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DIESEL SAMPLE SALE VANCOUVER BC

Do you need some new clothes for the summer? Just in on the wire. Diesel Sample Sale in Vancouver.

Details:

Thursday May 31st 10am-9pm
Friday June 1st 10am-9pm
Saturday June 2nd 10am-5pm

Location:
1090 Hamilton St
Suite 200, Vancouver BC

Methods of Payment:
AMEX, DEBIT, VISA, MC

Have fun!!

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Sent to me by Email. I thought it was pretty good. Your thoughts?

VOTED BEST SHORT JOKE OF 2007

For his birthday, little Joe asked for a 10-speed bicycle. His father said, “Son, we’d give you one, but the mortgage on this house is $280,000 & your mother just lost her job. There’s no way we can afford it.” The next day the father saw little Joe heading out the front door with a suitcase. So he asked, “Son, where are you going?” Little Joe told him; “I was walking past your room last night and heard you telling Mom you were pulling out. Then I heard her tell you to wait because she was coming too. And I’ll be damned if I’m staying here by myself with a $280,000 mortgage & no bike.

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I have been really stupid busy at my day job lately and it has taken away from my contributions on my fine blog. The last few weeks at the day job have been a testing time needless to say. I think I need a couple days off after being in Boston for awhile, then Nashville, and then orchestrating with a magic wand a conference for a 100 people I am ready for some quality “me” time.

Anyhow, I apologize to my readers that frequent this blog that there hasn’t been much new content up lately. I have lots of things to write about, more restaurant reviews, and couple surprises I am working on, but just finding the time has been tough. Hopefully in a few days I will have some fresh new stuff up for everyone.

In the mean time, check out this YouTube clip aptly named The Squirrel Launcher. 

Cheers,
-Brice

The Squirrel Launcher
 

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To all the mothers out there in the world, I wish you all a very Happy Mother’s Day. Mom’s never recieve enough credit and it should be Mother’s Day every day of the year. Moms do so much for the family that it is mind boggling. 

 I did a little search on the internet for the story of Mothers Day and I came across Holiday’s.net . This is what they had to say about the history of Mother’s Day…sounded pretty good to me.  Happy Mother’s Day!

The Story of Mother’s Day

The earliest Mother’s Day celebrations can be traced back to the spring celebrations of ancient Greece in honor of Rhea, the Mother of the Gods. During the 1600’s, England celebrated a day called “Mothering Sunday”. Celebrated on the 4th Sunday of Lent (the 40 day period leading up to Easter*), “Mothering Sunday” honored the mothers of England.
*(For more information on Lent/Easter check out - Easter on the Net)
During this time many of the England’s poor worked as servants for the wealthy. As most jobs were located far from their homes, the servants would live at the houses of their employers. On Mothering Sunday the servants would have the day off and were encouraged to return home and spend the day with their mothers. A special cake, called the mothering cake, was often brought along to provide a festive touch.

As Christianity spread throughout Europe the celebration changed to honor the “Mother Church” - the spiritual power that gave them life and protected them from harm. Over time the church festival blended with the Mothering Sunday celebration . People began honoring their mothers as well as the church.

In the United States Mother’s Day was first suggested in 1872 by Julia Ward Howe (who wrote the words to the Battle hymn of the Republic) as a day dedicated to peace. Ms. Howe would hold organized Mother’s Day meetings in Boston, Mass ever year.

In 1907 Ana Jarvis, from Philadelphia, began a campaign to establish a national Mother’s Day. Ms. Jarvis persuaded her mother’s church in Grafton, West Virginia to celebrate Mother’s Day on the second anniversary of her mother’s death, the 2nd Sunday of May. By the next year Mother’s Day was also celebrated in Philadelphia.

