Weekend Report -> Slow Bierhaus

Food this weekend ->
Went to the Central Bierhaus on Friday for lunch.  Food is good, but the service was horrible.  It took the waiter 30 minutes to take our food order and that was only after one of us got up and went to get him.  Food took alittle while, and it took forever for the bill too.
Ed got the sausage platter that comes with 7 sausages and a pretzel.  It looked really good.

Ed's Feast.

Peter and I split the wild game sausage platter.  The bison chipotle sausage was the best one.

Wild Game Sausages.

I also got fries, but I should have gotten a pretzel instead.

Fries.

Made a small boneless roast on Sunday.  Used the 500F method again but I took it out after 1hr40mins.  I wanted it more rare. 

Boneless Roast.

I came out nicely at a medium rare. 

Medium Rare Roast.

Sliced most of the roast into thick slices, but I also cubed some for dinner.  Ate it with some tomato basil cheese, cucumber sticks, and an avocado.

Dinner Plate.

Useless Gaming News:
Got my Kickstarter Roll Player with Expansion in last week.  I also got the promo Frogkin and metal coins.

Kickstarter Roll Player.

Fizz Saver Dispenser

Dinner today -> Leftover Stew.
Re-boil some of my tasty stew and ate it over the leftover rice.  As you can see it was mostly meat left :)

Leftover Stew.

Useless Food News:
I picked up the Fizz Saver Dispenser from Bayshore for $2.  I thought it was neat.  I tried it out with Coke and it dispenses alot of fizz foam.  You have to wait for the foam to disperse to add more Coke.

Fizz Saver Dispenser.

It's kind of useless and way slower than just pouring the bottle myself.  Mine doesn't drip as I've seen in some Youtube reviews.  Mine also doesn't stall and trickle the liquid out.  In the end this is kind of useless, but it was only $2.

Useless Food News Part 2:
I got a bottle of Ranch Dressing Soda from Sugar Mountain last week.  I had to try it and shared it at work.

Ranch Dressing Soda.

It is disgusting!  I only had a couple sips and I couldn't finish the rest in my cup.  June and Becky like it.  Peter wouldn't try it.  I think Katie said it smells like her nail polish.

Useless Stuff:
Picked up some stuff from Centrum Walmart this week.  I finally found PotP Slash.  Lots too at Centrum location.  I also grabbed the newest Sailor Moon DVD set.  In the clearance section I got the Catwoman Catcycle Chase Lego for $10.

Latest Walmart Finds.

Long Weekend Report: Staycation

On staycation since Friday and I haven't done anything but eat, sleep, and watch stuff (mostly Running Man).  Awesome!  1 more staycation day left.

I bought a couple Hot-and-Ready pepperoni pizzas for Friday.  I was able to get them as they came right out of the oven.

Pizza #1.

Defrosted and cooked a Christmas roast on Sunday morning.  Used the 500F method.

Not Freezer Burnt Roast.

Took it over to my parents for dad to slice it up.  I came out a nice medium to medium-rare.

Sliced Up to Chow Down.

Ate it over fresh white rice.

Mmmm.

Took the bones home and boiled then with frozen bones from the last couple of roasts to make a stew.

Stew.

Boil-cooled-reboiled the meat and bones over night.  The meat became really tender and fell off the bones clean.  Also got alot of the gelatin out of the bones.  Made fresh rice to go with the stew.

Too Hot.  Burnt My Tongue.

Sweet Heat Skittles

Useless Food News:
Found some Sweet Heat Skittles at SuperStore last night.  Used to be a USA exclusive, but now it's in Canada.  They are like regular Skittles, but with a small spicy kick right before finishing the candy.

Sweet Heat Skittles.

I don't think they are as good as the Sweet Heat Starburst, but different enough to be good as a continuous chewing snack.  Perfect for movie theatres.

Probe

Dinner today -> Cheese Jalapeno Wontons and Meatballs.
Picked up some discount meatballs from Loblaws after work today.  Then I headed over to Farmboy and got some "Fried Wontons".  Those "wontons" weren't Chinese wontons, but filled with cheese and jalapeno.  They've got a nice kick to them.

Spicy Wontons and Meatballs.

Useless NASA News:
Just read this today... LOL.

LOL

Weekend Report ->

Food this weekend ->
Potluck and gaming at Linda & Jeff's on Saturday night.  Lots of food and we played alot of games.
Cindy made fried tofu and deviled eggs.  I made medley of sliced steak, mini-potatoes and sugar snaps.

