New Christmas Tree

Picked up a new Christmas Tree from Canadian Tire during the Black Friday sales last week.  I got a pre-lit 7 foot Noma tree for 57% off ($200 off).  I decided to put it up tonight help to de-stress from my 2nd day of audits.  I finished putting up the tree and finished separating the bottom 2 rows of branches.  I'll finish the rest of the branches later. 

Christmas Tree with White Lights.

It's a really cool tree $150.  It comes with a foot switch and the lights have 4 settings: Off/ White lights/ Colour lights/ alternating white and colour lights.  It also includes a remote control to control the same light settings.

Christmas Tree with Colour Lights.

Optimus Primal

Dinner today -> Salmon and Black Bean Pork.
Picked up a arctic char filet for 50% off at Loblaws.  Pan fried it in butter and season just with salt & pepper.  I then fried up some leftover ground pork with abit of black bean sauce.  It worked well together, but it needed some rice.  I didn't have time to make rice as I was working late after spending all day in another audit this week.  2 more days of audits to go.

Dinner.

Useless Transformers News:
Got a package in the mail today.  It was Masterpiece Optimus Primal (MP-32).  Had to wait 20+ minutes in line.  The guy in the front was sending a huge pile of packages and held up the line.

MP-32 Optimus Primal.

Anti-Banner

Happy Birthday Susanna!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SUSANNA!!!

Flaming Hot Cheetos

Snack today -> Flaming Hot Cheetos
Opened up the bag of Flaming Hot Cheetos I got back during Canadian Thanksgiving US shopping trip.  These are actually hot.  A good hot, but the Cheetos don't taste like anything.  The Jalapeno Cheetos are better.  They are hot and still taste cheesy.

Flaming Hot Cheetos.

Dinner today -> Big Kings
Didn't feel like cooking tonight.  I went to Burger King on the way home and got 4 Big King burgers.  Ben said they were like BK's version of the Big Mac.  They are, but I don't find it as good.  I should have just gotten 2 Whopper meals for the same price.  The Whopper is much better than the Big King in my opinion.

4 Big Kings.

Weekend Report -> Creme Brule Cake

Food this weekend ->
Wasn't feeling that great on Friday.  I had a cough Thursday night/  Headache, back ache, and sweats on Friday.  I think I was catching the flu.  I ate some vitamin C and zinc pills to try and fight it off.  I also made a big pot of pork congee to help.  I think it worked.

Pork Congee.

I was feeling alot better on Saturday after sleeping in til 11am.  Called up Julie as we planned to hangout and eat.  We did abit of shopping and then got KFC for dinner.  It's been awhile since I had it.  The chicken was good, but the fries were not good.  They just can't get the fries right.  They also forgot to put the gravy in the bag too!

KFC Dinner.

We got the new Creme Brule Cake from Costco.  It's really good.  Not overpowering sweet and has a nice caramel taste.  It has a crispy wafer layer that gave it a nice crunch.  I highly recommend trying.

Creme Brule Cake.

Useless Puzzle News:
My puzzle is finally finished!  Julie is a pro at puzzles and she helped me alot on Saturday to finish it. I like this kind of puzzle that solves a different picture from the box.  I think I want to get another one from this series.

Finished Puzzle.

Swanky

Another long and busy day at work today.  Day 2 of a 3 day audit.  One more day to do.  Nothing much else going on.

Useless KickStarter News:
Backed this KickStarter project for a floating ladle that looks like a swan.  I think it looks good and the floating function is really neat.  Plus, I'm actually in a need for a ladle.

Sausages and Lettuce

Dinner today -> Sausages and Lettuce.
Busy day today at work and not much else going on.  Boiled some 50% pork sausages from Loblaws.  I threw in some lettuce that was in the fridge and boiled that too.  Simple and quick dinner.

Dinner.

United Way Carnival

At lunchtime today, we had a United Way Carnival to raise money at work.  We gave out cotton candy and popcorn for snacks.

Cotton Candy and Popcorn Machines.

For prize games we had bowling, no-beer pong, darts, pie face, and giant Jenga.  My 3 pie face challengers happened to be "sick" today.  You know who you are *cough*Steve*cough*Ed*cough*Sheridan*cough*

Games.

Pie Face.

Giant Jenga.

Nyc also made balloon animals!

Balloon Animals.

Dinner today -> Steak.
Got some 50% steak and mushrooms from Loblaws today.  Pan fried those for dinner and boiled some mini white potatoes for a second side.  Seems like lately that 50% off food items at Loblaws determines what I eat for dinner now.