Ms. Jarvis and her supporters began to write to ministers, businessman, and politicians in their quest to establish a national Mother’s Day. It was successful as by 1911 Mother’s Day was celebrated in almost every state. President Woodrow Wilson, in 1914, made the official announcement proclaiming Mother’s Day as a national holiday that was to be held each year on the 2nd Sunday of May.

While many countries of the world celebrate their own Mother’s Day at different times throughout the year, there are some countries such as Denmark, Finland, Italy, Turkey, Australia, and Belgium which also celebrate Mother’s Day on the second Sunday of May.

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A couple days ago I posted about the New Balance Sample Sale in Vancouver BC. Click here for that article.  If you want to hear about the insane deals at this sale, read on.  If you want to hear about what you missed, well read on too!

I went to the sale on Saturday afternoon and I have to say what a sale it was!! Some of these sample sales are good and some are just OK. This one was Awesome! I took my brother, sister law, and mom. Check out the price list and Check out what we got.

For myself I purchased a full blown brown leather Dunham dressy type shoe for $25CDN inc tax. What a deal. This shoe is super comfortable and it looks good too!

My Mom bought 5 pairs of shoes. She scored 1 pair of New Balance walking shoes ($40) , 2 pairs of Dunham leather sandals ($20 each) and 2 pairs of Aravon leather sandals ($30 each)  and a New Balance long sleeve technical shirt ($15) for whopping $155 CDN including tax.

My sister-in-law and my brother did pretty well too. They bought: 1 pair of Men’s New Balance ($40), 1 pair of Men’s New Balance Classic shoes ($30), 1 pair of Women’s PF Flyer casual shoes ($30), 1 leather Dunham women’s shoes ($25), 1 pair of Dunham women’s casual hikers ($20) and a New Balance Technical women’s tank top ($15) for a grand total of $160 CDN including tax.

In summary, this sale was an outstanding bargin. There is nowhere you could purchase such high quality shoes for so cheap. This was only the 2nd year that this sale was held.  I went in on Friday afternoon to check out what they had and even at that time there was really no one in the building.  They had other great deals like full leather steel toed boots and other PF Flyers in a clearance bin for $10. 

This sale was a real sale.  I think next year will be better and busier as the word gets and more people find  out about the amazing deals you can get. For anyone that went to this sale, good on ya, you know you scored big, for those that missed the sale and didn’t think there was anything good there, well go next year! Peace out and Happy Mothers Day to all those Mom’s out there!!

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Hot off the wire. If you live in Vancouver or the surrounding suburbs, New Balance Shoe Company is having a Sample Sale this week. From past experience, you can get some smoking deals on stuff if you can find the size that fits you. I went to this sample sale last year and they had shoes for $30, and technical clothing starting @ $10!! Good Luck and happy shopping! Spread the good word!!

Here are the details from the flyer:

NEW BALANCE SAMPLE SALE

RARE OPPORTUNITY!!!
Men’s, Women’s, and Children’s New Balance shoes and Apparel as well as Dunham, PF Flyers, and Aravon shoes all well below cost.

Sizing:
The majority of the Shoes are sizes:
Women’s 7 & 11
Men’s 9.5
Grade 4
Preschool 13
Infant 3

The majority of New Balance clothing is…
Women’s Small & Medium
Men’s Medium & Large

Date:
Friday May 11th 12pm-7pm
Saturday May 12th 9am-2pm

Address: 1272 Vernon Drive Vancouver BC

Click here for the Google Map

CASH ONLY—-CASH ONLY!!!

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Atlantic Fish Restaurant Review Boston Massachusetts

When I was in Boston just recently, I met up with a friend of mine for some dinner one evening. Of course I suggested the Royal Bengal (click here for the article), but she wanted nothing to do with Indian Food as she was slated to run the Boston Marathon in a couple days, and she didn’t want to risk the Indian food having adverse affects on her system prior to the race. I can appreciate that, because sometimes Indian food affects everyone differently if you know what I mean!

