Happy Halloween!!!

Lunch today -> Halloween Snacks.
As part of Social Committee I got treats for everyone for Halloween.  I got chips, Pringles, Cheetos, gum, rockets, and 9 different types of chocolate.  This was my lunch too :)

Halloween Treats

Dinner today -> Leftover Congee
I made a big pot of congee on Tuesday.  I used a 1-to-12 ratio of rice to liquid.  In it was just ground pork and preserved duck eggs with additional flavouring from chicken broth and dashi.  I added a raw egg to the hot bowl too.

Tasty Congee.

Weekend Report -> Witches Brew

Food this weekend ->
Went to Starbucks on Friday and tried out the new Witches Brew drink.  It looked interesting with the green and purple.

Witches Brew.

I don't like it.  It tastes like slushy orange-creamsicle with bits of chia seeds in it.  Plus it was $6 for the grande.  Totally not worth it.

Made steak and veggies for dinner on Friday.

Steak and Veggies.

Sunday lunch I made expired maple bacon.  It smelled fine before cooking and tasted fine after cooking.  Plus it was only 1.5 months over the expiry date.  Then I decided to cook some frozen mini chicken samosas in the bacon grease!  It turned out really good.  Too bad I didn't have any sour cream.

Mini Chicken Samosas and Bacon.

Dinner Sunday was some spaghetti with leftover chopped bacon, garlic, cheese powder, and leftover bacon grease (instead of olive oil).

Pasta with Bacon.

Useless Gaming News:
Gamed 2 days in a row.  First was Friday night at Jeff's.  Anthony, Derek, Jeff and I played boardgames during Game 3 of the World Series.  We played a couple games of Valeria and a game of Clank in Space.  We stopped just before 3am, but the baseball game wasn't over yet.  I hit McDonalds on the way home (at 3am there was a queue of 3 cars before me!), and ate a Big Mac meal during the last few extra innings. 

On Saturday, Went to Gen's and Garth's new apartment for 6 player gaming.  Julie, Arseni, and Jeremy were there too.  We played 2 more games of Charterstone (games 7 and 8 of 12), a few rounds of Magic Maze, and Deception: Murder in Hong Kong.  Deception is loads of fun with 6 players.  Charterstone is great too.  In this unique legacy game, we just unlocked a really cool game mechanic to be used only for Game 9.  Problem is, we don't know if it will cause a good or bad outcome for whoever triggers it.

Seatbelted Fries.

Lunch today -> Glen's Fries.
I had an appointment today at 1pm today.  So I got a late lunch from Glen's.  I got a large fry with salt & vinegar halfway down.  Hot chipwagon fries on a cold day, just make them taste that much better.  After I ate some I seatbelted the fries in for the trip back to work.

Safety First.  Can't Spill the Delicious Fries.

Useless Food News:
Went shopping tonight with Susanna at Bayshore and Loblaws.  We picked up some discount sushi at Bayshore, but they were already BOGO free at 7:45pm!  That's super early!  We got a couple boxes each.
Then at Loblaws we got some frozen Cowboy Steaks.  Regular price was $35, but they were on sale for $15!  $20 off!
I also got a regular steak for 50% off and a rack of pork ribs for 50% off.  I got so much meat to eat now, but funny thing is... I'm in the mood for chicken :)  Especially Korean fried chicken from The Fry.

Fish, Pork, Beef, but no Chicken.

Sagrada

Snack Monday -> Taco Chips.
Tried the Lay's Taco flavoured chips.  They are not bad.  Taste like taco with a hint of curry.  I think I still prefer Grilled Cheese flavour over these.

Taco Flavoured Chips.

Dinner today -> Sushi
Had today off.  Mowed the lawn this morning, as I hadn't mowed it for about 2 months and it's getting colder with possible snow later this week.  Then I ran some errands with Julie and then we watched last few episodes of BeastMaster Season 3 while eating Rideau Chinese food.  We went to Cabella's Flannel sale, but there wasn't that much real flannel for sale.  I was disappointed.
On my way home today, I stopped by Bayshore and got discount sushi.  I was there around 8:10pm and it was already BOGO free.  They started really early.

BOGO Sushi.

Useless Halloween News:
I decorated the fridge at work on Monday night.  I think it looks pretty good.  This year is more PG rated.  Last year we had bloody hand prints on the windows and ripped off limbs on the tables.  

Pumpkin Head Skeleton.

Useless Gaming News: 
Gaming/ house warming night at Peter's new house on Tuesday.  There were 6 of us there for games and pizza.  We played Coup, 7 Wonders, Dominion, and my new game Sagrada.
Sagrada is short 30-40 min game, where you draft coloured dice to build a stain glass window.  But our short game ended up being 1.5 hrs long!

My Sagrada Board.