Dinner.

Potato Day

Lunch today -> Cheese & Onion Chips.
Forgot I had this bag of Limited Edition Lay's Cheese & Onion Chips at my desk.  Ate pretty much the whole bag for lunch.  Its not bad.  It tastes mostly like sour cream & onion, but more oniony

Cheese & Onion Chips.

Dinner today -> Fries.
Cleaning space in my freezer so I made some 5-minute shoe string fries for dinner.  They were in the freezer for awhile and were abit freezer burnt.

Freezer Burnt Fries.

Weekend Report -> Party Party

Food this weekend ->
Went to Ox Head for lunch on Friday.  Got the usual Ox Head Vermicelli.  I can't believe I'm saying this, but I think there was too much meat in my bowl this time.  I needed a couple more pinches of vermicelli noodles.

Ox Head Vermicelli.

Jeff's Birthday dinner party was Friday night.  We went to Rideau Restaurant.  We started with fish maw soup with crab meat.  Very good and real crab meat too.

Fish Maw Soup.

Then we got beef with Chinese greens and beef chow mein.  I didn't realize it at the time, but the beef with Chinese greens was the exact same topping on the beef chow mein.  I forgot and the waitress should have told me.

Beef and Chinese Greens x2?

We also got steamed fish.  Very good and simple.  I didn't find any little bones in the meat too.

Steamed Fish.

Finally mabo tofu.  Very good with rice.

Mabo Tofu.

Linda and Katie made a truffle cake for dessert.  It was really good.  We also had cupcakes from Beyond the Batter.  I didn't try any of the cupcakes as I was too full from dinner and the truffle cake.

Homemade Truffle Cake and Cupcakes.

The softball party was on Saturday night at Gary's house.  Lots of food, drinks, and games.  I started with a chili dog and a turkey warp.

Mmm... Chili Dog.

I made another monkey bread for the party, but there were lots of desserts.

Lots-of-Desserts.

Jes made Bailey's cupcakes.  These were awesome.

Jes's Bailey's Cupcake.

Useless Gaming News:
Picked up couple games that Cindy recommended last week: Pit and Guillotine.

Cindy's Recommendations.

We played Guillotine with Jeff, Linda, and Ben.  It's a very fun game.  Ben kept getting -1 cards on his turn. 

4-Player Guillotine.

Great recommendation Cindy :)

Happy Birthday Jeff!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JEFF!!!

United Way Monkey Bread

Breakfast today -> Monkey Bread.
Got up early this morning to bake fresh Monkey Bread.  Made it for the United Way Bake Sale at work.  It was gooey good and so sweet.

Fresh Monkey Bread.

Dinner today -> Steak, Fish, and Mushrooms.
Went to Loblaws and picked up some 50% off Texas peppered steak, 50% off stuffed sole, and 50% off white mushrooms.  The pre-marinated steak was pretty good.  The stuffed sole was OK.  Had a few hidden little bones in it, and I think it was starting to go bad.

Dinner.

Blue Plate Breakfast

Useless Gaming News:
Afterwork gaming today.  We started with a couple games of Camel Cup.  James won the 1st game and I won the 2nd game, but each game was very close.  We won with only a 1 coin difference in both games.
We played 1 game of Colt Express afterwards.  It was good, but it wasn't as fun as Camel Cup.  Maybe it was just the cards we drew?

Dinner today -> Blue Plate Breakfast.
After gaming, I met up with Julie for a late dinner.  We went to Sansotei Ramen first, but there was a 6 person line-up out the door.  I was surprised as it was around 8:30pm on a Wednesday night!  We decided not to wait and went to the Elgin Street Diner instead.  We both got the Blue Plate Breakfast.  It was alot of food on the plate and I couldn't finish.  I think I got half way.

We also shared a key lime pie slice for dessert.  I ate a couple bites, but I found that it tastes like soap.  Julie didn't mind the taste and finished it.

Pancakes

Breakfast today -> Pancakes.
Today was all-you-can-eat United Way Pancake Breakfast at work.  The ladies made over 100 pancakes/waffles this morning.

Pancake Production.

We had maple syrup, fruit, chocolate chips, sprinkles, and whip cream to top the pancakes.  I helped myself to 5 pancakes and 1 waffle.  I snacked on 2 more later at lunchtime :)

First Plate of Pancakes.

Useless Toy News:
I'm slowly getting there with my puzzle.  Still missing a couple edge pieces.  I just can't see them.

Puzzle Progress.

