Bruce Cost

Bruce Cost Ginger Ale Unfiltered Original

Saw this at Loblaws for $2-something. It's delicious! The ginger flavour is strong, yet it is still pretty sweet. That fresh ginger taste is what makes this drink awesome. You can see the ginger bits in the settled drink - be sure to invert before opening. 

The ingredients are simple: carbonated water, pure cane sugar, 100% fresh ginger, and citric acid. And really, that's all it needs. 

Would I buy this again? I already have, heh. It's the best tasting ginger ale I've ever had.

Ginger Mead

Ginger Mead by Trafalgar Ales and Meads

I was introduced to mead on a brew tour, and it seemed pretty cool: alcohol derived from honey.

The ingredients in this particular mead I picked up seems so simple.

The taste is not as spicy as I thought it'd be, but there is a ginger taste. It sort of goes down like beer in bitterness, but finishes like wine, possibly because of the acidity. Beer grape juice comes to mind?! The honey is very light. I feel like it needs to be sweeter.

Pros: 8.5% alcohol/volume. Might go well in Coke.

Cons: Too much bitter without other flavours. Cork took me too much effort to remove; like hand-hurting effort. It's got nothing on the delicious iced tea mead I had in Boston.

Would I purchase this again? Probably not... I have to try everything else, and this ain't got nothing on my regular beer.

Reese Half Pound Cup!

Well, shit. My first thought was, "Is this for one person to eat?! I don't understand." It's about the size of an Oreo ice cream sandwich.

My second, more disgusting thought was, "I must eat one."

Larb Pretz

I would like to know what Larb-flavoured Pretz tastes like. Furthermore, I would like to know what larb is.

Belvedere

You know it's the holiday season when your giant Belvedere vodka bottle lights up. It also doubles as a strobe light. If I owned a night club, I would line the wall with these things. 

Jo was so taken with the bottle that she found the need to buy it and add it to her existing collection of Belvedere bottles.

 A little grapefruit sawa: grapefruit, vodka, and club soda (or tonic water).

Cheers to Jo for sharing that and making the drinks!

Lead Free Eggs

Kuang Yu preserved duck eggs...

Note that it says "lead free" in the top right hand corner. Does this mean that the other brands have lead in them? I didn't buy this, but I guess if I were looking for preserved duck eggs, I would get the lead free kind.

Beer Bottles

Wow, this blog has been sort of World of Neglect recently... food stuffs to come!

Random Food Time!

Bean soup. I've made variations of this, and it tastes better with tomatoes or something tomato-based. It also tastes better with some sort of meat in it... I would've put in some real meat, but all I had were hot dogs. I'm really just throwing whatever is in my cupboards and fridge into a pot and cooking for a few hours.

 Soft-to-hard-boiled egg with soy sauce and cayenne pepper.

Sometimes I get weird cravings...

Fried rice... just like my bean soup - throw everything I have into a pan and fry.

I used chicken stock for this bean soup, but maybe (real) beef would've been better.

I tried making apple pie with some shredded cheddar cheese in the crust. I didn't have a rolling pin, so I got creative. I used this recipe and added cheese.

 It turned out rather bland. I forgot to add sugar to the crust. Must add sugar. Lots and lots of sugar. Then  it might taste cool with the cheese.

Also, the shredded cheese made it look like a face with acne. :|

More fried rice. I threw some cheese in there too, and it became tastier.

 

Hello Kitty pasta. All the fun character ones use whole grain pasta now.

Yet more fried rice with cheese. Seriously, cheese makes everything better.

This was one of my earlier bean soup attempts. Sometimes I throw some frozen fish in there too for fun. 

More attempts at mac and cheese.

Coconut M&M's

Coconut M&M's

Saw these at a convenience store downtown, and I was like "Oh snap! These are a thing?!" Had to try them.

It upset me just a bit when I found out that Andrew's package of pretzel M&M's had less calories than mine; however, his had more sodium. 

There is definite coconut flavour in them. It's coconut M&M's... pretty self-explanatory. I was excited when I saw a picture of a coconut tree on one of the candy-coated chocolates, but then I realized that the picture is only printed on some of them. Booo.

Would I get them again? Sure. I liked them better than the Pretzel M&M''s.

Total damage: One fifty-something.

Chinese Candy

Andrew and I had reservations about eating this. First off, there was a picture of a mystery fruit on it. Secondly, it's Asian candy. And I don't really eat candy. (I don't consider chocolate to be candy.)

I plopped the neon green pill-sized piece into my mouth anyway. The first taste that hit me was the sourness. It's fruity and sour, and we both decided that it was edible. I'm not rushing out to go find more, but you know... edible.

"Muffins"

Here's something that seems impossible to find: good chocolate chip muffins. I've searched high and low for these mythical baked treasures, but  whose grandma do I have to rob to find me some proper hard-topped, legitimate chocolate chip muffins? The kind where it's shaped like a giant mushroom, and you can tap the top without it sinking in like a sponge. The reason muffin tops are so desirable is that they have a hard exterior, and a soft, moist interior. So why is it so hard to find one?

