Wednesday's Food Trucks Are Back

Lunch today -> Asian Tacos.
Katie and Peter dropped by my desk at lunchtime, catching me right before I was about to go home for lunch.  They came to pick me up so we can head over to the Wednesday Food Trucks in the Kanata Hub.  Apparently it started last week, but no one knew.  I didn't see any signs up either.
There were 2 food trucks today.  One had Asian tacos and the other was pita wraps.  I decided to get tacos.  I got 3: spicy chicken, curry beef, and sweet and sour pork.

Asian Tacos.

They were OK.  I didn't really like the spicy chicken very much or the sweet and sour pork.  The curry beef was good.  Not very much meat and alot of pickled veggies.

Useless Gaming News:
4-Player Imhotep after work tonight.  We played with all the B-side locations.  The B-sides make the game very different from the A-sides and requires more thought and strategy of where to move boats.  Evan won.  He got an early lead and never let go.  I was well back in last. 

Caterpillars

Lunch today -> Ramen with Egg.
Went home for lunch today.  Made chicken ramen and topped it with an hard boiled egg sliced in half.  Good quick meal.

Ramen Lunch.

Useless House News:
On my way back to work I noticed a wasp was building a nest on my garage door frame.

Wasp Nest.

I blasted it with the hose after work today.  The wasp was still alive, so I hope it doesn't rebuild the nest there.

My strawberry plant already has a couple red strawberries on it.  I'll pick those soon. 

Strawberry Plant.

I want to hang the strawberry plant, but I also don't want to drill a hole into the brick.  I might go buy some Rhino Glue or Gorilla Brick Glue.

I also found a few huge caterpillars on my strawberry plant and my flowers.  I tried to move them to my tree with a stick, but they jumped off and landed in the lawn before I could make it there.

Can you see the Caterpillar?

Canada 150 Flowers.

Family went to visit my grandma's grave on Sunday.  At the graveyard, they had planted some new Canada 150 flowers.  They look nice.

Canada 150 Flowers.

If you look closely, they resemble the Canadian flag.  Pretty cool.

Can You See the Maple Leaf?

If I had known about these flowers, I would have gotten some for my garden.  I wonder if I can still get some for next year?

Useless Snack News:
Susanna and I went and got milkshakes from Quickie afterwards.  I got the Strawberry Banana smoothie.  Susanna's never had one of these and never used the f'real machine before.  She got the new Mint Chip Milkshake.  I told her to always choose "extra thick" as it melts to be drinkable really soon.

f'real Smoothie and Milkshake.

Weekend Report -> Kanata Ribfest

Food this weekend ->
Made a 4 egg ramen with some fish sausages and seaweed.  I made it around 2am on Thursday night.  It really hit the spot, as I've been going to bed around 4am for the past week.

Late Night Ramen.

Kanata Ribfest was this weekend.  Not sure why they held it at the Wave Pool?  There wasn't very much parking and most of the residential area was full of cars.  There were 4 big ribbers and a couple small rib trucks.

Rib Sign

More Rib Signs.

On Friday, I got a rib and chicken combo from Ribs Royal.  They were OK.  Their ribs were very tender and juicy; and the chicken was moist.  The sauce was OK.  It wasn't sweet, or savour, or smokey.  It was just average.

Rib Royal.

On Saturday, I got a rib and chicken combo with beans and slaw from Smoking Bones.  Ribs were OK, but not as good as Ribs Royal.  I thought these would be smokey but they weren't, and the sauce didn't work for me.  It was trying to be savoury, but it wasn't.

Smoking Bones.

The ribs from the small rib trucks looked very good, but I didn't go back on Sunday to get them. 


Useless Food News:
Tried out the Dew-S-A drink.  I don't really like it.  I don't know how to describe it, but it's got a "scratchy" taste when you swallow it.  Kind of too sweet too.

Dew-S-A.

Finally Took Down Christmas Tree.

On vacation all this week and I finally took down my Christmas Tree today.  I packed it all away into the box so it fits, but I forgot to pack the light remote control!  D'oh!

