Best Drink Ever?

Even though the sun isn't shining that bright here in Vancouver, the reality is that technically it is summer. Everyone knows that you should, and need to, drink water when it's hot out, but water doesn't always quench your thirst. 2 drinks that do quench your thirst would be Lemonade and Iced Tea. But how do you decide which one to grab? Well now you don't have to worry about making that choice because the people at Arizona Iced Tea company have created the Arnold Palmer....Half Lemondade & Half Iced-Tea! Brilliant idea! The only problem is that you can't always find these in Canada (or at least here in Vancouver). Whenever i cross the border to Washington State i always hit a 7-11 to pick some up. I have found them a couple times here, but it's pretty rare.

These beverages are so damn tasty!! Not to sweet and tons of flavor. It's like iced tea with a strong lemon flavor. And the packaging is top notch...

The small plastic bottle has a golf ball shaped top and the usual Arnold Palmer pictures and fun facts...


The LARGE can... is a hell of a bargain, because these costs only 99cents. The smaller cans i've never seen in America, but I have found in Vancouver. 2 for $1! Heck yeah!! Once again, all the Arnold Palmer fun facts all over the can....

Spaghetti Tacos!!

Sorry for the lack of posting.... too busy eating....

A few weeks back i found myself looking in the fridge at a container of spaghetti, and then i remembered that we had some leftover taco shells in the cupboard as well. Well shit... why not combine them?

So i opened the box of taco shells (we had Old El Paso brand if you care)...


And then i warmed up the spaghetti... that's a homemade tomato sauce, with spiced up ground beef and black olives....


And then i scooped the spaghetti into the tacos.... BAM!! Dinner is served!


These things tasted awesome!! I think there's a market for Spaghetti Tacos. I think we can all agree that tacos are a fun & tasty food to eat, as is spaghetti of any kind. So how could you lose with the 2 combined? Erin reluctantly took a bite of one and she thought it tasted ok, but didn't think it would catch on. I say she's wrong. The only problem i had was after making the tacos i realized we had no more cheese in the apartment to sprinkle on top. I'm wondering if other Taco toppings would work... like lettuce, or perhaps sour cream? There's no doubt that a dollop of salsa would be just fine on one of these suckers.

Another Doritos Post

I'm a sucker when it comes to Dorito brand potato chips. Over the years they've really branched out adding new flavors. The thing is though that almost every flavor gets over-powered by the standard dorito flavor. Don't get me wrong, i do enjoy alot of the flavors of Doritos, but see my other post about the cheeseburger ones.. aka "crunchy vomit". But i sure do love the split-flavor bags they do. Even though each chip flavor blends into the other since there's no actual divider inside the bag. I especially love taking one of the blue cheese chips and putting it in your mouth with a Hot Wings flavored chip. God damn! That's a flavor explosion!!

Quick little side note.... i just found this list online of all the Doritos flavor. http://www.taquitos.net/snack_guide/Doritos
i don't think i've seen even half of these flavors! How in the hell do i find them? I guess i need to go to Japan to try the Peking Duck flavored doritos.

Now onto the reason behind this post; Doritos new "mystery" flavor. What an insane marketing ploy!! Let's flavor some chips, put them in a shiny bag, and just say "we have no fuckin' clue what these taste like." And of course suckers like me will line up instantly to try them out.

Well... here goes, i'm gonna open the bag up.... OK, the smell isn't too revolting or unusual, it's got a bit of the typical doritos stink going on.... now let's put one of these suckers in my mouth.... hmmm.... this isn't really an unusual taste.... it's not bad, pretty basic dorito-esque taste.... try another chip..... lots of red flavor spices covering the chip...... kind of a basic,zesty nacho cheese mixed with standard dorito flavor... maybe a touch of "spice" on some chips..... yeah i approve of these... i'll give them 2 thumbs up.... kind of wish i had bought a bigger bag now.....

Coconut Flavored M&M's

A few weeks back i was in Bellingham with my friends Mike, Dan, and Amos and we stopped off at a 7-11 to get some delicious American snacks. This trip, for me, was all about buying some Arnold Palmer's (i'll be writing about this tasty beverage soon) and some Combo's (pretzel and cheese snack). As i'm at the counter with more beverages and snacks than i can carry, and therefore looking like i've got a major case of the munchies and some serious cotton mouth, I notice a package of M&M's that looks really different than what i'm used to seeing. Could my eyes be deceiving me? COCONUT FLAVORED M&M'S!!!

