Zellers Family Restaurant – Sundridge Mall

We got up early and we drove to Sunridge Mall just go to go to the Zellers diner which I was told it was the last one in the city that was opened now. When I was young, my mom use to take me to the exact same location for breakfast – so it was neat going back to the original diner I tried years ago. We actually got there right when they take the breakfast menu away, so I ordered Z’s Mile High burger with fries.

The burger was made of juicy beef burger topped with bacon, cheddar and swiss cheese, bbq sauce, onion right, with veggies. The burger was really tasty as the patty was actually really juicy – slathered with BBQ sauce. Then, as you can see in the picture, the burger was topped with a mile high of the condiments and the difference of texture of the onion right has taken this burger over the top! I love eating burgers and this one is one of the better ones. Too bad eventually this restaurant will be closing. On a happier note, my husband ordered a plate of Breaded Pork Cutlet which he enjoyed thoroughly!

This plate of food was a pork cutlet crusted with savoury schnitzel breading, with a side of mashed potatoes and mixed vegetables. The pork cutlet breading was packed with tons of flavour, and even though it was a thin piece of pork, it wasn’t dry at all! It was quite enjoyable! Then, there is nothing I love more than mashed potatoes and gravy – so that was a plus on the plate. The mixed vegetables was cooked until the life was taken from the vegetables, as the didn’t even hold their shape anymore and the colours was completely pale. It was the only thing left on both of our plates at the end of our meal! Not bad!

GlobalFest 2012 – Brazil

I didn’t think I would be fortunate enough to be able to obtain a last minute ticket at a decent price to attend GlobalFest again, and for Brazil night! It was a wonderful surprise that we did get tickets and was able to go! It was an excellent show that was put on, and the fireworks was spectacular! The music and the firework display was absolutely fantastic! The upbeat music made the environment really fun. This time, we sat on the South side for the first time, and I realized there was a stage on this side! This stage was the OneWorld stage.

The fireworks exploded to lovely tunes, and the line up for this years show was:
Real in Rio – Carlinhos Brown, Sergio Mendes, & Siedah Garrett
Girl of Ipanema – Ella Fitzgerald
Cantigas de Capoeira – Mestre Acordeon e Mestra Ra
Pais Tropical – Daniela Mercury
Aquarela do Brasil – Johnny Mathis
Thunder – From Cirque Du Soleil’s “Totem”
Shared Love – Alexia Ramio
Batucada / Samba – DJ Nero

With a song list like this, it really made me excited for the next Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro for a celebration of really everything and anything!

I’m really happy with the fireworks I’ve seen this year – they’ve all been really impressive and I get so excited when I see it!! This evening, the reflections on the still waters at Elliston Park made the show seem so much more spectacular as the mirror image reflected all the prettiness!

Below is a clip I’ve taken to the fireworks show playing to Pais Tropical by Daniela Mercury and you can see the exciting show Brazil put on for us for 2012!

Homemade Soy Milk – 豆漿

Home Made Soya Bean Milk

I have just figured out I really like to make homemade Soy Milk, as it only costs about $0.75 to make a litre of this drink! It’s actually not very hard to make either!

Ingredients: Serving Size 2 Cups (500mL)
1/2 Cup Soy Bean
1 1/2 cup Cold Water

First, you will soak the soy beans for at least 8 hours. I’ve been soaking them over night for the 2 times I’ve made them so far! The beans will actually double/triple in size! As soon as this happens, you can basically peel the shells and you’re ready to make your drink!

Once you’re ready, wash the soy beans and place them in a pot with 1 1/2 cup of water if you’re using an immersion blender, or you can place it all into a blender. I’ve been using my immersion blender as it’s easiest for me! Blend until as smooth as possible, and then pour it through a strainer with a cheesecloth on top to make the milk a smooth as possible. Squeeze out as much liquid out of the cheesecloth as possible.

Once you’ve strained out the beans from the milk, you can boil the milk that you have. I have been adding extra water to the pulp and trying to extract more from the beans and strain again. From here, bring the milk to a boil and set up a strainer with cheesecloth on top of the strainer to collect any missed pieces of soy beans.