Fried Tofu, Steak Medley, and Deviled Eggs.

Linda made sausages and chicken shwarma.

Sausages.

Chicken Shwarma.

Dessert was cheesecake and Ben's maple cream pie with maple bacon topping.

Desserts.

Made steak for lunch on Sunday.  Made a side of gnocchi and sugar snaps.

Steak, Sugar Snaps, and Gnocchi.

Useless Birthday News:
For Linda's birthday I got her a money tree decorated with the birthday cake Lego figure and some Japanese animal crackers.

Money Tree.

Useless Gaming News:
Friday night 4-player gaming at Anthony's.  We played Swans of the Mad King Ludwig and Robo Rally.

Small Castle Constructed in Swans.

Saturday we played Coconuts, This Game is Bonkers, Tsuro, Labyrinth, Ticket to Ride Europe and Between Two Cities.
This Game is Bonkers is a classic game I've never played before.  It's really fun.  I recommend trying it.  It's a unique game every time.

Dragon Drool

Lunch today -> Fish Burger and Seafood Chowder.
Took a stay-cation day today.  Picked up Julie in the morning and went shopping at Place d'Orleans.  We stopped for lunch at OCCO Kitchen.  I got the fish burger with seafood chowder.

Fish Burger and Seafood Chowder.

The fish burger lacked flavouring (mainly salt).  It was so-so.  The seafood chowder was amazing.  This bowl was way better than the last one I had because it had alot of big chunks of fish.  It also had alot of mini-scallops and a couple pieces of lobster.
Julie got the blueberry and brie burger with herb fries.  She said her burger was good, but the fries were too salty.  I tried the herb fries and yes they were too salty.  The herb flavour was an after-taste of parsley.

Useless Food News:
Julie got a bottle of Dragon Drool from Sugar Mountain.  It was a strong black licorice soda pop drink.

Dragon Drool.

Surprise Baby Fish

Useless Aquarium News:
So I had gotten 3 "male" Sunburst Wags about a 6 weeks ago.  Well... they were labelled as "males" in the store.  Anyways, a couple days ago I notice something small and orange swimming around with the Neon Tetras. 

Baby Sunburst Wag!

Surprise!  It was 2 baby Sunburst Wags!  1 or 2 of those "male" Wags were actually female.  I'm still not sure which are females.

Unicorn Balloon

Last year I got Katie a balloon for her birthday and Steve got "jealous" and said I never got him a balloon for his birthday.  At the time, we were joking around and he said he wanted a big pony balloon.  Steve may thought I had forgotten about that conversation, but I didn't. 

Steve's Birthday Balloon.

I couldn't find a pony balloon, but I did find a big unicorn balloon.  I set it up at his desk so he can show it off to everyone :) LOL

Weekend Report -> Relatives from Connecticut

Lots of birthdays this weekend:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GORDON!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANDPA!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY STEVE!!!

Food this weekend ->
My cousins, Ben, Susanna and I went to OCCO Kitchen for dinner on Friday.  This place trendy and the food was amazing.  We shared a OCCO App Board to start.  We got a blueberry bbq sauce for the wings and it was really good.

OCCO Platter.

For my meal, I got the East Coast Donair Hoagie with the award winning seafood chowder.  The chowder was incredible.  Really creamy and lots of seafood in it.  The sandwich was good but the jalapeno slices in it were really hot.  I had to take them out.

Seafood Chowder and Donair Hoagie.

For dessert we got the apple turnover dumplings and the churros.  The apple dumplings were OK.  Nothing really special and it did have a whiskey caramel sauce to pour over it.  BUT the churros were amazing.  It was like a honey cruller mixed with a beaver tail.  The sauces were chocolate, white chocolate with Bailey's and I forgot what the white one was.  The Bailey's was the best one.
I'm definitely going back.

Apple Dumpling and Churros.

Saturday morning the prime roast I bought during the Easter sail was expiring, so woke up early and cooked it.  I used the easy 500F method.  It came out really juicy and medium BUT there was a huge fat pocket in it.  So I lost alot of meat real-estate.

Easy Prime Rib Roast.

