Instantly Not Quite.

 I just went to stick some pop in my fridge, thinking about eating some chips.  I noticed the piece of fish left over from supper the other night, and grabbed that.  Grabbed a 32 gram bag of Old Dutch Salt and Vinegar potato chips, and found myself with instant fish and chips.  Sort of.

Slightly Better.

 Recently I got interested in protein bars after passing by them in various places.  I'm not interested in actually buying them regularly, I just wanted to see what they taste like.  The first one I tried a few weeks ago was from One brand, labelled as chocolate chip cookie dough flavour.  That labelling was optimistic.  It didn't taste or have a texture like cookie dough.  In fact it was awful enough that I only ate half.  Especially annoying was the taste of the artificial sweeteners they use instead of sugar.

Today I decided to give these products one more shot.  This time I bought a Quest brand bar of the same flavour.  I doubt I'll be buying one again, but this was considerably better.  For one thing it actually looked like chocolate chip cookie dough, being a beige colour with chunks of chocolate inside.  The texture was better, and the taste was as well.  Overall I'd call it edible, and wouldn't say no if someone offered me one again.  It also seems like it's probably healthier than the One brand offering as it contains less fat and less saturated fat.

But the price of these things!  The One brand bar was on sale for $3.99.  The Quest bar was on sale for $4.29.  I think you could find alternatives that would serve the same role for cheaper. like some nuts and cheese.

Snacking Is Too Expensive.

It was an early morning for me, as I was up at a quarter to 5 to take my parents to the airport.  Afterwards I decided to have a bad breakfast, and bought a bag of white cheddar popcorn.  It came to $2.10 with the tax, which is the same price you'll end up paying for the standard single serving size of Lays and Old Dutch chips.  This seems like a good excuse not to buy the stuff.  Of course if a Dollarama had been open I could have bought some there, as their smaller sizes are cheaper.

We Wish You A...

....(insert appropriate seasonal event related greeting here).  The only thing I'll be doing this December 25th is sitting around the house eating cookies, candies, turkey, and chocolate pie.

Meal Fit For A....

I really need to cut down on my eating.  I've put on some weight of late.  But since yesterday was the last Monday of the month I decided to have a cheap lunch.  Of late Burger King in Canada has been advertising their $4.99 King Meal Deal.  You get a small fries, small drink, and your choice of two cheeseburgers, 2 Chicken Jr. chicken burgers, or one of each.  I took one of each.

The Chicken Jr. is the equivalent of A&W's Chicken Buddy Burger, with lettuce instead of pickles.  I think it's a better tasting chicken patty than A&W's offering, although both are skinny.  BK didn't skimp on the lettuce on mine, and I ended up pulling some of the bigger chunks out.  The cheeseburger is the typical BK cheeseburger, and I think the size of the patty they use in this and some other sandwiches has shrunk over the years.  If you've had one before you know the taste.  I actually didn't mind the small fries here, but would prefer a larger drink.

All in all it was about what I expected.  It won't set the world on fire, but it's sure to appeal to BK regulars.

On the other hand I think I prefer the competition, in Saskatoon at least, for a five buck combo.  Various Dairy Queen restaurants here(I'm not sure all do) offer a five dollar double cheeseburger lunch special between 11 AM and 2 PM , with fries and a regular size drink.  I like their burgers better these days than BK's, and you get more fries and a larger drink.

Quarter To Five Popcorn.

I had to get up before 4 AM this morning to drive my parents to the airport.(They're off to Ottawa for a vacation.)  So I decided that after I dropped them off I'd go buy some popcorn at 7/11.  As I've noted before Saskatoon is still not really a 24 hour a day city, but you can still find stuff open this early.  And I imagine things are about to get busier as people head off for shifts that start at 6 or 7 AM.

Turkey Sandwich.

I had a couple for supper, and I had to resist the temptation for a third.  They were very simple, just a couple of  slices of store bought sliced turkey, a couple slices of cheddar, some mustard, a bit of pepper, and white bread.  I threw a bit of Kraft parmesan on the second.

Compare that to the last sandwiches I had, last Sunday.  I got it into my head to make a couple of Monte Cristo sandwiches, since there was some sliced ham left over from a previous meal.  So I went out to buy some sliced turkey and some Swiss cheese slices.  I also threw in some cheddar.  In the end they weren't bad at all, but the egg batter didn't quite work the way I wanted it to.  There are so many different Monte Cristo recipes out there, and that variation includes how the egg batter is made.  No jam or other sweet stuff was involved in mine, since that isn't something I've seen with the restaurant versions I've ordered in Saskatchewan.

Uncola-ish.

This morning I skipped the familiar Coke Zero and Diet Pepsi to buy a Zevia sugar free cola.  I'd seen them before and finally decided to try one.  A can costs 99 cents plus tax and deposit at Sobeys.   

Even before you drink it you'll notice it's clear.  It doesn't contain colouring like a conventional cola.  When I drank it to me it didn't taste that much like a cola either.  Frankly it tasted closer to slightly flat Sprite.

Zevia uses stevia leaf, which has become increasingly common as a sweetener in North America over the last decade.  Perhaps this has something to do with the taste.  A while ago my dad bought a can of Coke Life, which is sweetened with a mixture of stevia and sugar.  He thought it tasted more like ginger ale than Coke.  On the other hand it may simply be the taste profile Zevia decided to go for.

I probably won't be buying any again anytime soon.

Big Snow.

