I love eating at the outlaws – Aunt Helena cooks lots of stuff to choose from and today she had thought that my g/f was visit – therefore, she had a feast brought out.  Unfortunately, my dear friend didn’t come – so I gotta eat extra and brought home some for her.  Appetizer of  oriental mix spring rolls and dumplings  - baked of course from M & M’s.

Garlic bread for starters.

Followed by very yummy lasagne.

Salad.

French bread.

Timbits was our contribution – heheh!

And a chocolate roll made by Aunt Helena.

Yummy!

And apple crumbled – they were yummy yummy!

We went out for lunch last week at the Farmer’s market for they were celebrating Halloween at the market.  Most of the vendors were all dressed up for the occasion and a farmer we know at the market came to the market with his tractor and all but I guess he needed new  hydraulic cylinders  for something wasn’t working right as he was trying to lift some bale of hay for display.  The market was busy that day and as usual lots of goodies and lots of things one can buy handmade.  We had an awesome time at the Farmer’s Market and had some yummy BLT on Bagel and a cup of coffee with it.  Of course, we bought sweets and cookies as well as a few bottle of jams and Pretzel for the kids.

Decoration ideas for Halloween.

I loved weddings and I would go to all weddings if I can – weddings are such happy occasions and of course, there is the wedding food and I wished I have had this food blog long ago – when I was in Asia – or when I was traveling for work because the food in the wedding around the world are so unique especially a Chinese wedding.  A 9 course dinner is nothing unusual.  And then there is the music, I love the Western wedding when it comes to music because the Asian wedding’s music are very rarely with live bands.  And the weekend wedding that I had just attended had a DJ and they were using some very high tech DJ equipment like the  Numark MixDeck  and I know everyone enjoyed the dancing and the music played by the DJ they hired for the wedding. They had professional photographer for the wedding, the food was great and it was a beautiful wedding.

A few weeks ago at the local Farmer’s market – I decided to get some lean ground beef locally.  I haven’t tried these kind of mince beef before but I heard they were way better because the cows were properly cared for and given proper feeding.

King Limousine Farm was where the beef came from and they came frozen.  And since I wanted to make meatball spaghetti for the longest time, I decided to buy 1 Ib of the minced beef.

So after talking and reading up some recipes for meatballs with spaghetti, I decided to try some.  First I baked the meatballs and then after cooking the sauce, I put the meatballs into the spaghetti sauce to simmer.

The meatballs looked yummy but were a bit dry – PB said it could be because they were lean minced beef – the next time I’ll try the regular minced meat and then make the meatballs again.

This one was for chloe to bring to school for lunch.   She did eat some of the meatballs but not all – and I don’t blame her – I’m going to try again making the perfect meatballs.

Home made jam don’t need to be plain in the jar – you can pretty it up and make them look a lot more pleasing and appetizing.  A  little bit of dress up on the home made jam from Grampie -  made very pretty easter gifts for Chloe’s teacher the day before Easter.

This was how it looked after we did a little bit of dressing up on the plain looking jars.

Chloe did the decor – while i tied the flowery clothe and ribbon onto the cap.

A sticky to say who they are for – and viola !  you have jam as present and they become so meaningful.

A nice touch  – won’t you say.  And all of Chloe’s teachers loved the jam and decor.

Easter is just round the corner and this week we are preparing some Easter Gift Baskets for the kids in Chloe’s school.   I’m wondering if I should ask Chloe’s home room teacher to create a contest for the kids in her class – so that they can get to win a huge gift basket – and the rest will get a smaller basket.  But having said that I’m also preparing some gift baskets for some special friends’ kids and one for Chloe of course.  This year, there will be no Easter egg hunt at Grammie’s but that doesn’t mean that she won’t get anything from Grammie because we are going to make it as special as possible for her with Grampie.  I know that Grampie may not know what to buy for Chloe but we are going to be doing all the shopping and have a huge hunt with Grampie and Uncle Richard – and if Aunt Helena is here – it would be more fun for Chloe.

I don’t know why I ordered burger to be honest but I’m guessing I wanted something different and something with sauerkraut but ended up with a honey bear burger.  Not that they didn’t have a sauerkraut burger but it came with another type of meat or was it a wiener burger? i cannot remember now.

