[Dine-Out] Seattle: Sweet Iron Waffles May 13, 2012

When we were in Seattle, I had a list of restaurants that I needed to hit. One of many on that list was: Sweet Iron. Apparently it is the real Liege waffle. I had no frame of reference at that time, still don’t, but hopefully after tomorrow I will! Woohoo, going to Liege tomorrow – Actually, no joke. I’m in Brussels right now and will probably hope off the train tomorrow at Liege on my way back to Germany. Anyways, back to Seattle…

Store Front

The bf got an espresso. He said it had a really strong olive aftertaste. Is that a thing in Seattle? A lot of his coffee/espresso from many different places had the same aftertaste.

Olive-y espresso

We decided to get one savoury and one sweet and split it. Of course, we had to get the bacon waffle. Why? Because, BACON, that’s why. It was a waffle topped with Applegate nitrate-free bacon and pure maple syrup (it better be pure! We’re Canadians!). The bf, of course, complained that there was not enough protein, but it was still pretty delicious. He agreed.

I <3 Chives

And for the sweet, we got the feature, a Strawberry Cheesecake Liege Waffle.

Any waffle with super toppings are apparently a very touristy thing to get when you’re actually in Belgium. They prefer their waffles unadorned and without all the excessive toppings that we tourists like. But didn’t know that before, so most definitely do not feel like a bad foodie.

Anyways, according to Sweet Iron’s website, their strawberry waffle uses local Remlinger Farm’s strawberries for part of the year (but they have to import fresh strawberries during the off seasons). This was topped off with a scoop of ice cream and graham cracker chunks. This was good, but not as good as the savoury one. I’m such a sucker for cheesecake though that I ordered this one. Oh well, live and learn. I would’ve probably preferred TWO bacon ones. I didn’t like that the graham crackers were completely separate for the waffles, it didn’t feel like it was well-integrated enough. Like it was only an after-thought and was thrown across.

Meh

Together:

Om Nom Nom Nom

SWEET IRON WAFFLES
1200 3rd Ave, Suite 110
Seattle, WA 98101
(206) 682-3336

[Quick Bites] Calgary: Taste of Calgary 2011 January 26, 2012

This year’s ticket price was a $1.00 , which is $0.25 more than last year’s. I really don’t like how it is getting more and more expensive. I know prices are going up and everything, but when you think about it, you’re paying at least $2 for a very small sampler that’s not even filling. It’s a nice little event, but at the end of the day, you’re paying $20 – $50 for food that’s not even as filling as a meal.

They do have nice little free sample trucks from vendors littered around the place. Pretty much it’s like free advertising for these big brands. There was a Dr.Oetker truck passing out free little slices of pizzas.

Back of the Truck

Free!

Another free treat was this ‘make-your-own-sandwich’ station. I don’t remember what company sponsored this, I think it was Kraft or something for their mayo?

Super Protein Sandwich!

Haha, I just made a dried sandwich, I don’t even like mayo.

I got the Sticky Rice with Mango from Delicious Thai for 5 tickets. I can’t believe that was $5.00, the actual dessert at their restaurant is only $4.20 (according to their website), and I’m sure it’s probably bigger than the sample they gave up. I actually can’t believe they charged more than their actual item now that I think about it.

I <3 Mangos

We also got Beef Samosas for 5 tickets. 5 dollars for 2 samosas. I thought the beef samosas would be awesome but the vegetarian ones are actually soooo much better, they just don’t have the same texture. One of my co-workers bring in awesome vegetarian samosas from the NE that’s only $0.50 each. These came to $2.50 each. Crazy expensive.

Delice Pastry Shop & Cafe

The Fresh Blueberry Pie from The White Spot were by far the best deal of the event. Yeah, they’re not very creative or innovative but they tasted good, only cost 3 tickets, and was a decent size. You can’t go wrong with blueberries, whipped cream, and pastry tart shells.

