Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Groupon Ottawa $79 of organic produce delivered for $30

This seems like a pretty hot deal!
$79 worth of organic produce delivered in the Ottawa area...for the cost of $30.
Groupon is a website that offers a new deal in most cities every day.
Here is the link to get this great deal!

http://www.groupon.com/r/uu8519742

The deal is only one per household,but you can buy some as gifts!

http://www.groupon.com/r/uu8519742

Monday, September 27, 2010

My Pretty Pink Box August 2010 loot!

I received this box at the beginning of September and am overall pleased with the contents..exept for one sample that is (but more on that soon).
This was not my favorite box so far, the contents were allright and one sample I was hoping to try was unuseable.
Here is a list of what was received in the August 2010 MPBB:

*Cherry City Bath and Body perfume oil in Wattermellon (sample seems small,but the perfume oils are very concentrated and you need a very tiny amount).
*Mark Lipclick samples x3 single use cards
*Jesse's Girl Tatoo pen in Black (a liquid eye liner with a felt tip,nice quality. Pen is made in Belgium)
*Jesse's Girl Design Time eye shadow in Rip Tide (have not used yet, looks neat)
*The Body Needs: full size eye shadow in Belladonna, 6 sample baggies of mineral eye makeup,transparent finishing powder.

And now finally the sample that was unuseable for me was Cosminology Beam Me Off Acne Buster.
The sample packaging looked nice (it was a black zip top baggie, with a nice label stuck on).
Unfortunately there was a staple through part of the baggie and that might have let some air in and dried the single use pad.
The pad that was inside the sample baggie was quite dry and I was really unable to tell if the product would work for me. Hopefully Cosminology will improve this sample as the line looks like it is a good quality product.

Overall, I have to say I did like the samples in this month's box and did order the September version.
You can still order the September 2010 box at:

http://myprettypinkbox.com/order.htm

Sunday, September 26, 2010

My Pretty Pink Box July 2010 loot!

I've been pretty behind in reviewing the MPPB shipments and will make sure to change that in the future.
The MPPB is a cute mystery box of full size and sample products from new and established brands that shows up monthly in a cute pink (and now blue) box!

Here is what was received in the July 2010 edition of the box:

*Sweet Libertine mineral makeup samples
*Moi Minerals blush sample
*Wonder Curl hair gel 2oz jar
*NYX eye shaddow in Cherry
*Derma Pro skin care sample packets x5 (2 cleanser, 1 scrub, 2 Gel Tox)
*Jesse's Girl Liquid Glass lipgloss in Coy
*Mark Samples

Overall pleased with the assortment I received. So far I have tried the Wonder Curl hair jel and found that nice,no strong scent and a light hold for my curly hair.
The Derma Pro products I really do like..and my beef is that it has been the same samples I have gotten the last 4 times. (I do like the Derma Pro line..but would like to see some variety in the samples offered).
Nyx eye shaddow is a bit of a bright shade and I'm not too sure how I will use that yet-for eye liner maybe?
Not too sure how to really use red eye makeup yet....
The MPPB sells for around $10 and shipping is around $5 extra to Canada.
Shipping to Canada seems to take 3-5 weeks thesedays (kind of wish it was a bit faster).

For this month's box I think the value is fair and I get to try quite a few items that are new to me!
I have the August box here that I bought and will be reviewing that soon!

Friday, September 24, 2010

Ombrella Pizzacones A New Way To Eat Pizza in Ottawa!

I've seen this small pizza shop many times when passing by Bronson Avenue,but never got around to passing by when I was hungry for pizza.
Today Finally I made a trip to try the famous Pizza Ombrella!
What is a Pizza Ombrella?
It is a type of portable pizza that originated in Italy and has the shape of an "ombrella".
This makes the pizza more portable and an interesting new way to enjoy your meal.
I had a Ombrella with the topping of pepperoni.
A basic Ombrella is made with cheese and tomato sauce and costs $6.50. Additonal toppings are .50 for a first topping and $1.00 for 2 or more toppings and there are over 20 savory options. You can also get a breakfast pizza made with scrambled eggs or a dessert pizza with hot apple filling and ice cream.
The pizza Ombrella was around 7" in diameter and the "handle" of the ombrella was around 3" in height and served as the base you hold to eat this portable meal.
The base is also filled with cheese and tomato sauce.
The top part that is flat had a lot of topping-I chose pepperoni and there was a lot of it,as well as quite a lot of cheese. The only option for cheese was mozzarella and there was a lot of it-I actually asked for less cheese as it was a lot for me.
The pizza Ombrella is baked in a special oven that takes around five minutes to make your portable snack.
The dough part of the Ombrella were already baked so these just need to be assembled.
There was also the choice of a Pizzacone, and I did not try that this time.
The Pizzacone looked a bit like an ice cream cone shape and was made of pizza dough.
I did not try the dessert option,but will go back to do that pretty soon as it does sound interesting.
Overall this was an interesting and different was to eat a pizza.
Surprisingly the pizza Ombrella was not as filling as I expected and I was still a bit hungry after eating this.
So, this might be better as a snack..unless you get a ton of toppings.
One thing that is nice is that for the extra dollar you can get as many toppings as you like which could make this a more filling item.
I took a flyer before leaving and there is a special on Tuesdays where for a Toonie you can get a mini Pizza Ombrella made with cheese and tomato sauce.
If you are looking for something different to try,this is a fun quick meal idea!

