Optimus Prime Christmas Tree Topper

Possibly last entry of 2017.  I might post something between now and New Years.
Hockey Pool guys: Set your lines before going on holidays!

Lunch today -> Big Pork Bun and Samurai Tea.
I bought a big pork bun from the Kanata Asian Grocery Store.  I thought it was similar to the ones from Montreal, but it's slightly different.  It's got the usual filling of pork and cabbage, but it also has a slice of sausage and half an egg in it!  It's really good.  $2.99 but worth it.

Big Pork Bun and Samurai Tea

I washed it down with hot Samurai Chai tea with honey.  It's from Teavana.  It's got a nice sweet-cinnamon taste and extra sweet from the honey.  I should have used a infuser as the bits were floating everywhere and it was hard to drink around it.

Useless Project News:
I finished the Christmas Tree for this year.  I want a few more frosted blue ornaments, but they were sold out at Micheal's.  Just need to wrap a bunch of gifts and put it under the tree.

Christmas Tree 2017.

I topped the tree with the mighty G1 Optimus Prime :)

Optimus Prime Topper.

Wednesday Milestones

Dinner today -> Milestones
I was still under the weather, but I went out shopping for my final Christmas gifts tonight, and Julie tagged along to help me.  We took a break for dinner at Milestones.  It happens that they have a "Wednesday Date Night" special, and today was Wednesday.  The deal was very good.
We started with Coconut Calamari.  It was amazing!  The squid practically melted in your mouth.  Perfectly fried in coconut bits and the dipping sauce had a good spice to it.  It helped that I couldn't taste the mango in it too.  We destroyed the dish before I took a pic.
For entree we both got the Steak Frites.  Mine was a perfect medium rare.  It comes pre-slice which was a nice touch.  The fries were like good chip wagon fries and sprinkled with salt and Parmesan.  The were good at first, but I found it got really salty later.

Steak Frites.

Julie ordered a Blackberry Vanilla Bourbon Sour.  I took a small sip as I was still taking medicine.  The berry flavour hits you at first, then the sour, and finally a slightly smokey bourbon aftertaste.  Very nice drink. 

Blackberry Sour.

For dessert we chose the Ganache Torte.  Never had a Ganache before, but it was good and chocolatey.

Ganache Torte.

This meal was totally worth $50.  Individually the Calamari = $13.25, Steak Frites = $21, Ganache Torte = $???, but atleast $6; so you save about $11.  The bonus was the receipt is a coupon for $5 off my next meal in 2017!

Christmas Treats

Snack today -> Christmas Treats.
Someone at work made a box full of Christmas Treats and shared it in the kitchen.  There was some really good stuff.  Too bad I couldn't taste them well because I was eating a cough drop and it numbed my taste buds.

Christmas Treats.

Dinner today -> Liver and 3 Meat Sandwich.
Broiled some chicken liver in the oven today.  I have been marinating the liver for 2 days with soy sauce and cha shu sauce.  I broiled them for a few minutes, flipped them and brushed on some No Limits BBQ sauce, and broiled it some more to caramelize the BBQ sauce.

Chicken Liver.

I also made a couple sandwiches for dinner.  I filling was a slice of horseradish cheddar with 3 different kinds of cured meats from FarmBoy (Chorizo salami, some kind of prosciutto, and a hot prosciutto).  Nuked it for 11 seconds, just to have it abit warm.

3 Meat Sandwich.

Definitely Sick

Yep, definitely sick.  Got up this morning and was coughing right away.  I also had a scratchy throat and stuffy nose which I tried to drown all day with green tea, chicken broth, and DayQuil.  I would have gone home early, but I had review meetings all day for a project deadline on Tuesday.  I was getting abit light-head towards 4pm too.  It didn't help that we got tons of free snacks from the building owner and wasn't hungry to try them all.

Useless Transformers News:
Picked up the new Titan's Return Megatron last Friday at Walmart.  Haven't had a chance to open it yet.  Didn't see the new Prime that was also in the same case.

Megatron.

Weekend Report -> Caught a Cough

This sucks.  I caught a cough and a slightly sore throat.  This better not get worse and go away by Christmas holidays...

Food this weekend ->
Made Chicken Pot Pie in my pressure cooker on Saturday.  I replaced the pie part with spaghetti.  I put a big handful of spaghetti on the bottom of the pot.  Then added some frozen chick drumsticks and frozen vegetables.  I then added a pack of chicken pot pie sauce and a some water.  Topped it with some salt and pepper and pressed start on the "Soup/Stew" mode.

Raw Chicken Pasta Pie.

It came out really good.  I stirred up to mix all the stuff and the spaghetti was bunching (but fully cooked and soft).

Cooked Chicken Pasta Pie.

Plated my first bowl.  I then proceeded to eat the whole pot in a few hours.

Very Filling Meal.

Went to Bai Du on Sunday for a family dinner.  We started off with alot of nicely made sushi.

Bai Du Sushi.

Then we got the grill stuff going.  Lots of meat was ordered.  Table service was excellent but the cooks would forget to bring some items.  We ordered squid twice and told them to bring it, but we only got it on the 3rd order of squid.