Needless to say i bought a bag (not sure why i didn't buy more). I'm a big fan of coconut flavored things. I probably like fake coconut flavored things more than actual real coconut.

And the verdict is.... DELICIOUS!! I'm pleasantly surprised at how tasty these are! The coconut flavor is strong, like way stronger than i thought they would be. And the package is great.. it's got a lady M&M looking all sexy on the beach while the dude M&M is falling out the tree with a pair of binoculars. hahahaha.... the dude M&M is a creep & a pervert.

I'll be in Seattle in a few weeks and will be searching out some more of these.

Lee's Donuts

I'm a man who loves his donuts. I would rather eat a crappy donut than not eat any donuts. There's some good places to get donuts in Vancouver, but the overall best place would be Lee's Donuts on Granville Island. Sadly i didn't have my camera with me this past weekend when i walked down to Granville Island with the McNabb's because i wish i had some pictures of all the delectable treats that i didn't purchase. For example they have chocolate long johns, and right next to it they have mini-chocolate long johns. They also had something that from the outside looks like a large apple-fritter, but with strawberry or raspberry jam inside, and the thing is the size of a small pizza!! It seriously over-whelmed me.

When i was my turn at the front of the line i stuck to my usual order; chocolate crunch as well as some glazed donuts. I also got 1 chocolate glazed donut hole to eat while i paid for my big donuts. The Chocolate Crunch donuts are unbelievable!! The donut itself is a cake donuts, so a little more dense and moist, and then it's got these chocolate crumble bits all over it. The bits are almost like the tasty chocolate things inside an Dairy Queen ice cream cake. The glazed donuts at Lee's are also amazing. The glaze doesn't crack and fall off, but it's also not too thick. And they also aren't too sweet or sticky.

I may have messed up my knees this weekend by walking to & from Granville Island (gotta justify buying a 6 pack of donuts), but it was worth it to hang out with some good people and buy some tasty donut treats.

Here's a picture of my box of donuts (and yes there is 1 missing... I was hungry! So what. Who cares?)

Food Goals

I've decided to set some new goals... it's good to have direction, to live life with a purpose. Here's some of my new food goals

1 >> Discover who has the best steamed buns. At first i will concentrate on the China Town area.. We have such a large asian community in Vancouver, and the steamed buns filled with black bean or spicy pork are always tasty.

2 >> Search out the best cheap samosas. Besides having a large Asian community here we've also got a large East Indian community in Vancouver. Samosas are everywhere, in corner stores and restaurants all over the greater Vancouver area.

3 >> Who has the best Americano in the GVA? I think i already know, or at least i know where i like to go right now. But i'm convinced that i'm missing a hidden gem.

For now these are my new goals. I'm sure i'll think of more. Stay tuned for updates on these 3. If you've got suggestions, let me know.

Homemade Halifax Style Donairs

Over the years i've come to accept that there are things i love to eat that i will not be able to create at home. And that's fine. That's why there are places called restaurants. Now granted i have overcome this a little bit as i get older and more comfortable in the kitchen. I now make a super delicious lasagna. One of the meals i've thought was impossible to create at home is donairs. I just can't envision some meat on a stick cooking away in my kitchen. So imagine my surprise last weekend when erin (my partner in crime) says she's going to make donairs at home. Of course being from out east she wasn't just making any kind of donairs, but Halifax style donairs. If you're from that area, or have visited, or know someone from there, you've no doubt heard that not only are donairs different in Halifax but they are also better. (on a side note the bowling is different out there as well. It's pretty ridiculous actually) The difference is this sauce they put in it. My first Halifax donair wasn't as mind blowing as i had hoped, the sauce changed the taste that i was used to.

Anyways, the donairs that erin made were incredible!! And the sauce was much better than the one i had on Pizza Corner in downtown Halifax. To say my mind was blown would be an understatement. I'm not really sure how she did it, but i can tell you that there was no mystery meat cooking on a stick in our kitchen.

