It’s not often that one see such a huge and old lobster – this one is so huge – I’m guessing it must be like 100 Ibs!

Normal lobsters are like 5Ibs – can you imagine eating 100 Ibs of lobster?  i love lobsters but I don’t think I would eat that humongous lobster – would you?

I don’t know if it is just foodie and food bloggers who loved anything to do with food – but I do and whenever I see kitchen gadgets that I can use and they are lovely in color – I go ga-ga over them.  I saw these at our local supermarket and fell in loved with them – they are great for making single portion of lasagne or even baked spaghetti.  They come in oval shaped and round shaped – the round ones can probably be used to make Tiramisu or one can attempt to make baked onion soup in them.

Endless food and dishes I can think of to use these stoneware.

Baked rice anyone?  They are very cheap too at Sobeys – less than $4 I think – love the colors.

I loved to use the oven to bake my food – from fish to garlic bread but you and I know that heating the oven up and then baking something for 10 -20mins is really a lot of electricity used.  So I try to use the steamer instead more often – because the charges for our electric bills during the winter are very expensive.  Unlike a friend who lives in NJ – they have nj electricity that promises savings for those signed up with them.   Here, we don’t have a competitive rate – therefore, I have no choice but to use my oven efficiently.

So you asked how do I do that?  well, if I wanted to use the oven that evening – I make sure that it’s not just one thing that I am going to bake.  I will bake my chicken wings or cookies or whatever I need for the next few days  – so that I don’t have to turn on my oven for just a 12 mins baking of a fish and then shut it right off.  These days, you really have to save as much as you can – when it’s over the roof when it comes to electric bills.  So like all others, we always asked ourselves – to keep the family warm or eat?  I say keeping warm is very important – wished we had a competitor here for Scotia Powers.

Sundays are usually days when we go out to eat as a family – but like most restaurants in Canada – the portions are really huge – we never ever managed to finish our food.   So what do we do?  we doggy bag the leftover and eat them for dinner (most times) or the next day.  We’ve always taught Chloe from young that food must not be wasted – so we always finish our leftovers – what about you guys?  what is your take with leftover food from restaurants and at home?  do you eat them all another day – or do you not doggy bag them for fear of looking cheap?

Many years ago before coming to Canada – I would never dream of packing up leftovers at the restaurants.  When I eat with my bosses or travel for work with them – I always felt like it’s so cheap to wanna doggy bag the food home – so why the 360 degree change?  Firstly, my current food is not paid by my bosses – who always eat extravagantly and being expatriates – they never like to pack food back to the hotel but now that I have a kid – I have to teach her good values and because of all the charitable organization I’ve joined after coming to Canada  – I’m made aware of the many people who are less fortunate than us  – therefore, I try never to waste food.

As a diabetic it’s quite a feat to eat out and even if we found something that we liked – it’s important to know how much sugar is in your food.  I loved this dish very much – it’s with chicken meat and a little rice – and I loved the thai sweet and spicy chilli sauce – so guess what I did – I went out to M & M’ meat shop to get some.  But hold it!  I found out that 2 tablespoons of this yummilicious thai chilli has 16 grams of sugar.  Now that’s not good at all – and even though I don’t eat a lot of the sweet chilli sauce – still 2 tablespoon is very easy to dip and finish.  So diabetics out there – if you are having side sauce like I do when I eat out – make sure you check out the sugar in them.  Luckily for me – I found out – so the next time I eat my chicken and rice dish – I would dip sparingly.

Ever since coming to Canada – I’ve to learned to cook for myself – but one thing awesome about cooking here is I never have to cook for PB – why?  because he likes his own kinda food – like potatoes, carrots, some chicken – not a lot of beef or sandwiches.  So I never have to worry about cooking for him – he can eat a sandwich in the morning, sandwich for lunch and another sandwich for dinner.  Yup!  he isn’t adventurous at all with his food – but every Sunday – he will cook potatoes, carrots – some sort of meat for supper – for the entire family – so I can’t really complained right?  Sure it is monotonous but better than my dad – having only cooked for his children once in our entire life – so I count my blessings.

I loved a good garlic bread – and found one that I liked very much here – so sometimes we also have garlic bread but not every weekend.  And for lunch we dine out on Sundays – although PB doesn’t really like eating out either.   So yes, for someone who lovesssssssssssss food like myself and being with a man who eats to live – well -  quite bizarre right?  but he has improved over the years – and he makes it a point to bring me and Chloe out to eat every week – although there are limited restaurants that he likes.

