Slow Cooker Strikes Again

Cost: $12

Prep: 20 minutes +

I haven't brought out the slow-cooker for a while, and parts of it were good. Specifically, the roast beef was great. Very tender! It was huge, however. I could have bought one about 1/2 the size. We ate sandwiches for days after and eventually had to throw some away.

I made a great gravy to go with this, and Matt likes to eat his roast with the onions from the slow cooker.

I also put potatoes in the slow-cooker, and they were gross. So let's not talk about that.

Steamed green beans were served as the veg. Yum!

For dessert, Charlie ate his weight in watermelon. I also ate his weight in watermelon. Matt, however, ate his own weight. It was an expensive dessert.

????

I'm going to let you guess what is on those plates.

Broccoli? Correct!

Yam chips? Correct!

Chicken? Correct!

That other plate? I can't tell. And it has been too long. Oh well!

The Reef

Who wouldn't want this cool dude to eat at their restaurant?

Well, it seems, the Reef. Okay, okay. Not totally, but let me explain. One of the biggest turn-offs in restaurant service is when our child is not acknowledged. The waitress sat us, sans highchair, and then went to find one. We can't sit down without putting him down, so we stood and waited. She didn't bring him a drink or even offer one. Also, the waitress sat us in the booth in the front, nice spot, but I have a giant pregnant belly, and we had to skew the table to sit there.

Okay, so the food. Awesome.

It was lunch on a Sunday (Saturday?), so we started with the sweet Johnny Cakes filled with some sort of raspberry and served with mango butter. I could have eaten many, many more of these.

We shared 2 meals. Number 1 was goat roti. I wasn't really a fan of the coleslaw, but Matt liked it. The bread was fantastic, and the goat tasted great. It was a good curry.

You can see from the picture close-up that it is like a stew with large chunks. As a warning though, it was quite spicy--fine for the three of us, but it would not be fine for someone like my grandma.

The highlight was dish number 2: the quesadilla with plantain chips. We all loved the chips. I didn't want to share, but I did. And the dip. Oh. So good.

The jerk chicken quesadilla itself was amazing too. I will definitely order this again.

This brings me to my final conclusion. Will we be back? Yes. The food was fantastic. I don't blame the waitress for not knowing how to treat children either. Seriously, I used to look at balloons in the supermarket as decorations, and now that I have a baby I look at them and see torture because someone can't get one in his little hands. I do hope, however, that she reads this review and knows her error. Then, next time, I can have no more complaints.

Giant Steak and Mushrooms

Cost: $10

Prep: Quick

BBQ is key. It means matt does more of the cooking.

Matt did the giant steaks (there was A LOT of leftovers) while I did the mushrooms (soy sauce and butter), potatoes, steamed broccoli, and fresh chives from our out-of-control herb garden!

The best part, however, was Charlie's Charlie Chaplin mustache.

Pasta, Prawns, and Psalad

Cost: $12

Prep: 20 minutes

The goal for tonight's dinner was to clear room in the freezer. I took out the tortellini and prawns as they were awkward shaped and could be eaten together. (Although, if you ask my dad, everything goes together including fish sticks and spaghetti).

The prawns were sauteed in butter and garlic, and there were way too many to eat so Matt got a nice lunch!

Joe's Seafood and the Chinatown Night Market

We had a Groupon for Joe's Seafood for a while, and it was about it expire. Lucky, we finally had a day that was nice enough to eat outside, so despite it being a Wednesday, we headed downtown for dinner.

Joe's Seafood was having a few complications. They were very unprepared for the "rush" (not much of one) they were experiencing. They were out of menus, quite a few menu items, cups, etc. It didn't phase or effect us much though, but the manager was super flustered. I think if he had held it together better, I would have felt more comfortable.

Anyway, Joe's Seafood has a great view.

Charlie was not a fan though. Just kidding. Charlie was mad he couldn't have his own cup of water. So, eventually, I gave in and let him. One second later he dumped it on his lap.

But it was fine, because then our food came and he was distracted.

We ordered the seafood lolipops to start. They are sort of like a crab cake/seafood dip in a ball deep-fried. I liked these a lot.

We also shared a two piece cod and chips. Their batter is very nice. Thin. And I could eat the fries all day. Best fries ever. The tartar sauce is also very nice. The coleslaw however, whomp-wha. It is dry, plain, and bland cabbage. Too bad we ordered an extra side of this instead of the wonderful fries.

Lastly, we each got a spicy fish taco. They messed up our order a little here, serving us only one instead of two. We went directly to the kitchen with this, and it was quickly rectified. But maybe too quickly, as the fish seemed raw. Is it supposed to be? The fish in the first taco also seemed kind of raw. I ate it anyways, even though I probably shouldn't have.

I like the food they serve, but for a glorified chippery, they are a bit over priced. This meal would have neared $40.

As we were dirving home, we noticed it was the first night of the Chinatown Night Market. Although the market was lame, we got dessert and produce.

