Poached Breakfast Bistro, Saskatoon SK

I went here on a whim on a Sunday morning. It was the only breakfast place we could really find that was open on a Sunday morning in the downtown area. We were told a 40 minute wait... I was starting to assume it might just be one of those "current" restaurants that don't actually have food worth waiting for. We were all pretty hungry and didn't feel like waiting forty minutes.. especially since there was no where to wait except a open Starbucks a couple blocks down. I do wish they were able to put a bench out or something, but I guess that's up to the city.

We decided to go to drive around Saskatoon in search of another open restaurant but actually ended up getting lost and ended up close to downtown. By that time, the forty minutes would have been up by the time we parked and walked back to Poached so we decided on that. One thing is, I do appreciate they call the wait list customers when their table is ready. I've been to a couple popular breakfast joints in Calgary where they just take your name and they expect you to wait around in the crowd outside the door for your name to be called... many asian restaurants follow that concept as well. 

They have good food set at a pretty reasonably price. We had the Blueberry Bagel French Toast which was served with whipped yogurt, I believe. Rhubarb crepe with whipped yogurt and poached eggs on crab cakes with a side of Potato Croquettes. Don't quote me on these dishes, I couldn't find their latest menu online.. I do believe it changes per season!

Overall each dish was pretty good, all very well balance! The potato Croquette's were delicious, it had a nice crunchy outside with a creamy potato center.
The Blueberry Bagel french toast was an alright dish... nothing special personally. The whipped yogurt was a good touch, with some fresh blackberries on top. Good balanced plate, nice tartness with the fresh blackberries and sweetness with the whipped yogurt.
If you like crab, the poached eggs on top of the crab cakes with a side salad, I'm sure you will enjoy. Like the potato corquette's it has a nice crunchy outside and the side salad provides a good balance to the seafood. 

I am glad we ended up getting lost and got a chance to try this bistro. Expect a long wait time especially the later you arrive (While we were dining around 10:30 there was around an hour wait time), it is a small restaurant with really only three front of house staff. One host, one server for the front of the restaurant and one of the back. The service itself is alright, not really sociable or attentive but not unpleasant either. 

I would highly recommend this as a breakfast choice for anyone in the area to give it a try. I wouldn't mind eating here again and try many of there other appetizing items on their menu. Just got to be ready for the wait time and not mad hungry.

Famoso - Red Deer, AB

Oh Famoso, everyone in town was super excited when you were opening a year ago. A year later and I'm still not a fan.  I've had a few bad experiences, chalked up to the first month or so they were open and no business will run smoothly without any mistakes when they first open.

In the beginning, I found that they were overstaffed and there was a lack of communication between the staff. I have many examples of what i find demonstrates this but that was then.. this is now. And the most important aspect of a business is of course, the food.
Everytime I go here, I always find my pizza a little burnt... I understand that its flat bread and its pretty hard to cook/keep it consistent. But because of the couple burnt pizza's I've had, I'm not really a big fan. Overall, the apps, the pizzas and the dessert's I've had aren't anything special to me...
The desserts, most of them are overwhelming sweet. Definitely can only handle a couple bites, but they are pretty good to look at and good to share... especially with other women when its a certain time of the month ;)

Overall, I'm not a big fan of Famoso, on a recent trip there was hair in the pizza. Working in the restaurant industry, I know these things happen but personally just from when they first opened and the mishaps I've had with them... it's not a place I frequent when I'm dining out. Side note, other then the first month or so of opening, the service is consistently friendly and the owner is usually always there and is very genuine in knowing how your meal went.

SKINNY TEATOX - 7 Day Review

I've been curious about these tea detoxes for a while and have been researching the many companies out there. I kept a relatively good diet for the week to see if it helped the results at all.
I must say, this fad on tea detoxes is just a fad. One of those diet fads like those who are straying from gluten in their diet because they believe it will help them lose weight.
I weighed myself before and after the 7 days and there was no change. I personally purchased the 7 days for around $35/cad because I knew I wouldn't stick to a 14 day commitment. It came in a simple white bubbled mailing envelope. I took the tea mainly for the detox purposes, to see if there was a difference in my body that I would notice with detoxing. And I was hoping there would be some weight loss benefits since I'm hitting a wall at the moment.