Have you ever wonder why we can’t make our croissant look like that?  whenever I make my own croissant back home – they are not crunchy nor looking so fluffy at all.   So what kinda magic does these girls have that I don’t, pray tell?   I had a egg and chicken salad sandwich today and it was yummy – loved the girls at Tim’s because they always remember me when they have my favorite mushroom soup.  One day – I’m gonna ask the girls how they make my sandwich/croissant look so yummy and not all flatten and crushed like mine when I do it at home.

As a food blogger, we are constantly looking out for good food – and good food at a good price, so when a customer who moved into town from Germany asked me where can I get the best piece of steak – I show them the way to Emin’s Meat Market down on South end.  No one makes meat like Emin’s and you’ve gotta love the friendly and personalized service at the Emin’s.  So we headed to Emin’s but not before we went to check out some beauty stuff that we had read about – eyelash growth product reviews said that we could look out for them at our local pharmacy as well. So after we had done that – we headed to the best meat market in town.

Alas, Fred wasn’t there – but his staff working were just as friendly and knowledgeable – and we bought not only pieces of steak but Slovakia pork, sausages and stuffed pork as well.  My new found customer was really impressed with what Emin’s had to provide and she told me – the steak she bought – melted in her mouth and the apple cinnamon and the maple sausages that she had for breakfast the next morning  – were the best she had ever had.

Asked me anything about food – I’m the expert in it – but we did make out pretty well with the beauty department too – after all – which woman don’t know a bit about beauty products right?  I had a fruitful day !  food and beauty products – I’m a happy girl alright!

For those who’ve supported Chloe in raising funds for her school – thru’ the lobster tickets sale – I’m sorry to say that no one from our group won the 25lbs of lobsters – it was someone else in town that we didn’t the name at all.  But since Chloe won for bringing in the most money for the school – a total of $725  – Chloe won 5 lbs of lobsters that was delivered by her principal to our store.

The zhu’s cooked the lobster for me – and I’m forever grateful because I wouldn’t know how to cook them or how to break them into pieces.   And the Zhu’s stirred fried them with ginger and spring onions for me – it was very yummy!

I haven’t had lobsters for a long time – whole lobsters like that and I’ve almost forgotten how whole lobsters tasted like.  I wished I had some sambal to stir fried it with – but the ginger and spring onion was just as good – yummy!!  thanks to everyone once again!  We are forever grateful!

So tell me what food would you order if you don’t know what to eat ?  or when you are not too full nor too hungry for you just had breakfast not too, too long ago.  My recommendation is omelet  – you cannot go wrong with that  – and when I am not too hungry I order some omelet – but of course I asked for only 2 omelet instead of 3 and I don’t eat the potatoes they offer and very little bread.  What about you ?  what do you eat when you are out in a restaurant with family and friends but don’t know what to order or too full to eat too much.  Pray tell.

And here we have chloe – her only food when she eats out is fish and chips – as long as they have fish and chips – we are all safe.

Thanks to Jenn from Toronto – I’m having some food from home – a huge box came in for me and Chloe last week.  Jenn – who blogs like I do – had been sending me lots of food and gifts  – and even though she is pregnant, she is still taking care of us.  Thank you so much Jenn and Chapman!

I bet you want to know what is in the huge box that arrived right?  well, here is a glimpse of what is inside.

From jewelry to angpow and of course lots of food that I liked from home.

Wedding favors from her wedding earlier this year – so thoughtful right?

How cute right?  Chloe had one too – that she carries with her to school everyday.

Pork floss to go with my pineapple rice.

Cute ang pows for Chinese New Year in January 2012

Lychee jello that chloe loved.

Yummy Taro Mochi!!  I loved it so much!

Red bean mochi  – yummy to the max.

Pickled mustard aka hum choi for my soup.

A lovely Christmas card – really thoughtful.

And laksa!!  what i was waiting for !  i want to cook this for Chloe’s teachers.

Yummy spicy cuttlefish !! it was so yummy!! i finished it in 2 days. Thank you so much Jenn – i truly appreciate all your effort and thoughtfulness.  God bless you and Chapman!  both of you got a heart of gold! and thank you for donating to Chloe’s lobster fund!

We always celebrate Chloe’s birthday early – to avoid the bad weather, so after that year – we always do it earlier – so the kid won’t be disappointed if her friends don’t show up due to bad weather.  But this year, we decided to let Grammie do the birthday party – afterall, she is the only grand daughter right?

So Chloe is turning 8 yrs old in another 10 days – we cannot be more proud of her – and yeas! grammie made the cake and we had bought her a toy – to make it look like a real birthday cake.

Chloe being silly for her birthday party – which consisted all her aunts and uncles – we didn’t invite any children because I just want her to be with family and loved.

