Travel – Page 92 – Elsie Hui

November 18, 2011April 4, 2012

Holiday Inn Kenilworth

We went to England for my sisters wedding in September 2011, and it was lovely. It was held at the Kenilworth Castle which was a beautiful location. The entire city of Kenilworth in Warwichshire was really lovely. It seemed like an up-scale small town.

We flew into Birmingham Airport as it was the closet airport from Kenilworth and my sister picked us up. We stayed at the Holiday Inn Kenilworth which was a beautiful hotel with lots of amenities in and around the hotel.

Eating options was plenty in Kenilworth, and the location of this hotel was ideal for ones who like to eat – such as myself. The hotel is located right in the middle of of a great traffic circle (roundabouts) with major streets for dining. We ate at the Starbucks inside the hotel a few times for lunches and snack, and The Almanack. We also had a fantastic dinner at Indian Edge which is just down the street of The Square and it’s a fantastic East Indian cuisine restaurant which I highly recommend.

Besides all the dining and shopping in boutiques, the hotel was beautiful. It feels really new, or newly renovated. It was large, the staff was quite friendly – after they warmed up to us being familiar faces, and the rooms were large and clean.

We stayed in the Executive Suite as we needed a room with more space to get ready, and of course a king bed was worth it! It seems that England usually has either 2 twin beds or 1 queen – sometimes a double as standard sizes. So, with the upgrade, we got more space to get ready for the wedding, and visiting of other family/friend members.

The location of the room was fantastic as I love rooms that are far from the elevator. This was the perfect room for me as it was at the very end of a hallway. It had an extra window in the room which was something I loved during the day, and in the evening, the shades darkened the room really well!

Overall, the room and the hotel was fantastic! I would return to this area and stay at the Holiday Inn Kenilworth again anytime. You can see the walk through of my room from the clip below!

Holiday Inn Kenilworth

Abbey End 212, Warwickshire,
CV8 1ED England

November 17, 2011May 14, 2019

Cookie Occasion – Calgary, Alberta

During a visit to see Fiasco Souped Up Food Truck in Calgary Marda Loop, I went to a place for cookies called Cookie Occasion which easily drew me to here as I love cookies.

I got to go get myself another cookie as I promised myself! This time, I got the Triple Sin Cookie and it was sinfully delicious. These cookies are made of the three common Callebaut chocolate chunks – dark, milk and white and they are all mixed into a great cookie dough! There’s really nothing quite like it!

The other cookie we purchased was Amaretto Almond Cookie and within the first bite, my mouth was exploding with almond flavours. These cookies are mixed in with Callebaut milk chocolate chunks, almonds and a splash of amaretto! We’ve never had a more almond tasting cookie before and it was really wonderful!

As much as I like cookies from anywhere, I can not get over how wonderfully delicious these cookies are, and the texture of the cookie is unlike any other. These cookies are a must try if you haven’t done so yet! You’ll see the difference, and you’ll thank me later! 🙂 But, note their hours are Monday – Saturday 10AM to 5PM!

Cookie Occasion

2107 – 33rd Avenue SW
Calgary, AB
(403) 246-6700

November 16, 2011March 17, 2019

Fiasco Souped Up Food Truck – Calgary, Alberta

I’ve been meaning to try Soup’ed Up from Fiasco once I heard that the Gelato truck was transforming into a soup truck. I finally had the opportunity to try one one weekend while they were in Marda Loop which is somewhere I don’t normally go to – but for them, I do!

We ordered a Lentil Lime Chipotle Chili and it was a hot, hearty, healthy, delicious chili. The lentils was cooked to perfection, as it wasn’t over or under cooked, and the spice in the chili was just perfect. The jalapeno peppers were of course spicy, but it is a jalapeno pepper! 🙂 The wonderful thing about this chili was the fact there was large chunks of bacon in the soup! It not only added a nice smokey flavour – which had a lot of it from the smokey chipotle powder – but it added great texture in the chili with bites to eat. Normally the chili’s have ground meat, and it’s nice this chili wasn’t like all the other ones, it’s something different and special!

I know the chili isn’t a soup, so we did order a soup too! We tried the Thai Chicken Soup and this is a delightful soup! It’s creamy, and coco-nutty, with Thai curry notes. It’s topped with a swirl of organic peanut butter which really enhances the creaminess texture of soup! This soup has got large pieces of chicken, and it’s mixed in with a lot of Thai flavours. This soup has the perfect balance of flavour – sweet, spicy, savoury, and sour – which is typical for a lot of Asian foods. The predominate flavours of this soup would be the lemongrass and coconut milk and it sure makes it delicious!

Each of the order comes with a delicious roll, and a recycled spoon, which is great. The bun was really great to either eat alone or with the soup. It was warm, light and fluffy on the inside, and perfectly crispy on the outside. It is very appropriate for the colder season!

October 26, 2011December 12, 2011

Fiasco Gelato – Food Truck in Calgary

I love Gelato, and I love our street food – Food Trucks in Calgary! This is one of the few food trucks I’ve made an effort to visit numerous times! 🙂 I think Fiasco Gelato maybe my favourite food truck right now – if I’m allowed to say that. I love the owners behinds the scenes, and I always remember us asking him “how’s it going?” and they replied “living the dream!”

I love it when people are out doing what they love most – and they definitely love what they’re doing! The first time I tried them was actually when Alley Burger started up, and Fiasco Gelato was so clever they came out into the line with their gelato bike to serve hungry and patient customers gelato! Now, that’s smart! 🙂

During this outing, we enjoyed their Strawberry Gelato which really hit the spot! It was a hot day and a cold cup of refreshing and cold gelato – in my favourite flavour was served, I suddenly was 100 notches LESS grumpy from standing almost 3 hours in line for a burger!

We’ve also visited Fiasco Gelato on another occasion (numerous) where we got to order from their truck – which is just as fun actually!

One of my favourite flavours over summer that I got to experience would definitely be the Mango Creme Brulee. Fiasco Gelato has been easy to get my hands on as they’re as ambitious to sever Calgarians Gelato as much as I want to eat it! I’ve had them when they were at East Side Village to GlobalFest and all other places in between. I really like following them, and it just cheers me up when I see them serving so happily!

For the colder months when a lot of their customers aren’t thinking about gelato, they’ve Souped Up their food truck – where they now serve hot home made gluten free soups with a fresh and delicious roll. Their soups are just as wonderful as their gelatos, so be sure to try Fiasco Souped Up Food Truck!

Fiasco Gelato

Food truck in Calgary
Alley Burger
Perogy Boys
The Noodle Bus
Los Compadres
Mighty Skillet
Fiasco Gelato
Fiasco Souped Up
Chef Mario Street Burgers
Fries & Dolls
JoJo’s BBQ
Pimentos Mobile Pizzeria

October 23, 2011April 4, 2012

Hamley Squiddy – Batteries

The Hamley Squiddy seems to be a popular bath toy! It has been brought to my attention that we weren’t the only ones with problems opening Squddy to insert or change batteries.

This bath-time toy takes 2AA batteries, and is not too complicated to insert or change. It does take a little bit of force, but not so much where you crush Squiddy. You can watch the video below to watch us open, insert batteries and see Squiddy move!

I really like my Hamley Squiddy – see what I think about Hamley’s Squiddy!