Weekend Report -> Eating Out.

Food this weekend ->
On Thursday, Steve, Ed and I got sandwiches from Frankie's Deli in Bell's Corners.  No relation to Frank's Catering, but they have similar sandwich styles, aka lots of meat wrapped in butcher's paper.
Steve got the Frankie's Mix.  Looked very good.  Steve said it wasn't as good as Frank's because the cold cuts aren't freshly cut, but still very good.

Frankie's Mix.

Ed got the Ma Va.  It looked very good too.  Ed loaded it up with all the toppings.

Loaded Ma Va.

I got the Canadian.  It wasn't as thick as the one Becky got last week, but there was a generous amount of turkey chunks.  Also very good.

Canadian Sandwich.

FYI, if you go, go before noon.  There is a line out the door.

Friday lunch was at La Point's for Ajit's farewell lunch.  I started with New England Clam Chowder.  Lots of little clams in it and very creamy.

Clam Chowder.

The main course was Fish and Chips.  Very good fish.  I got haddock.  Just enough batter and very crispy.  Perfectly cooked.

Fish and Chips.

I made stew to eat on Friday dinner.  I started preparing it on Wednesday night by boiling 4 marrow filled soup bones in some dashi, and then letting it cool over night.  Then I removed some of the solidified grease and added chunks of pork side rib meat on Thursday night, and letting it cool again over night.  Removed more grease and boiled it again on Friday with red onions, carrots, and potatoes.  The broth was very flavourful and sticky from boiling out the gelatin from the bones :)

Stew.

I reheated it again on Saturday and added tofu curds, bacon squares, and quail eggs to the leftovers.  I should have taken a picture, because this was better than the stew on Saturday!

Went to Geek Market on Sunday.  Got a few little things, but it was cramped in the Curling Rinks at the Nepean Sportsplex.  I had a craving for chicken, so I hit The Fry for dinner.  I got half-and-half chicken with Soy Garlic Chicken and Fried Chicken in Sauce.  I also got an order of rice cakes.

The Fry Boxes.

The chicken was amazing.  I think I ate half of the chicken in 1 sitting.  I ate the rice cakes later.  This was really good too.  Last time it I got it, it was too spicy, but this batch was good.

The Fry Revealed.

Moon Festival

Dinner today -> Moon Festival Food.
Went home for dinner today.  My mom ordered food and made food for the Autumn Moon Festival.  First she setup prayer stuff.

Prayer setup.

Then we ate.  I marinated some ribs in Korean short rib sauce and BBQed them.  There was also shrimp with eggplant, lemon chicken, fried fish with corn sauce, pipa tofu, salt & pepper pork, beef & greens, glass noodles, stuffed crab claws and tofu soup.

Birthday Dinner.

Useless Transformers News:
Found Optimal Optimus at Kanata Toys R Us tonight.

Optimal Optimus.

I also got the Amazon exclusive Repugnus and Punch-Counterpunch in the mail today.

Mailed Transformers.

Happy Birthday Mom!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!!

Weekend Report -> Tornado

Food this weekend ->
2 Tornadoes hit Ottawa on Friday.  Destroyed the Merivale transformer station and knocked out power to most of the city, including my house.  I was out on Friday but on my way home I noticed hi-tech park had power.  After a short stop at my parent's house, I decided to wait out the blackout at CMC. 
I monitored they Hydro Ottawa site to see when I got power back.  To kill time, I found the season finale episode of Game of Thrones on Ed's shared folder and watched that while snacking on chips and chili.  I watched the animated Transformers: The Movie after :)

Blackout Snacks at CMC.

Around 1am there was a notice I got power back.  I headed home, but the site was wrong.  There was power back but it stopped about 2 blocks from my house!  D'oh!
I stayed at Susanna's house on Saturday because she got her power back.  Watched Voltron Season 1 on Netflix.  Pretty good.  I didn't know they made 7 seasons!  We ate soup, ramen, pizza, meat pie, cake, lemon tarts, and a shrimp ring.  I don't know why I didn't take any pics?
I got my power back on Sunday morning.  All my fish and ghost shrimp survived while the air pump was off.  The heater in my shrimp tank didn't work after the power came back.  Got a replacement today.  Also all the ice melted in the fridge ice maker.  All the water dripped down over all the other frozen foods.  When the power came back, the water re-froze and covered everything in a layer of ice!

Dinner today -> Mussels
I decided I'm going to eat all my freezer food.  I started with defrosting a box of mussels.  I broiled some in the oven, topped with garlic butter and 3 cheeses.  Good stuff.

Mmm... Mussels.

