Charity BBQ

Lunch today -> BBQ
Help run the charity BBQ at work today.  We served burgers with quarter-pounder patties from Costco.  They were very juicy and tasty.  I destroyed a couple and forgot to take a pic of the them.  There was also coleslaw, chips and drinks included with the donation.  The charity we chose was UNICEF because it's close to Halloween.

Charity BBQ.

Susanna Rappeling

Dinner today -> Chicken Red Curry.
De-boned some chicken thighs and browned the meat in a pan (saving the chicken bones for soup another day); while boiling some red curry in a pot with coconut milk, red potatoes, and green onions.

Cooking Red Curry and Chicken.

When the chicken was seared on both sides, I poured and mixed in the red curry sauce.  Ate the curry over some fresh white rice.

Red Curry over Rice.

Useless News:
Video of Susanna rappelling down a building last week.  Susanna is the one on the right.

Weekend Report -> Happy Birthday Mom!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!!

My mom celebrated her 60th birthday early with her friends Saturday.  She partied so hard, she lost her voice when the family went out for dim sum on Sunday.
After dim sum, we had black forest cake... from T&T!

Birthday Cake.

Here is a slice.  It used sponge cake instead of regular cake and cherry jello instead of cherry jam.  It truly was a T&T/Chinese version of this cake.  :(  I had a kiwi on my slice.  It was the best part.

Chinese Style.

Food this weekend ->
I made some M&M Louisiana wings in the oven.  I baked them directly on my stone pan, and the wings came out really crispy.  The wings were also more spicy than I remember.

Louisiana Wings.

I also made some Pillsbury Crescent Rolls, but I didn't roll it.  I just left it flat on the pan.  It was abit too crispy all around and not fluffy enough.  There is a reason why it should be rolled.

Crescent Un-Rolled.

Ben, Susanna and I went to Maverick's Donut Company.  I got a 1/2 dozen of their specialty donuts.  I got 2 Creme Brule, 1 Lemon Ricotta, 2 Chocolate Peanutbutter, a 1 Berlinher.

Maverick's Donuts.

Useless Plant News:
After sprinkling a 3rd wave of Miracle Grow on my cherry tomato plant, it has exploded again.  There are so many tomatoes on it and it has grown well past where I would have liked it have grown.  It has choked out most of the other plants and is in the progress of blocking out the hanging strawberry plant.

Cherry Tomato Plant.

5-Minute Dungeon at TRU

Breakfast today -> Cheese, Meat, and Crackers.
Got some cheese from Farmboy.  It was a "sampler", but it looks like the was just the end pieces of a block of cheese that was too small to slice.  Still it was good and cheap for 5 different kinds of cheese.

Breakfast.

Useless Gaming News:
I surprisingly found 5-Minute Dungeon at Toys R Us today.  It was a Kickstarter I missed.  The Kickstarter sold the standard edition for $35 + shipping, but I just picked it up from the store for $29.99 + tax.  I'm missing the promos, but hopefully I can get it on the BGG store later.

5-Minute Dungeon from TRU.

Useless Toy News:
Picked up the new Metroid: Samus Returns Amiibo set.  It includes Samus and a Metroid.  Don't have the game yet, but I'll have the rare amiibos for when I do get it.  Not making the same mistake I made for Zelda.

Samus and Metroid Amiibos.

Happy Birthday Everett!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY EVERETT!

Hascon Exclusives Ordered

Went to work later in the morning today.  Had to stay home so I could order the Hascon Exclusive toys on the Hasbro Toy Shop.  The items went live at 10am this morning.  I ordered Arcee, power bank Optimus Prime, Hascon M:tG set, and My Little Pony D&D Dice.
 
Lunch today -> Jerk Chicken.
Food truck Wednesday today.  2 new trucks today, but I choose the "Caribbean Cruiser".  I got The Flaming Rooster meal.  It was jerk chicken with rice, plantain, slaw and salad. 

Flaming Rooster Meal.

Very good and flavourful.  Their regular location is on Merivale (I think by Menchies).

Snack today -> Blueberry Buttermilk Pie.
I had leftover blueberry buttermilk pie and I brought it in to work to share (I didn't want to eat the whole pie myself).  It was from Frank's Catering.  The pie has a texture like a mushier and creamier butter tart, and was very sweet.  Very good.  It was $9.

