Weekly Report -> PC Chicken Sausage Rolls are Bad

Food this week ->
Went to Montreal on Tuesday with James and Michael.  On the way back we stopped by the Montreal bakery and I got a couple cakes including a Nutella Crepe Cake.  So good with all the layers and whipped Nutella.

Nutella Crepe Cake.

CMC Christmas Party was this week.  It's the first one we've had in years.  It was held at the Nepean Sailing Club.  They dining hall is pretty nice.   The roof is actually and upside down wooden boat hull.  Very cool idea.

CMC Christmas Party.

There were alot of door prizes, including 1 prize of an extra day of vacation. 

Door Prizes.

Andrew won the vacation prize.  If I had won, I wouldn't have picked that.  I have too much vacation already. 
I did win a Godiva Chocolate basket.  I thought it was a good prize at first, but when I opened it later the basket only has 8 pieces of chocolate, 1 pack of hot chocolate, and 2 bags of chocolate covered mini-pretzels.  It also came with a giant brown flower pot.  I told the organizer not to get this basket again (which I think came from Costco).

Bad Godiva Chocolate Basket.

There was lots of food at the Christmas party made by the club chef.  The bacon wrapped scallops were amazing!  We had so much food, people were encouraged to take home doggy bags.

Lots of Good Food.

Even with the doggy bags, I still packed 16 boxes of food to take back to work for the next day!

And Lots of Leftovers.

And More Leftovers.

Tired out the new Big Mac this week because they are $3 for a limited time!  The new Big Mac has more sauce, meaning it has sauce on the upper and lower halves.  Before it was just on one of the halves (don't remember which half).  The probably with this is that when you bite the Big Mac, the middle bun and burger now slides out easily.  It made a mess.  BUT the burger upgrade and bun change is good.

New Big Mac.  Too Much Sauce.

Went to Rideau Restaurant with the guys from work.  We ordered 8 dishes.  The General Tao Chicken dish was changed back.  The sauce was changed and it was very bad.  It's been fixed since the fall.

General Tao Chicken.

I think the Schezwan Beef was mostly fixed too.  The beef slices are now bigger and sauce was change back too.  The sauce is still not as spicy or "tangy" as before, but much better than the summer.

Schezwan Beef.

Went to Farmboy Saturday morning.  I got some bacon and sausages from the Breakfast Bar.  Went home and made eggs and toast to go with it.

Saturday Breakfast.

I got some PC brand sausage rolls from Loblaws on Saturday.  I cooked a box in the oven.  They tasted bad!  The sausage had a weird taste.

Very Bad PC Brand Chicken Sausage Roll.

I noticed afterwards that I bought a Chicken sausage roll box.  Never again!  Problem is, I bought 2 boxes because it was on sale :(  I need to dump the extra box.

Made a roast pork shank on yellow potatoes and carrots.  The pork shank was pre-cooked from Costco, so I only needed to roast it for 15 minutes.

Roast Pork Shank on Vegetables.

The pork is really good.  It shreds like pulled pork.  The sauce/drippings caramelized and were soaked up by the vegetables.

Shredded Roast Pork Shank.

The roast pork shank comes in a 2 pack and Susanna took the other package.  I'm definitely getting more of this.

Breakfast "round 2" on Sunday morning.  Scramble eggs with leftover bacon, sausage, and some disgusting chicken sausage rolls.

Sunday Breakfast.

Useless Gaming News:
I had a huge headache on Sunday, but I really wanted to finish Luigi's Mansion 3.  I was on floor 15, the last floor.  The level was pretty easy but the 2nd last boss battle against Hellen Gravely was tough.  I think it would have been really easy to do with 2 players, but in single player and switching between Luigi and Gooluigi makes it hard.  I died once.
Then the final boss battle against King Boo was super hard!  I died 4 times before I beat him.  Before these 2 bosses, I only died once in the whole game.
Overall the game is pretty good.  The first 3rd of the game is better than the last two 3rds.  Mainly because you get the elevator buttons in a non-linear order.  After level 5, the elevator buttons are gained in order.  It would have been better to get them in different orders.  Multi-player looks good, but I haven't tried it yet.