If you were worried about Saskatoon not getting enough snow this winter your worries have probably been assuaged somewhat.  We got a pretty good dumping over the last 12 or so hours, and apparently we'll get some more New Year's Eve.   And the temperature won't be getting near zero for at least a week, so what's there won't be going anyplace.

I just did some shovelling, which will counter some of the calories I'm about to consume in the ham sandwich I'm about to eat.  It's a simple sandwich, with some slices of ham and a few pieces of cheddar on white, with mustard and pepper for seasoning.

R.I.P.

I'm sorry.  Your existence ended all too soon.  You were wonderful.  Golden.  And now you're gone.

I really wish you'd been bigger, cake, because another few pieces of you would have been nice.

Crackdown On Vice.

If I ever needed more incentive to cut down on my consumption of sugary crap now I've got it.  The prices of some of the donuts and cookies I eat have gone up.  I suspect other junk food will soon follow.  So I should really stop buying it, and save myself a bit of money every week.  I could also do to lose a pound or ten.

The Last Sip.

I just finished my last Coke Zero of the year.  This made me wonder how many gallons of the stuff I've consumed in 2015.  The answer is of course "Too many."  I'm hoping to cut back some in 2016.  It will save me a bit of money, and I think less caffeine can't be a bad thing either.

Subpar Sunday Sundae.

Last night I had some food from Burger King for supper.(Cue someone's overwrought gasp of horror.)  I decided to get a caramel sundae to go with it.  I'm afraid I have to give it a thumbs down.  The ice cream(or perhaps to be technically accurate, soft serve) was alright,  but the caramel sauce largely sank to the bottom of the cup, and it tasted bland.  It definitely comes in a very poor second to McDonald's version of the same product, and I won't be ordering one again.

BK Chicken Fries.

Chances are you've seen the ads for them if you're a Canadian.  After being bombarded by them for several weeks I decided to try some today.  I don't think I'll buy them again.  They weren't horrible, but they were kind of tasteless, and the chicken seemed a bit rubbery.  Perhaps my package sat on the warming tray too long, and I suspect the amount of chicken in each one is a bit too little for good flavour.  On the other hand a combo with medium fries and medium drink was $6.30, which is a nice price.

Quite The Spread.

I decided I wanted a Kit Kat tonight.  The Dollarama at Centre Mall, which is where I would normally buy one, is currently closed as they move from one end of the mall to the other.  Their price before tax for one is 77 cents.  So I went into Shoppers Drug Mart.  Their price?  $1.69 before taxes.  Since I had to drive past it to go home anyway I went into Sobeys to buy one.  Their price?  $1.19 before taxes.  I hate to think what 7/11 charges for one these days.

It makes me wonder what the wholesale cost of a Kit Kat, or other chocolate bars, is.  You'd think Dollarama wouldn't have a purchasing advantage over the other companies that allows for such a low price compared to the others, but you never know.  Is Dollarama counting on selling that many more of them to make up for a much smaller profit per bar?  Or is Shoppers making a lot of money per bar with that markup? 

Ironically the new Dollarama location is across the mall from Shoppers in Centre West.  I wonder if that will hurt Shoppers candy sales any more than the old location, in Center East, did.

Crunch, Crunch.

At the moment I'm eating some Covered Bridge brand sea salt and vinegar potato chips.  I quite like the taste of these.  But the size available locally, at Dollarama, is a bit too big.  It's  a 102 gram size, which I really shouldn't be eating at one sitting.  Especially on a day where I'm doing nothing but sitting around the house.

I Did It.

I did my stupid thing, which was to go to the drive through at McDonalds.  Not only did I buy a 6 Chicken McNuggets meal, I bot a caramel sundae as well.  So I'll probably end up with heartburn, or stay awake all night because of the caffeine in the Coke Zero.

In one sense I've already been punished.  They didn't give me a straw for my drink!

Pizza Peculiarity.

Last night I had a McCain Rising Crust 4 cheese pizza for supper.  I was less than impressed.  I found it rather flavourless.  In fact I almost threw the remaining pieces out this morning, but didn't.  So I took them out to have with my already planned supper of a couple of roast beef sandwiches.  Oddly the pizza tasted better rewarmed than it did fresh.  Not hugely better, but a bit better nonetheless.  I still won't be buying one again anytime soon however.

Bad Dad's.

I just finished off a box of Dad's Goodie Rings cookies I bought earlier this week.

If your response is "Huh? Goodie Rings don't come in a box." then, like me, you haven't bought any in a while.  Here in Saskatoon at least the only size available at the moment is a 250 gram box, versus the 350 gram bag they've long come in.  This of course means less cookies per package, and given that I bought them at what seems to be the same price as the older packaging, a higher cost per cookie.

I bought them at Walmart.  Oddly the Walmart.ca website still has the 350 gram packaging listed.  Even more oddly is that the snackworks.ca web page for Dad's doesn't list Goodie Rings at all.  And both looking at the webpage and at local store shelves as well it seems some of their other products have disappeared.  Perhaps they're rationalising their product line because of poor sales.

I doubt this means they're about to disappear.  They wouldn't have come up with a new package if Goodie Rings are on the chopping block.  But I'm still annoyed at the changes, since you're getting less value for your snack money.

Oh No, It's Too Late!!!

I can't make myself that grilled cheese sandwich I was gonna make.  To do so now would just lead to a night of internal upset.  Oh well, just have to wait until tomorrow.

Heh, and you thought you needed a text account or Twitter to write stuff like this.