watermelon battle

Now that summer is here I have noticed four new watermelon flavoured products in the grocery stores.

Tropicana Watermelon drink: it is delicious and actually does taste like watermelon (uhh and sugar).  I will try the lemonades too eventually.

President's Choice Watermelon Crunch ice cream.  Sugary and gross. Does not taste like watermelon. The "crunch" is granola. Uggh.

Friendly's watermelon fruit bars/popsicles.  Friggin disgusting.  Tastes nothing like watermelon.  I had to let them melt in the laundry sink.  Got these in Ogdensburg.

Nestle FruPops watermelon popsicles. Very gross.  Tastes NOTHING like watermelon whatsoever!  I brought them to work.

This AriZona Watermelon Fruit Juice Cocktail tastes nothing like watermelon. It tastes like fruit punch.  Thumbs down.

I got my mom to try this Sunrise Watermelon flavour Tofu Dessert.  She said, "Never buy this again!"

I got these in Potsdam, NY.  Undrinkably sugary and fake.  I brought 3 to work because I couldn't finish them.

A new entry into the world of watermelon beverages: tastes only like diluted apple drink.

Spring 2015

Here I did a practise run for PI day pie bake-off.  These are cherry bakewells (an English thing).  The instructions came from Australia and I guess they have a different tart size (much smaller than what I expected).  Anyway they turned out OK.

Also I tried to make Thai red curry from scratch (no paste).  There was a very long list of herbs and spices (basil, lemongrass, coriander, a bay leaf, etc.).  The smell and taste were dead on but the recipe was very unclear so I was not able to make the sauce texture right. It was gritty with hunks of plant material.  I would have to puree further somehow or strain it. Because I failed to do so, it caused "digestive issues".

I got different passion fruits, grenadillas, etc. from the store to plant the seeds.  I think the taste and texture of these is gross.

Lazlo's award winning chili recipe did not win me any awards but it did make people laugh and they ate it.

More of chef Pradeep's custard tarts.  They looked beautiful at first but on the way to the competition, my container slipped so most were a bit crushed.

Saw this at the Middle Eastern store. YUCK.  Also after sitting for some time it separates into 2 layers.

I saw these crazy maraschino cherries in East Side Mario's. Barfffff

early 2015 drinks and chocolates

This past Christmas I found these Queen Anne cherry chocolates in Ogdensburg.  Note that they are black cherry cola flavour.  OMG they were inedible and went to the garbage.  People at work were willing to try 0 or 1 of these. Nobody went on to eat a second one.

Got this Mamma Chia vitality drink in Loblaws.  Did not try it.  My bro said it was OK.  you can see all the seeds floating around in it.

Pat McKitty bought these in Winnipeg and brought them to a Sooeyfest meet up.  They are Rocky Mountain Chocolate Company milk chocolate covered sour candies and red licorice.  They were DELICIOUS!

I got these when I finally went exploring to our new Whole Foods store downtown.  I only tried the rose lemonade.  Not worth $3!

I got these at whole foods at the same time.  Both were disgusting.  I remember seeing the Hardbite potato chip guy on Dragons' Den so that is why I tried his chips.

2014 xmas baking

my bro attempted Canadian Living's best pie recipe... but he fooled around with the recipe, adding 0 sugar or flour to the apples, and 1 whole lemon juice. It turned out SOUR

 Deborah's mom's recipe for icebox cookies with maraschino cherries

Euro-style.  Don't know the name in English but they contain ground nuts and a lot of flour and butter.

This blueberry & peach dump cake recipe was from the Dump Cakes And More book and it kind of sucked.

 Ketchup doritos = disgusting

2014

Got these from Lazlo from Pacific Mall. Seems to be lollipops that you dip into sauce and sprinkles. 

Not worth the price... and does not taste at all like cheeseburgers... let me know if anybody tries calimari flavour. ewwwwwwww

Seriously this Easter chocolate is almost offensive... Jesus was resurrected and put on his high heel pumps!?!

 I saw this at Harvey's. Sounds gross.

 I made this pineapple upside down cake thanks to the cakercooking.blogspot.com blog!  It was just OK

Carol's mother's recipe for TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival) cookies with skor bar pieces and oats and dried cherries, etc.  They are delicious. Let me know if you want the recipe.

 You can make chocolate cake in the microwave in1 minute! I tried it and it worked! http://recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-detail.asp?recipe=2002953

The pumpkin cupcakes turned out kind of gross.

A fun Cadbury Dairy Milk Marvellous Creations bar with candies but they jack up the price. It's $3.49 to $4.99 depending on where you go. Not worth it.

Engagement chicken in 2013

If you like to hate Wigward, like I do, you'll know about his wife's "famous recipes". One of them is marshmallow salad, and the other is to bake a chicken with lemons and call it Engagement Chicken. I tried to make it in a crockpot at first - as you can see, it did not brown.  So I had to put it in the oven eventually. Actually it did taste good, no thanks to HER!

Thanksgiving 2013

 McDonald's was offering oozing After Eight mint flavoured baked pies.    No thank you!

If you know me, you know I hate Galen Weston, junior billionaire overlord of Loblaws grocery stores.  Back in 2013 the company came out with a whole bunch of products based on the President's Choice chocolate chip cookies.  I don't think I tried this chocolate soda. 

Here is another one, a chocolate bar with chunks of their cookies in it.  Note that the bar does not mention milk chocolate or dark chocolate or how much cocoa.

Here is another revolting decadent product. Ingredient #1: cookies. Ingredient #2: sugar. Ingredient #3: oil. Barfffff

More caker cooking and fudge (2013)

Adulterer's chili: I found the recipe in Frank magazine. Some freak was telling his mistress what he was cooking.  It turned out OK.  To summarize - brown 1-lb of ground beef, add 1/2 a chopped onion, 1 can of Campbell's Fiesta vegetable soup, 1 can of baked bean, and add whatever spices you want.

freaky Monkey's Paw citrus

My 1st dump cake: canned pie filling, cake mix powder, canned pineapple, butter, coconut from http://cakercooking.blogspot.com.

I made some crack but the name is quick and easy skor bars — http://cakercooking.blogspot.ca/2011/06/quick-and-easy-skor-bars_20.html.

 Pink lemonade from a mix from Ogdensburg- kind of chemicalish

this is the "hot cocoa" brownie mix (with marshamallow swirls). I put the sprinkles on and brought it to work.

Rainbow marshmallow fudge
 http://www.eaglebrand.ca/recipes-details.aspx?rid=1779

 This one is much better - contains peanut butter, chocolate chips, marshmallows and butter.

 I made this after watching a show about Malaysia or Singapore. Chicken, coconut milk, rice, garlic, ginger, lemongrass, lime juice. My mom said, "It's crap!" but it tasted ok to me!

Zebra cakes in 2012

Zebra cakes.  The trick is to have several different containers of different coloured batter.  Then using a ladle or cup, carefully add some, then add a different one without disturbing the last.  Repeat alternating colours, so that the layers build up.

First attempted zebra cake was kind of burnt because it was too thick. I should have used 2 baking pans.

 This one I used red velvet cake.  The taste was overwhelmed by the other mix - no chocolate flavour at all remained.

Roasted chestnuts

Roasted pumpkin seeds

Aw yeah.. have a slice of zebra cake

Zebra cake for United Way auction