She told me about this trendy popular place called Atlantic Fish; a fine seafood restaurant. She had dined here a number of times in the past and vouched for the quality of this place.  I was up for some seafood as I hadn’t had any yet this trip and numerous people told me to get some good seafood while in Boston. Being right on the East Coast of the United States, the chances are pretty good that the seafood would be good. After all Boston is famous for the Boston Clam Chowder right?

Atlantic Fish is located right downtown in Boston at 761 Boylston Street, Boston Massachusetts - 617-267-4000. Click here for the Atlantic Fish website . Click here for the Google Map.

You can definitely tell the restaurant is a bit more upscale from the fancy decor on the outside of the restaurant and being right downtown on a main street, I am sure the rent is not cheap.

 

When you walk in the restaurant, the smell of the food is the first thing that catches your senses. This is one of those places that is busy all the time. When we entered this one evening, the restaurant was packed with lots of people seemingly having a good time. There was lots of laughter and smiles from all the patrons everywhere. The atmosphere was definitely contagious.

My friend and I choose to sit in the “lounge/bar” area as we really didn’t want to wait 1/2 hour for a normal table. The bar table was pretty much like a normal table as we were seated at an elevated rectangular table that would easily fit 4 people utilizing the bar height chairs. I took a look around the restaurant and the finishing in the restaurant was impeccable. The classic timeless decor of rich colored hardwood throughout accented by the soft dim yellow glow of the lights above definitely gave this restaurant a very friendly, warm and inviting atmosphere. The bar area was pretty impressive and the restaurant seemed to be able to hold from 100-200 people would be my best guess. The best way to describe this interior of this restaurant is it resembles a dining room of that of a cruise ship. If you have been on a cruise in the past you know what I am talking about, if you haven’t then go on a cruise some time…you won’t regret it!

We decided to get a number of appetizers and salads for our meal as we were both not very hungry.  We ended up each getting a Toasted Goat Cheese Salad, I got a Butternut Squash Soup, and we shared a Calamari and an Ahi Tuna appetizer plate, plus some dessert.  

The Bread
You know it is a good omen, when the bread they bring you before your meal is so good that you need to ask for another basket. The bread was awesome! Freshly baked, nice and soft, full of flavor along with the sesame thin wafers were a great prequel to dinner.

Butternut Squash Soup
Made fresh in house, this butternut squash soup has to be one of the best squash soups I have ever had. The soup was very smooth, with all the flavors and spices blending together perfectly to give you that hearty full flavored experience. The soup was also served to me hot which is always a bonus. I have been to many restaurants where they serve the soup luke warm or cold and that totally takes away from the true essence of the soup. Restaurants that serve hot food hot and cold food cold are definitely taking a step in the right direction.

Calamari Milano
It is interesting how restaurants around the world do their calamari. I have had many different versions of Calamari and some are good and some aren’t. Described on the menu as: “Tossed with olive oil, hot peppers, parmesan and garlic served grilled or fried with a warm pomodoro sauce” the description definitely sounds good.

The calamari milano here at the Atlantic fish looked and tasted like a tender small California bay calamari in a light crisp batter. The dish was definitely good, but would I call it some of the best I have ever had? well no, but don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t bad either.  I would order it again, I’m just saying it wasn’t unique and memorable enough for me to rant and rave about it and tell someone to go out of their way to head to Atlantic Fish and order the dish.  Maybe it was the pomodoro cocktail sauce that made it just OK.

I just think that if you are going to do a memorable calamari dish, you need to do it and serve it with some other signature sauce than just a standard issue red pomodoro cocktail sauce. Either ways this calamari is a good consistent product for those people that like lightly breaded calamari. Squeeze the lemon on it and you are good to go. 

 

Sesame Crusted Ahi Tuna Appetizer
I figure when I am at a restaurant that specializes in seafood, I have to try their Ahi Tuna if they have it and see how it compares to some other Ahi Tuna dishes I have had around the world.