 I worked out the same amount as I normally would, 3-5 days a week for around 40-60 mins a day (depending on my work schedule). Side note, I have two serving jobs at busy restaurants, so basically each shift is a work out. My appetite was honestly the same, I didn't feel any less hungry then I normally would. One thing I did notice was that I did have a boost in energy, but I can get that with almost any tea. Taste wise, it was alright. I usually drink green tea or black teas which can be on the bitter side. This loose tea (the detoxing tea) tasted a bit bitter but not as strong as green tea or not overly bitter to the point where I hated drinking it. The packed tea, basically a laxative tea (Colon cleanser), tasted alright - personally I thought it tasted worse than the loose tea. I read reviews saying how the laxative aspect had a huge affect on many of them. You only take it every other day I believe and personally only one of those times I've taken it did i actually find it having an affect on my bowels.


 To conclude, I did not notice any benefits that were listed with the skinny teatox. I most likely will not be repurchasing Skinny Teatox, they do have some new products I am curious a bit about.. but for now I'll stick to my regular green tea or my juicer.

Burt's Bees : Anti-Blemish Targeted Spot Treatment

Back with a review with Burt Bee's : Anti-Blemish Targeted Spot Treatment, you can find this in store for around $15/CAD. This is basically the herbal blemish stick, except not in stick form. It has the same liquid consistency as the liquid in the blemish stick. Same overpowering scent, same burning sensation, same ineffectiveness.
I've been using it for a month consistently, it has not reduced any blemishes or prevented any blemishes nor has it reduced any pimples. It does sink into the skin pretty quick...
Not a big fan of the packaging either... I dislike these droptops packaging, it only works for essential oils when you only need one or two drops for control. This, its hard to control.

Overall, this product did not work for my skin and i will not be repurchasing this.

THE BODY SHOP - All In One Instablur Perfector Primer

I've tried many Body Shop make up Products.. most of them wasn't a big hit with me.  They came out with this new "ALL-IN-ONE™ INSTABLUR 5-ACTION PERFECTOR" recently and I decided to try it out. One this great about the Body Shop is their return policy... easy to make returns if it doesn't work out for you. You can purchase this for $22/Cad at your local Body Shop.. I would wait for a sale to come on , which they come out quite often.

I'm always on hunt for a good affordable primer, one that can keep your making up fresh looking all day, everyday. This primer... it was alright.

This primer strives itself on being a
"Five action perfector:

• Shine Controlling 12h
• Reduces appearance of pores
• Blemish Hiding
• Complexion Unifying
• Make-up Extending"

It kept my make up/face matte for most of the day, I wouldn't go

to as far to say for 12 hours (I do work in the restaurant industry so a lot of heat/sweat is involved). I didn't notice the blurring effect that is part of its name, not saying I have huge craters for pores (yet) but I still did not notice a reduction in the appearance of my pores when using this primer. As for blemish hiding and complexion unifying, I don't think any un tinted primer would be able to do that by itself? 

Overall, it didn't do anything special, it did mattify my face and made my make up last longer... but any drugstore primer can do that. It didn't make my make up look fresh for any extra amount of time vs competing brand primers..
I will not repurchase this primer and its not on my recommendation list.

OLAY Pore Minimizing Cleanser + Scrub Review

I bought two bottles while on sale retails for around $8-9/CAD, and I have finished one and am almost done the second which calls to share my opinion on the Olay Pore minimizing Cleanser + Scrub.

This product does nothing except wash off most of the make up on your face, even then you would need a couple pumps. This has no minimized my pores and honestly wasn't that good of a face wash.
The scrub part is not too rough on the skin if you want something gentle... I mainly use this with my olay pro x cleanser since I prefer to use something gentle with that machine. It doesn't dry out the skin and does not have an overpowering scent to it.

I've used this cleanser for a couple months now, it hasn't done anything to my skin. Same amount of breakouts/ same pores / same black heads. I'd rather buy a cleanser that I know has an effect on my skin.

TARTE Amazonian Clay 12-Hour Full Coverage Foundation SPF 15 in Medium

Canadian winters. My skin hates them, I hate them, everyone i know hates them yet we still stay here.

There was a VIB sale back in november, i took this chance to try out a new foundation. I love my MUFE HD but just wanted to see what else is on the market. And since it's rising in price, i don't really want to use it as much.

Found this Tarte full coverage foundation in .08 oz (which is more then plenty) in a little kit. The kit costs $41/CAD, comes with a rollerball of maracuja oil and a full size mascara.

This is the first Tarte Product i've ever tried. And I love it. This is a great foundation, i think its a bit light for my skin but its not too noticeable unless i'm in bright light or in photos.




One thing that's been bugging me about MUFE HD is that sometimes it gets a little hard to blend out, if I look closely at times I notice I didn't blend too well on my chin or cheek and can see the foundation vs my skin. And since its dries pretty fast it can be hard by that time to blend it out. Whereas this Tarte product is very easy to blend into my skin.