Grilling Food.

I found near the end of the meal that grilled sweet pineapple wrapped in savoury lamb was an amazing combo.  I also found that dipping the meats in sesame oil (from the sauce station) helps in not stick to the grill.

Useless Project News:
Susanna's friend made this amazing 3D pop-up Christmas card.  This the card flat.

3D Home-Made Christmas Card Closed..

This is the card opened.  It looks so professional, but it was completely hand-made!

3D Home-Made Christmas Card Opened.

Susanna made a card at her house too.  It's very good.

Susanna's Home-Made Christmas Card.

Useless Christmas News:
I started wrapping some gifts tonight.  I wrapped Kyle's manga in a Halloween Rice Krispies box.  I put some packs in as protection and resealed it with a glue gun.  LOL.

Kyle's Gift.

Susanna and I also went to 15 Rickey Place in Glen Cairn to checkout the Christmas Music and Light house.  The lights match the music on station 92.7FM.  It's OK this year.  Not as good as last year, but it could be because the songs when we were there weren't very upbeat.  Worth checking out if you're passing by.

15 Rickey Place.

PC Strawberry Lemonade

Long day today.  I went to an intended 1 hour meeting at 9:30am, and it didn't finish til 4pm.  It went straight right through lunch!

Drink today -> PC Strawberry Lemonade
I got the PC Strawberry Lemonade from SuperStore the other day.  I really liked the Wendy's Strawberry Lemonade from the summer, so I was hoping this will as good, but cheaper.  I was wrong.  This stuff tastes like plastic!  It's not even sour like lemonade.  I'm tempted to dump this stuff down the sink, but I think I force it down as it is drinkable and I don't want to waste my money.  Do NOT buy this!  Get the PC Cranberry Black Cherry drink.  That stuff is really good.

Tastes Like Plastic!

Christmas Shopping = Personal Shopping

Useless Toy News:
Took today off work to go Christmas shopping.  Apparently lots of other people were thinking the same thing as most of the stores I went to were very busy and the streets were busy too.  Picked up Julie at 10am and we went shopping til 9pm!  I got most of my list done, but I also bought a ton for myself too. 
I found Astrotrain at Toys R Us.  I'm only missing Soundwave now.

Titan's Return Astrotrain.

I also discovered Toys R Us was having a big Lego Dimensions sale.  I picked up everything I was missing (basically all of Wave 6 and Wave 7).

Lego Dimension Wave 6 and Wave 7.

Dinner today -> Rideau.
Julie and I went Rideau Restaurant for dinner.  It wasn't very busy when we got there, so the dishes arrived uber fast (less than 5 mins after ordering).  We got Szechuan Beef, Beef Chow Mein, and Dry Fried Beef and Rice Noodles.  It was very good, but the Beef Chow Mein was abit too saucy and the sauce was too watery.  Usually it isn't like this.

Rideau Dinner.

Christmas Lunch

Lunch today -> Christmas Lunch.
Was planning to take today off to go Christmas shopping, but found out last week that today was the free Christmas lunch at CMC, so I pushed shopping to Wednesday.  This year's Christmas lunch pretty good.  No over cooked beans this year, and the pasta salad was an improvement over a green salad.  I was very satisfied with my meal.

Christmas Lunch 2016.

Red Velvet Cake in a Mug

Snack today -> Red Velvet Cake.
I made a red velvet cake in a mug for a snack tonight.  The box says it makes 2 mugs, but there is only 1 bag of mix in the box.  I had guestimate what half the bag was and put it in a mug.  I then had to add a spoon of water, 1 egg, and a spoon of vegetable oil.  Microwave for 1:20 and done.  It looked pretty good, and was easy and quick.

Red Velvet Cake in a Mug.

I added whipped cream to top it off.  It was pretty good.  When I got to the bottom, it wasn't cooked all the way.  I'll have to nuke it longer next time, but it tasted like lava red velvet cake.

Added Whipped Cream.

Weekend Report -> Christmas Party

Food this weekend ->
Anthony's Christmas Party was this weekend.  I prepared some fresh Monkey Bread for the party.

Monkey Bread.

I also wore my new Ugly Christmas Sweater with motion sensitive flashing LED lights :)

Ugly Sweater.

Lots of food at the party.

Party Food.

During the food break, Jeff played piano during the caroling.

Caroling.

Lots of desserts too.  I was too slow with the camera.  It was picked away quickly.  I couldn't try them all either.  I was too full from the main courses.

Desserts 1.

Desserts 2.

Cooked a fish in the oven on Sunday for dinner.  Got the trout from FarmBoy.  It was a 2-pack and gave the 2nd fish to Susanna.  I baked with just salt, pepper, green onions, olive oil, and soy sauce.

Baked Fish.

It wasn't enough as I was still hungry after cleaning the meat off the fish, so I made some garlic cheese bread.  It was good, but next time I should put some chopped hot peppers on them too.

Garlic Cheese Bread.

Useless Gaming News:
Played some games after the party was over for the people with kids.  We started with a couple quick rounds of Guillotine.  Then we played 8 player Telestrations.  Never played with 8 players before and there were a few good drawing and guessing breakdowns.  We finished the late night with a few games of Camel Cup.