The burger was huge as you can see – but a tad dry and like i said i don’t know why i ordered a honey bear burger since I’m diabetic *slapped forehead*  Anyhow, I ate with caution and scrapped out all the honey and mustard sauce on it which left the burger drier which wasn’t the restaurant fault.  I guess the next time I shouldn’t wait till I’m so hungry before going to eat.  I blamed in on PB because he is always on the game console playing to his heart content during Sundays and I didn’t have the heart to stop them.

The gourmet burger was at $9.95 and came with fries but I chose to have a side Cesar instead – but they gave me a whole serving of a Cesar salad and I had them pack up the rest in a doggy bag that I will eventually throw out during the end of the week because I don’t have anything to eat with the salad during the week.  I was charged a $2.25 for the huge salad, definitely good for the money.   Overall, it was a great lunch – but I shouldn’t have ordered this particular type of burger because of the honey in it – I will try the Snauzer the next time or the Bacon Mozza Melt because I remembered that was good.

Eating healthy has always been my goal but when you are in a town that don’t really give you a lot of choices  - you have to make do and eat the best you can.  Eating a croissant once in a while is great ! i wished i could eat them everyday but you and I know that croissants can be quite fattening because there are just so much calories in them.  But Tim’s does make my croissant look a lot healthier right?  lots of veggies, tomatoes and chicken salad.  Yums!  so if I had to choose – I choose to eat a croissant to spoil myself – what about you?

Yes! I hear yer!  Fish again! and how do one each so much fish only I don’t understand it either but father and daughter sure love their fish and chips everywhere we go.  Must be very boring for them right?  I would say – but they are happy so I’m not gonna say anything about it.  As for me – I can’t lived on fish alone – I eat fish at least 3 times a week but it had to be a baked salmon and for health reasons.  What about you?  how do you like your fish?  I would love some  assam fish too but I don’t have assam pre-mix at this time – so I can’t cook me some assam fish.

But do look at the fish that Chloe had – lots of fish meat right?  even I was tempted to eat some they looked so yummy.   This fish is from Jungle Jim’s so if you want fish like that – you know where to go – but we ordered the adult size haddock – and not from the kid’s menu.  My idea of eating good food is eat well – but eat moderately – from now on  - the Chinese has a saying – how much you eat and how much you wear is all allocated.  So after what happened to my mother-in-law – she died so suddenly, I am trying to eat the best for myself and body – but lived life the fullest and tell and show the people I loved that I loved them and the rest is secondary.  Making money is important and so is working hard but making your life worthwhile is more important.

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.

Every year during this time of the year – we try to find something meaningful to give to Chloe’s teachers – whether they are a teacher’s assistant – or the school secretary – as long as this person makes an impact in Chloe’s life – I would try to thank them during Chrsitmas.  This year – I also have to remember to thank the janitors.

So I decided to get them these – they come from the local Farmer’s market and I’ve tried it myself all summer – a bottle of apple salsa and some home made BBQ sauce for her teachers in school.  But the janitors are getting chocolates this year.  What other suggestions do you have for me – for gifts for Chloe’s teachers?

So I saw this tarts at the Farmer’s market by an English couple and asked if they could make some for me.  A few weeks later – they had some made and I went to pick them up.  The tarts were good – but I had expected them to be the egg tarts from home – but these as you can see are cinnamon on top of the tarts.   Not really what I had expected – but it still tasted really good – except for the cinnamon that I didn’t really care for a lot.  A wee bit is fine – but too much just take the egg custard taste away.  I didn’t finish them all – and in fact gave some away  - I may just have to learn how to make egg tarts (dan tart) on my own.

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.

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.

Well, it was also Thanksgiving day last weekend – but Aunt Helena was doing all the cooking to celebrate PB’s parents 40th wedding anniversary.  40 years in marriage – now that is definitely something one has to celebrate right?  Not easy to stay married for 40 years and i am sure you will agree with me.

While the rest of the folks had turkey – I wanted to have some ham for the dinner – so we bought some from the grocery store.  Chloe loves turkey and the ham was super yummy!

Condiments to go with the turkey, cranberry jelly, pickled beets and potatoes, carrots and cucumber.

