Friday, February 27, 2015

Rock Creek Tap and Grill - Saskatoon, SK


The Guacamole Brie-wich

I'm not a big beer fan... or alcohol in general. So I can't really comment on the beer selection.
Food wise... not impressed. We were seated promptly and I must say, when we walked into the dining area, I was impressed. It's very well decorated, modern and provided a very relaxing ambiance. Great atmosphere.

Nothing really crazy that stood out on the menu for me, pretty similar to Earls/Moxies I would say. They did have a feature menu, which I love when restaurants do that.

My friend ordered the "Guacamole Brie-wich" which sounded really tempting to me as well, but I opted for the "Organic Meatloaf".

The Guacamole Brie-wich was, I must say, a disappointment. Sounded great on the menu, but once you get it... it just wasn't what you expected. It was a more boring dish then expected. She also ordered a side of Salsa and we both found it to taste rather.. intense. And by that, I mean when you take a taste of it, its like you just sipped some rubbing alcohol.
One weird note was that there was less then a handful of fries.

Organic meatloaf sub mash potatoes
The "Organic Meatloaf" was alright, pretty generic. You can't really screw up a chunk of meat. It was under the "Comfort Food" Section, which is fitting. I love meatloaf, its a nice hearty dish. This dish was alright, smaller portion then I'm use to when ordering meatloaf at a restaurant... but I guess when I order Meatloaf it's usually at a dinner or a more casual family dining restaurant. It said on the menu that it has a sweet spicy chilli glaze... but I'm not sure if the glaze was that red ketchup heap on top of the meatloaf. The heap wasn't a glaze, it looked like ketchup and tasted like ketchup... so i'm going to say its ketchup. I'm use to more of a slightly ketchupy/brown sugar glaze on my meatloaf. I'm not the biggest fan of Ketchup, i mainly use it to mask the taste of items. There was a little too much of the sauce on the chunk of meat loaf for me. It also came with some pan fried zucchini and carrots... very greasy for my taste. You can see the oiliness of that side already spreading on the plate in the photo. I also subbed for Mash potato since I was craving a more comforting heavier starch. It was some weird cajun chive mashed potato. It was... okay. I prefer my mash to be creamy and garlicy. This was lumpy and a bit dry. I love spice, but it just didn't taste right in mash. I wish they offered a regular version.

Service was alright, average.

Overall, my first experience here wasn't anything really special. Great ambiance, very modern interior and well spaced. Boring/disappointing food. Personally, wouldn't be a place I'd be really voluntarily visiting nor recommending



The weird salsa

Rock Creek Tap and Grill on Urbanspoon.

Tuesday, February 3, 2015

The Face Shop - Volcanic Clay Nose Strip




I love biore nose strips.. when they work properly and who doesnt? I love clearing those nasty ass black heads, popping those deep zits. Yeah, yeah, shouldn't touch those pimples but it's so hard to resist.

Nose strips are always fun! This one.. not so much. I usually like The Face Shop's products, they recently opened up a store in West Edmonton Mall which I'm happy to see a korean company expand past Asia and into the western side.

This one didn't perform. I've had the biore strips leave some residue before on my nose, but it's white and less messy. This one was messy. The black "volcanic clay" transfers when it's wet to your hands and when you rip it off your nose it does leave black residue on your nose. It didn't work for me, it didn't pull anything out of my pores. It was messier then the biore strips. I will pass on these nose strips. 




Monday, January 26, 2015

Too Faced - Everything Nice 2014 Holiday Palette


I'm a little late on the review but here I am, writing about Too Faced - Everything Nice 2014 set. I love Too Faced holiday sets, its one of the brands I look forward to seeing what they come out with each holiday season. Too Faced and Benefit have the cutest gifts during the Holidays imo.

I could not pass up this palette when I saw it, I was stuck between this and a Tarte Holiday palette but i found out this one had more product in eyeshadow. It came with a pink clutch, which I think i will never use.

I don't reach for this day to day, mainly because most of the shades are too shimmery for a normal work day wear. A few shades I think are pretty similar- mainly the top line with the neutral light shades but its hard not to have that happen in large palettes.  There is very little fall out, not glittery chunks. Fairly Pigmented, great quality eyeshadows from Too Faced.

I don't use the small brushes that come with it, theyre small and soft  but a little too small for me. Great packaging, nice array of eyeshadow colors. I enjoy that they included bronzers/blushes with the set.

If you find this on sale or in trades, I would definitely recommend getting this.