It provides great coverage up for almost 12 hours without touch up. You don't need that much product for your face. It goes on very smooth, I've used it with a stippling brush and a flat top brush. I've heard the Tarte airbrush finish brush does make a difference for application. But since its such a steep price, at the moment i'm content with my flat top or stippling brush...
I have pretty dry skin and it didn't dry my face out anymore, look cakey (unless i cake my face) or cause those little darn flakes.

I have yet to try out the maracuja oil or mascara but I think this kit is great! So far I am loving this foundation almost over my MUFE hd... almost.

After

Before

8 hrs later. Noticeable wear off in forehead, a little shine / fade

NYC Cream Blush in Berry Newyorker

 HELLO!!!! Happy Canada Day!!!

Back with my opinion on these NYC creme blush sticks. These things range for around $3-4/cad in "Berry Newyorker", great bang for its buck. I love the convience of these, swipe it on and the quickly blend it out. The only thing is that im a bit tan and it doesnt show up as pigmented on my skin. It is very buildable with a few quick swipes of product. It seems to hold up for about 4 hours.

These are very affordable blushes, great for anyone starting out in make up and want to try cream blushes.

Heads up.. sorry for my displacement of photos.. I have the worst time centering/placing photos on here :S Cant seem to figure it out smoothly...

unblended

blended

Burts Bee's Herbal Blemish Stick vs Saje's Zap Blend

I love these herbal blemish sticks! I first discovered it from Saje and fell in love with their blend, recently I was shopping around and saw that Burts Bee's offers one for a bit cheaper. I ran out of the one from Saje so i thought might as well give Burts Bee's a try, since most of their products are a hit with me!

Saje on Left, Burts Bees on right

Burt's Bees Herbal Blemish Stick clocks in at 12.99 / cad at most retail stores. Saje's Zap blend comes in at 19.95/ cad. It has a more potent scent, much more stronger / lasts longer then Saje's Zap blend. The scent is so much more stronger, If i put it on my cheek or around my nose I really have to watch how much i put on or the ecualyptus/tea tree scent hits my eyes and makes them water. Blemish/zit diminishing power wise, i found it took longer with Burts Bees vs Saje's Zap. It does diminish blemishes and clears up zits but not that fast. maybe a week or so to get rid of a significantly large zit. Simple packaging, glass roll on with white lid where as Saje has a more sleeker apealing Packaging. Dark Brown glass.
Saje clock is at .30 oz while Burts Bees at .26 oz

Overall, I prefer Saje's Zap Blend. It clears blemishes much more faster I found then Burt's Bees. As well as the scent wasn't as potent. I would have to put it right under my eye for the tea tree/eucalyptus blend to make my eyes water. It's more expensive but in the long run you'd use less product making it be worth the price.

Burts Bee's Herbal Blemish Stick:
alcohol denat., calendula officinalis (calendula) flower oil, borago officinalis (borage) seed oil, achillea millefolium (yarrow) oil, carum petroselinum (parsley) seed oil, aqua (water, eau), salix nigra (willow) bark extract, melaleuca alternifolia (tea tree) leaf oil, citrus medica limonum (lemon) peel oil, foeniculum vulgare (fennel) oil, juniperus communis (juniper) fruit oil, eucalyptus globulus (eucalyptus) leaf oil, citral, geraniol, limonene, linalool
Reference: Ingredient List

Saje's Zap Blendingredients: essential oils of lavandula angustifola (lavender), melaleuca alternifolia leaf (tea tree), anthemis nobilis (roman chamomile), pogostemon cablin (patchouli), myrtus communis (myrtle), eucalyptus globulus (eucalyptus), pelargonium graveolens (geranium) and thymus zygis (white thyme).
Reference

The Body Shop - Vitamin C Cleansing Polish Review

Been watching wayyy too much tv when i should be studying. This is how lazy i have become.
Well back to a review, i love the smell of citrus. Wakes me up. And i do enjoy this Vitamin C -  Cleansing Polish by the Body Shop. It costs around $16/cad for this product... but the body shop always has great deals going on.
Its a gel like face wash with beads (not too many) inside for exfoliating. I really like the texture and consistency of this face wash, it isnt too harsh so you can use this everyday. Your face feels so refreshed afterwards. It lathers extremely well and does a great job of getting rid of your make up. I don't think this improved the brightness of my skin at all.. but when does that actually happen?
I really like this product by The Body Shop and will repurchase it. 

