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.