National Ice Cream Day @ Cold Stone Creamery

Yesterday was Canada's National Ice Cream Day (courtesy of Cold Stone Creamery/Tim Horton's) and I happen to hear loud noises an hour before 2:00pm, when the FREE ICE CREAM began.

Having been so close to a Tim Horton's/Cold Stone Creamery location made it easy for me to check it out. There was a DJ/MC that attracted passerby to let them know about the event. I was very surprised to see no big line up. North York is definitely not like downtown with the crowds, even though North York Downtown area is filled with many people walking along Yonge street at all hours of the day.

This was around 1:45-1:50pm and still.... no line up. Where are the people? It was such a nice and sunny day too. 

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This is how I saw the line when it hit 2:00pm. It was really hot outside, so I decided to wait indoors. The good thing was that once you get your wristband, you don't need to get the free ice cream right away. One of the sites said that you can use it anytime on July 21 after 2:00pm.

So I got my wristband and left.

It's kind of neat. When you order, you look to the top of the glass, where it tells you the signature creations such as Mint Chocolate, Coffee Lovers Ice Cream etc. But if you look at the ice creams, they are all plain flavours. So... this is where the fun part begins (and the work for the employees). Just like another Ice Cream store, they take the different flavours (of the signature creation you choose) and they put it on top of a marble table and then adds the different toppings (chosen from the signature creations) and then mixes it together to create a semi-customized gourmet ice cream.

And here are the sizes. For the National Ice Cream Day, the Free Ice Cream gives you a regular size (medium) and a waffle cone.

But since I was lucky enough to get 2 wristbands, they accommodated my order of combining two portions into one of their to-go boxes. However it limited me to choose 1 signature creation, Coffee Lover's Ice Cream, but the employee was very sweet and gave me 2 waffle bowls to bring home. 

And la voila! A lovely and FREE day!

Food Review: Art Is In.... Part 2 (Ottawa)

Time for lunch!

Can't stop coming back to ART.IS.IN. The very next day, my friends and I came here to sample their lunch menu.

We got there just before 12:00pm and already on the ART IS IN SANDWICHES board, 4 options were SOLD OUT. =0(

So I claimed a simple Ham & Cheese sandwich. 

Needed A LOT of will power to pass the sweets without buying one. I'll tell you, it... was..... hard.... to... do!

Where to start? It was suppose to be just a simple and easy-to-make Ham & Cheese sandwich. After the first bite, it was so much more!

The bread, although looking very thick and hard-textured, was light and oh so crispy (like a lightly deep-fried exterior) allowing me to taste every ingredient in the sandwich with every bite.

This was a good sandwich! 

The distinguishing factor was the bread, but as you eat it all together, you find that the cheese is just as soft and creamy, the chives add a great seasoning around and on top of the sandwich and the green leaves give it that wholesomeness of the sandwich. 

Finished it less than 2 minutes. 

Went with a bunch of church friends... yes after church and this was their biggest table! =0)

I hope ART.IS.IN gets a read of this blog because I really want you to know just how much I enjoyed your product, the experience of Art Is In.

THANK YOU!

National Ice Cream Day in Canada

Don't you just national "days" for.... just about everything!

Here's to Canadians and Cold Stone Creamery

(photo does not belong to theccgirl in any way)

On July 21, 2013 @ 2:00pm, Cold Stone Creamery will be giving out 200 FREE regular size signature creations. Be the first 200 guests and get the wristband and get your ice cream anytime that day before 11:59pm on July 21, 2013.

(photo does not belong to theccgirl in any way)

What a perfect way to end the weekend with a FREE signature creation ice cream from Cold Stone Creamery.

Click here for participating locations.

If you're looking in Toronto, here's the list:

Toronto 481 Danforth Ave (416) 466-3568	Toronto 1170 Bay St (416) 975-4464
Toronto 1094 Bloor St W (416) 516-3003	Toronto 2245 Yonge St (416) 932-0873
Toronto 6001 Yonge Street (416) 222-5766	Toronto 415 Danforth Rd (416) 699-0786
Toronto 715 Renforth Dr (416) 695-1976	Toronto 939 Eglinton Ave E (416) 423-5111
Toronto 2569 St. Clair Avenue West (416) 762-9600	Toronto 1 William Kitchen Road (416) 293-1010
Toronto 720 King Street West (416) 603-7884	Toronto 4861 Yonge St (416) 222-4816
Toronto 2005 Ave Rd North York (647) 344-8469	Toronto 642 Dixon Road (416) 242-6097
Toronto 261 Yonge Street (416) 203-8787	Toronto 900 Dufferin Street
Toronto 680 Sheppard Ave. W @ Bryant (647) 352-4651

Food Review: Art Is In (Ottawa)

Our first morning in Ottawa, my friends took us to a place in the wholesale packing area, where the local bread artist holds his retail store.

With a spacious ocean of parking, you can find ART.IS.IN at unit 112-114 for their retail store.

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Unfortunately, it doesn't get prettier than this. BUT, the food you are about to see will make up for it. =0)

It's completely industral-looking and it's clean. They've got a very electic decor and lots of tables and chairs for their mountains of customers. 

But the real showstopper is in their food and baked goods. Take a look and I know you'll be drooling by the end of these photos.

Their baked goods are on the large side, so it's great for sharing and making new friends *wink*.

Art.Is.In also has a fair amount of food items to order. But, get there earlier than later because the food made that day get sold out quickly... on Sunday afternoon, 3 items on the list was sold out by noon (and it opened at 9:00am).

My breakfast started with their amazing-looking lemon raspberry danish (I honestly ate with my eyes). 