Camel Cup with Expansion.

Susanna's Teddy Bear

Susanna's Birthday present has be sitting in my car for almost a week now.  I got her a big, furry, and uber-soft teddy bear.  He's been seatbelted in my back seat, sitting there, waiting for her to pick him up.  Probably freezing his butt off in my garage right now.

Lonely Teddy Bear.

Alpha Trion

Dinner today -> Chicken Drumsticks.
After gaming tonight, I went to Loblaws and picked up some 50% off food.  I got 16 drumsticks for $9, king oyster mushrooms, and a couple packs of beef pepperoni sticks.

Discount Food.

Useless Transformers News:
Finally found Alpha Trion at Toys R Us.  Voyager class figs are on sale for $17.99 this week.  Still missing Astrotrain and Soundwave from everything that is out.

Alpha Trion.

Deep Fried Twinkies

Dinner today -> Chicken in Honey Dijon Sauce.
Made some chicken in honey dijon sauce for dinner tonight.  I browned some chicken drumsticks in a wok.  Then I added salt, pepper, garlic powder, 1 can of cream of chicken soup, 1/2 can of water, a few good squirts of dijon mustard, and a big spoonful of honey.  Covered and let it come to a boil.  Then I mixed in some vegetables a can of quail eggs and let it come to a boil again. 

Chicken in Honey Dijon Mustard.

I scooped this over some leftover liver rice.  It was OK.  Could have use abit more dijon mustard and honey.

Dinner.

Useless Food News:
Suzanne got me a box of frozen Deep Fried Twinkies from Ogdensburg.  The box says I can bake it in the oven, but I want to deep fry it.  Not sure when I'll do this yet.  I still have the Oreo Churros to make too.

Deep Fried Twinkies.

Flooded Engine

Car wouldn't start this morning.  I called my dad and he came over to check it.  We considered it was the battery but it wasn't.  After waiting til 10:40am for the tow truck, the driver said I had flooded the engine and didn't need a tow.  On Sunday night I was parked in the drive way and I started the car, moved it into the garage, and turned it off within 10 seconds.  That short of a time didn't allow the engine to properly inject and use the fuel, so I had flooded the engine.
The fix was to floor the gas pedal and turn on the car.  After a few seconds, the engine started and I released the gas slowly.  I left the car idling on for another 20 minutes to make sure everything worked. 

Dinner today -> Liver, Rice, and Egg.
I made chicken liver rice in the rice cooker today.  The liver came out moist but I didn't put enough salt in the cooker.

Liver Rice.

I ate the fresh liver flavoured rice with a fresh cracked egg topping and soy sauce.  I was inspired by this article I read today.

Dinner.

Useless Christmas Tree News:
My dad helped me separating the branches on the Christmas tree this morning.  I put on the glass ornaments tonight (no cheap ones).  It looks OK now.  I need more ornaments and tinsel.  Also the backside is completely bare.  You can see some of the ornaments in this pic, but it's hard to see the cool acorn ornaments.

Christmas Tree with Ornaments.

Weekend Report -> Creton

Food this weekend ->
Took Friday off to shop and run errands.  Julie went with me to help me pick tree ornaments, an ugly Christmas sweater, and to hangout.  For dinner we picked up some fresh baguette, horseradish cheese, cranberry cheese ball, prosciutto, and creton from FarmBoy.  I've never tried creton before, but Julie says it's really good on bread with abit of yellow mustard.  It was!  It reminded me of a mix of Shwartz's deli and pate.

Cheese and Cured Meat Dinner.

I made a Hamburger Helper medley on Sunday.  I prepared some stew meat in the morning (cooked, cooled, and heated the meat again to make it tender).  Threw in some salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic, and hot chocolate mix to make a broth.  When I was ready to eat, I mixed in the Hamburger Helper stuff and added extra spaghetti and frozen veggies.  It made a good amount of food.

Hamburger Helper Medley.

Useless Toy News:
I bought a new puzzle on Friday from Play Value Toys: Number 6 of the What If? series.  I wasn't planning on finishing it, but Julie and I worked on it until 4am Friday night and we finished it.  I like these puzzles.  You go into them blind with only a little bit of help from the box.

Puzzle.

Gordon was able to score an amazing deal for the Lego SHIELD Helicarrier.  It's $400 on Walmart.ca, but he was able to get a sale price of $210 (+ tax) at Toys R Us by buying 2 (Buy One, Get One 1/2 off).  Thanks Gordon!

Lego SHIELD Helicarrier.

Useless Gaming News:
We did 3-player gaming at Brian's house on Saturday night.  We started with Star Trek: Five Year Mission dice game.  We lost the first 2 games, and won the 3rd at Commander Level.
Then we played Running with the Bulls dice game.  I like this game.  It's all luck and dice rolling with some card playing strategy/manipulation.  The smaller dice are the players people who are running from the bulls, which are the larger red dice.  The player's dices move depending on the value to the odd/even paths.  The bulls run the people down if the dice match the bull.  Fun and simple game.

Running With The Bulls.