Dinner today -> Pizza
Went over to Julie's in the afternoon to celebrate her birthday, but she wanted to stay in and just watch TV.  We watched iZombie, Dirk Gently Holistic Detective Season 1 (neat show but only 6 episodes - things make sense after ep 2), and Due South.
We ordered Dragon Boat Pizza from Gabriel's for dinner.  It was good, but not alot of garlic again.

Dragon Boat Pizza.

Loki fell asleep infront of me, but I played with him for abit when he was awake, eventhough I'm allergic to cats.

Sleeping Loki.

Happy Birthday Julie!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JULIE!!!

Garden Planted

Useless Garden News:
Susanna helped me fill in some of my garden on the long weekend.  I planted the cherry tomato plant, but I had to leave it in the pot.  The plant was relying on the plastic brace to stand up.  I also planed some finger eggplants.  In the front I planed a bunch of flowers.  They were mostly blue, pink, and purple.  They look really cool and alien like, like they were from Avatar.  I might get more of them.  They were from the Loblaws Garden Center in Bell's Corners.

This Year's Garden So Far.

Useless Softball News:
First game of the season tonight.  We played all the way out in Munster and the mosquitoes were hungry.  We face a new team One Hit Wonders.  We lost 25-19 (I think we finished with 19?)
I hit 2-for-3 with a walk, triple, double, and ground out.  I scored only 2 RBI.

Long Weekend Report -> Escape Manor

Food this weekend ->
Relatives from Montreal visiting this long weekend.  We had a big late lunch at my parent's house.  Lots of Rideau Restaurant take-out and homemade chinese savoury pastries.

Rideau Take-out.

Chinese Pastries.

Then we had dessert.  Dino brought my favorite cake: Nutella Crepe Cake.  I had a big slice :)

Desserts.

Dinner was at Joe's house.  Lots of food there too.

Dinner.

And more dessert cakes and fruit.

More Desserts.

Went to TacoLot for lunch on Sunday before going to Escape Manor.  I got a beef taco and a fish burrito.  These were very filling and good.

Beef Taco and Fish Burrito.

Gordon and Judy got a beef burrito and fish burrito.

Beef Burrito.

Ben got a chicken burrito.

Chicken Burrito.

Went to SuperStore on Sunday night.  I found 2 1/2 dozen eggs for sale for only $5!  I bought a pack and made eggs for breakfast on Monday.  Breakfast was at 1pm on Monday :)

Eggs and Toast.

I ate some Suzy Q donuts for snacks on Sunday and Monday.  They had moved down the street to a bigger store since I've last been there.  I picked up 6 random donuts.  I really like the banana dulche-something (top-right)

Suzy Q.

Useless Gaming News:
I played a couple rooms at Escape Manor on Sunday.  We did the 12-player room Apocolypse 2.0.  I was on blue team with Jeff and 2 others.  I think we escaped it with over 7 minutes left.  Escape percentage is 12%.  Pretty good room with good puzzles.

Escape Manor.

6 of us then did The Tomb an hour later.  I took a painting of "Vigo the Carpathian" (from Ghost Busters 2) before starting, as he was going to be destroyed for renovations soon. 

Vigo.

The Tomb was very thematic room and had some cool secret stuff.  We escaped this room with over 11 minutes left.  I think the guy said the escape percentage was 22%.

Finished Watching Scream Queens Season 1

Dinner today -> Rideau Restaurant Takeout.
Went over to Julie's place tonight to watch 2 new episodes of iZombie and the last 3 episodes of Scream Queens season 1 (BTW: Scream Queens season 3 was just cancelled and Scream Queens season 2 isn't on Netflix).  But before we got started I picked up some Rideau Restaurant takeout to eat while watching. 

4 Rideau Dishes.

I got my 2 staples: beef chow mein and dry fried beef rice noodles.  I added 2 more dishes of Singapore vermicelli and schezwan beef.  I was hungry for a good dinner as I had only been snacking on chips the whole day.  We also had strawberry-kiwi popsicles for dessert from Costco.

