Weekend Report -> Happy Birthday Uncle!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY UNCLE!!!

Food this weekend ->
Went to Montreal on Saturday for my uncle's birthday. 
We started feasting at 3pm.  It was mix-match of different foods.  There was tempura shrimp, chicken, bbq pork, roast pork, egg tarts, fruits, mushroom chips, creme brule, macaroons, and various buns.

Pre-Dinner Feast.

We went to Chinatown for a 7pm dinner at Kim Fung.  When we got there, we were told the reservation was actually at 6pm...  BUT since my uncle knew all the staff and owner like a boss, they kept our tables.
We started with Fish Maw Soup.  My favourite :)

Fish Maw Soup.

Then the main dishes started arriving:
Yellow Chicken (I know how to make this now).

Yellow Chicken.

Tender Beef on Gai Lan.

Tender Beef on Greens.

Lamb, Mushroom, and Tofu Curd Hot Pot.  This was very good.  We used the sauce on the fried rice later.

Lamb Hot Pot.

Shrimp and Fish Loaf.  It's like meatloaf but with shrimp and fish paste.

Shrimp & Fish Loaf.

2 Ginger and Onion Lobsters!  You've never had lobster until you had lobster made like this.

Lobster!

Shrimp on Baby Bok Choi.

Shrimp on Greens.

Yei Mein.

Noodles.

Steamed Fish.  I didn't like it.  It had a slight after taste of sweet "Vicks".  Not sure if it was the fish or if they used too much "something/mirin" in the sauce?

Fish.

Fried Rice.  Wasn't fried enough (Not as good as mine too).

Not Very Fried Rice.

Dessert was orange slices, mini "boob" buns, and redbean soup.

Desserts.

We also had cake from Les Delices Lafrenaie.  We had a Fruit Cake and a Lobstertail Cake.

Birthday Cakes.

Useless Food News:
My parent's got me some "Horse" dessert from a pasty shop in Chinatown before dinner.  It's so sweet, sticky, soft and chewy.

"Horse".

Useless M:tG News:
Picked up my pre-ordered Throne of Eldrine Booster Boxes on Friday.  I got a couple powerful Buy a Box Promo cards and the Pre-order bonus Collector's Packs.

Throne of Eldrine.

Happy Birthday Mom!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JEREMY!!!

Dinner today -> Ratatouille with Shrimp
Since my mom didn't plan anything on her birthday, I went to Jeremy's Birthday dinner.  His gathering was at Savoy Brasserie.  Nice place.  I wanted to try the Ratatouille au Poisson, but it was changed to Ratatouille au Shrimp.

When everyone else was getting their food, they had huge plates of food.  When I got the Ratatouille, it was small :(  I should have gotten the braised lamb shank.  It Ratatouille was good, but I was still hungry.  Still, I'd like to come back and try a different dish.

Costco Shitake Mushroom Crisps

Dinner Tuesday -> Chicken Liver with Garlic Chives.
Garlic Chives were on sale at T&T and picked up a bundle.  They taste great with liver.  I also caramelized a yellow onion in the mix too.  Good stuff.

Chicken Liver, Caramelized Onions and Garlic Chives.

Dinner Wednesday -> Costco Wings.
Did abit of shopping tonight and I hit Costco on the way home.  I got a 30 wing bucket for $20. 

Bucket of Wings.

The Kanata Costco Food Court has a new system now.  You pre-buy your order at a machine, wait for it, then pick it up when called.  It's just like in Japan... 10 years ago!  We are only catching up now...

Useless Food News:
Picked up a bag of Shitake Mushroom Crisps from Barrhaven Costco last week.  They are OK.  The mushroom chips lack the shitake flavour that come from drying it.  The shitake flavour is very suttle.  $8 for the bag is not a bad price.

Shitake Mushroom Crisps.

Useless Transformers News:
Got some Transformers Selects in the mail last week.  I got Zetar and Nightbird.

Zetar.

Nightbird.

I also got from Amazon the Fan Vote 3-Pack.  It includes Holo Mirage, Aragon, and Impactor.

Fan Vote 3-Pack.

Weekend Report -> 3 Refraktors

Useless Food News:
Susanna and I went to T&T on Friday night.  She picked up a bag of Salted Duck Egg Chips to try out. 

Salted Duck Egg Chips.

To me they taste like regular chips.  I don't get the salted egg flavour.

Useless Transformers News:
Picked up the latest wave of Transformers.  I got Red Alert, Brunt, and 3 Refraktors (need 3 for camera mode).

New Transformers.

Useless Gaming News:
James and I went to our monthly gaming session at Sheridan's house this Sunday.  We played Terraforming Mars and Planet.  I finally won my first game of Terraforming Mars after about 10 tries.  Excellent game, but long.