So finally after being here for about 12 yrs – I get to go to Austrian Inn – I had wanted to go for a long time – but people keep telling me that they served loads of fried food only but they were wrong!  they have all kind of food!  See ! you must not listen to people – you’ve gotta give them a chance and try it out yourself.

We didn’t have the buffet this time – because we were pretty late for lunch a few Sundays ago.  But the buffet spread was pretty awesome and I’m going to go with my girlfriends again – but this time we are going to try the buffet.

They had loads of food and I would really loved to try a bit of everything but since PB don’t eat that much – it’s best to go for lunch with my friends instead – those who really enjoys food.

I wished they had a place card on the dishes though.  Some I could make out but others I don’t know what they were.

Fried shrimp and rappie pie and lots of other dishes.

Rappie pie is a favorite for the Acadian french here in Canada.

Fried chicken nuggets I think on one side.

And here comes 2 table full of desserts – heaven for some people but I can’t eat so much – darn right!

Fruit tarts and eclairs.

Log cake, dates pie, mixed fruits and more fresh fruits.

Pumpkin pie, jello, vanilla and chocolate mousse – yummy to the max.

Look at the jello on the fruits – the honey dew and cantaloupes.

More assorted cakes – I will get a sugar coma you know that right?  I look forward to going back to try the buffet.  Buffet I heard was about $25 – 28 + tax, a wee bit ex.  but worth every penny.  Now if only they had some oysters fresh – that would definitely make me go back every week.

Ti’s’ that time of the year again and loads of treats and baking goods like these cupcakes are on sale at the local supermarket/grocery stores.    They are all very sweet – luckily, I don’t like sweet stuff like these – else I would faint due to sugar overdose.  I don’t like buying stuff like that to eat – but PB – well he’s another story – he loveeeeesss his sweets alright!  Thank God – his blood sugar is good even after eating loads of them.  I try not to feed Chloe a lot of junk either – she gets to eat one of them but not more.  What about you ?  do you let your kids eat cupcakes everyday?

For some of us – we are busy buying gifts for our loved ones and preparing a menu for Christmas dinner – but for others like my daughter’s godmother in Singapore – who is a dog-lover – she must also be preparing treats for her two cutest doggie in Singapore.  And guess what we found at Pet Valu here in town – dog treats !!!!  they looked so delicious !  that we too want to eat them.

Don’t they look just like treats that you and I give to our kids?  well – for those who have dogs at home – look no future – you can get this for your pets for Christmas – or just because.

But as you can see – these treats are not cheap – but who cares right ?  after all our dogs are just like our kids.

Mannn!! these look delicious!  I asked the manager and he said they can be kept for a long time – so you can even buy them and store them till you want to treat your dogs.

Love the packaging – so if you know of a dog owner – and you want to send a gift to them – why not consider these dog treats – I bet they would be thrilled with your kind gesture.

The treats are packed with goodness and are all labeled with the ingredients.

This is too pretty right?  even the cookies we eat ain’t that pretty.

I’m very happy to see Marco’s Pasta  & Grill move to town – because I’ve always liked Marco since it’s previous owners but they were all the way out in Tusket.  Sure, it really isn’t that far – but when you are hungry – you just want to go where it is the nearest – and the trouble with us is – we only eat when we are hungry.

So having Marco’s in town is definitely a plus for people like me who loved food and different kind of food everyday if possible.

Marco’s is all decked up for Christmas as you can see here.

We didn’t have to wait long for our seats – there were like 6 – 8 tables filled when we arrived – and only 2 waitresses that Sunday.  So it is considered busy by my standard.

The restaurant’s decor is pretty – and as you can see here – can seat quite a number of tables and people.

We were given a seat near the entrance – one side is bench like seats and the other side with regular wooden seats.

We didn’t have to wait long for our menu to come – but the waitress didn’t give us a children’s menu – we had to ask for it.  But that’s alright – she is busy and I can see that there were a number of regular guests during lunch that Sunday.

We started with an appetizer of bruschetta  – although I know I’m going to be the one eating most of it.  PB had one – I think because it had cheese on it – haha!

The waitress freshly grated the cheese in front of us – and that was a very nice touch.  Unfortunately, chloe doesn’t like the smell of the cheese and as for the bruschetta – it was delicious but a wee bit soggy for my liking.

Chloe had the fish and chips from the children’s menu – and there were a lot of fish – she couldn’t finish all of it of course.

PB had a bowl of seafood soup because he had a late breakfast – he said the fish was really fresh and tender.