But in hindsight, for a couple more dollars I could probably get a really awesome and fancy dessert...

Since I really liked Nubian Express the previous year, I thought I would get something from them again this year. I got the Suya, a spicy African Stick Meat, for $4.00. This was not a good idea. I don’t even know what type of meat it was, I think it was beef…? It was all dry and not good at all.

Yucky.

One of the better dishes we got was the Roasted Duck Omelette from Bubblemania Cafe for 4 tickets. They actually cooked these up individually when you order them. All in a little tiny skillet, how cute!

Om Nom Nom Nom

At the end of the day, we both just got little drinks to use up the rest of our tickets. The bf got the Vietnamese Ice Coffee from The Satay House for 2 tickets.

Look at the little dinky cup of coffee...

I got a 4 oz Homemade Ginger Beer from Caribbean Choice for 1 ticket. Mmm…that was actually the best thing I had at the festival. It was soooo good. Maybe I’ll go get some this weekend…

Super Ginger-y

TASTE OF CALGARY
Festival Plaza @ Eau Claire Market
200 Barclay Parade Southwest
Calgary, AB T2P 4R5

BUBBLEMANIA CAFE
459 16 Avenue Northeast
Calgary, AB T2E 8K9
403-277-9398

CARIBBEAN CHOICE FOODS
2235 Centre Street Northwest
Calgary, AB T2E 2T4
403-230-1880

DELICE PASTRY SHOP & CAFE
200 Barclay Parade Southwest
Calgary, AB T2P 4R5
403-210-3006

DELICIOUS THAI
314 10 Street Northwest
Calgary, AB T2N 1V8
(403) 450-1996

NUBIAN EXPRESS
136 Kincora Hill NW
Calgary, AB T3R 1N6
403-992-8825

SATAY HOUSE
3231 17 Avenue Southeast
Calgary, AB T2A 0R1
403-248-2888

THE WHITE SPOT
10440 Macleod Trail South
Calgary, AB T2J 0P8
403-278-8212

[Quick Bite] Calgary: Atomic October 8, 2011

The bf and I got a quick drink at Atomic during an unbearably hot day (seems like so long ago…). I’m not a big fan of Atomic, they charge way more than the normal BBT shops down in Chinatown AND they’re like 2/3 the size. Another thing that’s ridiculous is that they charge over $4.00 for a slushie (made from powder, not even real fruits) and then make you pay extra for the “bubbles“. Bubbles are their namesake, it should be included in their products.

Mango with Green Tea Jelly

I got  a Mango slush with Green Tea Jelly. It was over $5.00 for something that would have cost $3.75 in Chinatown (it would be larger too!).

Taro with Green Tea Jelly

The bf got a Taro with Green Tea Jelly. Also, when we went, they were out of the normal tapioca pearls…how can you let a bubble tea place run out of bubbles? What blasphemy.

And then the guy that works there was going on an on about how strong the green tea jelly is in flavour and it totally wasn’t. No green tea taste at all.

I don’t know why everyone is so enamoured with this place. The only reason we went there was because we had a coupon. I would never pay regular price for their second-rate products.

ATOMIC
1306 1 Street Southwest
Calgary, AB T2R 0W3
(403) 228-6642

[Quick Bites] Thailand: Various April 18, 2011

These are some desserts I had while I was in Thailand.

I loooovvveee desserts in Asia, they always have such interesting toppings & ingredients. I love toppings like taro, mochi, and grass jelly, you can’t normally find that stuff at normal Western dessert places~

Yum, I love the presentation!

My uncle got this:

Borrrring

It was just a plain ‘ol chocolate sundae. Maybe it’s because he lives in Asia, he likes classic desserts. Or maybe it’s just because he’s old, and doesn’t like piling a bunch of crap on like I do. Hahaha~

Also, you can’t go to Asia without having some coconut juice in it’s shell!

Coco-coconut!

THAILAND
Various