Softball Finals 2019

Useless Softball News:
CMC Strike Fighters put a good fight in the softball finals, but fell to Pitchin Power 14-6.  We still finished 2nd place, so we did very well for this season.

2nd Place Strike Fighters.

We did get to pose with our Mid-season tournament trophy.

Softball Semi-finals 2019

Useless Softball News:
Strike Fighters faced Packing Dingers tonight in the semi-finals.  I was surprised we were facing them.  That means they beat the top team in our division to be here.  I got to the game late as I was buying pizza for the team, but we were already leading 6-0 going into the 2nd.  Mark was on his pitching game again, keeping their hitters guessing and hitting into our defense.  Our bats did the rest and we won 18-10. 
We are now in the Finals on Wednesday night against either GDC or Pitchin Power.

Softball Playoffs 2019

Useless Softball News:
Softball Playoffs started on Friday.  CMC Strike Fighters played Batmen in the 1st round.  They had beaten us in all 3 games this season and they were mostly high scoring games, but that doesn't matter in the playoffs.  We shut them down and beat them 12-2.  Mark's pitching was on fire and he only gave up 1 homerun for them to score their 2 runs.  Our bats were hitting lots of green.
I hit 1-for-1 with 1 single and 2 walks.

We played Packing Dingers on Saturday morning for Round 2.  We beat them, but I don't remember the score.  Mark's pitching shut them down again but he had to leave after this game.  I also got badly hurt in the last inning where I pulled my left calf muscle.  I'm out the rest of the playoffs.
I hit 2-for-4 with a pop fly, single, single, and fielder's choice.

Pitchin Power was Round 3.  They schemed their way to a tie with us last Tues, which gave them 1 point lead over us in the standings, which meant we needed to play higher seeds.  We played them using Tyler as pitcher because Gary fractured his thumb (and it was a meaningless game).  He hasn't pitched since last year and only for 1 inning.  He gave up 6 runs in the 1st inning, but got his rythme down after that.  Their pitchers were also throwing illegal pitches (knuckle balls from the 1st pitcher, and illegal spins from the 2nd pitcher).  The ump let them go because we called them too late and they were struggling to get the pitches over the plate.  I don't think he should have let them go.  He's the umpire and he is suppose to follow the rules.  In the end we lost in Overtime 15-14.  We still advance to the semi-finals as we need to lose 2 games to be eliminated.  Semi-finals are Monday night, and the Finals are Wednesday night.


Food this weekend ->
Team went to Boston Pizza after the 3rd game for dinner.  I got the Big Dipper sandwich.  It's a steak sandwich with au'jus dipping sauce to dunk the sandwich in.  It's very good.  Real steak too.  Not the machine slice roast beef other places serve.

Big Dipper Sandwich.

I also got Kickin Onion Rings for the table.  These are amazing with the dill mayo sauce.

Onion Rings.

I finally used up all the leftover white rice and cauliflower rice I had from Gen's wedding.  I've been making fried rice every day with bits of BBQ pork and egg.  I'm kind of getting tired of it, but the fried rice is especially better when I mix garlic hummus and tzatziki in it.  Gives it a creamy texture and some crunchy rice.

Fried Rice.

Kanata-Opoly

Useless Toy News:
Found this new game at Centrum Walmart "Kanata-Opoly".  It's Monopoly with Kanata properties!

On the back of the box, you can see the board and it lists all the big name landmarks in Kanata.  The only place I don't know is "Small Pony Barrel Works".  I may pick it up, but I think this will go on clearance or atleast drop to $20 before I pick it up.

NOTE: A.Y. Jackson High School is the cheapest property!  LOL  Earl of March High School (my school) is worth more!  YES!

Vacation Over and I Didn't Mow the Lawn.

Congratulations 

Gen and Garth!!!

Been on vacation for the past week.  Spent most of the time shopping and getting ready for Gen and Garth's Wedding.

Tuesday: Took it easy on my 1st day of vacation.  Hit a bunch of Walmarts, EB Games and Toys R Us' looking for new Transformers.  I only found Alpha Trion from the Cyberverse line.  Didn't mow the lawn.

Alpha Trion.

Wednesday: Went to the dentist to get my cracked tooth fixed.  The only thing he did was pull out the cracked half.  He said he needed the gums to heal before he can fix the rest.  I'm going back next Thursday.  On the way home I picked up Portuguese tarts from T&T and a lamb shank meal from Jimmy the Greek.  Didn't mow the lawn.

Portuguese and Greek Food.

Thursday: Went shopping with Julie for her bridesmaid's shoes and hair accessories at Bayshore.  We stopped for a snack at the new Crepe place.  The place is expensive, but the portions are large.  I got a nutella, banana and strawberry crepe.  I didn't realize it came in a plate until they brought it out.  I thought it was Japanese style where they fold the crepe and you hold it like a cone, so you can walk and eat.  Too bad.