 

 




Monday, January 19, 2015

Adore Me First Haul/Experience & Review


I've seen quite a few posts on instagram with a haul featuring "Adore Me". Adore Me is essentially a site that sells lingerie. They offer 'show rooms' each month featuring new/old products that fit your style (You take a test at the beginning). Its sort of a monthly subscription service but it's not mandatory to make a purchase each month.. which is something I enjoy.
I've been looking at their items every once in a while but never found anything worth committing to, especially for the price since I've never seen the quality of these items. But on black friday they were offering a special deal, your first set for ... wait for it...$8 dollars! Well 7.95 , but you just round it up to $8. I saw this really cute teddy, 'Ieesha' and thought , why not for $8 good way to try this out.

this is the product i ordered
I just received it in the mail, and must I say... It's barely worth the $8. I rarely shop at La senza, only when they have underwear for $3. La Senza bras are low quality and have low support for bigger busts and I feel like Adore me is at a lower level then La Senza

The color that it came in, did not represent the item that was shown on their site. As shown in the pictures I have attached. When i was purchasing the item, it did not show any offers for any other colors.
The 'cup' fabric is very flimsy and thin, the cut is not flattering and the straps do not provide support and are very cheap. I understand this is lingerie and support is something that rarely comes with it, but I've shopped at winners and have had better quality items. Overall this item is of cheap quality, did not look anything like it was suppose to online and worth maybe five dollars. I was very disappointed at the quality, the site has a vast inventory on very sexy and cute items that look like they're made of good quality fabrics.

 I may give Adore Me another try and actually try a bra set... if there was a good deal on it. Currently I feel like they are misrepresenting the quality and color of the items. I would not recommend it to any of my friends or family.




The Body Shop - Vitamin E Overnight Serum Oil


Dry skin will always be my worst enemy. Moving to Saskatchewan has not helped it at all. I've been using it a couple months now, almost done the bottle and thought its time for a review.

This is one pricey bottle for $28/CAD for a 28 ml. I've tried other brands such as Josie Maran Argan oil, which I will review later.

This is an alright product. A little thicker/ not as light as the Argan Oil and not overly greasy. It didn't last me as long as I thought it would, I bought it back in September and I am just about finished with it. Its not as moisturizing as I thought it would be, which maybe is why I've been using more product. Others I've talked to about this have said that they've had a bottle for over a year. It has the signature Vitamin E rose scent that is present in their Vitamin E line.

I like using oils before my moisturizer every night but personally this one didn't really do any priming for me. It's not really moisturizing and for it's price I can get a bigger bottle of just regular Vitamin E oil... which I'm planning to do.

I wouldn't recommend this product, it's pretty pricey and doesn't have a great performance.

Sunday, January 18, 2015

Yip Hongs Dim Sum Restaurant - Saskatoon, SK

Ah, yum cha/dim sum. One of my favorite childhood memories and still one of my favorite things to do.
Yum Cha focuses more on the tea aspect - having high tea while eating dim sum. They never asked what tea I wanted - but I've heard from a large amount of people that I don't look chinese, and also lets not forget but we are in saskatoon. From the taste of it, I want to say the tea they offer to everyone is either Teet Goon Yum  or  Jasmine .
I've been to two dim sum restaurants in Saskatoon, the Mandarin and Yip Hongs! First note, I was super happy to find out that they have the push cart service. Last time I checked, only one restaurant in Calgary still uses the push cart system. Same with Hong Kong, very little restaurants use the push carts.

I really enjoyed the dim sum selection and quality offered by the Mandarin, but they lacked one very important dish: Feng Zhao - Chicken Feet. One of my favorite dishes and they didn't carry it. I found out Yip Hong's does and I had to make a trip there. They are smaller then the Mandarin and I find have a smaller selection of dim sum. Also the taste and quality, I feel, was not as high as the Mandarin. They really only had three people doing the push carts, and sometimes they would get chatting up with a regular and take forever to make their way to my hungry stomach. 


It's a more homey feel in this restaurant, hard to explain but there were alot of regulars... just the atmosphere there was very down to earth.

Overall, the quality and taste of the dim sum offered was subpar to my standards. I do like how they offer chicken feet, but it wasn't that outstanding. I'd come here mainly for that dish if I was craving it hardcore. If anyone knows any other restaurant that offers chicken feet, please let me know!


Yip Hong's Dim Sum Restaurant on Urbanspoon

Tuesday, January 6, 2015

TARTE Amazonian Clay Smart Mascara

Hello Hello!

To start, I normally don't wear mascara anymore on a day to day use.. usually only on the weekends if I'm working or on night outs. I did wear Tarte's Amazonian Clay Smart Mascara which I received in a little set I bought. By itself this mascara ranges for $24/CAD.

This is a great day to day mascara,  it didn't weigh down my lashes, provided a decent amount of volume and length.. very natural looking. I wouldn't say I noticed my lashes looking healthier, but I did feel like it did less damage then some mascaras I've worn out in the market (not crunchy, easy removal if you get what i'm saying) Only dislike i found was that it doesn't hold your curl... but many mascara's are unable to hold a curl. And I did find this to try up faster then my other mascaras, and i do not mean dry up to the point of unusable. But you can notice its a little drier during application. I didn't notice any smudging with this mascara.

If i wanted mascara that was natural looking, easy removal, overall a good day to day mascara.. I would repurchase this. But seeing as I don't really wear mascara and when I do, I go for more dramatic ones that are able to hold a curl, I would not repurchase this mascara. Good product just not for my personal taste/wants.