We had a dozen mini-donuts to share. Love these! Charlie like them too, although it is a week later and every time he sits in the stroller, his butt still gets covered in sugar.

We also stopped to get some produce at our favorite market. Charlie kept trying to grab stuff off the shelves. As we were in line to pay, I noticed he had succeeded and was eating a Saturn peach. An elderly woman had stopped me at one point to talk about Waldorf salad, and I guess that is when he got it. Oh well, we have a baby thief--but we did pay for it and it was only 30 cents.

Spoils

Quick, Late Pork

Cost: $8

Prep: 20 minutes

I told Matt that I had yoga at 6:10 PM, but he still wanted to go to Walmart before dinner. So, 5:55 I am getting dinner on the table, and 6:10 I was out the door.

I ate the salad and a bit of the Stove Top.

After yoga, I was so hungry, I indulged in Tim Bits and tea. Oh well! Dessert is important sometimes!

Ahoy there!

Cost: $7

Prep: 45 minutes

Honestly, I don't have much to say about this. Charlie clings to my apron strings as I cook, and tonight, to appease him, I cooked in a pirate hat.

We used some cod that we had in the freezer, as well as the remains of a bag of chips. Charlie is cutting some new teeth and enjoys eating the fries frozen. I steamed the broccoli and boiled some corn on the cob which was so awful and tough I didn't eat it.

















Anyway, Charlie ate corn, and he also loves fish. Actually, he loves anything he can dip in, and there were 2 dips this time--ketchup and tartar--a little boy's dream.

Gender Reveal

Yesterday we found out the gender of baby #2. Because it is Mother's Day, I wanted to tell my family in a special way.

I got the idea from Pintrest. I baked some chocolate cupcakes, used this tool Matt had put in my stocking to take out the middle, and filled with coloured icing.

When my mom, dad, brother, and grandma bit in (we made them chose what gender they were guessing first), they were all very surprised to find out that we are having a .....

GIRL!

Bbq Steak

Cost: ?

Prep: Quick

We skipped a meal today because of our brunch at the Fernwood Inn, so we made up for it by having a rich dinner.

We had a decent, thick cut of steak. Matt marinated and barbequed it. I made the side-dishes: our usual steamed brocoli and tiny new yellow potatoes. These were the highlight. Charlie loved eating the little potato "ball".

Matt often has trouble cooking my steak how I like it. This was just a little on the rare side, but still good.

Fernwood Inn

We have a whole bunch of Groupons that are going to expire, so in the next couple weeks we need to eat out a lot!

On the way to our "gender assessment" ultrasound today, we stopped at the Fernwood Inn to use our coupon. We had no idea they served brunch, but they do! They also are accommodating for people with children, even though I don't think it is their forte. They were great about turning on an extra TV to the soccer match so Charlie could watch.

And Charlie was being a bugger. Just got to throw that in there. He was kind of a butt all day, and this was no exception. We kept him fairly entertained, and I cleaned up the mesh he made, but I hope we weren't "those people" with their naughty infant disrupting everyone.

He looks innocent, but don't be fooled.

Generally, I like the food here. We tried the benny. Again it left me asking, why do people like the Blue Fox? This benny was a million times better. It was served on a flakey biscuit with thick smoked ham and a thin slice of cheese (smoked Gouda we guessed). It could have used a bit more Hollandaise, but the eggs were perfect. I really really like the fruit salad, but the hashbrowns....well, I liked that there were parsnips in the mix, but over all, the hashbrowns were served totally cold. Oh well.

We also shared the Down South Chicken Strips. I think it is usually served with 2 dips, but that wasn't really the problem. There was something wrong with the sweet potato fries today. They were really soggy, and that is not usual.

Oh well, we left satisfied, but it wasn't up to the usual standard. Generally, I would say they have good service and good food, but this visit one was a little off.

Date Night: Sabri

Matt went on a pub-crawl tonight (and came home in the state you would expect after such event), so I went on a date with my friend Amanda.

Because we were pressed for time, and Charlie was with us and starving, we went to the Sabri. I love the Sabri. I think it is consistent and delicious. I like that it is family run and that I always see the same faces there. I don't mind the creepy location or the kitschy decor either. Yes, the serves aren't wonderful; but they love my adorable baby so are constantly visiting our table!

Anyway, I always eat the same things and I really am not sure what most of them are called. I eat a couple pakoras, a couple of the potato dumpling (those are my fav), butter chicken, tandori chicken, and the chick-pea curry (although that one was really spicy this time). Charlie ate the same in small portions, but mostly he just ate naan bread and then had his own rice pudding.

I took one plate of food. Amanda took 2 VERY small plates of food. Our table had 1 rice pudding.

Usually when we dine here, there are a few men in tow. Although we enjoyed ourselves, the food and the company, we came to the conclusion that without a few big eaters in our party, it probably isn't worth the almost $15 with tax (they have yet to charge for Chuck, which is a good practice as he eats so little).

Charlie had a great time, as the pictures demonstrate. He especially loved dipping naan in rice pudding and rubbing it in his hair.