Weekly Report -> Lay's Spicy Crayfish Flavour

Food this weekend ->
Went to KNH with Ed and Steve this week.  I got the medium Pho #15 (a little bit of everything).  It hit the spot.  I everything including all the broth.  Lot of meat in the bowl, so I could have used abit more noodles.

Pho #15.

Made a couple steaks on Saturday.  Sliced it up to eat over several meals/snacks.  Ate some with microwave chicken rice and frozen veggies. 

Steak Dinner.

Useless Food News:
Susanna and I went to the new Adonis at St.Laurent on Monday night. It's the 2nd week its been open, but it wasn't busy at all on Monday night.  The layout is exactly the same as the other Adonis's.  The prices seem abit high for the cooked food.  We were looking for fresh sugarless pitas, but we only found 1 pack of regular pita that was fresh.  They don't have a pita machine at this location.

Adonis Gets.

I also got a tub of Kopanisti dip (feta and red pepper) for Ed, a bottle of L'orange Maison, and tried out some paella.  The paella was meh.  The guy scooping kept scooping the bits of rice at the top of the bin and not scooping the fully loaded rice at the bottom of the bin.  Not buying this again.

I got a bag of Lay's Spicy Crayfish chips from T&T.  These chips were really good.  They don't taste like the disgusting USA Lay's Cheapskate Crab.  These actually have a shellfish shell flavour, like in a lobster bisque.  You just have to try it if you like seafood.  I'll be getting the family size next time.  Also, these are not spicy.

Lay's Spicy Crayfish.

Got a pack of Strawberry Rolls from Sobey's.  They look really good and soft, but they aren't.  They were not that good.  The sponge cake was way too firm and dense.  The cream filling was too sweet too.  Better to get a box of Twinkies instead of these.

Not Good.

Susanna and I went to the Carp Christmas Market on Friday night.  We bought some kimchi, delicious scones, and these amazing apple cider donuts.

Apple Cider Donuts.

These donuts were so good.  It had a good apple cider flavouring in the donut and was covered with plenty of cinnamon sugar.  $5.50 for box of 6.  Totally worth it.

Amazing Apple Cider Donuts.

Useless Gaming News: 
Board games at Anthony's late Saturday night.  We played Cave Paintings (I won) and Settlers (Anthony won).

I also did my monthly boardgames at Sheridan's on Sunday.  James won Terraforming Mars (in 2.5hr game for 3 players), and both games of Gizmos.  I then won Cave Paintings to finish the afternoon.

Weekend Report -> Black Friday

Food this week ->
I made a mushroom cheese dip on Wednesday night.  I got the recipe from Becky.  It uses 3 cups of white mushrooms (about 1 Costco size white mushroom pack) and 1 & 1/2 cups of Monterey Jack cheese.  I chopped everything and cooked it all in about an hour.  The recipe calls for it cool over night and then heated in the oven for 30mins to finish.  I brought it over to Julie's place on Thursday to eat while watching the "Nailed It: Christmas season 2".  We dipped slice baguette, prosciutto, roast beef, carrots, and pita crackers in the mushroom cheese dip.  It was so good!  This is what I will be bringing to Anthony's Christmas party.

Mushroom Cheese Dip.

I cooked a roast on Friday night.  I got the roast from Loblaws for $5!  It was on sale and 50% off.  I seasoned the room temperature roast with salt, black pepper, garlic powder and onion powder.  I cooked the roast with the 500F degree method (#lbs x 5mins then off for 2hrs).  Since it was a boneless roast, I only let it cook for 1hr40mins. 

Boneless Roast with Potatoes and Carrots.

I should have did 1hr30mins as it came out a little more cooked that I like.  But it was still pink and moist.  The potatoes and carrots were well cooked and soaked up most of the juices.

Still Pink.

Useless Transformers News:
Went out for Black Friday.  Went to Toys R Us and picked up a couple Transformers I'm missing: Direct-Hit, Powerpunch, Ratbat, and Rumble.  They were 20% off.

Black Friday Transformers and Gum.

I also picked up a pack of blue gum.  I haven't tested it yet, but I'm hoping it turns your mouth blue :)

Useless Gaming News:
I also went to Out of the Box.  They had 20% off all boardgames and 10% off all supplies.  I picked up an expansion for Mansions of Madness, the last 2 EXIT games to finish the set, and some sleeves.