On Saturday night the family, relatives from Connecticut and Toronto, and my grandparents went out to dinner at Sea King on Merivale for my grandfather's birthday.  The kitchen service was horrible!  We had reservations and pre-ordered the meal so it didn't make sense that the food didn't come until 40 minutes after we were seated.  Also, we didn't get the starter soup until after the 5th plate of main course arrived.  So we had all these bowls sitting on the lazy-susan taking up alot of room. 

Lobster.

The food plates were large and the food was good, but if I wasn't with my relatives I think we should have left and gone to the buffet across the street.
We brought our own birthday cakes.  The dark on tasted like Coffee Crisp and the other tasted like Ferro Roche.  Very good.  From a place in Gatineau.

Grandpa's Birthday Cakes.

Useless Escape Room News:
Friday night Ben, Susanna, our cousins, and I went to Escape Manor and played The Gallery.  The room wasn't very hard but it's a very good beginner room for our cousins.  I did enjoy the room.  We finished with about 14 minutes left. 

Useless Lego News:
Nyc ordered the Ultimate Millennium Falcon and shipped it to work.  It arrived on Friday. 
The box is huge!  I want him to bring it in when it's finished, but there is no way to transport it when it's built.

Ultimate Millennium Falcon.

Useless Gaming News:
We played a bunch of boardgames with our cousins.  We played Between Two Cities, Camel Cup, Guillotine, and we finished with a hilarious few rounds of Telestrations.

5-Player Camel Cup.

Happy Birthday Ed!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ED!!!

Crazy Windy Wednesday Night

Lunch today -> Garlic Cheese Toast and Roast Beef.
Went home for lunch today.  I broiled some more garlic cheese bread and a thick slice of roast beef for lunch.  Quick, easy, and tasty.

Lunch.

Dinner today -> La Noodle.
My aunt and cousins from Connecticut came to Ottawa today.  Met up with them at La Noodle on Merivale.  I think I have to say that the dishes at Merivale are better than that at the Kanata location.  My mom ordered alot of food and the meal was excellent (except for the free starter soup.  It was disgusting warm carrot water.).

Half-eaten First Few Plates.

The drive home tonight was crazy windy!  I could feel the car shake at stops and was actually pushed driving on the highway.  It was abit slippery too as all the water was beginning to flash freeze.  I made it home fine, but I can still hear and feel the wind shaking the house.

Lego Ultimate Batmobile

Dinner today -> Garlic Bread with Cheese.
I got a cheese sampler pack (another word used to sell end piece) from Farmboy the other day.  It includes 5 triangles of different cheese.  I used 3 of the cheese on some french bread spread with garlic butter, and broiled it.  Ate it with some discount spicy candied salmon (not shown).

Cheesy Garlic Bread.

Useless Lego News:
Found a couple clearance Lego set at Walmart on the weekend.  I got a U-Wing for $70 from $100.

U-Wing.

The big clearance savings was for the Ultimate Batmobile I got for $100 from $160.

Ultimate Batmobile.

Happy Birthday Linda!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LINDA!!!

Weekend Report -> Easter 2018

Food this weekend ->
Went to Kanata Noodle House on Thursday for lunch with Ed, Steve, and Peter.  We split some wraps and we all got vermicelli.  It was good and filling.  Good way to end the week before the long weekend.

Vermicelli.

Susanna picked up a prime rib roast (with bone in) for me from an amazing Superstore sale.  I cooked it on Saturday using a new method I found online.  It's super simple.  Preheat the oven at 500F.  Dry rub a room temperature roast (room temperature is key).  Then put it in the oven at 12.5 mins per kg.  Do NOT open the oven door after this point.  After the calculated time, just turn off the oven and let it sit in the heat for 2hrs.

Roast Beef.

Mine came out a juicy, perfect medium to medium-rare.   The top was abit charred but still editable.

Sliced Roast Beef.

It was so good on white rice.  I'm going to use the bones to make soup or congee.

Roast Beef on Rice.

On Sunday I made peanut butter and Nutella rice crispy squares.  Simple to make and amazingly good.  Key is a big non-stick pot.

Peanut Butter & Nutella Rice Crispy Squares.

Useless Gaming News:
Gavin and his family were in town this Easter weekend.  I got his boys some dinosaur sets that they have to excavate from blocks of sand.  It made a big mess in the kitchen (as I said they should have done it outside), but got the bones out and build the dinosaur (with some help) in the end.

Noah with Dinosaurs.

Ben, Gavin and I played some Red7, Palace of the Mad King Ludwig, and a few games of M:tG.

3-Player Magic.