Good Ol Customer Service pt 2

At a small family run Asian restaurant, I once had these two old ladies come in... the restaurant wasn't too busy so there were many choices of seating available. It honestly took them way too long to decide where to sit, they decided on a table meant for six.. not that it mattered, since like i said, it wasn't busy but I found it a bit odd.
There was a special at the restaurant for spring rolls, one spring roll for one dollar. They offered two types, a veggie one and a meat one.  Veggie spring rolls are offered with plum sauce while meat ones are offered with a fish sauce..
They each ordered one veggie spring roll (one while ordering said egg roll instead, which I had to ask to clarify since her friend ordered the veggie spring roll and we were all discussing what was in the veggie spring roll)... first let me say, if you've been to a chinese restaurant, you would know sharing dishes is pretty normal. So we normally put any spring rolls ordered on to one single plate.
I brought their food out, few minutes later they complained about the sauce exact words saying "It's bland, watery, doesn't taste like anything" I noticed I accidentally brought out fish sauce instead of the plum sauce that goes with the veggie spring rolls. Fish sauce, bland? Bland my ass, woman. I owned up, apologized stating that it's fish sauce and i brought the wrong sauce to go with your spring rolls. I go grab the plum sauce and bring it to them, again apologizing (I thought I sounded sincere, since I was ... but who knows, maybe they thought I wasn't).

Few minutes later, one complained that their teriyaki dish lacked any teriyaki sauce.. a few people ordered the same dishes at different tables and none of them had complained of the lack of sauce. I go grab her some extra sauce from the kitchen, bring it out to them. At that point, I found them to be continuously rude and honestly thought I could not be serve them without showing some sort of attitude or pretend to even smile. So this other server jumped in at the end... While she was clearing their table and asking if they were ready for their bill (I was standing a few feet away at the counter doing something, so I did overhear word by word their conversation) one lady said "This whole meal was very gross, and the spring rolls... why did you put it on the same plate? Are you guys broke?"
She literally said the words, "are you guys broke"
Sorry lady, sorry that I put two spring rolls on the same plate, sorry that I didn't want to waste a plate, sorry that you had to deal with the nuisance of your deep fried spring roll touching another spring roll. The horror.
My friend was so caught off guard that there was a moment of silence and then the lady continued "And why didn't I get another plum sauce!? We'll never come back here again"
Finally my friend responded, "Yeah! We always put the spring rolls together on a plate... I'll go grab your bill" and just walked away.. She did give them a fake smile... how she managed to do it - I have no idea.

The thing is,  I checked on their table a couple of times, refilling their water and such. After my wrong sauce mishap, I did go back and ask how they were doing... and they both said they were doing fine!
While I asked that, you could have told me you wanted an extra dipping sauce to drown your one spring roll in...  Or when the one lady asked for more teriyaki sauce, you could have mentioned something about some extra plum sauce...
I just do not understand.... and the fact that they had the audacity to ask if the restaurant is broke because we put TWO SINGLE SPRING ROLLS on ONE PLATE is ridiculous.



Another time, I was working at a big restaurant in a hotel, fairly spacey and by that I mean that some tables are really far from the bar/kitchen. Big parties are usually seated far since that is where the bigger tables are.
I had this one table of 14, most of them were really nice... the dinner was a form of engagement party for the intermediate family. What I noticed is that the daughter that was engaged and her sisters were all super high maintenance. The daughter that was engaged always had snide comments, not about me or the restaurant but just everything in general that they were talking about. I don't mean to eaves drop, but when I'm walking around filling water or handing out things I can't help but overhear things.
Anyways, the problem I had was with one of the sisters, she had to be around 16 (Side note: she was wearing this weird pink fluffy coat that I would not mind burning) and had honestly no respect for me. I do not know if she had no respect for servers in general or if it was just me personally... Maybe I bumped into her on the street and didn't apologize or maybe I looked at her the wrong way on the street, who knows!
Throughout the night she would order me around, no "can you.. take these sugar packets that you can't reach away", no "Please.. take this half finished can of Dr.Pepper out of my sight" no "thank you". For the used sugar packets, they were spread out and hard for me to reach without pushing my body in someones face, so she just grabbed them and threw them at me. Well not at my body, but I was clearing a plate out of the way and she just threw them over to me but them being empty it landed pretty short from the plate I just grabbed... so wait I guess she did throw them at me. But anyways through the night it was just these little things, her throwing things to me for me to grab out of the way, the way she ordered a drink.
Another thing was, her boyfriend was with her at this family event and she ordered for him throughout the meal! "He will also have a dr.pepper." "He'll just get the sirloin.." I'll ask how the steak was to be done tonight, I looked directly at him and she still answered for him on how his steak would be cooked and what he wanted for sides... He was staring back at me, he gave a small awkward smile. And I knew he could talk since I heard him talk and he would say thank you when I gave him something or took something away.
At one point as well, her younger sister (Three sisters in total here) asked for another drink menu. I went and grabbed one and placed it in front of her, and then this bitch grabs it and starts looking through it...
If you wanted one, ask me for one! Her sister then had to ask me for another one...
Sooooo at the end of the night, this really set me off. There is 14 of them, and there is only one of me. And I only have two hands.
I was clearing the entree plates out of the way since most of them were finished, I did walk by her first but she still was finishing up. So i did my circle grabbing almost all the empty plates out of the way, my hands full of big dirty plates not stacked nicely, heading on over to the kitchen that was far away when she says "excuse me" in a veryyyyyyy rude loud tone. The whole table was pretty quiet at that time, and this princess says "Take this as well", pointing at her plate that she just finished.