Black Friday Board Games.

Weekend Report -> KNH Buffet

Food this weekend ->
Went to the Kanata Noodle House Buffet on Sunday for Susanna's birthday lunch.  I ate so much.  I had 4 plates of food, including about 18 big shrimps with head on and 3 rice wraps.  They no longer have mini-rice wraps.  They now serve full size rice wraps, but you have to ask for them.  The fresh pad thai was good too, but it was even better with stir fried beef instead of the chicken.  I'll have to order pad thai with beef next time at KNH.

I also ate 2 bowls of the coconut milk drink with jelly, red beans, and green beans.  It's way easier to eat this drink in a soup bowl instead of a glass.

The food was excellent, but the service was horrible.  The 4 waiters/waitresses on duty didn't bring water refills the whole time we were there (1pm to 3pm) until I went up to interrupt their group chat to ask for water (the water brought was luke warm too).  This really annoyed me as the place wasn't that busy.  

Useless Gaming News:
The plan was to play 6 player board games at my place on Saturday, but Gen and Garth had another commitment to go to, and Julie wasn't feeling well.  So only Arseni, Jeremy and I played.  We played Tapestry and Cloudspire.  I rocked Tapestry in one game with almost 300 points.

Weekend Report -> Silent but Deadly

Food this week ->
Went to KNH with Reza, Steve, and Marc on Wednesday.  Reza told us about all the great perks of his new job and company.  It sounded amazing.  We have nothing compared to his new company.
It was cold on Wednesday, so I order a hot pho bowl.  I got the #15 Medium.  It was super tasty with lots of meat :)

Pho #15 Medium.

Made chicken stew on Saturday.  I boiled 4 chicken legs in water with yellow onions, garlic, dashi, fish sauce, and yellow potatoes.  I thickened the stew with rue made with milk, flour and butter.  When it was mostly cooked, I shredded the chicken legs so there was chick in every bite.

Chicken Stew.

I served it over leftover chicken rice.  The stew was so good and had a great flavour.  I think it was mainly due to the dashi and fish sauce.

Chicken Stew on Rice.

Useless Underwear News:
Checked out the "Lazy One" pop-up store at Bayshore.  It's a PJ and boxer shorts store.  This one caught my eye "Silent but Deadly".  My Chinese zodiac is "snake" and it fits my fongpay ID name.  I didn't buy it, but I think I will go back and get it.  I think it was 50% off too.

Silent but Deadly.

Weekend Report -> Softball Party

Food this weekend ->
Susanna and I went to Chinatown on Saturday morning.  We got some freshly made Vietnamese Subs.

Vietnamese Sub.

Threw out the green stuff (coriander) in my subs.  Nasty stuff :)

I also got some BBQ pork buns and deep fried curry buns from Kowloon Market.  They were fresh and hot out on the display.

BBQ Pork and Curry Buns.

The last thing I got was some BBQ pork and a whole soy chicken.  I put them together in a tray for the Softball Party Saturday night.

Fresh BBQ Pork and Soy Chicken.

Softball party was lots of fun.  Tons of food to eat and drink, fun games, and heard some embarrassing Stefano stories.

Useless Transformers News:
Picked up a couple new Transformers from Baseline Walmart last week.  I got Bluestreak and Thundercracker.  Didn't see any Soundblasters left of the 35th Anniversary Transformers Display.  I found these 2 on the shelf.

Bluestreak and Thundercracker.

Weekend Report -> A Week in Review

Food this weekend ->
Got live blue crabs from the Asian grocery store in Kanata.  They were a medium to medium-small size this week, so 5 made a good snack.   They only came to $7.05 too.

Live Blue Crabs.

I also got some Rideau Restaurant takeout on Friday night.  Got an order of beef chow mein and shrimp in lobster sauce.

Rideau Takeout and Apple Pie.

The shrimp in lobster sauce was so good mixed with white rice.
Dessert was a discounted apple pie.  I can't believe I ate the whole pie in 2 days.

