but I had to get the new Ryu Amiibo.  Since TRU was having a "buy 2 get 3rd free" sale, I got Roy and Fox too.

New Amiibos.

Weekend Report: Deep Fried Cheese Curds

Food this weekend ->
On Friday, Ben, Brian and I went to the Corny Dog in Barrhaven for dinner (formerly Spuds).  The make specialty hotdog and poutines.  I got the Coney Island dog and the Philly Steak Dog.  I also got a 1lb box of deep fried cheese curds to share.

The Corny Dog.

The Coney Island was good.  Basically chili on a large hotdog.  The Philly Steak Dog was so-so.  The guy working was new and didn't put the mushrooms on the grill.  He was told afterwards he was supposed to do so, when I asked about why the mushrooms were cold.  The deep fried cheese curds were very good, but $16 for the 1lb box is kind of expensive.

Dinner party at Jeff & Linda's on Sunday.  I didn't know what to make, but I wanted it to include some stewing beef and bailing mushrooms.  I started the dish with some mixed beans and carrots on the bottom.  Just boiled in salt water and then tossed in garlic butter and black pepper.

Veggie Base.

I topped the veggies with a layer of sliced bailing mushrooms that were boiled with the stewing beef.

Bailing Mushroom Layer.

Next I put the stewing beef and noodle knots on the mushrooms.

Beef and Noodle Knots Added.

I thought it needed more sauce, so I quickly made a cup of brown gravy and poured it over to finish it.

Topped with Brown Gravy.

I thought it was very good in the end.  The beef could have been better.  The cuts I got were too lean.
Ben made Korean short ribs.  He got alot of meat from the $30 slab of short ribs at T&T.

Korean Short Ribs.

Margaret made a raw vegetables platter and spring rolls.

Raw Veggie Platter.

Elizabeth and Dave made shrimp wraps.

Spring Rolls and Shrimp Wraps.

Linda made some mixed vegetables, yellow curry chicken, and butternut squash soup.  The curry was very good on rice, but the sauce needs less water.  The butternut squash soup was the opposite, but still good :)

Cooked Veggies.

My plate with abit of everything.

My First Plate.

Useless Gaming News:
Friday night we played a 3-player game of the stand-alone Dark Gothic expansion.  It's a deck builder that is semi-cooperative.  Good game.  Ben should get it.

Dark Gothic Expansion.

We played Roll for the Galaxy after that.  Your actions are dependent on what you roll and what random planets you draw and build.  I can see some people not like this game because it has alot of randomness in it, but I like it.

Sunday night at Jeff's we played Tsuro, Get Bit, Code Names, Dixit, and Walk the Plank.  Forgot to take some pics, but Code Names and Walk the Plank were really fun.

Toothpaste

Trying out this new toothpaste: Crest HD.  The first tube is for cleaning and the 2nd tube is for brightening.  No rinsing between brushing using the different tubes of toothpaste.  Only been using it for a couple days, but my teeth feel like they've just been to the dentist.  They other thing I noticed is that it dries out my mouth, like a dry wine.  I think it's the 2nd tube doing it.

I'll keep using it until it's empty.  It is abit of trouble brushing twice.  I'll decide if I keep using it then.

Blackcurrant Chocolate

Lunch today -> Fish & Chips.
Went to Lone Star for lunch with the customer today.  I got the Fish & Chips for $12.  I don't think it was worth it.  The fish was good, but the portion of the fish and fries were small.  The worst was the coleslaw.  It had now flavour but black pepper.  I think they just shaved the cabbage and carrots and tossed it together with no vinaigrette/mayo at all.  I can't recommend it.  The good thing was when I finished my glass of ginger ale, the waitress brought me a new one without me asking for a refill.

Fish & Chips.

Snack today -> Blackcurrant Chocolate.
Julie opened one of these last Friday, but it was half melted so she didn't offer me a piece.  It did smell really fruity and fragrant.  I opened mine today and it smelled up my whole desk with a fruity smell right away.  It was very good.  It would be perfect as an accent on a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Blackcurrant Chocolate.

Dinner today -> Whoppers.
Gaming night at CMC tonight.  I went to pickup Burger King for all of us.  I got 2 Whoppers as it was Whopper Wednesday ($2.99 ea).  Haven't had it in awhile and they were good.

Whoppers.

Useless Gaming News:
We played a full game of 4-player Terra Mystica tonight.  It took us almost 3hrs to finish.  Very good game.  If I play this with Brian, I can see him giving up half-way-through if someone takes his move or blocks him.

Terra Mystica Mid-game.

I finished 3rd.  I made one major mistake on the last turn that cost me atleast 10 points and gave James 18 points.