Hello bitch, Do you not see that my hands are full? Do you not think I will come back? Do you really need that darn plate out of your way?

I sort of lost it... I have an attitude problem and my attitude came out. I put down all those other dirty plates at small empty table beside me and go over and grab her one darn plate and walk that one darn plate to the kitchen.
Later that night, I'm assuming it was her aunt, came over and apologized saying "Sorry! Thank you for taking such good care of us, I hope our drunk asses at this end weren't a lot of trouble" (They were drinking a lot of wine)

Honestly, if it wasn't for that big tip that I was pretty sure I was gonna get from their high bill, I may have lost it. 

La Casa Pergola - Red Deer, AB

Oh La Casa Pergola... the great things I've heard about you. In High school my friend and I stopped by this little place and honestly I wasn't a big fan of their lunch menu...
But I've heard from many locals that this is the place for great authentic italian food. When i mention my "Meh" previous experience, they tell me the dinner menu will be worth it.


So a couple of us stopped by to check out this hidden away restaurant in downtown red deer and my reservations about this place prior were correct.

Ordered the Calamari, personally I found it unappetizing and soggy. The sauce, I was told, base is sour cream and it was weak and tasteless... Never had tasteless sour cream. Wasn't a very special dish. I love calamari and find most restaurants make it a little too oily, it wasn't oily here... when i say soggy, i mean it was un crispy from maybe not being properly cooked or sitting there too long before it was brought out...

I had the Fettuccini Con Pollo , small portion for $17. And boy.. was it small. I could probably grab the whole portion in my small hands and cover it all.
I understand fine dining and their small portions, but this place is not exactly the real fine dining experience.
I also found this dish flavorless. The Chicken was cooked perfectly and seasoned well. But that was the only appetizing aspect of this dish.
The pasta sauce is described to be made with all these cheeses yet I honestly didn't taste anything. It just tasted like watered down white sauce with a faint faint hint of cheese.
I think those cheap side kick packages at the grocery store have more flavor then this dish.
And the price... not worth it.
(They ran out of broccoli that night and subbed mushrooms.)

Overall, my experience wasn't memorable at this joint. I love the ambiance of the place. Its quaint and sadly it would be a great restaurant if the food was more flavorable, or at least the price should not be that high for the quality of the food.
Don't see the great food that everyone else is saying so personally, I will not be returning to this restaurant.

Shiseido - Translucent Loose Powder Review

I thought I liked loose powders because its usually the better bang for the buck. But after this product, I realized my big dislike for loose powders and will not continue to purchase pressed powder.
I've heard many good things about this Loose Powder by Shieseido, I've been trying to find something comparable or similar to MUFE's HD finishing powder. You can find this usually around 40/cad at a local beauty counter comes with .63 oz of product... which is a lot! This will last you a good while.

Personally, I am not a big fan of this product. It has very sheer coverage, and was not long lasting because of that fact. You really have to pack this onto your skin to make it last most of the day, which I'm not really use to doing. And i found it wasn't really mattifying because it was so sheer. I have fairy dry skin, never really oily. But even after 12+ hour days a girl will produce oil with a full make up face, unlike MUFE's HD powder, this one would only last maybe 1-3 hours before you start seeing a shine or your make up isn't looking as fresh.

It can be a little bit messy, it being a loose powder and all. I usually just tip it upside down, give it a few shakes and then just use the power on the lid. More even pick up of product on brush that way. It being white/translucent it does not have any color effect on your skin.. that is unless you put a big glob of white powder on your face... it'll be a bit hard to blend out. I didn't notice a difference in my pores either as the product says it would keep it concealed.

Overall, not impressed with the performance of this product. I have moderately dry skin, producing oil after a lonnnng day of work and this product did not help the shine or lasting power of my make up. You can't see in the photos but there was no significant difference between the two sides of my face, with or without powder.
Would not recommend this nor repurchase.

Pointing at the side with powder
4 hrs into wear

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right after application, left side is with powder.