Right now the restaurant that holds the #1 spot in my books for an Ahi Tuna dish is a place called the Market Street Grill in Salt Lake City, Utah. Trust me, if you like Ahi Tuna and find yourself in Salt Lake City, go out of your way and visit the Market Street Grill. Anyhow, back to the Ahi Tuna at Atlantic Fish.

The Ahi at Atlantic Fish was plated cleanly with 3 fair sized pieces, topped with some freshly chopped ginger and zig zag of thick soya sauce on the plate. I figured that for near $10, 3 pieces of Ahi was a bit cheapo. I would say at least put 4 of 5 pieces on the dish. The red Ahi tuna was fresh, cold, cut easily with a fork and melted in the mouth. This stuff was good. The quick sesame searing on the outside with the ginger a dash of wasabi was a great tasting combination. Was it enough to knock off The Market Street Grill off of my #1 spot? Nope; Market Street still reigns supreme. The Ahi Tuna appetizer here is good and if you have the Ahi Tuna urge, the Ahi at Atlantic Fish will definitely make you happy. 

Toasted Goat Cheese Salad
I have no idea why I ordered this dish. I think it was my friend ranting and raving about how good this Toasted Goat Cheese Salad dish was. So when our waitress was taking our order, my friend ordered her Goat Cheese Salad, and being caught up in the moment, I also ordered one.

Not a big deal you say? Well, I’m the type of person that doesn’t even like cheese on things except for pizzas and even then I would rather have “easy” cheese. I’m the type of guy that scrapes the cheese off things! I like the salad part, but for me to order a Toasted Goat Cheese Salad was way way way out of the norm.

The salad came to the table with the hunk of toasted goat cheese on the top with roasted golden beets, spiced pecans and fresh organic greens tossed in the light red wine vinaigrette. This salad I have to admit was actually really tasty. I ate up everything except for half the toasted goat cheese. For a non cheese lover, the goat cheese was actually full of flavor and complemented the other ingredients in the salad well. If you like goat cheese you will love this salad.

Apple Crisp
I always like to ask the server to describe and recommend me their favorite dessert. You can usually tell if someone is lying to if they don’t say too much about their favorite dessert. If they go off the rocker, and a twinkle lights up in their eye when they tell you all about their favorite dessert, you know you can’t really go wrong with their suggestion.

Our server this entire evening was awesome.  She was sooo funny, had such a great personality, recommended great dishes, gave us top notch service and when it came to dessert time, she told me that one of her favorite desserts was the apple crisp. Some of her others were pie’s.  I don’t like pies, but I really really like a good home baked apple crisp. I asked her if the crisp on the apple crisp was “crisp and crunchy” and not soggy like some places. She told me to order it and guaranteed me that if I didn’t like the dish, I could send it back. I was in a no lose situation.

When the apple crisp hit the table, the crisp was still steaming hot, it was crunchy and crisp and I could smell the apples. As for the ice cream on the top…my goodness… to die for. My friend and I polished this Apple Crisp off in record time. The apple slices on the inside of the crisp were baked to perfection. This dish was close to perfection. One of the top 5 apple crisps I have ever had. My server came back when we had about 3 spoonfuls left… I asked if I could send it back as I wasn’t too thrilled..she told me to get lost….

I am glad I went with my friend and had a great dining experience at the Atlantic Fish. I can honestly say if you are in Boston and don’t mind spending the money, but you want a popular and solid seafood restaurant with a great atmosphere, Atlantic Fish would be a great choice.

 

I would make some reservations before hand as this place was packed with a line up at the door the entire time I was here and still when I left the restaurant. I can vouch for the Butternut Squash Soup, the Goat Cheese Salad, and most definitely the Apple Crisp. Yes, get the Apple Crisp. Maybe start your meal with the Apple Crisp, you won’t be disappointed.