Then, I bring the milk back to a boil, and make sure you watch it as it will boil over fast. I strain it through the cheesecloth one last time, but I think this last step is completely optional. Then, just let it cool and refrigerate. I believe this can only last about 3 days in the fridge as there are no preservatives! But, you can enjoy as is, you can add some sugar to sweeten it!

For me, I turned a double batch of the unsweetened soy milk (1 litre) into Dou Fu Fa! Here’s a great recipe!

Open Sesame

I was looking for a special place to go for my husband birthday. We’ve been hearing great things about the Smugglers Group chain, and we didn’t know which restaurant to try. We ended up settling for Open Sesame, for no particular reason really! Eventually, we will try it all! 🙂

Parking was in the back, and there wasn’t too many in the parking lot, but there are street parking available, which seemed like there was plenty! I really felt like something sweet to drink, but non-alcoholic – so I ordered a delicious Aladdin’s Passion. This drink, it says it’s made with Passion fruit sorbet, Orange, Mango juices, slash of Green Tea. It was refreshing, even though the chunks of ice was kind of made it hard to drink until during the dinner entree when the ice started melting.

We started off with a plate of Potstickers as it’s one of my all time favourite foods! I like them even when they’re not good! But, no problem here at Open Sesame, it tasted great! It was stuffed with Ginger Chicken & Shrimp, but for 4 pieces at $7.45, I felt like it was a tad costly! But, that’s probably because I’m use to it being quite cheap from actual Chinese restaurants! Besides, it turned out to be the right amount anyway as the entrees are pretty big!

Now, for the hard part – the actual dinner! I couldn’t choose what I wanted to eat, as a lot of items on the menu sounded so good! From creating your own dinner with an “ingredient” bar to different areas of inspirations on the menu! I finally decided on having Malaysian Blazin’ Noodles which was a huge plate of delicious white, wide rice noodles tossed with Malaysian spices, and then stir fried with chicken and vegetables!

Then, the birthday boy ordered a sizzling plate, which came out steaming and making the area smelling wonderful! It splashed oil/sauce as it was put down, but it was so worth it! It was a very comforting plate of food as we have meals like that in Chinese restaurants. He ordered the Chicken Katsu, made chicken breast that was breaded and made super crispy. Served with this amazing chicken had a bowl of rice and a bunch of vegetables. There was a sauce that was placed on top of the chicken, and it was really good!

At the end of dinner, to be honest, I was way to stuffed for dessert. I even had the rest of my dinner packed to take home! It was really good, and I loved the ambiance of Open Sesame! I loved that a lot of their customers at least try to use chopsticks as they put it on the table with the normal eating utensils! I had fun here, and I’m sure I’ll return one day – but probably after I try the entire group of restaurants as they’re so well known in the city!

Open Sesame on Urbanspoon

Open Sesame

6920 Macleod Trail South
Calgary, AB T2H0L3
(403) 259-0123

Marc Jacobs – Daisy Eau So Fresh

I love spring, and I like to buy a small bottle of perfume twice a year… one for the Spring/Summer months, and one for the Fall/Winter months. This year, I found a small bottle of Marc Jacobs perfume, in a cute and adorable travel size called Eau So Fresh and I think it will be my new favourite for a few years to come! I still love the previous scents that I love for the Spring/Summer season, but I can add this to the list! The scent isn’t overpowering in any way and it doesn’t cause me to sneeze – as I have allergies!

Because this is a travel size, the bottle is a little different from the regular sized bottles. I really like the flower, as it is really cute. It would take up quite a bit of space if I was to travel with it is a problem. The other thing, it doesn’t actually stand up like a flower. It just lies there, but it’s really cool anyway! The scent is fruity and floral and it reminds me of spring and summer – which is really nice! I like sweet scents for the sunny seasons, and this one isn’t so sweet that it attracts fruit flies or anything – so it’s just perfect! I like to spray this on both the inside of my wrist and just one pump on my clothing so it lasts longer. The scent does fade rather quickly, and the bottle is kind of large to take around to touch up. But, I’m never out too much where it becomes a huge issue, so I still love it!