Pricy Crepe.

We went to Gen and Garth's house afterwards to help them make the table center pieces.  Julie made a ghetto curry and I was making the rice for dinner.  I forgot to press "cook" on the rice cooker.  We ate a very late dinner.  Didn't mow the lawn.

Friday: Went in to CMC to help organize a Shawarma Lunch.  I was on vacation but I went in to just eat :).  We got way too much food: 6 family platters.  I took a whole tray of rice home and ate half of it for dinner.
I went to Tip Top after lunch to get a new shirt.  The wedding was a purple themed wedding, and I had to change my Autobot tie to a Decepticon tie.  That made the dress shirt I was planning to wearing no longer matching the tie, so I had to get a new shirt to match Decepticon "purple".
I got a couple Transformers Siege sets in the mail: Phantom Strike Squad and Alpha Strike Counterforce.  Didn't mow the lawn.

Siege Decepticon and Autobot Sets.

Saturday: Went grocery shopping in the morning with Julie.  We needed to get ingredients for our dishes for the wedding potluck.  I was making a simple rice with BBQ pork dish, but I had to get the BBQ pork in the morning before they run out at Kowloon Market.  I was lucky.  I ordered 5 Chashu (2.4lbs) from the butcher which seem to be most of the bbq pork left on display.  The guy after me wanted 2lbs.  Not sure if there was enough left for him.  Then we went to a bunch of Indian Grocery stores for Julie's dish and picked up her dress.
Julie spent all afternoon and into the evening making her Chana Masala Curry at my house.  It took so long because she was making it from scratch and there was alot of simmering to get the chic peas to absorb enough water to be soft and mushy.  She made a huge batch and it wasted very good.  Not too spicy, but had a nice kick to it.  It was very good on rice.  Didn't mow the lawn.

Chana Masala Curry.

Sunday: The outdoor wedding was at 11am, but I got there at 9am to help Garth set up.  It was a small wedding with maybe 65 people and it was potluck lunch afterwards.  There was lots of different kinds of food, but way too much food.  Could have easily fed 200 people.
Instead of a wedding cake, Gen and Garth had wedding cupcakes.  The top tier was still make and decorated with a BB-8 and BB-9E toppers (Star Wars music was used during the wedding march).  Didn't mow the lawn. 

Wedding Cupcakes.

Monday: Was planning on mowing the lawn today.  I slept in and got up at noon.  Made fried rice with BBQ pork and eggs from the wedding leftovers for lunch.  I ate it while watching some new episodes of Running Man.  Took a power nap around 2pm and got up around 5pm.  Watched Beverly Hills Cop 2 on TV.  Ate some ice cream and watched more Running Man.  Didn't mow the lawn.

Fried Rice.

I probably need to mow the lawn soon, as it's been 2 months.  But the grass doesn't get long... so it can wait.

Long Weekend Report -> Happy Birthday Dad!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!!

Food this weekend ->
I poached a couple whole chickens in teriyaki marinade, mirin, and corn syrup on Saturday.  The process to make the chicken really soft and juicy is to boil it with the lid on for 10 minutes, then turn off the heat and let it sit for 50 minutes.  Doing it this way the chicken was just cooked.

I chopped up half and poured sesame oil and oyster sauce on it.  It was really, really good.  I'm totally making chicken this way now.

On Sunday we went to the Kanata Noodle House Buffet for my dad's birthday  It's the only Vietnamese buffet in Ontario.  It's all the way out in Gloucester on Innes, near Big Al's Aquarium.
It's got a very good selection of food.  I got a alot of meats on my first plate: Shrimp rolls, pork rolls, salt & pepper shrimp, salt & pepper fish, shrimp on a stick, grilled beef, grilled pork, vietnamese egg rolls, salt & pepper calamari, and meat pancakes.

The problem was when I chomped down on the shrimp on a stick, I crack my tooth that I just got my root canal on.  At first I thought it was a piece of shell stabbing my gum but it was a third of my tooth pushing around.  I ate soft foods after that, and ate with the otherside of my mouth.
There are 5 different pho broths at the pho station.  You can add alot of different meats and seafood to the bowl and they add the noodle and broth (but no tripe or tendon).  Ben made a bowl.

Good desserts too.  I made a red bean, green bean, and jelly bowl with coconut milk.  Sweet and yummy.

Useless Gaming News:
Gavin was in town this long weekend.  Ben, Gavin and I played Magic and Camel Cup on Saturday night.  Ben won 3 of 4 games and all 3 wins were due to him playing his new dragon, Drakuseth, Maw of Flames.
Then on Sunday, Gordon was free and we played 4 player Magic and JackBox (mostly Fibbage2).  It was a blast.  "towelette" LOL