Bubble on My Tire

Was supposed to have a good day today because we were having FREE Gabriel's pizza for lunch at work.  BUT the day started off bad and got worse.  I hit a huge pothole on my way into work.  When I checked the tire, I had a big bubble on it.  That meant I tore the inside of the tire and it could pop anytime.  Costco gave me a quote that I had to get 2 new tires, but Mazda gave me a quote that I may only need to get 1 tire depending on the tread level of the good tire.  Then when Steve and Ed helped me change to my spare tire, we found that my spare was flat... AFTER we put it on!  Had to take it off, get air at the gas station (had to pay $1 for air), and put it back on.  Finally board gaming was cancelled with the guys, and my iZombie watching was postponed.  Just a bad day.  Oh and the Dragon Boat pizza from Gabriel's didn't have enough garlic.

Dinner today -> Leftover Sausages and French Beans.
Made a quick dinner today of leftover sausage and microwave french beans with butter.  I've decided that the best sausage was the fig and honey one.  I highly recommend it.  Washed down the meal with some raspberry lemonade.

Dinner.

Cherry Tomato Plant

Useless Garden News:
Picked up a nice cherry tomato plant from Costco.  Susanna got one too.  It's a big plant that is pre-potted with support rings already installed.

Cherry Tomato Plant.

It's already got a few clusters of little green tomatoes too.  I'm debating whether to transplant it into my garden or not.  I'm leaning towards transplanting it, but I'm still not 100% sure I will.

Little Green Cherry Tomatoes.

Dew-S-A

Useless Food News:
Susanna got this new Mountain Dew drink from Watertown.  It's call "Dew-S-A".  It's a mix of Code Red, White Out, and Voltage.  I haven't tried it yet, but it could be good?  I do like Code Red and Voltage.  I'm so-so for White Out, which I don't think they sell in Canada anymore?

Dew-S-A.

Weekend Report -> Horrible service at La Noodle

Food this weekend ->
Made sausages Friday night.  These sausages were the one I got from the Montreal's Jean Talon market last year.  I think this was the store: Boucherie Prince Noir.  I froze them and forgot about them. 

Montreal Sausages.

I think these were the flavours: the red one is beets & beef, the green is spinach, grains, cheese, & pork (has a tube of cheese down the middle), and the brown one was sweet figs, honey, & pork.  I would get all 3 again.  They were amazing.

Sliced Sausages.

On Sunday, Ben, Susanna, and I went to Chinatown.  We got Vietnamese subs and Chinese buns.  I got lots of BBQ pork buns and fried curry buns.  My 2 favourites.

Lots of Buns.

Went to La Noodle for dinner on Sunday with the family to celebrate Ben's birthday.
We started with lamb skewers.  Tasted just like night market food.

Lamb Skewers.

I got hand-pulled noodle stir fry with lamb.  The plate was huge and it was good.  (flash made the pic really bright)

Lamb Noodles.

We also shared a mini-wok full of spicy grilled intestines, and salt & pepper squid. 
(Cindy if you are reading this, if you see a mini-wok with a little wooden cooking stand that holds a tin of liquid fuel for sale in Toronto, let me know.)

Mini-Wok of Intestines, Squid, and Braised Beef Bowl.

Ben got the braised beef bowl adding an egg and vegetables (above).  I tasted his broth.  I was uber good.  Just like the first time I ate it with Cindy, and not watery like the 2nd time I ate it.
FYI: While the food was really good, the service was horrid.  We waited forever for a waitress to come take our order, they never came back to clear empty plates or refill the water, and then we waited again for the longest time to get the bill.  We never got the bill.  We couldn't wait any more and just went to the cash to pay.  I can't believe my mom left a tip too.  All the good food was nullified by the service, so IMO would have cancelled out any tip.

Afterwards we went to our parent's house for cake.  We had limoncello cake from Costco.  It's new.  Might have replaced creme brule cake?  This cake was good.  

Useless Movie News:
Took Friday off and went to see the pre-noon show of "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.2" with Julie.  Pre-noon shows are only $7.50.  Great movie.  Lots of funny parts and good action.  Wasn't sure what the main plot was until halfway through the movie.  I highly recommend to go see this movie.  BTW: there were 5 ending credit clips.

More Pepperoni

Lunch today -> Pizza.
Picked up a Hot n Ready Pepperoni pizza for lunch today.  There was a sign at Little Caesar's saying there were more pepperoni on the pizzas.  It looks to be true.  I would say that each slice had about 1.5x to 2.0x the previous amount of pepperoni.  I think the crust was thicker too (which I prefer).  It was a good upgrade with no change in price.