Ranking (out of 5 Stars)

Food – 4.00
Service – 4.75
Washroom Cleanliness – 4.25
Restaurant Ambiance – 4.00
Plate/Cutlery Cleanliness – 4.25
Value – 3.75

Overall rating: 4.17

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Royal Bengal Restaurant Review - Boston Massachusetts 

A couple weeks ago, I found myself in Boston Massachusetts with the regular day job. I know this post is a bit late, but I have been stupid busy with the day job as I just got back from Boston and then took off again for Nashville Tennesse. I am home now, and trying to catch up on some Blog posts!

 I had never been to Boston before and anytime you land in a new city, you have no idea where the good food is. here before and the description of the city will be saved for another blog. More importantly what I want to talk about first is of course the food! Last night after a long cold walk, I wanted to eat something hearty and warming. I really didn’t want to sit in a restaurant and decided for some take out. Never being to Boston before, I had no idea what restaurants were good and which ones were not. I had no one to make recommendations on anything. I was flying solo on this run.

I was walking back to the hotel the first night I was in Boston when I passed by this sort of hole in the wall place called The Royal Bengal. I like little local hole in the wall places, but being in a new town, you never know if they are going to be any good or not. The Royal Bengal is located on 313 Massachusetts Ave, Cambridge, MA Ph # 617-491-1988 Click here for the Royal Bengal website. Click here for the Google Map

The weather in Boston was very crisp and windy like a cool winter day, and I was sort of in the mood for some good Indian food as usually after eating Indian cuisine I feel pretty satisfied. What made me walk off the street and into the restaurant was the fact that the small quaint restaurant about 30 seats was packed with people of all nationalities. That was a good enough sign for me as packed restaurants usually mean good food.  I walked in through the front door and was immediately greeted with the outstanding aromas of Indian cooking, and a very warm and friendly smile and greeting from one of the waitresses asking me, “For one sir?”

I mentioned to the lady that I only wanted to do take out and she led me to the back counter to place my order. I picked up an extensive menu and saw that they had my favorite Indian dish in the vegetarian section: Chana Masala. I love the Chana Masala, which is a tasty blend of cooked chickpeas, onions, herbs and tomatoes. A little Chana Masala with fresh Naan bread always hits the spot. Go to the Royal Bengal website for a full menu. I couldn’t get good pictures of the menu.

While I waited for my take out order, I noticed that the restaurant was about 90% full and everyone seemed like they were really enjoying their meals. Smiles all around and lots of “hey this is good!” comments. The aroma in this restaurant was making me hungrier by the second. All the dishes that were coming out of the kitchen looked and smelled delicious. To take my attention away from my growing stomach, I reviewed the menu looking at the other dishes offered.  I was sort of confused as to why there were 2 different menus offered. At first I was only offered the yellow take out menu, but on the table there was a narrow rectangular yellow take out menu and a square white menu.

I quickly found out from the lady that took my order that the Royal Bengal serves 2 types of cuisines. They serve an authentic North Indian cuisine (the yellow menu) and then an authentic Bengali cuisine! The lady goes onto tell me that the Royal Bengal was Boston’s FIRST Bengali Restaurant and through further conversation, I find out that she and her husband own this establishment. Mrs. Geeta Mazumdar was her name and her husband’s name was Sadhan Mazumdar. She runs the outside of the restaurant, while her husband does the cooking. While she is telling me this information, a package comes out from the kitchen into her hand. It is my much anticipated take out order.

The other side of the Bengali menu has a great write up on the Royal Bengali from a reporter from the Boston Globe November 29, 2001. Instead of paraphrasing the article, I hope you can make out the text in this picture. It describes the Royal Bengal perfectly.

I comment to Mrs. Mazumdar that I would be back another night to try some of their other dishes. It turns out that over the course of the week I ended up dining at the Royal Bengal on about 3 different occasions. Please see below for pictures of my absolutely outstanding meals each time I visited the Royal Bengal.