The day after she made them I found myself in the grocery store picking up provisions for the week ahead when my mind started wandering, and thinking about the left over donairs in the fridge at home. I couldn't concentrate, random items were being thrown in my basket because all i could think about was racing home and making myself another donair. Over the course of a couple days i think ate 3 or 4, and trust me... if there had been more i would've ate it.

Worst Mexican Food Ever

I was hoping to only post good things on this blog, to only talk about food that was tasty, or fun, or interesting. But today i feel a need to spread some bad vibes about a meal i had this week. Me and a friend went to the Topanga on West 4th here in Vancouver earlier this week because i heard from some people that it served up some tasty vittles. But those people are wrong!! Holy crap does this place ever suck!!

After ordering our meals the server brought us a bowl of chips with some salsa, and a small bowl of guacamole that we paid extra for. The salsa was bland and flavorless, as was the guacamole. I could've went to 7-11 and bought a jar of Old Dutch brand salsa and enjoyed it more. There was no flavor or spice. And it wasn't fresh, or homemade.

Next up was the main course. I got a chicken burrito with rice and beans on the side. For some reason Topanga smothers their burritos in this sauce that is a bland, runny mixture of sour cream and guacomole. If this sauce had been flavorful i wouldn't be complaining, but it was bland and kinda gross looking. I wish i had brought my camera so you could see this mess. I prefer when a burrito is smothered in cheese, some tasty salsa and a small dollop of sour cream. The burrito itself was also flavorless. Nothing jumped out at you. The pinto beans on the side were dry, and slightly overcooked. And the rice was overcooked and bland. I won't bother going into details on what my friend ordered, but it had eggplant inside and from what i gather her meal wasn't that shit hot either.

Let's end this review on a positive note... here are some things i did like about Topanga; the server was pretty good, answered our questions without being a dick.... there was alot of food on the plate (too bad it wasn't tasty)... and at one point I could hear Jay Reatard being played on a stereo in the kitchen.

Avoid this dump. I know i will never go back.

Potato Chips: Good Vs Evil

I like potato chips. I think they're almost like the perfect snack, especially on road trips or while watching a movie. I like to try new flavors, and new brands. When i travel outside of Canada you'll often find me perusing the potato chip aisle along with the cereal aisle in a grocery or convenience store.

Sometimes i don't use good judgment when it comes to what i choose to buy. Here is 1 good example;


I was on a road trip to Seattle (to see Black Breath and Walls) with Mike and Elizabeth H. and we stopped at some grocery store along the way. I saw these new Cheeseburger Doritos, and my first thought was "I bet those taste disgusting!". But as I was thinking that thought i found myself reaching out to grab a bag. One thing i hate is when i find a new flavor of chips but it's only available in large bags. I stood there holding a giant bag of cheeseburger Doritos and contemplated how bad they would be, and then went and bought them. And let me tell you, they taste even worse than i imagined! They taste like crunchy vomit. I put the first chip in my mouth and instantly regretted it. I quickly swallowed the vile chip and recoiled in horror at the taste in my mouth. After a minute i tried another one.... nope this shit still tasted like puke. Erin thought they were ok.... she said they tasted exactly like a McDonalds cheeseburger, pickles and all. But neither of us ate more than 2 or 3 chips. Avoid these foul tasting Doritos.

You wanna know what potato chip i like; T.G.I. Friday's Potato Skins Cheddar & Bacon flavor.

This is my go-to , no fail, potato chip when i'm in America. I may pick up random brands and flavors, but I always return home with a few bags of these tasty treats. The chip itself is thicker than a normal chip, and the flavoring is plenty. And while there is alot of flavor on each chip, it's not an overpowering flavor. The bacon flavoring is subtle, with more emphasis on the cheddar. I can not recommend this chip enough!!

Anyone have some chip recommendations for me? I'll try pretty much any flavor. And i love trying old staples like Salt & Vinegar made by companies i haven't heard of.

My Mom's Chocolate Cake

Everyone loves chocolate cake, right? If you don't love, or at least like chocolate cake than i have to ask... "what is wrong with you?"
Let's cut to the chase here; My mom makes the best chocolate cake in the world. That's right, the whole freakin' world! I'll fight you to prove my point. She's got a recipe that everyone should use. but chances are if you used this recipe it still wouldn't taste the same as my mom's. I can't explain why that would happen, maybe the little bit of love that my mom puts in each cake changes the taste.
Let's break it down as to why my mom's cake is the best;

-- The cake itself is moist, but yet dense. But not too dense, nor is it too moist. It's science, i don't get it. But trust me, as you put it in your mouth your eyes roll into the back of you head and you can't help but mutter "god damn!"