And for dessert there was a pumpkin pie, some nainamo cubes  and PB’s aunt had bought a cake too for the anniversary and joined us later for dessert.  We had a really good meal and Chloe had roasted marshmallows as well.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!  this year we are thankful for a lot of things!   I’m sure you are too – and here’s Chloe having a rainbow cupcake from Goodies – I think she was fascinated with the color of the frosting – that’s why she wanted to buy it so bad – hahah!

But yes, we are thankful for Chloe’s good health – and that she is a happy kid, that her dad loves here and would do just about anything for her.  She is loved by many people including all our customers.  And she has good teachers for the last 2 years – we are really thankful for that – because they make her feel special and confident.

We are thankful that the store/business is doing well – and that we are getting a lot of good customers at the store and for me  a lot of good private advertisers and a long standing one – that I can count on.  Thankful for family, friends and loved ones – because they enriched my life and make me a better person.   Thankful for a spouse who never complains about me – and is long suffering towards my craziness.

Thankful for all my friends from here – you know who you are – who brings me food from Halifax and thankful for those of you who sends me food from home – you too know who you are.   Here’s wishing everyone a happy thanksgiving day this weekend – and may we all be thankful and gracious about the things we have and not the things we do not have.

A few weeks ago – we went back to Rudders for brunch after doing our morning errands – I ordered the steak and eggs because it was pretty cheap – $13.99 I think – but don’t quote me – I can’t remember – it’s been a few weeks like I said.  The sunny side up eggs were perfect – but my medium well steak was pretty charred and tough – hahhaa!! mannnn!! i had a hard time chewing them.

PB had the chicken and mashed potatoes – and he said the chicken was a bit dry too.

Chloe had hotdog and fries – she only had half the hotdog – because she had too much fries.

Chloe had her face painted that day.

Playing with her daddy’s iPhone while waiting for food.  Food that Sunday wasn’t the best – but that won’t deter us from going back to Rudders and trying different things – probably the cook was tired that Sunday.

Well, this is the 4th Annual Incredible Picnic happening province wide – but Yarmouth is only having this picnic for the first time – but I could be wrong – because this was the first – I’ve heard in my many years in Canada.  So a few weeks ago – we had the Incredible picnic at Beacon church – a lot of people showed up – but I think there were a lack of games for the kids – wished they planned some prices for the kids – or even balloons would be nice.  I saw some people with  metal detectors searching for treasures I think – maybe a game planned by a few families but we were not invited for the games

There were entertainment by a few group of musicians and they were all pretty good.

Lots of vendors cooking and showing off their delicious food.  Unfortunately, for us – we just had breakfast – so we didn’t get anything.

Of course, Chloe found some friends in the park and started playing with them – as PB and I watched her.

There were wine too – I was hoping to see Ironworks Distillery  from Lunenburg here – but alas, I have yet to see them in Yarmouth – I would love to get a bottle or two of the cranberry liqueur and apple brandy as well.

And they had some locally made pork hot dogs – I wished I could have tried some – but there was a line up – so I didn’t.

Yummy looking right?

Wished we didn’t have a late breakfast – they look so yummilicious!

Yummy soup from Red Cap Restaurant – a place I planned to visit soon in the near future.

The owner and chef of the restaurant – they were so friendly – I definitely have to go try their food out.

There were farmers selling fruits and veggies as well – but we already bought some the day before at the Farmer’s market.

Chloe playing more games with her friend.

Skipping some ropes before we went home.  It was a good picnic – but I wished they had some people to gather people together and make everyone play together – now that would have been a lot more fun.  Maybe a clown or two – or a magician would be great for the kids.

A few weeks ago – i had craving for a certain soup – and though I can’t go sit in the restaurant and have the soup – I decided I would order it as a take out.  So can you guess what yummilicious  soup I had ?   Some people like it – but some people don’t – I had talked to some of the hostess in the restaurant and they just cannot stomach the soup – I don’t know why  but I loveddddddddddd  the soup although it is very rich – and I probably shouldn’t have it too often – but I can’t resist it.  So can you guess it already?

Yes! you guessed right – it was lobster bisque – yummy! yummy!!   lots of lobsters as you can see here.

The soup was really rich – and the cost of it after taxes is about $10 something – but really yummy!  unfortunately, they didn’t give me a roll with it -  *sad*  – oh well – next time I’ll remember to ask.