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 -> 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.

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.

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.

Siege Ratchet and Refraktor

Dinner today -> Steak, Eggplant, Mushrooms and Rice.
Steak is on sale at Sobey's.  Got a couple and cooked one for dinner.  I also cooked some Chinese eggplant with some mushrooms in butter and soy sauce.  I used that to top some chicken flavour instant rice.  Then I sliced the steak and add that to the bowl.  Good stuff :)  The rice soaked up all the drippings/butter sauce.

Steak Dinner.

Useless Comic News:
Dollarama has started putting some expensive Graphic Novels on their book shelves.  They are only $4.  I got a bunch of Marvel graphic novels including X-Men, Iron Man, Thor, and Avengers.  The thick Invincible Iron Man book has a suggest price of $40!

$4 Graphic Novels.

Useless Transformers News:
Found some new Transformers this week.
First Toys R Us got the Transformers Siege Refraktor Hascon box set.

Refraktor Hascon Box.

It comes with 3 Refraktors in camera mode and a Kremzeek.  The camera is pretty cool; and 3 the weapons combine together to make the tripod stand.

Camera Mode + Kremzeek.

Robot modes.  I thought they were supposed to be diaclone colours but they aren't.  2 are the same and the middle one has a green chest with no Decepticon symbol.

Robot Mode + Kremzeek.

Ship modes are meh.  The extra attachments don't fit in ship mode either.  No point in transforming to ship mode.  It's all about the camera mode.

Meh + Kremzeek.

I also got the EB Games exclusive TF:Siege Ratchet (FYI there are not Ratchets left in Kanata EB Games). 

Exclusive Ratchet.

Repaint of Ironhide with a slight remold of some parts and a new weapon accessory.

Ambulance Mode.

The final new Transformer I got was TF:Cyberverse Gnaw.  He's got a neat spin attach in robot mode.

Gnaw.

Sharkticon mode is good too.  It only lacks move-ability for the arms (aka they don't move at all), but other than that, it looks like the movie sharkticons.

Sharkticon Mode.

Comeback Win!

Lunch yesterday -> McDonalds
Monday was the last day of the $3 Big Macs.  I got 2 for lunch with a coffee.  Steve says the QuarterPounders are next, but don't know when it starts.

$3 Big Macs and Coffee.

Useless Softball News:
Strike Fighters cameback, down by 3 runs in the last inning tonight, to beat GDC 16-17! 
Andrew lead off the and hit a double. 
Steve hit it deep for a fly-out but got Andrew to 3rd base. 
I lined it up the middle with a single to score Andrew.
Maureen popped fly out.
Gary hit a single and I got to 2nd.
Marc launched it deep to the fence for a double and scored myself and Gary to tie the game.
Sean finished it off with deep single to score Marc for the win!
We play GDC again next week.
Tonight I hit 2-for-3: fly out, single, and single.  I also scored 2 RBI. 

Useless Food News:
Picked up the 3 new Lay's Chips flavours at Walmart: Cheesy Garlic Bread, Onion Rings, and Pizza.  I opened Onion Rings first as it's the one I have least expectations for.  They taste like onion rings from Harvey's.  It's not bad.   Will try the others later.

New Lay's Chips.

Useless Transformers News:
Centrum Walmart has the 2 new battle masters: Caliburst and Smashdown.  As of Tuesday 9:30pm there were 3 of each left.  Nothing else new at Kanata Super Walmart and Toys R Us.

Caliburst and Smashdown.

Siege: Jetfire

Dinner today -> Salmon.
Salmon is on sale at Sobey's.  Picked up a big filet for $12.  Pan steamed it with salt, black pepper, paprika, garlic powder and onion powder.  I was going to do lemon and dill, but the lemon I had in the fridge was all shriveled up.

Salmon Dinner.

Dessert today -> Lemon Squares.
Jes made me some fresh lemon squares.  I was planning on eating some after taking my post-softball shower, but I forgot about them in the fridge til 1am.  I didn't want to eat them that late, so I'll have to eat them tomorrow.

Jes's Lemon Squares.

Useless Softball News:
Strike Fighters just beat out Packing Dingers tonight 15-12.  We were leading going into the last inning 8-10.  They scored 4 to go ahead 12-10.  We got to bat and tied it 12-12 with 2 out and runners on 1st and 2nd.  Jeff came through and hit his first home run in a long time and got us the win.
I hit 3-for-3 tonight: single, single, double.

Useless Transformers News:
Got Transformers Siege: Jetfire in the mail yesterday.  He is huge! 

TF Siege: Jetfire.

The hand gimmick is a great idea to hold his gun.  He also has a reversable Autobot/Decepticon symbol on his chest (to mimmick the G1 cartoon where he switches sides).

Weekend Report -> Siege Starscream

Food this weekend ->
Our monthly gaming session at Sheridan's house was this Sunday.  We played Raiders of the North Sea, Raiders of the North Sea with Hall of Heroes expansion, Puerto Rico, and Princes of Florence.  James won all 4 games we played!  I wasn't even close in any of them.
Anyways, after gaming, I hit Bayshore for some discount sushi (Bayshore closes at 6pm on Sunday so it goes BOGO at 5pm).  Got 4 boxes :).  I got 2 Avocado salmon, 1 eel, and 1 inari.  The inari (tofu pocket) was too sweet.

Sushi.

Useless Transformers News:
I finally found Seige Starscream at Kanata Toys R Us.  The chest piece on him was really loose when I transform him.  It's meant to come off, but it's not easy to try and transform him while trying to keep it on.
Didn't see any Botbots Series 2 single blind packs or any 5 packs.  

Starscream.