Pepperoni Pizza.

Useless Food News:
This Giant Salamander soup bowl looks pretty real.  I'd try it.

Happy Birthday Nathan!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY NATHAN!!!

Lots of Mushrooms

Lunch today -> Ramen and Short Ribs.
Went home for lunch today.  Made ramen and topped it with some pan fried short ribs.  The last of the short ribs from 2012.  It was good and filling.  Then I took a quick nap before going back to work :)  (I was sore and tired from yesterdays softball practice.)

Lunch Ramen.

Dinner today -> Lots of Mushrooms.
I got some mushrooms stuffed with crab meat from Farmboy.  I also picked up some 50% off Cremini mushrooms from Loblaws.  I made a can of Cream of Mushroom soup mixed with a can a Cream of Potato soup.  Added sliced cremini mushrooms and the stuffed mushrooms.  Boiled/steamed the whole mix in a pan.  It was good.  It could have used some rice, or even better with fried rice mixed in.

Mushrooms Galore!

Useless Food News:
Becky got me this bag of popcorn called "Avocado-licious".  It's popcorn topped with avocado oil and pink salt.  I'm saving for when I want to snack on popcorn.  Becky says it's really good, and she got it from the Natural Food Store.

Avocado-licious

Blueberry Lemon Sorbet

Dinner today -> Chicken Wings and Scallop Potatoes.
Softball practice today.  Alot of fielding practice in a mini-game.  After practice, I only had leftover ribs for dinner, so I went out to Loblaws and got 50% off wings and scallop potatoes.  The wings were too salt :(  I'll get rid of them at work :)

Wings and Scalloped Potatoes.

Dessert today -> Blueberry Lemon Sorbet
I tried this amazing sorbet from FarmBoy last week, and I got more on the weekend.  The blueberry lemon flavour is so good.  I highly recommend this.

Blueberry Lemon Sorbet.

GO GET SOME NOW!!!

Happy Birthday Ben!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BEN!!!

More Rib Meat

Lunch today -> Ribs.
Peter and I went to Big Bone BBQ to get take-out ribs for lunch today.  We both got the Monday Mania special each: full rack of ribs, 1 pound of wings, and large fries.  I got my wings fried with fiery honey garlic sauce on the side.  I also upgraded the fries to poutine.  I'll be eating this for a couple days :)

They've changed the price since I've last gone there.  It used to be $25 with tax for this meal.  Now it's $25 plus tax.

Weekend Report -> Fridge Cleanup and Expired Food

Food this weekend ->
I was cleaning out my freezer and I found a pan of frozen short ribs from Costco... but they were from August 2012! 

Short Ribs 2012.

I decided to defrost it and see if it was still editable.  I pan fried a few strips and ate them.

Tastes Fine.

They tasted pretty good.  Only a small taste of freezer burn, but otherwise they were good.  I didn't get sick later that day either.
I ended up eating the whole pack throughout the weekend.  I ate some with some old mini-Eggos I had in the freezer too.  These expired in March 2017 and had a stronger freezer burn taste than the meat.

Short Ribs, Waffles, and Fruit Cups.

I had fruit cups for dessert.  They had expired in February 2017 and they totally tasted fine.

I also made pasta on the weekend to use up the leftover bolognese sauce.  I added expired sour cream from Feb 2017.  I tasted it before and it tasted like sour cream.  Maybe more sour?  I also added some old orange, red, and yellow peppers.  They were starting to wrinkle and get limp.  Finally I added brown mushrooms.  Nothing wrong with the mushrooms.  They were fresh. 

Pasta.

The pasta tasted abit too sour when it was hot.  After it cooled, the dish tasted perfect.  Didn't get sick after eating this too.

Useless Food news:
Was at Loblaws Friday afterwork.  I found the new McDonald's sauces for sale.  They were on this week too.  They had Big Mac sauce, McChicken sauce, and Filet-O-Fish sauce.  Most of the Big Mac ones were gone.  Only 2 Filet-O-Fish sauces were left.  Lots of the McChicken sauce on the shelf.  I only bought the Big Mac and Filet-O-Fish sauce.

McDonald's Sauces.