-- the icing. Chocolate icing. It's not one of those whipped icings, but it's also not one of those super thick dense ones. It's somewhere in between. Once again, it's a science i can't comprehend. The chocolate isn't too overpowering, or rich. And it's not too sweet. It's just perfect!!

When we were younger one of the highlights of our birthday's was Mom would make a cake and put money inside. When you're 10 years old, the feeling of finding a quarter in your piece was about the equivalent of some old prospector finding gold in the Yukon back in the 1800's. The funny part.... well, maybe not everyone will find it funny but me and my parents had a good laugh about it on the phone the other night.... the funny part is that they didn't wrap the coins in anything when they put them in the cake!! And even funnier... or grosser... is that they didn't wash them either! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA...... We'd get our piece of cake on the plate in front of us, spin the plate around checking it out to see if any coins were sticking out slightly, and then attack the cake with our forks. When we'd find a coin we'd suck all the cake & icing off it.... making sure that our new found wealth was nice and clean. Oh, the glory days when everyone didn't live their lives in fear. Those were the days when kids could run around the neighborhood until the sun went down, you didn't have to wash your hands after touching a door handle at the grocery store, and it was still proper etiquette, and perfectly safe, to shake someones hand when you met them.

Here's some pictures of my Mom's cake... and a bonus picture of my Mom making some red beans & rice when i last saw her in the fall.

Birthday Dinner

Here's the 3rd post on this blog, haven't been able to write as much as I want, but yeah... 3rd post and this is one involves BBQ'd food as well.

Yesterday, Feb 12th, was my birthday. My fiance erin took me out for dinner, and much to my surprise invited some friends (Lana, Adam, Mike, and Elizabeth). We went to Memphis Blues BBQ on Commercial Drive. The days leading up i had been checking out their menu online, getting pretty excited because i haven't had any BBQ food since i was at the Palomino in Calgary.
The service here was quick, and our table was soon filled with meaty eats. Me and erin split a order of Poutine with pulled pork, and then i had a combo plate with ribs, pulled pork and on the side was potato salad, beans, coleslaw and corn bread. Yes i know it's alot of food, but i ate about 95% of it.

Here's the poutine.....


The pulled pork poutine was ok, not great. I don't know if i would order it again. It basically was a giant plate of pulled pork covered in BBQ sauce, with a small pile of fries underneath it. And there was barely any cheese. It was tasty, but i would've liked more cheese.

Next up we have my main course;



This is where things got tasty!! The ribs were amazing... the meat was falling off the bone. Moist and succulent, filled with flavor. The pulled pork was good, not as good as the Palomino, but still tasty. I kind of wished that i had picked a different meat instead of the pork simply because of how much i had on the poutine. The choices of meats were plenty... Adam had Brisket and it looked super yummy, as did the sausage on Mike's plate and the chicken on erin's.

All in all everyone at our table enjoyed their meals. I plan on going back, maybe i can convince some people to go there on a Monday when they have all you can eat Ribs & Fries for $20. I think i could eat a mountain of ribs, get more than $20's worth.

After filling our guts with meaty treats some of us returned to our apartment where erin had an ice cream cake from Dairy Queen waiting for us!! Sadly i could only eat 1 piece as i was so full. But today's a new day and i plan on eating more of the cake.

Hot Dogs In Calgary

Here's another post about eating in Calgary. I was only out there for a few days but i got in alot of eating. And some record shopping. Which is pretty much what i do wherever i travel. Actually it's pretty much what i do on a day to day basis. I lead a pretty sweet life.

17th Ave SW in Calgary is, i guess, what would be called the "cool" area in Calgary. It's a shopping area, with lots of bars & restaurants, and lots of apartments in the surrounding areas. Most of my time in Calgary I lived around 17th Ave & 4th St. SW. One of the best places to eat on 17th Ave right now is Tubby Dog (1022-17th Ave SW). Tubby Dogs is no ordinary hot dog joint, and it's completely unlike the hot dog stands around downtown Vancouver. While i guess you could get a normal hotdog with ketchup & mustard (perhaps some relish as well?), but why would you wanna do that when you could get a hot dog smothered in chili or with potato chips sprinkled on top?