Blueberry Buttermilk Pie.

Useless Garden News:
Today's pickings was 8 cherry tomatoes and 1 strawberry.  I probably have about 80+ green tomatoes on the vines.

Today's Pickings.

There is a chipmunk eating my tomatoes, so I tried to bribe it with some leftover nuts from Christmas.  But now the chipmunk is eating the nuts AND the tomatoes.  I'm just giving it a fuller meal.

Susanna was on TV!

Snack today -> Froot Loops.
Tried out the Birthday Cake Froot Loops Anthony gave me.  They taste OK.  Not a cereal brand I normally like, and not really a hit at work either.  I hope someone finishes the bowl I left out.

Birthday Cake Froot Loops.

Snack today, Part 2 -> Green Tea Lemonade Ice Pops.
I bought these Ice Pops at Loblaws on sale for $2.  I didn't really read the packaging clearly until I got home.  I thought it was just Lemonade flavour, but it was Green Tea Lemonade flavour.

Green Tea Lemonade Ice Pops.

Tried them out.  They taste pretty good.  They taste more like pear than green tea lemonade.

Dinner today -> Chicken.
Made chicken for dinner.  Pan fried some chicken drumsticks in a pan with just salt, black pepper, and garlic powder.  After searing the outside of the chick, I added cream of mushroom soup with half a can of milk and some frozen vegetables to the pan.  I finished the chicken by boiling them in the soup on low heat while the rice finished cooking in the rice cooker.

Chicken in Cream of Mushroom Soup.

Useless Cup News:
Got this tea cup from Cindy.  It's decorated with different sushi on the outside.

Sushi Cup

Useless TV News:
Was watching the Ottawa Morning News this morning on channel 6.  Around 8:50am, Susanna was on TV!  She was doing an interview after repelling down a building downtown for charity.

Weekend Report -> Eliminated

Food this weekend ->
Tried out the new Paprika & Sweet Onion Lays Chips on Friday. They are very good.  A nice sweet and savour chip.  I'll probably get more of these.

Paprika & Sweet Onion Chips.

The softball team went to Fitz's on Greenbank after our playoff game on Saturday.  I got the Hungry Man breakfast.  It was good, but nothing special.

Hungry Man Breakfast.

Steve and Sean got the Cowboy Burger.  It looked awesome.  I think it was a beef burger with pulled pork, brisket, caramelized onions, bacon, and some other stuff I can't remember.  It was held together by a steak knife.

Cowboy Burger.

Dinner party at Jeff & Linda's on Sunday night.  Lots of good food.  Ben made fish curry.  Cindy made glass noodles.  Linda made sausages and salad.  I made chicken drumsticks in a cream sauce.

Dinner Party Dinner.

I ate a full plate and more.

Dinner Plate.

Useless Plant News:
Linda had some nice flowers that Margaret bought.  Apparently they were dyed, because when Margaret pruned them the dye came off on her fingers and stained them :) lol

Dyed Flowers.

Useless Softball News:
Softball playoffs started on Friday and the CMC Strike Fighters played the last place team for our first game.  We had a really bad night offensively and lost to them 18-11.  On paper, we should have won, but we didn't.
On Saturday we played Rockwell Collins and lost to them 11-9.  With the 2 losses, we were eliminated from the playoffs.  We finished the season in 3rd place, but our offense fell apart during the playoffs.  We were similar to how the Canadiens performed during the playoffs last year.

Useless Transformers Info:
I was disappointed with our softball exit on Saturday, so watched Psych Season 7 while playing with some of my Transformers Saturday night.

Brawn hold HeadMaster Brawn.

Useless Gaming News:
We played a bunch of games at the dinner party.  We tried out Macroscope (pretty good and different guessing game), Roll for It, Sushi Go, Guillotine, and Walk the Plank.

Walk the Plank.

3rd Place?

Dinner today -> Seafood Lasagna.
Microwaved a seafood lasagna I got on sale from Loblaws for a late dinner tonight. 

Seafood Lasagna.