And I had the lasagna with meat sauce but had I known that there was going to be more garlic bread – I wouldn’t have ordered bruschetta and would have ordered some mushroom or even a plate of oysters if they had any. But the lasagna was good and some tabasco sauce would have been great to have without me asking again.

Overall, the food was very delicious, but the seat wasn’t the most comfy – and the service was good but definitely needed some more attention to the small details.  But having said that – they are just newly relocated – so I have to give them some time to warm up to the new customers I guess, so I will definitely go back and dine at Marco’s Pasta and Grill  – and will recommend others to give Marco’s a try for sure.

Located at Duke and Granville Street in Downtown Halifax – Boston Pizza wasn’t our first choice to eat but Chloe wasn’t feeling so good at that time when we were in the city – so we decided to just take a quick bite.   It was very near to the hotel we were staying at – The Westin at South End and I have to say the service was very good – the waitress was very nice.  We were out getting  Christmas invitations for Christmas – in downtown when it started to drizzle – so we decided to go into Boston Pizza for a meal and also to get out of the rain.

Chloe wasn’t up to eating the fish nor the french fries that was how we knew she wasn’t feeling good at all.  Poor kid – but she was kept occupied with the new Christmas invitations that we had bought from a gift store earlier in the afternoon while we were out shopping.

I had a bowl of french onion soup with some french loaf  – the onion soup was good.

PB had fish and chips – as you can see – it was a very small portion but good enough for PB as he doesn’t eat a lot.  Overall, our experience at Boston Pizza was good.  No fault of theirs that our kid was sick but they did try to make it as pleasant as possible for Chloe.  It was a bit chilly where we sat – the air-con was blowing directly on top of our head – so it was not so good for Chloe.   After a quick meal – we packed up all our Christmas invitations – and bolted out into the night – and quickly into the car and got back to the hotel.   Maybe, the next time when we are up in Halifax, we will give Boston Pizza another try.

Now why didn’t they have food like that when Chloe was a baby?????  it certainly would have made it easier for us when we had to travel – because Chloe was very fussy about her food even when she was a baby.  She would even eat the congee I made – and I even double blended them – and still she wouldn’t eat them *slap forehead* – so most times we had to rely on Heinz.  You wouldn’t believed how much Heinz that kid ate, so it would have been nice to have a choice.

Babies are so lucky these days – but is it healthy to eat stuff like that?  I think they should be – because Chloe didn’t have any problems with the corn, carrots and squash she had from Heinz.  It was milk and Heinz food most times – until she was about 2 years old –  but then she still didn’t want to take a lot of solid food – so we had to give everything to her very slowly.   There were some sweet potato pie as well – and lots of fruits, of course I didn’t buy any – but it would definitely be something mothers to be can look into – if you have a fussy kid like mine.

I don’t usually buy Sausage roll pastry even though i loved them – especially during cocktails or party – but I never really baked them at home – but since they were on sale at $6.99 at Sobeys – I decided to try a box of it.

The puff pastry looks like that before cooking – but don’t be deceived by its tiny looking pastry – because once baked at 20 – 25 mins – it is quite filling.

Depending on how hot your oven is – it varies from oven to oven – it can turned out really beautiful.  And 40 pieces will take a long time to finish – especially after eating like 5 pieces can really fill you up.  It taste awesome – but the sausage inside – don’t look so awesome – but who looks at the sausage right ?  unless you eat like I do – and eat the pastry first – hahah!  Anyhow – it’s worth buying and eating – and great for Christmas parties and housewarming – very easy to bake for sure.

Hidden Treasure’s is located in South Ohio – about 15 minutes from the town – thru’ Highway 101 – in fact – this place was the first place that PB had his store – way back 12 yrs ago – before I came to Canada – and now it has turned into a restaurant.  Because it is out of town – it mostly cater to those living around South Ohio – Port Maitland and Lake George.

They do have an extensive menu – but I wasn’t very hungry as I had a late breakfast.  So I ordered a seafood  chowder soup – a bowl instead of a cup  but it was  alot of soup – so the next time – I will order a cup instead.  The soup was good – and a lot of fresh seafood in it.

I also ordered an egg wrapped to go with my soup.

Chloe had her hotdog and fries – since they didn’t have fish that she liked in the children’s menu.

PB had a chicken burger and some mashed potatoes.

The restaurant can easily seat about 100 pax and it’s a family restaurant – and the service was pretty good as well.

They had quite a few tables filled when we were there for a Sunday lunch – and yes – we will visit again – to try out the entire menu.  Afterall, this restaurant is very near to Chloe’s grandparents place – maybe – one day they will dine with us.