30th Anniversary Transformers The Movie

Dinner today -> Beef and Chinese Greens.
Made a quick dinner tonight.  Sliced some steak up and added flash boiled Chinese greens to the stir fry.  I then added some of the boiling water, oyster sauce, and potato starch to make the sauce.  I was lazy to make rice, so I ate it with some pita bread.

Beef and Chinese Greens.

Useless Manga News:
Got a package from Amazon today.  Took over a week to arrive, as I thought it would be faster.  I got some manga to finish off some holes in my Fairy Tale series and Chaika series.  I also got the 30th anniversary edition of Transformers the Movie.  I couldn't find this anywhere in stores.

Amazon Order.

Weekend Report -> Failed to Contain Virus in Pandemic Legacy Season 1

Food this weekend ->
I was planning on getting KFC this Saturday, but I made a really tasty pork congee instead.  It was perfectly thick when I initially made it, but when I reboiled it later, the water seemed to separate out of it!

Watery Pork Congee.

I also hit Loblaws on Saturday.  I found a ton of meat for 50% off.  I got myself 2 stuffed chicken breast with mushroom rossitto.  It was pretty good.  $3 for both.

Chicken Breast Stuffed with Mushroom Rossitto.

I also got couple packs of blade steak for 50% off.  I pan fried the steaks with salt and pepper.  I then did a quick stirfry of some sugar snaps in the steak drippings.

Steak and Sugar Snaps.

Went for Dim Sum on Sunday for Susanna's early birthday meal.  We went to Sea King on Merivale.  It was OK.  Food was good, but service was slow.  I was also annoyed with Ben and my mom for talking about Ben's China trip.  I really don't care about it and it was just bringing down the lunch meal.  Ben is just going to tell everyone about it (even if they don't want to know) when he gets back anyways.

Dim Sum.

Useless M:tG News:
Picked up a full set of the new Commander boxes on Friday.  I was able to snag the last set from Miraj.  Apparently everyone wants the Breed Lethality box.  I'm not up to speed on what new cards are in this set, but I guess it's something really good.

Commander Set.

Useless Gaming News:
Gordon, Brian, Ben, and I finally finished Pandemic Legacy Season 1.  We won October and November, but we lost both tries at December.  Which means we lost the game.  We also forgot to open one of the boxes in November, so we gave December a 3rd try and we still lost.  We lost mainly because we lost both games in July badly and we couldn't control the spread of the virus back then.  Still a great game and Season 2 will be out next year.

Finished Pandemic Legacy Season 1.

Toilet Paper: Soft or Strong?

Useless Poll News:
I haven't done a poll in a long while.  Here's the new question:
What kind of toilet paper do you use?  Ultra Soft?  Or Ultra Strong?  Susanna and I saw these stacked together in a display at SuperStore a little while ago.  Myself, I prefer Strong.  I don't risk the paper puncturing when wiping :)

Which do you prefer?

3 Cakes

Lunch today -> Fish & Chips.
Went to CMC Montreal today for work.  Got caught in Ottawa traffic going there and coming back.  Took me an hour to get across Ottawa each time.  Met my Montreal team and we went out for lunch at La Cage aux Sports.  I got the fish & chips.  It was very good.  Big piece of fish on a bed of fries.  The guys told me the menu has been revamped and improved.

Fish & Chips.

Useless Food News:
On the way back to Ottawa, I hit the cake bakery off the Sources exit: Les Delices Lafrenaie.  I picked up a few cakes.  I got a frozen Carrot Cake for Dave.

Carrot Cake.

I got a frozen Limoncello Frutti di Bosco for Susanna's birthday (no pic yet).
I also got a fresh Nutella Crepes cake for myself and a few people.

Nutella Crepe Cake.

Check out the layers of crepes and whipped nutella!

Lots of Layers.

Cindy's Pad Thai

Lunch today -> Cheese, Pepperettes, and Bagette.
Went to Loblaws at lunchtime.  I got 50% off cheese and pepperettes platter.  I got a bagette to eat with it.  I ate maybe 1/3 of it and then dumped rest to my co-workers.

Lunch.

Dinner today -> Ribs and Wedges.
Susanna and I went grocery shopping tonight.  I picked up this half-rack of ribs and wedges for $8!  When did SuperStore start having this good deal?

Ribs and Wedges.

Useless Food News:
Cindy sent me a picture of the pad thai she made from a cooking class.  She sent me the recipe too :).  It looks really good and I want to give it a try sometime.

Cindy's Pad Thai.