McD's Olympic Fan Pack

While some people love to go to McDonald's all the time, I'd rather go have some pho or pizza instead. I do enjoy getting McNuggets when we do go after their breakfast service.




Anyway, one of the current promotions is the Olympic Fan Pack containing 20 nuggets, two medium fries, two medium drinks, two fountain drinks, two cookies, and two collector pins for $13.99. Pretty sweet, especially when you get fresh nuggets and fries. The nuggets were barely warm but the fries were fresh.


Back in the days when they served pizzas, I was that crybaby that only wanted their crappy pizza -- even if it meant that we'd have to wait for them to fire up the ovens. Pathetic, I know. I then went through a McChicken phase and then got hooked on Big Macs following the mad cow situation many, many moons ago. Now when I eat a Big Mac, my body is hit harder than other junk foods. And that's why I stick with their nuggets.

The previous night, Richard and I went to see a Sens game where the Sens scored a goal in the last minute of play. That meant that we could go to redeem a free Big Mac sandwich with our ticket stubs. So in addition to the Fan Pack, Andrew and I also got two free Big Macs. I didn't touch mine when we there.


I did enjoy a few nuggets with honey though. Fries and honey don't work well together. I'll stick with fries and sweet & sour sauce or ketchup.


With crisp edges, gooey melted chocolate chips, and a chewy center, these warm chocolate chip cookies were surprisingly good. But when I think about how much money McD probably spends on R&D, it makes sense.


Full Disclosure:
I wasn't paid, reimbursed or asked to write about McDonald's. These views are my own.

Appreciation Lunch

Since our company was swamped leading up to Christmas and following the holidays, we didn't have any parties or lunches until quite late. The management organized a lunch for us earlier this month. Most of it was purchased from Costco.




There were plates of cold cuts, cheese, sandwiches, veggie platters, crackers, bread, fruits, drinks, and cake.


One of our assistant managers even made a mean vegetarian tortilla soup.


V and I ended up making ourselves simple prosciutto sandwiches. The apples made a great palate cleaner. But as I'm writing about this now, it reminds me of a prosciutto, goat cheese, pesto, apple panini I had years ago in Toronto. Ah that was one mighty fine sandwich.


Strawberry shortcake and chocolate layered cakes for dessert.

Anyway, most of us were exhausted both physically and mentally from the crazy holiday crowds. The appreciation lunch came at the perfect time.

Visiting the 3 Brewers

Full disclosure:
I don't enjoy alcohol. I rarely drink for that reason. Watered down juice is my beverage of choice. That or water. I can't tell if beer tastes good or if wine tastes good. I just don't drink enough and I'm perfectly fine with that.

When JL suggested that we should either go to 3 Brewers or Mill Street I wanted to try both actually, but I wanted to try the 3 Brewers more. Mainly because they had liege waffles on their menu. Okay, that was the only reason.


We met at the Kanata location right after I finished work. It was a long week and a long day. I didn't have a big appetite. We agreed to order and share some things, like the 2lbs of honey BBQ wings. They were great wings! The sauce wasn't overly sweet, the wings were still crisp and juicy inside. We were all really fans of them.




We also shared the star platter which had potato skins, mozzarella sticks, and spicy onion scoops. The spicy onion scoops were the star. Think of spicy onion rings. That's essentially what they tasted like.

We chased all of the salt and grease down with some cold beer. IPA for myself, blonde for JL, and the white beer for CA.


After all of the savoury things were polished off, we looked at the dessert section of the menu and discussed. We got the coffee and dessert combo which included a slice of cheesecake (CA opted for the strawberry drizzle), cup of coffee, and chocolate mouse (underneath that whipped cream).


And I couldn't have left without having their liege waffles. It was a sweet end to a fun night. I'd definitely return to the 3 Brewers. Have you been there yet?

Quick Shepherd's Pie

Last Wednesday, Lucy and I planned to go skating on the Rideau Canal. Prior to dinner and our evening skate, I ran some errands which brought me to the Byward Market. There were so many better lunch options than the one I chose.


What a poor decision. I regretted it as soon as I opened my mouth and ordered a big mac meal.

Fast forward to dinner. Shepherd's pie was on the menu. Using two parts ground beef and one part ground pork, some diced onions, beef broth, crushed crackers, salt, black pepper and bay leaves, the bottom layer was ready in less than 15 minutes. The other layers were Green Giant corn and Lucy's mashed potatoes.


The two pans were broiled for a couple minutes until golden.


Lucy also made an addictive prosciutto and goat cheese salad to go with dinner.

Dinner was so comforting. I was actually surprised how quickly it was made from start to finish. Gotta make this again soon.

CNY at Grandma's

We headed to Grandma's house last Sunday to celebrate Chinese new year. Our feast last year was remarkably fancy; snow crab legs, dungeness crab, and a whole roasted pig! The spread this year was closer to the typical dishes we usually have. It was nice that we celebrated it early, cause I'm sure the local Chinese establishments were swamped this weekend. Again, the meal summed up in photos.















The highlights of the meal had to go to Grandma's soup, the meats from Double Happiness, and the sesame balls filled with lotus paste and red beans from Kowloon Market.