Tiana Feng

Recommended Craft Beers: Sawdust City Lone Pine IPA & Old Tomorrow

March 18, 2015Drinks, FoodLeave a Comment

I’ve been obsessed with trying local craft beers lately. There are a ton from Ontario alone! In fact the craft beer trend is so popular that Toronto now has stores to buy your own brewing supplies. Most recently I tried Old Tomorrow Canadian Pale Ale. The Toronto ale a full-bodied brew that went down smoothly.

The other beer I had was Sawdust City’s Lone Pine IPA. It was very hoppy!

The best thing about buying local craft beers is also the fabulous designs. The first one pays tribute to the 150 year anniversary of the Charlottetown conference that triggered confederation. Constrastly, Sawdust has a more country vibe because after all it is brewed in Gravenhurst! Anyways, can’t wait to dig for more beer treasures at the LCBO.

Page From My Sketchbook Pt. 2

March 17, 201530 Day Challenge, Art, Crafts/DIY, LifeLeave a Comment

I’ve been busy this month but I’ve been keeping up with my Sketchbook challenge this month! I plan to have 31 drawings in my book by the time the month is over. Here are a few of my favourites since the last post:

Brunch at Hamilton’s Jack & Lois

March 16, 2015Food, Restaurant Reviews1 Comment

I spent the past few days in Hamilton covering the JUNO awards and events leading up to it. My co-worker and I had some time Saturday morning so we grabbed brunch at Jack & Lois which was featured on the show You Gotta Eat Here.

The inside of the restaurant was very kitchy. It was colourful and the tables and chairs unmatching. It was like being at your grandma’s house complete with posters of dogs and cats that looked like prints on shirts at Northern Getaway. They had a great selection of brunch items and a menu for the more adventurous people.

Obviously, I chose to go with the excessive Triple Crown (pictured above). It was a trio of Eggs Benedict: smoked salmon, lobster, tenderloin. They came with potatoes and fresh fruit. The potatoes were seasoned nicely and had bits of onion. The bennies were so delicious, and the hollandaise had a perfect consistency. I can’t decide which of the three I liked more, they were all very good!

My co-worker had The Cobra: hashbrowns and fruit with 3 grilled cheese, sausage, eggs, bacon, peameal bacon. It was traditional brunch done right! It was great value, and such large portions that he ended up taking home leftovers.

Jack & Lois is totally a place to check if you’re ever in the hammer! We actually considered going back the next day but we ran out of time.

The 10,000 Things I Do Regularly

March 14, 2015March 16, 2015LifeLeave a Comment

I wish I had time to lie around like these guys!

I am having a crazy weekend running around in Hamilton for the JUNOS. It’s a busy weekend but I’m hardly evernot busy. For example here are the 10,000 things I do on a regular basis:

– I work a 9-5 job
– I run Ride the Tempo (which itself involves 10,000 mini things)
– I blog here every day
– I go to a show
– I eat at a fancy restaurant
– I vlog
– I run many tumblr accounts
– I photograph things and then edit those photographs
– I draw/do art
– I try new recipes
– I clean the apartment
– I take care of my pet turtles
– I read a book
– I play video games
– I spend time with my boyfriend
– I teach kids how to play piano
– I see my dog
– I play with make up
– I shop online
– I watch Netflix
– I catch up on the internet
– I keep all my social media accounts updated

Some of those seem like rather regular things. But if you fit them all into one week, it would be one hell of a week. And that is basically my life.

Dollarama Reviews: Duncan Hines Chewy Fudge

March 13, 2015March 4, 2015Dollarama Reviews, Food, ShoppingLeave a Comment

We bought this by accident, mistakingly thinking we had bought a Betty Crocker brand brownie mix. The box colours are so similar. For $2, it’s more expensive than most cake mixes in a real grocery store but when brownies mix can be picked up next door who can resist?

The instructions only required one egg and water, so no milk or cream required.

This is what it looked like after the 50 strokes, as instructed.

After 30 minutes it looked like a regular brownie.

When we cut it and tried to take a brownie out it all crumbled. However, it was chewy and chocolatey like it promised. The top crust had a nice crunch to it.

Would we buy again? Maybe. They tasted delicious, they just weren’t intact like brownies should be.

My First Ipsy Glam Bag

March 12, 2015Beauty, Shopping2 Comments

I finally received my first ipsy glam bag. It’s like the competitor of Birchbox that is affiliated with make up guru Michelle Phan. The service is only $10 a month (but since I’m in Canada it is around $20). Unlike Birchbox, many of the items are full size or bigger samples.

It arrived in a hot pink envelope that certainly good not be missed.

Each month the products also come with a mini make up bag. The March theme was Floral Fantasy so the floral printed bag was fitting.

The first item was this Pixi by Petra mineral eyeshadow duo.

Next was this Glow Oil Treatment to get shiny and hydrated hair.

This NYX butter lipstick in POPS EXPLOSIF came in full size ($7.99).

I forgot to take a photo of it but I also got a full-sized Chella Ivory Lace Highlighter ($18).

Lastly, there was an Oval concealer brush from Crown Brush ($6).

People like to compare ipsy and Birchbox but I find that they are two very different services. Ipsy provides bigger sizes and great value, but I find that Birchbox delivers higher end products that you can try before you spend money on the full sized costly products. It’s really up to you to decide which service you like better.

Use my referral link: https://www.ipsy.com/r/tv6b8 to earn a extra 200 points towards free products when you sign up!

Mr. Tea

March 11, 2015Drinks, Food, Shopping2 Comments

I added another item to my Fred and Friends family of products! Meet Mr. Tea. He is the most awesome tea infuser.

I just love his chillin’ smile.

He comes apart in two pieces and you can put tea in his pants.

As he swims in your water, it turns into tea!

The Emerson

March 10, 2015March 10, 2015Food, Restaurant ReviewsLeave a Comment

We went to The Emerson a few months ago (the menu has changed since) but I completely forgot to blog about it. That’s sort of how hidden the place is. I would have walked passed it dismissing it for “The Clothing Co.” which its signage seems to imply. In fact we actually walked up to the doors one hungry evening and asked “do you serve food?” In fact they were a trendy place that indeed serve food and drinks. All the food is seemingly ordinary but very flavourful. The first dish we started with was an eggplant with pine nuts and yogurt and peppers that went really well together.
I chose the flat iron steak with fried green tomatoes and chimichurri sauce. It was cooked beautiful and was very delicious but portion-wise an appetizer was very necessary or else you wouldn’t be full off one main.

Nash had the Emerson burger with Beemster sauce. It was chocked full of melted cheese. You can’t be afraid to get messy with this one!

We had a few fruity cocktails but I totally forgot what they were. I just remembered that I could probably drink 10 of these!
Lastly, we split a lovely peach tart for dessert!

The individual items aren’t that pricey, but everything will add up if you want to be satisfied at the end of the meal. While I enjoyed everything I ate, I feel like it has to stand out a little more for me to return and not be lured away but its surrounding neighbours.

Dollarama Review: Bath Turtles

March 9, 2015Dollarama Reviews, ShoppingLeave a Comment

I couldn’t resist picking up these adorable turtle bathtub treads. They also come in assorted fish with five in a pack. I don’t actually have a bath mat in the tub so I thought these would be a cute alternative.