$2 Blast for the Summer

Time for another great hot deal that's ice cold!

Starting Monday May 14 at participating Tim Horton/Cold Stone Creamery stores in Canada, they've introduced the new ice cream/Mcflurry-like product called Blast. And guess what? It's only $2.00 (+ tax). They didn't mention what size, but $2 for a snack on a hot day like today sounds just perfect!

And don't forget, you have choices.
- OREO Indugence (sweet cream ice cream blended with OREO cookies and fudge sauce)
- Peanut Butter Chocolate (chocolate ice cream blended with peanut butter cup pieces and fudge sauce)
- Cookie Cookie Dough Dough (French vanilla ice cream, chocolate chip cookie dough pieces and fudge sauce)

MmmmmMmmmm... sounds yummy! I think I'm gonna go out and get one now! You should too and comment which one flavour you tried!

Glee's last episode before the season finale: Nationals!

The 2-hour episode was very good! Aside from the amazing song and dance, my favorite scene(s) were the ones from Asian Tina's concussion/dreams.

All the gleeks switched bodies with each other. 

Finn (Kurt Hummel)

"Puck" Puckerman (Blaine Anderson)

Brittany (Mercedes Jones) / Santana (Artie Abrams)

Sam (Rory Flanagan) / Mercedes (Brittany Pierce) 

Kirt (Finn Hudson) / Blaine (Noah Puckerman) *my fav switch-a-roo

Sugar (Quinn Fabray) / Rory (Sam Flanagan)

Mike (Joe Hart) / Tina (Rachel Berry)

Artie (Santana Lopez)

Quinn (Sugar Motta) / Joe (Mike Chang)

Mr. Schu (Sue Sylvester) / Sue (Mr. Schuester)

And last but not least, the dreamer, Tina Cohen-Chang as the star, Rachel

It all went by so quickly, just like in every episodes' beginning narration as they run through the past episodes. As a full supporter and fan of Asian actors, I loved how they didn't overlooked how behind-the-scenes Tina and her boyfriend Mike were (she said that Mike was only good for doing crazy dance scenes with Brittany) in the past 2 seasons. They bluntly (and quickly) retold how Tina was always stereotyped and no one ever knew her real name, or at least never called her by her first name, Tina! (though it didn't help that she was dating another Asian, but hey! why can't she, right!)

Great end to Season 3! 

I'm a total Gleek Fan!

Movie Review: Hysteria

 Last night, eOne presented an advanced screening for Hysteria. Directed by Tanya Wexle, this film was also screened at the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival.

Courtesy of Insomnia and eOne (thanks!). Insomnia held an online contest where I was able to win the tickets. Who knew I'd get to enjoy free advanced screening from one of my favorite restaurants. 

 

The film Review: Hysteria

Coming into this film, I had no prior expectations. I only wanted to prepare myself of the baseline of the story, which was "a story about the man who invents/inspires the today's mechanism, the vibrator". It's also a comedy, so I knew it would be a great relaxing film to watch. I had no idea how much I would love it. This is a film that can be enjoyed in the theaters with dozens of others watching and laughing at all the subtle or not so subtle sexual innuendos. The film as a whole was beautifully done. I loved Hugh Dancy's character. He was so poised and gentlemen-like. Alongside him, his chemistry with actress Maggie Gyllenhaal was funny and beautiful. 

The story line itself was very nicely done. It moved smoothly in its development and they held their fair share of punches without going overboard. The sensitivity of the content was enjoyable. As a conservative myself, I didn't feel awkward or uncomfortable. The comedy produced in every scene seemed to play out perfectly. I think Tanya did a great job directing and using the actors' strong suits to drive this film to a success.

Rating it 4.5/5

It comes out in theaters this May. 

FREEBIE: Double pass to see "Hysteria" tonight! Act quickly!

Freebie for my fans today!

I have 1 pair of passes to see the hilarious HYSTERIA starring Maggie Gyllenhaal and Hugh Dancy for tonight's advanced screening in Toronto.

In this hilarious renaissance comedy, it tells the story of the truth of how Mortimer Granville invented the first vibrator for the sake of medical science. (Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gkEw3mWs86g)

To win the tickets, comment with a thought and I will announce the winner @ 3:00pm TODAY. The film will be at a theater downtown Toronto and showtime is at 7pm (but get tickets you must come at 6pm).

You don't wanna miss this opportunity! This film came out at the Toronto International Film Festival 2011! Be the first to see if before it comes out later this month.

Good luck!

Newly opened Starbucks on Bedford/Bloor

Even after my university life, I still find myself coming back to my old hang out spots. Something I discovered on a trip back is a new Starbucks by the St. George subway station.

This particular Starbucks looks quite small from the entrance, but once you pass into the foyer the place continues down a long narrow corridor, you find the service station. I like this Starbucks because they have that rustic feel from the wooded furniture but as well a modern and industrial feel from the metal polls and high ceilings.

Taking in an iced coffee with a splash of hazelnut syrup tagged with my iTouch, listening to a Tim Keller sermon podcast, I enjoy an early morning quiet time.

Happy weekend morning!

theccgirl

Baker's new: Cake Batter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Spur of the night after browsing through Pinterest, I came upon a very different kind of cookie recipe. It was a cake batter cookie. 

Courtesy from www.sixsistersstuff.com, it looked like an easy bake, so I went into my kitchen and got my ingredients.

Batter up! (photos below)

Cookie shape up.....

.... after 15 minutes.....

Et la voila, the end result. Now for the taste test.....

Hmm... the cherry chip cake batter I used perhaps made it taste a lot sweeter. The recipe said to bake for 10 minutes and I did 15 minutes but it was still a bit under cooked. Overall, it's okay tasting. It was not a very addictive cookie that you could eat one another.  I may need to try it with the yellow cake batter as they did on the website. But doing this spur of the moment was really fun!