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After I saw these giant mommas, I had to try one. But don't worry I shared it! It was WAY too big to eat it all up by myself, I'm not a piggy ;p

Here's a way to measure just how big this danish was. I took their postcard to help. The box is not small, more of a medium size.

Also, I tried their peppermint tea -tasted like Christmas!

And here IT IS:

How'd it taste? I'll tell you!

It was GOOD. The fluffy croissant danish underneath the beauty was absolutely fresh, light and oh so buttery. The lemon sauce with the raspberry gave a tart flavour making the frosting taste not-too-sweet -which I like best.

Then I had a taste of the chocolate walnut chewy cookie (gluten free) and THAT was great because it wasn't overly sweet. The cookie inside was a soft like a brownie and I just devoured it! So... that was a good cookie and it's great for the gluen-free ppl. =)

In the midst of all this sharing of great pastries, I forgot to take a photo of the chocolatine croissant that doubled the size of "my" fist (photo above, to your left). Just like my danish and the chocolate cookie, it was ridiculously good. There weren't any fancy frostings or pretty fruit on it, but this, the invention of the croissant by Chef Kevin was perfect.  It did not take dry at all. The croissant was extremely flaky (stuck to my lips and made a mountain) and so soft inside with a nice toasted exterior.

Overall, I cannot gush more about Art.Is.In.... or can I? Wait till I tell you about my lunch adventure here. Yes, I came back the very next day!

It's got it all, Art in the form of bread. He's the Michelangelo of bread!

6/5 stars

Here's a little something for you to read about... the man behind the bread:

Thanks Kevin! I'll definitely be coming back!

Things to do this weekend: NIGHT IT UP

It's that time again.... time for....

Night It Up

Are you ready to join in on the dirtiest and crowded place in Markham?

Haha.. not really a seller eh? Well how about this. Along with all the night market booths from previous years, they're adding more "North American" food trucks like:

Buster's Sea Cove

Beaver Tails (desserts)

Marble Slab Ice Cream

Chilly Ribbons

But they've definitely added a lot more events to this shingdig. They're featured attractions this year:

100+ food, merchandise and game booths

55+ live stage performances

CCYAA Sports Zone

Outdoor Movie Screening (collaboration with TIFF, featuring Jump Ashin! (2011, screened at Reel Asian) on Friday and Bodyguards and Assassins (2009) on Saturday at 9:00pm)

Paint-A-Thon

Hunger Squad Awareness Exhibit

Food Trucks

Scavenger Hunt (get ready to use those hashtags on your social media pages to receive points)

Second Harvest Truck Pull Race

Location: 

Markham Civic Center | 101 Town Centre Boulevard

Main intersection: 

Hwy 7/Warden Avenue (one street west of Warden)

Date: 

Friday July 12 - July 14, 2013

Time:

Friday 7pm - 12am | Saturday 12pm - 12am | Sunday 12pm - 8pm

If you need more information, go to their website 

www.nightitup.com

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Have a happy, fun and safe weekend!

FREE Shoppers Drug Mart Optimum Points

Who loves to get FREE points? 

Yes? You?

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Good, because today is your lucky day then! 

When you sign in to Shoppers Drug Mart Optimum account online, go to your "Update/Edit Profile" and there is a Promo code filler, enter promo code: 2050 to get 2000 free points for buying absolutely nothing!

But you must hurry because this special only runs until July 12, 2013.

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Awww... no need to thank me, just come back and tell all your friends/family about theccgirl blog!

Enjoy guys!

Food Review: The Wellington Gastropub (Ottawa)

On my travels up north to Canada's capital city, we arrived in the early evening and my friends arranged to have reservations at this cute little Gastropub called " The Wellington". 

If you say the name of this restaurant, it seems as though many locals will say, "Oh yeah, good food!"

Our first real Ottawa food adventure, we dine in at The Wellington Gastropub for dinner.

Reservations are required because they get full quickly with it's small to medium seating available.

Its place on the second floor of an independent plaza. It has two main areas, and we were seated in one of their spacious booths by the window -best spot in the house. The photo above shows the larger main space of the two.

The decorations are very homey and light feeling and not at all pub-like with a heavy look and darker palette. It's clean and the seats are far enough apart that it doesn't look overcrowded. It looks as though it's a more older crowd, but then again I've only been here once.

On the menu, they have 2 pages. I was told that their menu changes quite often, so it's a pretty nice surprise to come here to see just what's on the menu.

The prices run a bit higher here (entrees are between $21 - $28)

They provided the table with complimentary bread (free refills) supplied by one of Ottawa's local bread artists (you'll see more of this amazing bread artist in my next few posts) by a chef named Kevin. His work is simply amazing in its smell, texture and taste. Our bread was served with a cold press canola oil. From my bread-dipping experience, I enjoy the olive oil and balsamic combination for taste. With only the canola oil, it was tasteless, but it was still good only because of how fresh the bread was.

For this adventures' foodie file, I ordered the Parisienne Gnnocchi ($21.00).

Since I've been trying to eat more healthy and intake a larger amount of green veggies, I was delighted how green this dish was. But to my delightful surprise, it was the gnocchi that made it's punch. It was the most delicate gnocchi I've ever tasted. I'm not a pro on gnocchi, but I'm sure this is how fresh gnoochi can taste. It melted in my mouth and the kale and peas along with the creamy sauce molded together in my mouth so.. tastefully.

Overall, this was a very delightful place.

When we arrived with a reservation, we had to wait for a table for about 20-30 minutes. However, the staff was very nice and polite and gave us one of the best seats in the house to make up for the wait time. I appreciated this type of care for their customers.

4.2/5 stars