Weekend Report -> 1 Chicken, 2 Pots

Didn't do too much this weekend.  Spent Saturday cleaning stuff in the house but I kept stopping to play with the stuff I find.
Then on Sunday, I went to work to move most of my stuff from my current desk to my new desk.  I've been at that same desk for 17 years, and I've built up alot of stuff.  Again I ended up stopping frequently to check the stuff I had forgotten about.  After 5hrs, I'm still not done.

Food this weekend ->
I bought a whole raw chicken from Loblaws for $5.  I chopped it in half and started to make a big pot of chicken stew/soup.  The pot was too full, so I split it into 2 pots.

Too Much Chicken Stew

I put half a chicken in each pot along with some onions, chopped garlic, quail eggs, fish cake, daikon, noodle knots, bailing mushrooms, and tofu curds.

1st Pot Full of Chicken Stew.

2nd Pot.

Over the weekend I ate and finished 1 pot and 1/3 of the other pot.  It was good and filling.

Close Up.

Happy Birthday Katie!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KATIE!!!

Organic Clothes?

Went out shopping tonight with Susanna at Tanger and Toys R Us.  We were looking for baby girl clothes for our cousin.  We were looking for "Organic" clothes (not sure what that is?  100% cotton clothes?).  We didn't find anything good, but I found some running shoes I may want to buy soon, bought some gingerbread and candy cane lindt chocolate, and I got myself some Batman Lego :)

Lunch today -> Dagwoods.
Got lunch at Dagwoods today.  I got the large Dagwood sandwich.  Very good.  Freshly sliced meats topped with veggies and their Dagwood sauce.

Dagwood Sandwich.

Staycation Ends

Vacation over and back to work today.  I had to be in for 7:30am too.  I was being audited so early in the morning.  It was extra tough since I've been going to bed around 3-4am and waking up at noon for the past few days.

Food on Staycation ->
I made a big pot of stew using leftover rib bones from the prime rib roasts I made the week before.  I boiled and cooled the rib and rib meat for 2 days so I could get all the meat to fall off and to get all the gelatin from the bones out.  Then I added cubed up leftover roast meat, onions, garlic, mini potatoes, and carrots.  I took a pic but it came out really dark?
I was eating this stew most of the staycation but towards, I had reboiled it so much that the meat started to fall apart and become super tender.  I also added some red pepper paste and ramen to it to change it up.  This pic turned out better.

Ramen Stew.

I also had some middle of the night trips to McDonalds.  I discovered that the Monopoly pieces do NOT come on medium fries in the combo.  They only come on large fries.

Big Mac Combo.

Made eggs one night with toast and a slab of smoked salmon from Montreal.  The salmon was from the Jean-Talon market.  It was really good.  It was also expensive, but Ben paid :)  Found no bones in it either.

Smoke Salmon, Eggs, and Toast.

Went to KNH for lunch with Ed and Steve today.  It was cold outside today so Ed and I got soup dishes.  I got my "can't-go-wrong" Pho #15 medium.  It's got a little bit of everything and totally hit the spot.

Pho #15 Medium.

Useless TV News:
Watch the first episode of the new DC "Titans" TV show.  I'm liking it so far and I want to see what happens with Robin the 2nd episode.

Staycation Begins

Lunch today -> Ikea Salmon.
First day of staycation.  Went to Ikea to get a shoe cabinet with Julie.  We stopped for lunch in the Ikea cafeteria.  I got the salmon with a dill and lemon sauce, with a side of vegetable medallions, steamed vegetables, garlic toast.  Dessert was an apple cake.  Washed it down with Smurfberry Lingonberry juice.  Very good meal for a good price. 

Ikea Lunch.

Snack today -> Voodoo Chips.
Got a small bag of Zapps Voodoo kettle chips from the Dollarstore in Ogdensburg on Monday.  It's pretty good.  The chips are very crunchy and they taste like they were lightly seasoned with All-Dressed seasoning with a hint of Salt & Vinegar.  I definitely will get more next time I'm there.

Voodoo Kettle Chips.

Useless Lego News:
Finished building the Lego Voltron.  This is a very cool build.  Each lion has a slightly different build, and they are huge!  The sword looks nice on one side, but the back side is just plain Lego backing.

Lego Voltron Lions.

Forming Voltron is easy and the he stands on very sturdy feet.  The arms have very sturdy joints so when he holds the sword and shield, the weight doesn't make the arms drop down.

Voltron.

Useless Tool News:
Went to Lowes and picked up a new drill.  It's on sale for the Black Friday week.  Going to use it to build my shoe cabinet and some other errands during staycation.

Drill.

Useless Transformers News:
Forgot to post that I picked up Cindersaur and Outback last week.

Cindersaur and Outback.

Long Weekend Report -> Fermented Fish!

Food this weekend ->
The family went to Montreal on Saturday for my uncle's birthday.  I had picked up Mario Party for the Nintendo Switch the day before and the kids and I had a blast playing it.

We had a birthday cake before leaving for Chinatown.  It was a black forest cake (my favorite)!  Pretty good, but I think I still prefer the version from Sobey's.