I've had it before and it's very good.  I only ate half of the dish this time :)

Useless Softball News:
Strike Fighters played GDC tonight for our last game of the season.  We defeated them 17-9.  Hopefully with this last win, we secure 3rd place in our division.  Playoffs start on Friday.
I hit 2-for-2 tonight with a triple and a single.

Nothing Going On.

Dinner today -> Steak and Sugar Snaps.
Long day at work today and for the rest of this week.  Not much else going on today.  Made steak with sugar snaps for dinner.

Steak with Sugar Snaps.

Was going to make rice, but I didn't.  Just ate the dish as is.

Weekend Report -> Quazi-Passed

Food this weekend ->
Susanna and I went to China Town Saturday morning for some fresh cooked goods.  I got Vietnamese subs, BBQ pork buns, curry beef buns, a whole chopped soy chicken, and some BBQ pork.

Fresh Good.

I finished off the subs, curry beef buns, and the chicken this weekend.

Useless Gaming News:
Went to Brian's on Friday.  We only played Ghostbusters II the whole night.  Ben and I spent alot of time popping all the pieces out and setting up and reading instructions.

Ghostbusters II - Vigo Scenario 1

We played the 1st Vigo scenario and failed.  We played it again and quazi-passed the scenario.  Brian started to cheat during the 2nd game.  Not sure why.  Brian would roll dice during Ben's turn and count the result if was a success, but say he didn't roll yet if it wasn't a good result.  He should just accept the actual results and move on.  Bad rolls are part of the game.

Today was Brought to You by the Letter "V"

Lunch today -> "V" is for Vermicelli.
Went to Ox Head with Steve and Ed for lunch.  We haven't gone in a long time.  We all got the Ox Head Vermicelli V17.  It was so good!  Steve and I could have easily eaten a 2nd bowl.

Ox Head Vermicelli.

Dinner today -> "V" is for Veal and Vegetables.
Got some 50% off veal steaks from Loblaws.  A couple of nice cuts with tasty bone marrow for $3.  Pan cooked with just salt and pepper.  Made a side of mixed veggies in the pan drippings.

Veal and Vegetables.

Macroscope

Useless Gaming News:
Got a new Kickstarter game in the mail today.  I got Macroscope.  It's a deduction game where you roll dice to open windows to guess the picture below.  It sounds fun and it was cheap Kickstarter.

Macroscope.

Useless Softball News:
CMC Strike Fighters defeated the Ripping Dingers tonight with a score of 24-9.  We out hit and played them, but they kept the game fun.  A pretty full lineup tonight for our team.  Missing only 3 players.  We have 1 game left followed by the playoffs next week.
I hit 3-for-3 tonight with 3 singles.

Long Weekend Report -> Unclear Grimslinger Instructions

Food this weekend ->
Bought hamburger buns instead of a loaf of bread because it was on sale.  Toasted some and made some eggs with Mock Chicken for a late breakfast on Saturday.  The eggs were free range, so the yolks were more orange.

Breakfast.

Went to Walmart and Loblaws on Sunday night.  Picked up a couple packs of 50% off Alabama style boneless short ribs.  I also got some Orange Pekoe tea, discount lego, and Walmart version of Apple Fitters.

Stuff.

The orange pekoe tea was good.  I drink 3 cups of it.  Then I couldn't fall asleep til 4:30am because of it.
The Alabama short ribs taste like soap.  I don't know what herb in there that makes it taste like that, but it shouldn't be used.  Also it lacked some salt.
The Walmart apple fitters don't have any apple in it.  It was just a solid donut covered with sugar icing with a hint of apple flavour.  It was $3 and I won't be getting it again.
Atleast there was nothing wrong with the discount Lego. 

Useless Gaming News:
4-player gaming at Brian's on Friday night.  We finished our game of TIME Stores: The Pharaoh's Mask.  Good expansion with a unique game play power.
We then tried Grimslingers.  The instruction book is horrid.  We kind of figured some of it out after an hour of Brian trying to explain the rules (with him NOT showing us what the card types looked like).  Brain was adamant on playing it, while Ben and I (and probably Gordon) thought we should have quit and played something else.  It has potential of being an ok game.

Grimslingers.

We finished the night with some 3-player games of 5-Minute Dungeon.  Atleast that was lots of fun.