Visit # 1
Chana Masala
Naan Bread

I love Chana Masala, and usually I order this dish along with a Naan Bread as my first dining experience at any particular Indian restaurant. Chana Masala for those that don’t know is cooked Chick Peas, cooked onions, flavorful herbs and fresh ripe tomatoes all cooked together. The Chana Masala dish at the Royal Bengal also comes with a dish of Basmati Rice. As you can see from the take out trays, I received a very generous portion of Chana Masala and at least two servings of Basmati rice and a massive, fresh fluffy Naan Bread. All three items, the Chana, Rice and Naan bread were outstanding. The Chickpeas were cooked to perfection and the Masala sauce was full of flavor. The rice was light, fresh and fluffy, and the Naan Bread?…to die for.

All for a whopping $11.45 USD plus tip. 

Visit # 2
Bengun Pora
Naan Bread

The Bengun Pora is one of the signature Royal Bengal dishes. This dish is flame roasted eggplant, mashed with mustard oil, onions, green chilis, and cilantro. I have to be honest, I wouldn’t have picked this dish to start if some other lady that was doing take in the Royal Bengal didn’t rant and rave about it the first night I picked up my Chana Masala. For one, I am not a big fan of eggplant or cilantro and I’m not really into the mustard oil. I am really really really glad I picked this dish on this particular night. When I took it back to the hotel room, and opened the bag up to check out the dish, it was completely different that what I had imagined. The Begun Pora actually looked and smelled outstanding. As for the taste…I have to thank the unknown lady in the Royal Bengal that evening for raving about this dish. The flame roasted eggplant, mashed with mustard oil, onions, green chilis, and cilantro was down right awesome. Such a different dish with a smooth blended taste of all the ingredients. It wasn’t spicy, just a nice texture that was complemented perfectly with the Naan bread. All I have to say is, if you hit Boston, go to the Royal Bengal and order this dish first…even if you don’t like eggplant, you will like it after eating the Bengun Pora.

Visit # 3
Aloo Posto
Aloo Gobhi
Naan Bread

My third and final visit was due to another lady telling me to try another dish when I picked up the Bengun Pora. This dish was the Aloo Posto which is diced potatoes in a poppy seed paste. I was sort of hungry and need some vegetables, so I also ordered the Aloo Gohbi, which is a classic Indian dish of Cauliflower and potatoes cooked with tomatoes, onions, herbs and spices and of course I couldn’t have a meal with out the award winning Naan bread. I have had Aloo Gohbi in the past and I would have to say the Aloo Gohbi at the Royal Bengal was one of the best I have ever had. The cauliflower was cooked just right and the potatoes nice and moist and not dry and clumpy. The sauce had a nice heat and was tasty on the naan and the included basmati rice.

For the Aloo Posto, I have never tasted anything like it. Like the Begun Pora, this dish was outstanding. The potatoes were cooked to perfection. Not dry, not clumpy, just image your ideal non starchy, non pasty potatoes and this Aloo Posto is it. The poppy seed paste that is coating the perfect potatoes carries a nice creamy, smooth sweeter taste and is complemented with the potatoes and of course the Naan Bread. I am so glad I ordered this dish and I would order it again in a heartbeat.

I am glad I walked in off the cold street my first night here in Boston. I would have never of found the Royal Bengal otherwise. The food they serve here is outstanding. If you like Indian, I can pretty much guarantee that you will love this restaurant. If you only have one day in Boston, I would suggest you order the Bengun Pora and the Aloo Posto. These are 2 very unique dishes that I have not seen at any other Indian restaurant. I hope you get the chance to go, or if you have friends going to Boston, send them my link and send them to the Royal Bengal; they will thank you for it!

Ranking (out of 5 Stars)

Food – 5.00
Service – 4.00
Washroom Cleanliness – 3.50
Restaurant Ambiance – 3.00
Plate/Cutlery Cleanliness – did take out
Value – 4.25

Overall rating: 4.17

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