My cravings (like that of a pregnant lady's sometimes) led me to yearn for one of my favourite oven-made classics one day. So Lorne and I went searching. We searched two grocery stores and two malls. Nothing. Nothing but wannabe muffins with shiny, soft tops. You know what muffins without the crunchy tops are called? Unfrosted cupcakes! If I wanted cupcakes, I would buy cupcakes, but I want muffins! No place had real muffins, and the ones that did have promising looking muffins did not have chocolate chip. 

In the end, I caved and bought some Farmer's Market double chocolate "muffins" from Loblaws.

They tasted like chocolate cupcakes. Needless to say, I was less than thrilled about the soft top, but these would be great if I wanted something more cake-like.

I'd also like to note that I went to yet another mall since that did not have real muffins. I also tried Googling recipes for muffins with proper tops, but I had to filter through a lot of unwanted weight loss and "muffin top" pictures. 0_o

Total damage: approximately $4.50 for a pack of six. 

Sir Perry

William's Sir Perry Pear cider

They sell these imports at the local LCBO and Jo highly recommended it to me.

It's not as sweet as I thought it'd be. The ingredients are basic enough: fermented pear juice, water, caramel, ascorbic acid, and carbon dioxide. It sort of tastes like the alcoholic version of the PC sparkling fruit juices without the intense fruit flavours. The pear taste is there and kind of light. It has less fruity flavour than Strongbow dry cider. 

Would I get it again? Yes. Goes down like fizzy pop, tastes pretty good.

Total damage: approximately $3 per can.

Koala Cookies

Cheesecake flavoured koala cookies

Same cute prints as the chocolate version with a different filling. Jo said that the inside tasted like white chocolate with a weird aftertaste. I have to agree with her. Casey thought that they tasted like cheesecake, until he hit the aftertaste as well. 

Cheers to Jo for sharing!

Green Grotto Team Room

Green Grotto Tea Room (7030 Warden Avenue, Markham, Ontario)

905-300-2578

I didn't actually order anything from here, but I was amused by the packaging of their take-out bubble teas.

Casey got the monkey, which amused both Renée and I.

I asked Renée what makes this place different from other bubble tea places. She said that you get both big and small tapioca balls in the drinks, and that they give you popcorn when you dine in. There are also magazines and games for entertainment if you decide to drink your drink there.

I thought the cartoons on the bubble tea seals were cute.

H Mart

H Mart (5317 Yonge Street, North York, Ontario)
647-727-3733

I decided to check out this Korean grocery chain for some Asian snacks.

I couldn't find my favourite Japanese MSG rice crackers, but I found these things that resembled them. 

My first reaction: Ugh, they're sweet! I really wasn't expecting that. 

They reminded me a bit of honey roasted peanuts. I suppose if I didn't have the wish for them to taste like my favourite snack, I wouldn't think they were so bad. 

It should be noted that the store had my favourite koala cookies, and it also had Crunch Crunch Pear, a drink that Renée has not been able to find since last year. She thought it was overpriced though, and didn't get it.

Total damage: around $3.

Maruchan Ramen

Beef flavoured!

I think I prefer the chicken flavoured one, but this one was still good. 

Mighty Leaf Tea Company

Mighty Leaf Tea Company

Casey was nice enough to bring back some tea for me from the states. 

These are actually from a while ago, so the packaging has changed since.

I cleared this box during one period of exams... except for the non-caffeinated yellow ones. Not sure what to do with those... I can safely assume that this box of tea made my teeth about three times more yellow than they were before.

Jess didn't believe me when I said I had orange jasmine. Here's proof that it exists (or at least existed at one point)! 

 This is probably my favourite flavour. I'm a fan of the intense aromas and tastes brought on by this brand of tea. 

 The packaging even tells me how long to brew the tea for. Nice!

Maruchan Ramen

Andrea was kind enough to give me some new instant noodles she found on her trip. I must say that they were pretty good. It's just the instant noodles and the msg package, no oil packet. The chicken flavour comes off strong. The slightly unique thing about these noodles is that they don't get soft as easily as other brands. So after boiling, the ramen retains their bouncy bite. It's something like al dente, but... bouncier. 

I would totally eat these again. 

Total damage: free for me thanks to Andrea!

Of Tov Teddy Bites

At first, I was really excited to eat teddy bear shaped breaded chicken nuggets. In the Kosher aisle of the grocery store, I took a while deliberating if I wanted these or the dinosaur shaped ones.

 Then I tried eating them, and I suddenly craved McDonald's chicken McNuggets. These things didn't taste like meat. They reminded me of that Simpsons episode when the kids find out their cafeteria food is made from shredded newspaper. 

Looks like I'll have to shape my own meat from now on.