It was around noon on a Saturday when i met up with my old friend Doug at Tubby Dog. I had landed in Calgary that morning and rode public transit for about an hour. I was hungry like the wolf. The atmosphere at Tubby Dog is that of a teenagers clubhouse, retro toys, posters, video games, and old cartoons playing on the screen. Sometimes have bands playing as well. Very cool idea. Me and Doug both ordered "The Tubby Dog", which is a hot dog covered with chili, bacon, cheese, onions and mustard. It was big & messy, and quite frankly a little intimidating. It made me smile but i think it scared the hell out of Doug. There was no way you could eat this with your hands, so even though i'm opposed to eating hot dogs with a knife & fork i did what had to be done. The Tubby Dog was amazing!! The homemade chili had a bit of spice, the bacon was cut into smaller pieces and the melted cheese went from one end to the other. I didn't think a single hot dog could fill my guts to the limit, but this one did and it only cost $6.75! Doug on the other hand gave up and didn't finish his. I think it was too much at such an early point in the day.

Go to their website and check out their menu.... next time i'm in town i want to try "Sherm's Ultimate Gripper" which according to the menus consists of a dog wrapped in bacon then deep fried...then topped with ham, homemade chili, cheese, mustard, bacon, hot peppers, onions and a friend egg. God damn does that ever sound insane!!

The Palomino (Calgary)

Back in the fall of 2009 i visited Calgary, a city i used to live in, but hadn't visited in about 5 years. It's always weird going back to a city you used to live in; people have changed, neighborhoods change,old buildings get torn down while new shiny building go up, and you just feel out of the loop. But the one thing i discovered about Calgary is that they have some tasty eats out there!! And the coolest part for me was knowing that a couple of my friends are involved in opening some amazing eateries.

The first one i wanna talk about the The Palomino, in downtown Calgary (109-7th Avenue SW). The Palomino is a BBQ joint similar to ones i've seen and ate at during my travels thru the Southern United States. My old boss Fred opened this place and has done an amazing job. The main floor of the place is for eating, while downstairs is for rocking. And the patio outback is fantastic. You don't even feel like you're in the middle of Downtown Calgary!

As for the food... if you're vegetarian you should stay away. This place is all about meat. Barbequed meat. The night i sat on the patio with Spencer and Sean we ate all kinds of tasty eats. My meal consisted of Bacon-wrapped corn on the cob, and pulled pork poutine. For those not familiar with Poutine, it's a dish you usually find in Quebec and it's a plate of french fries smothered in gravy and cheese curds. You might think this sounds disgusting, and you might think it looks disgusting, but when you eat it you'll become a fan instantly. Simply put... Poutine is one of the greatest foods EVER! I will argue this fact until i'm blue in the face. Back to the Palomino... a few days before visiting Calgary i was checking out their menu online and when i saw the pulled-porked poutine i started to drool. And i'm happy to say that it tastes even better than it sounds. As for the bacon wrapped corn on the cob... of course it tasted amazing!! Corn on the cob is always tasty, and any time you wrap bacon around food you know you're in for a tasty treat.

I sampled bits of my friends meals but for the life of me i can't remember what they had. There might've been ribs or beef brisket... the Palomino is known for doing these dishes right. I highly recommend eating here, the food and the atmosphere is top notch. I've contemplated a weekend in Calgary just so i can eat at the Palomino.

My New Food Blog!!

Alright, after months of talking about starting a blog about food i'm finally doing it. So why am I doing this? Is it because I think i know alot about food? Nope. I'm doing simply because "I like Food... Food is good." I guess it's the same reason i have a music blog 3chordsisallineed.blogspot.com

You might be wondering what does this wanna-be fat kid have planned for this nifty little blog? I'm gonna talk about the tasty eats and weird treats that i come across in my day to day life. I've annoyed people over the last year or so by taking pictures of food in restaurants so some of those will end up here. As well you'll see some of the strange snack foods i tend to pick up (and subsequently try to convince people to taste).

So grab a snack and kick back......