Useless Halloween News:
Celebrated Halloween at work on the 30th.  I figured we would get a sugar rush early and not get all the sugar on just the 31st.  I called it "Merry Halloween Eve".  We had 200 chocolates, chips, popcorn and even a cake.  All for only $60.

Halloween Treats.

Halloween Cake.

Useless Transformer News:
Got the exclusive Transformers: Siege Smokescreen from Toys R Us in the mail. 

Smokescreen.

EB Games had the exclusive at first, but only ordered enough for pre-orders.  I didn't pre-order, so I'm glad TRU took over the exclusive.

Got the ComicCon exclusive BotBots in a different package. 

ComicCon BotBots.

Still missing 2 BotBots from Series 2: #22 and #24.

Useless M:tG News:
Also got in the mail, the exclusive 3 My Little Pony Magic: the Gathering cards.  It was $50 but $30 of it went to charity.

My Little Pony Magic Cards.

Useless Gaming News:
Picked up the new Luigi's Mansion 3 on the Nintendo Switch.  This is fun.  You play as Luigi searching a haunted hotel for Mario, Peach, and 3 Toads, all the while solving puzzles and capturing ghosts.  I'm still on the first 5 floors of the 15 floor hotel.

Luigi's Mansion 3.

Also picked up a new board game: Tapestry.  Out of the Box had an extra copy and held it for me.  It's sold out everywhere!

Tapesty.

6 Player games at Anthony's on Saturday.  We played Fibbage 2, One Word, Telestrations, and then more Fibbage 2.

Weekend Report -> More Poutine

Food this weekend ->
Went back to World of Poutine on Friday with Ed, James and Marc.  I got from Golden Fries the award winning 2019 Toronto Poutine: Bacon and Lobster.

Meh... Bacon and Lobster Poutine.

It wasn't that good.  Actually it didn't work for me at all.  The lobster and brown gravy didn't go well together.  I didn't get much bacon either.  AND the gravy and fries weren't hot enough to melt the cheese curds.  Not sure how this truck won.  I saw that another truck also had lobster poutine, but he used a white gravy.  I think that would have worked better with seafood.

On Saturday, I went back again with Julie and Arseni.  I got a Brisket Poutine from BBQ Babes.  It was $18 but totally worth it.

Meaty Brisket Poutine.

As you can see, there was lots of brisket meat topping.  The gravy was good as was the BBQ sauce.  The fries and gravy were hot enough to melt the cheese curds too.
We also shared a blooming onion and deep fried cheese curds from the Golden Onion truck.  I forgot to ask them where they normally locate their truck :(

Sunday, I made a curry stew.  I roasted the stewing beef and vegetables (mini potatoes, carrots, onions, and garlic) in the oven Saturday night.  Then I cooled them in the fridge over night.  On Sunday morning I boiled the meat in a simmer for 30 mins before adding the veggies and the Japanese curry roux blocks.  Served it over fresh white rice.

Curry Stew on Rice.

Useless Gaming News:
Gaming at Anthony's on Friday night with just 3 players: Anthony, Jeff and myself.  Ben has been "wha-pa!" and couldn't go.  We played a couple rounds of Draftosaurus, a couple rounds of Point Salad, a game of Quacks with level 4 books, and short game of Robo-Rally to finish the night.

On Saturday, I was suppose to have 6-player gaming at my house after poutine lunch, but only Julie and Arseni could make it (and Sherlock the dog).  We played Tapestry first.  Arseni backed it on Kickstarter and brought it over to try out.  This is a really good game!  Only 5 turns in the game, but there is lots to do.  Many different ways to get points and win the game.  It now tops the list of the next boardgame I need to get. 
We also played Mansions of Madness 2nd edition.  The app makes this game so easy to setup and play.  We just barely won the 1st mission (the easy beginner mission).  Arseni and I were rolling really bad, but Julie was giving us re-rolls with her character's ability as well as rolling really well.
The 2nd mission we played had a bigger map but seemed easier.  We didn't take as much damage as the first game.

Mansions of Madness and SwordCrafters.

We finished the night by trying out Sword Crafters.  It's a drafting game to build a 3D sword.  Neat idea for a game, but it lacks something.  We only played it 2 players, so maybe it's better with more players?