Officer Judy Hopps

Dinner today -> Spaghetti.
Made spaghetti for dinner today.  I made the sauce with bits of stuff in my fridge.  I used ground chicken for the meat and added tomato sauce, leftover orange and red peppers, bailing mushrooms, red onion, last few spoons of sour cream, and last few spoons of a cheese salsa.  Turned out pretty good.

Spaghetti Dinner.

Useless Food News:
Got a bottle of brand new, freshly made maple syrup from one of my co-workers.  His parent's have a maple orchard and only make 80-100 bottles every spring.

2016 Maple Syrup.

Useless Toy News:
Picked up Officer Judy Hopps from Zootopia today at Toys R Us.  Need to find Nick Wilde (the fox) now.  I bought them both earlier (before the movie the came out and became a hit), but someone :) wanted them, so I now I'm looking for replacements.

Judy Hopps.

Pi Day

Snack today -> Pies.
Today was Pi Day.  I got 4 pies to celebrate at CMC: Cherry, Apple, Pecan, and Strawberry Cream.  I wasn't planning on it, but I ended up getting a slice of each of the 4 pies.  They were good.  My favorite was the strawberry cream pie.  Pecan was very good too.

Pies for Pi Day.

In the corner, Walking Dead's Carl and Daryl were protecting the pies from Thundercracker.

Weekend Report: Can't Put Weight on My Right Butt Cheek

I pulled a back muscle this weekend.  I don't know how I did it?  I took a nap for an hour on Saturday afternoon and when I woke up my lower right back muscles were killing me!  I couldn't sit or put any weight on my right butt cheek  LOL.  It felt abit better on Sunday.  I had to use some Advil pain killers and some Icy Hot rub.  The Icy Hot stuff works really well.

Food this weekend ->
Went to KNH on Friday for lunch.  I got the pad thai with chicken.  I only ate half my plate as I had a big dinner planned.  Took the rest home.

Chicken Pad Thai.

After work on Friday, I went to Julie's place and made a seafood boil.  Made a base broth with water, white wine, garlic butter, and onion soup mix.  Once I boiled off the alcohol, I threw in mini potatoes and corn along the bottom.  When it came to a boil again I threw in snow crab legs, lobster claws, jumbo shrimp, and mussels.  I steamed the seafood and then stirred it into the broth.  It was really good :)

Seafood Boil.

I took 3 pics, but they all came out blurry.  This was the best one.  We ate this while watching Spy.  Jason Statham's character is hilarious.

Went to Panda Buffet for lunch with the family on Saturday.  Their sushi has improved alot.  They now actually have normal sushi and less of the stupid weird stuff.

Sushi Plate.

The rest of the buffet food were the standard stuff.  I ate alot of the cold mussels and chicken wings.

Buffet Food Plate.

Dessert selection was good.  The best are the fried sugar donut holes.

Dessert Plate.

Susanna and I went to the Ottawa Bagel Shop and Deli on Sunday (she had to drive me as my back was still killing me).  I was going to get some pies there for Pi Day on Monday, but they were expensive.  There is alot of good stuff from all over the world there.  We did get the Bagelman's Choice bagelsub to go.  It was pretty good.  Not sure if it's worth the $10.  May try the Reuben next time.

Smoked Salmon Bagelsub.

Pirate Cookies

Snack today -> Pirate Cookies.
Mmm... Pirate Cookies.  These Canadian cookies were invented in Toronto in 1858ish.  It's pretty much smooth peanutbutter sandwiched between 2 oatmeal cookies.  They're really good.  I hear rumors they are even better dunked in milk.  I'll need to try that.

Pirate Cookies.

Dinner today -> Congee.
Had some ground pork in the fridge I needed to use, so I made some congee for dinner.  Added the pork, shitake mushrooms, and some preserved eggs.

Congee.

Useless Toy News:
I found the rare Wonder Woman figure for the Batman V Superman movie at SuperStore today.  It was a lucky chance that I found her.

Wonder Woman Figure.

Cookie Notti

Useless Food News:
Saw this spread in the jam aisle at Sobeys called Cookie Notti.  It's caramelized crushed cookie butter.  Has anyone tried this?  Is it any good?  What the heck is cookie butter?  I'm really tempted to buy it and try it, but do I spread it on toast or does it go with something better?

Cookie Notti.

Useless Gaming News:
Gaming night tonight after work.  Today we played a learning gaming of Terra Mystica.  It took us 1.5 hrs to go through the beginner setup and understand all the rules.  But once the game got started, the first few round went by pretty quickly and we got the hang of what we could do during our turns.  We didn't finish as it got late but it's a pretty good game.  There is lots to do and strategy to learn.  We will definitely play it again next week.