Ice Cream Dipped in Strawberry Cheesecake

Lunch today ->
I didn't know what to eat for lunch, so Becky and I went out to Simbad Bakery to to get some flat breads.  Becky got cheese pocket (it tasted like butter!) and a zaatar.  I got 2 meat and a zaatar.  These were good, but we didn't eat theses first.  We went and ate dessert first.
We went to the newly opened Chocolats Favoris in Kanata.  It's near the Farmboy on Hazeldean, in the new building behind Colonnade Pizza.  Becky bought some chocolates and a cone each.  I got a mini cone, with vanilla ice cream.  Then I got it dipped in Strawberry Cheesecake sauce.

Mini Cone with Big Pile of Strawberry Cheesecake Covered Ice Cream.

It was really good and rich.  The strawberry cheesecake sauce made a thick shell around the ice cream.  It was a bit too sweet for me, but I want to go back and try some other flavours and a Kooky cone.

Semi-Finals

Lunch today -> Pure Kitchen
Went to Pure Kitchen at lunchtime today.  Met up with Katie and Peter there.  The place is pretty good.  I got a Cheerful BLT with fries.  This vegetarian dish actually tasted like a BLT.  The bacon was replaced with coconut bacon. 

Cheerful BLT with Salty Fries.

I would recommend this sandwich, but the fries were too salty for me.
Katie got a Bounty Bowl and Peter got a Mystical Bowl.  Their bowls looked good too.

Useless Softball News:
Strike Fighters Semi-Final game tonight.  I thought we were going to face the undefeated Bad News Beers, but we faced Big Hitties instead!  It started off close, but they kept hitting into our holes.  We lost 22-11.  It was a good season this year and we finished 3rd in the standings.

Gary Pitching, Steve at 1st, and Denise at 2nd.

I only hit 1-for-1 with a single tonight.  I pulled myself after 2 innings with a nagging tennis elbow in my left arm.
MVP: Denise played hard tonight and was good on defense, but tonight she hit an inside the park homerun!  (or argue it as a triple with an error).  It was awesome everyone was cheering, including the 2 teams watching, when she crossed home.

Weekend Report -> Softball Playoffs

Food this weekend ->
Plans changed at work and I was able to take Friday off, using some banked time.  I went shopping with Julie over in Gatineau.  We went to Adonis to pick up some groceries and fresh pita.  We then went next door to a bakery called "Premiere Moisson".  We got some sandwiches to go, to eat in the Promenade food court.  I got a tuna and egg sandwich on a multigrain bun. 
It wasn't that good.  Lots of tuna, but because of the bun, there was alot of excessive chewing.  Julie got a ham and cheese croissant sandwich, and she said it was dry.  We think the sandwiches look good, but don't taste that good.

Tuna Sandwich.

We also got some raspberry croissants topped with chopped pistachios for dessert.  These were really good.  Just enough sweetness and the croissant was flaky.

Raspberry Croissant.

Sunday dinner was ramen with mushrooms and vegetarian fried flour things (I don't know what its called in english).  They are fried balls that you boil down until they melt into a chewy blobs.  They are good as they absorb the chicken broth from the ramen packet.

Ramen.

Useless Softball News:
Softball playoff started on Friday night.  We played Packing Dingers in the 1st round.  It was a very close game and we lost in the last inning 17-16.  We had runners on 2nd and 3rd, 2 out, and Jeff (our homerun hitter) at bat.  Unfortunately he popped it up backwards and the catcher caught him out.  With the loss, we now have to win it the hard way.  Another loss and we will be out. 

Our 2nd round opponent was Rockwell.  We were playing at 1pm on Saturday and it was so hot and sunny.  The temperature was 28C but it felt like 38C with humidity.  Maureen got hurt in the 1st inning.  Stefano tried his best to treat her, but we had to call an ambulance to take her to the hospital.  By the 5th inning, I felt like I was going to pass out from the heat; but Gary threw a 3-pitch-3-out inning which helped me alot.  I cooled off with some water and finished the game.  We won 9-7 after giving up 6 in the 1st inning.

The next game was verses GDC and it was still stupid hot.  We came out hitting and our defense was great.  I think we won 12-2.  We now advance to the semi-finals on Monday night.

Chinese Casserole Restuarant

Lunch today -> Chinese Casserole Soup
Steve, Ed, and I went to the first day opening of Harbin Chinese Casserole Restaurant today.  The place looks very nice, but the chairs were abit big and awkward.  The menu on each table already had items crossed out.  Also today, there were no sides, scallion pancakes, or cold dishes available.

Menu.

Steve got the 2 meat and 1 vegetable combo: I1, I2, and J4.  It looked good.

Sweet & Sour Pork, Salt & Pepper Pork, and Shredded Potatoes.

Ed also got the 2 meat and 1 vegetable dish: I1, I3, and J7.  His looked good too.

Sweet & Sour Pork, Cabbage & Pork Belly, Mabu Tofu?

I went with a casserole because it's in the name of the restaurant so it had to be good.  Wrong.  I got Casserole B with A1.

Meatball, Tofu, Seaweed Casserole Soup and Stewed Pork Belly.