Birthday Cake.

Once we got to Chinatown and seated, the table had prepared sauces for the food.  Clockwise from top: red vinegar for the fish maw soup, hot sauce, course salt for the chicken, and the new white sauce was mashed stinky tofu and blended into a sauce.

Stinky Tofu Sauce!

After fish maw soup (no pic) was the karage (fried dark chicken chunks) and fried shrimp (also no pic).  It was very good.  They were large chunks of real chick like popcorn chicken, but splashed with mayo.  This was followed by the fried fish cake.  Very good, but the outside part could have been more crispy.

Fish Cake.

Then came the veggie dishes: Bok Choi with Shrimp,

Shrimp.

and Seafood with Snow Peas.

Seafood.

Chicken with shrimp chips was next.

Chicken.

Then came the fish.  It was a flayed fried fish covered in a sweet & sour sauce.  It was different but looked really tasty.  I took a big chunk and tried it.  Uggg!  It was so fishy!  The sweet & sour sauce made it worse as once that flavour disappeared, it uncovered the super fishy taste.  We told the waiter and he told us that our Uncle specifically ordered the fish to be made this way.  It was traditional from his village and that the chef tried to persuade him not to order it.  The fish was fermented for 2 days to give it that "fishy" taste.  Our table couldn't eat it.  My parent's table couldn't eat it and sent it back.  My Uncle's table finished it in a flash!  Anyways the restaurant packed the other 2 fish for them to take home.

2 Day Fermented Sweet & Sour Fish.

Next came the lamb in a hot pot.  Very good.  The lamb was so tender and flavourful.

Lamb Hot Pot.

Green onion with ginger lobster followed.  2 big meaty lobsters chopped up and prepared perfectly.

Lobster!

Finishing off the main dishes were the noodle dish and fried rice (no pics).  Desserts was red bean soup, oranges, and freshly steamed mini-sweet buns.  Then we had another birthday cake.  It was a giant strawberry short cake the restaurant cut up and served (no pic, they took it way too fast).

Hot and Toasty Mini Sweet Buns.

Sunday night, I made a prime rib roast.  I got a really nice cut from SuperStore, where it was the best sale price.  I used the easy 500degree method. 

Prime Rib Roast.

Came out a nice medium rare.  I took some to my parents house and then ate some with just plain white rice.

Mmm... Meat.

Useless Lego News:
While in MTL, Ben, Susanna, and I went to the Lego Store.  I picked up the Voltron Set.

Voltron.

It's got 16 bags of lego and the instructions are divided up by each lion.  I finished building 2 lions in a couple hours.  Hopefully I get the rest done soon.

More Pearls than Drink

Breakfast today -> Farmboy Breakfast Bar.
Had to drop the car off for an oil change this morning.  Susanna picked me up and drove me to work.  We stopped at Farmboy to pick up breakfast.  I grabbed my usual scramble eggs, 6 sausages, and 6 bacon strips.  When I went to get a bag of pita bread, they were sold out!  I settled for tortilla wraps, but it's not the same.

Breakfast.

Wrapped up the filling with a tortilla wrap but it tasted mushy.  Pita wraps give it a bread taste.

Tortilla Wrapper Not That Good.

Dinner today -> Mushroom and Potato Perogies.
Still cleaning out the freezer and made a box of mushroom and potato perogies for dinner.  Pan fried them in oil and butter until they were hot and crispy.  Topped them with leftover bacon and sausages.  I didn't have any sour cream but they were still good like this.

Mushroom and Potato Perogies.

Snack yesterday -> Milk Honeydew Bubble Tea.
Went to Presotea yesterday and tried the Milk Honeydew Bubble Tea.  Got it with pearls and regular milk and sugar.  It's very good, but found it abit too sweet. 

Milk Honeydew Bubble Tea.

I find that the Presotea in Kanata puts alot of pearls in the cup and I usually end up with pearls left when I finish all of the liquid.  With other bubble tea places I usually find I finish all of the pearls before finishing the drink.  Having pearls left to eat is much better :)

Happy Birthday Ethan!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ETHAN!!!

Rainforest Renegades Escaped!

Useless Escape Room News:
Gordon, Brian, Ben and I went to Funhaven tonight to try out their rebuilt escape rooms.  We played the "Rainforest Renegades" room.  It is an excellent room.  Very good teamwork puzzles, lots of different kind of puzzles, and overall very fun (one of the puzzles freaked me and Ben out too).  The site recommends 4-8 people but 8 is way too much.  4 people, maybe 5 max.  More than that, you will just get in each others way.

The guide said this was their hardest room, but we destroyed it.  It's a 60 minute escape, and we got out in 28 minutes!  I still highly recommend this room to groups with good communication and teamwork.  Playing with strangers might be abit difficult.
Hint: the order is Kup, Hound, Prime, Trailbreaker ;)  Gordon, Ben and I understand this so it was easy to remember the order.