Ombrella Pizzacones is located at 527 Bronson Avenue and open from 8am-11pm 7 days a week.
If you are in that area there is also the very tasty and vegan bakery Aunty Loo's Treats at 507 Bronson.
I will post about my visit there pretty soon.

Top photo: Pizzacone being prepared.
 Photo #2 : Baked Pizzacone ready to eat!
 Photo #3: The oven with Ombrella and Pizzacones baking.
 Photo #4: My Ombrella pizza, ready to eat!

Sunday, September 12, 2010

Baby zuchinni with crab stuffed flowers! I made this!!

Went to the Lansdowne Farmers Market a few weeks ago and one booth had some baby zuchinni with the flowers attached.
These are hard to find as most farmers grow the zuchinni to full size and the flowers eventually fall off.
The zuchinni were anywhere in size from 1" to 3" at most and very dainty looking.
I was not too sure what I wanted to do with them and only had a day at most to keep these before they start to go bad.
As soon as I got home I looked through my fridge and pantry and decided to make PANKO AND PARMESAN BREDED BABY ZUCHINNI WITH CRAB STUFFED BLOSSOMS.
It turned out very tasty and if you can find these are nice for a dinner party or a fancy meal.
Here are some pics of the zuchinni before and after:

Dermapro Ion Mask review!

I recently received some samples of the Dermapro Ion Mask.
The Ion Mask is supposed to detoxify your skin and clean your pores. There is also some seaweed and natural green clay and this made the mask a very green shade. The mask also had a bit of the smell of seaweed and reminded me of the ocean.
The mask was a fairly this consistency and was easy to apply. There was a bit of a warming sensation which can most likely be attributed to the ginger extract in the mask. This was quite pleasant and was just a very mild warm feeling. My skin is quite sensitive and usually masks that contain many ingredients do not always agree with my skin.
I have used this mask twice so far with no issues. My skin was left looking much cleaner and pores looked smaller too. Overall this mask was nice to use and could benefit every skin type.
The Dermapro website is: www.dermapro.com
The mask on my hand (it is very green,like an army green shade)

Dermapro Pineapple Cleansing Scrub review!

I recently received a few samples of Dermapro products in one of the My Pretty Pink Box samplers.
The pineapple cleansing scrub was one of them. The first thing I noticed was that the scrub had a very lovely scent-just like fresh pineapples! It really has a nice fruity and tropical smell that is very pleasant.
The scrub itself was more like a gel and the scrub was very fine, it did not bother my sensitive skin.
The scrub also foams a bit when you add water and rinses away very easily.
My skin was not left feeling dry with this scrub and this product could easily be used every day.
This scrub was very enjoyable to use and would be a great addition for any skin type.
The 6oz size of this scrub costs $26.20 and the 16oz size is $52.60
You do not need to use much of the scrub and even the smaller size should last quite a while.
Dermapro skincare's website is www.dermapro.com

Saturday, September 11, 2010

Indian Poutine and Soda at Basmati restaurant!

I have been frequenting Basmati restaurant for a few years now and only recently got around to trying their Desi Poutine!
Basmati is an Indian restaurant located at the intersection of Somerset and Bank st, near the Independent grocery store. Usually I get the Naan wrap sandwiches that have a vegetarian or chicken option and the pizza here is worth getting too-but that is another post.
The poutine here was good and quite different. The fries were quite crisp (and may have been frozen fries as they were quite crisp and uniform in size),the gravy was what made this dish very different. There were a lot of herbs and spices and the gravy was quite spicy with just enough heat.
The cheese was mozzarella and there was supposed to be some paneer as well,but seems like none was added to my dish. Not too sure why that would be, maybe they ran out?
The portion was not very big and would be good as a light snack or else with some samosas on the side.
I'll have to say the poutine was different from what the other restaurants serve in the area.
I would get this dish again,but I do not think it would be as good for a take out item.
There are also some interesting imported sodas available in glass bottles that come from India.
Thumbs Up was the one I tried and it is like Coca Cola but seemed a bit less sweet than what we get in North America. An orange flavored soda was also for sale,but I did not get a photo of that.
Desi Poutine is $5.50 and the soda was around $2.
The website for the restaurant with their menu is located at:

www.basmatiindiancuisine.com