It was basically my grandma's seaweed soup (which I hate) with tofu squares and meat balls (too much ginger in them).  I thought the meatballs were made with tofu and seaweed, and I thought I was going to get something saucy not watery.  The stewed pork belly was excellent.  I could have eaten 3 bowls of rice with just the pork belly. 
BTW: they seem to top every dish with chopped parsely.  Big mistake to assume everyone likes it.  I'll have to tell them not to add it next time.

Conclusion: I'm willing to give them another chance but I won't get getting the casserole dishes.  I would be satisfied with a cheap meal of stewed pork belly and a few bowls of rice.

The GOOD news is that right next door (connected to the restaurant) is the Presotea bubble tea cafe.  I got a milky taro bubble tea with pearls and lychee bobas.  Will definitely be going back there for more bubble teas.

Final Game

Useless Softball News:
Last game of the season tonight and we face the undefeated 1st place team.  We got beat pretty good 31-15.  My first game back after 4 weeks due to work commitments.
I only hit 1-for-3 tonight: pop out, single, strike out.  I think it was my only strike out all season and it happened at my last abat!
Playoffs start on Friday and through the weekend, and possibly into next week (if we make it that far).

Useless Food News:
The Chinese Casserole restaurant might be opening very soon.  I drove by and the "Now Open" sign that was covered up, is now partially covered due to wind.  I suspect this weekend possibly?
Also Mandarin has staff hiring next week, so Ed and I guess they will be open soon too.  Probably October.

Weekend Report -> 4 Day Weekend

Took time off Friday and Monday to make a 4-day weekend :)  I did ZERO chores :)  Just watched TV, shopped, and ate.

Food this weekend ->
Went to KNH for lunch with Ed and Steve.  I got the chicken pad thai. 

Chicken Pad Thai.

Saturday morning Ben, Susanna, and I went to Adonis in Gatineau.  The fresh store made pita was unbelievable!  It's so soft, fluffy and chewy.  I used it to dip in store made salmon mousse.  I destroyed this and don't have a pic.  I also got stuff zucchini.  Stuffed with meat and rice, but mostly meat.  Very good too.  This would have been better if I made white rice to go with it and the sauce.

Stuffed Zucchini.

We went to Les Promenade Gatineau afterwards.  I got a smoke meat plate to go from Rock'n Deli.  Pretty good.  Will definately get it again.

Smoke Meat.

I made Korean short ribs to eat over the weekend.  I didn't BBQ them, just broiled them in the oven.  May have over cooked some but I wanted the char and sauce caramelization.  Made a big batch of gai lan and some cold egg white noodles too.  Made bowls of noodles, greens and short ribs for my meals.  This pic doesn't do it justice.

Short Ribs, Greens, and Noodles.

Knock Off Silent Mary Ship

FINALLY!  After 3 weeks of overtime and weekend work, the project I was working on has finally been released for it's current milestone.  Its late, but done :)  Now I get to use some banked time to take Friday and Monday off.  I want to take more time off, but I got another deadline on another project soon.

Useless Toy News:
Ordered some knockoff blocks from Ali Express.  It shipped from China to Ottawa in 2 days!  I ordered the Silent Mary.  I only paid $72 for the knockoff!

Knockoff Silent Mary Bricks.

I'm going to build it and put it in my fish tank, so I'd rather pay for a knockoff than for real Lego for this purpose.  The bow bends and one of the masts is made to fall over.  When pushed into the gravel, it will look like a sunken ship that looks broken.  It's got alot of pieces... not sure how long it will take to build.  It's got almost the same amount of pieces as the Lego Voltron Lions, and I read that Voltron takes 6 hours to build!

Ed gave me some mini-marvel busts today.  His wife got a bag full and gave them to me.  Got alot of duplicates :(

Mini Marvel Busts at My Desk.

Long Weekend Report -> Happy Birthday Dad!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!!

Food this weekend ->
Dim Sum at New Beijing Legend for my dad's birthday.  We ate alot of dishes.

After 2 Carts of Food.

Mid-Meal.  More Dishes to Come.

I made a big pot of mushroom meat sauce and ate spaghetti for most of the long weekend.  Why?  I had to work most of the long weekend because we didn't finish and meet the deadline on Friday!  The spaghetti was very good.  I made a great meat sauce. 

Spaghetti.

The picture doesn't do it justice.  The big sprinkle of the Kraft cheddar cheese dust, when mixed in, made the sauce more creamy.

Useless Gaming News:
Jeff twisted my arm to play games at Anthony's on Sunday night :)  We started with a new game I got called "Valeria".  It's like Machi Koro, but much better balanced and more complex.  Great game.  I need to get the expansions.

Valeria.

Then we played Magic Maze til 2am.  We almost finished all the basic scenarios, but the last one.  We also played it on "kids mode" where we stopped the timer when we triggered the hourglass icons.  The stoppage allowed us to plan alot.  We need to redo all scenarios and play them properly.

Magic Maze.