Cherry Chip Cake Batter Chocolate Chip Cookies for Mother's Day! 

Movie Review: Edwin Boyd, Citizen Gangster

Starring one of my favorite actors, Scott Speedman (who also stars in many canadian films) as Edwin Boyd.

This film came to screen at the TIFF 2011 festival. It comes out to the public today. I was lucky enough to go to a special private screening and Q&A with the director, Nathan Morlando, producer, Allison Black and actor, Kevin Durand. Unfortunately, I had another event to attend to that night, so I only got to view the film.

Rating it 3.2/5

The story is about a WWII vet that returns home to his young 2.5 family and works as a bus driver. Unfulfilled feelings lies with a long lost dream of becoming a Hollywood actor. Putting two ideas together, he decides to rob local banks, Hollywood style. This film is based on true events of the life of Canadian Edwin Boyd. 

My thoughts were a little mixed. I enjoyed it (great acting from Speedman), but the story line was a bit bland. The story  felt like it was pulling from one story to another and then to another and not really giving greater attention for better development to Boyd himself. My most confused story was the one with Mary, Lenny's sister. I felt she had a bigger story to develop, but they just climax it with her breakdown and then left it without giving her scenes to show her reasons for her actions. The build ups were good but  it just felt like nothing followed through. The film is based on true events, so I guess one and only do so much. 

I admired Kelly Riley's performance as Mrs. Boyd. A woman who is torn between her love for her husband and children and his criminal acts (of love? selfishness?). What to do? How to feel? She portrayed a very exposed and torn woman. I loved her! I felt for her!

Lastly, my review rating went a little higher than I thought I should give it only because of my love and pride for Canadian films. I wish them all the best and hope they do well.

.

.

.

.

.

Come out and a support Canadian films. Watch out, they're making waves! 

-theccgirl

Visual Weather Report

By the lovely Ms. Eve, her predictions for the weather will be.....

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

SUPER WINDY! So watch out for your hats and glasses guys because it's going to be a windy one!

or... it could just be the really loud trucks passing by on Yonge street. 

Thanks for visiting today!

Secret $5 promo code for DEALFIND.COM

For all those who use dealfind.com, I've got a secret promo code to help you discount on top of your discount buy.


Valid until May 10, 2012, type in promo code "DFGIFT" to receive an extra $5.00 off your purchase.

Enjoy!

theccgirl

Lunch Review: Universal Grill

On a perfect sun-filled day as Sunday, lunching on the patio sounded perfect. 

Unfortunately, many people were thinking the same thing, so instead of a patio seat we sat inside. Option two wasn't so bad  ;)

Universal Grill holds the shape of a diner with its bar stool area and booth seats, but they also squeezed in some regular seats in between the booths. Not as pretty looking, and sadly we had to sit in one of the smaller, tighter table (photo below).

Time for the food stuff:

This is their brunch menu. They did have a good variety among a small menu. I was going to go for a more breakfast type meal, but it was already 1:00pm and I was hungry for more food-food, so I opted for... Black Angus burger ($12.00).

What I loved about the presentation of my dish were the gigantic onion rings on top of my burger. Again, however, I must say unfortunately as good as they looked, the taste was not up to par. The only thing that had a good season was the burger patty. Unfortunately, for my taste, the burger was way over-spiced. I also thought my cubed fries were cut too thick that the seasoning wasn't evenly distributed to enjoy each bite.  The onion rings looked great, but way too thick that the deep fry taste felt too greasy in my mouth.

.

.

.

This is ideal for a place for casual brunches with friends and it's also a fun second or third date place too. The customer service could be better, but did enough for me, for now. They were pretty busy on a Sunday afternoon. That's a good sign.

Rating it 2.2/5

Not the best, but I am hopeful that it can be better if I ever make another visit. I came after two different friends' of mine suggested this as a good brunch restaurant.

Fastest, Cheapest, Quality Passport Photos

Print-2-Go

A month ago, I was walking on Yonge street (near Sheppard) to grab a pizza for dinner and as I passed by several shops (south of Greenfield on the east side), I noticed this Print shop that offered a very good price for passport photos. Knowing that I was already shopping around for a good and fair priced place to get my photos done, I decided to try this place out.

Why you should try it? Here's the deal.

How fast do they get it done? Well.... immediately. There is no wait time, no 1-hr-wait needed. When my sister went a week before myself, she told me that there was 1 person in front of her and she still got it done in under 15mins and she was on her lunch break. 

My experience was great as well. The guy was nice, did not rush me and asked if I was okay with my photo. I even got to watch as he photo-shopped my photo and made sure it was government approved. 

I would definitely come here again and of course recommend them to all my friends.

Buffet Review: Imperial Buffet

Not the upscale or modern looking buffet, however, Imperial Buffet's got an amazing and classy menu to choose from. 

Imperial Buffet is located around Eglinton and Pharmacy.

Tidbit: Go on your birthday with another friend and yours will be FREE!

My second plate, after the great Chinese food relative items and steamed mussels and delicious raw shrimps, here's my second plate with more Japanese food items.

This baked Basa (if I remember correctly) was swimming in a pool of butter sauce that filled my sense of smell. Crazy but so tasty!

Their deep fried seafood, like their squid, was very crunchy on the outside and soft and melty on the inside. Though it was a buffet, they do seafood good.

And their desserts had more than I could dream of.

At Imperial Buffet, they have at least a dozen choices from every category such as cakes, pastries, ice creams and pies. I tried a little bit of everything. My favorite was their pecan pie!

Happy Friday everyone! =)