Awesome Mini Kiwi from Lansdowne Farmer's Market!

These are not grapes- but mini kiwi from the Lansdowne farmer's market.
They were from one of the farmers that comes only on Sundays from quite far away!

My Pretty Pink Box September 2010 received! Test Tube New Beauty!

I received the September 2010 My Pretty Pink Box!
And am quite thrilled with the contents.
-except for one sample (Cosminology) the box is great and contains many brands I wanted to try.
There was that Mistura sample set!
A full listing of what was received will follow shortly.

Also the October Test Tube from New Beauty magazine is supposed to be arriving shortly.
It has the be brought back to my house in Canada and hopefully that package will arrive soon!

Abbey St. Clare- The Bleue Creme review!

I got this as one of the samples with my last Abbey St. Clare order a few weeks ago. Being quite busy I did not get around to trying this sample until today.
Now I kind of wish I had tried this creme sooner as it is great for normal or dry skin and even oilier skin I think.
My skin type is sensitive and sometimes oilier and sometimes normal-usually it is hard to find a face cream that does not bother my skin. Many items are either too light or too greassy feeling.
With this Bleue Creme I had absolutely no issues and there is not much scent to the product.
Many creams I find are too overly scented and bother me after a while or even when applying them.
With it being fall my skin did not feel parched using this product and the cream absorbed very well too!
This would be good for a year round face product too-it does not have any sunscreen though.
There were two other samples with my order and those were the Vitamin C Complex Serum and Coffee and Cloves shampoo. Those will be reviewed fairly soon.
To order or read more about The Bleue Creme go to: https://store.abbeystclare.com/skin-care/the-bleue-cream.html
The Bleue Creme comes in a 60ml jar and costs $34.00
-just wanted to add the creame is a light blue shade and not a very bright tint. I'd say it is almost as light as the label of the product.

Cosminology Beam Me Off! Acne Buster review of sample.

I just received a sample of this Cosminology Beam Me Off! Acne Buster and was exited to try a new blemish busting product.
My skin behaves most of the time,but it is always useful to have something handy just in case...
The sample I received was part of the September 2010 My Pretty Pink Box.
The sample was nicely packaged in a neat looking black zip top pouch. This is a single use sample and the label states this. Unfortunately I did not get to try to use this sample as the cotton pad inside was dried up.
(The cotton pad is around 2x2" in size and the black packaging in 2x 3.5" )
This is the second time I have gotten this sample...and the second time that the sample has been unuseable.
Now, I even remembered to snap a picture so you can see exactly what I am writing about.
Maybe this is a good product or maybe not-with a dried out sample it is really hard to tell.

Todric's Catering very tasty local food!

I had the chance to eat at Todrics this weekend!
This small local restaurant uses a lot of local ingredients in their dishes. The menu seems quite modern and traditional at the same time.
Everything I ate there was very fresh and reasonable priced for the style of cooking.
Presentation for every dish was very well done too and the nice dishes added more style to the food as well.
Here is what was eaten tonight:

Potato-crusted goat cheese and tapenade served with mesclun ($9).
This dish was more of a salad type item. The goat cheese was a very good and generous size and was sandwiched between two slices of grilled potato. Tapenade was also sandwiched in between the goat cheese.
The mesclun greens were very fresh and were dressed with what seemed like a balsamic dressing.
The only thing that would have made this dish a bit better would have been some bread to go with the cheese. There was a lot of cheese and it might have gone nicely with bread or some crisps.
Still, I would get this dish again!
*Half the goat cheese was eaten before taking this pic. There was a lot more on the plate...

Potato-crusted goat cheese and tapenade served with mesclun

My guest had the Autumn vegetable soup.
I tried a small spoonful of it and it was very tasty and nicely seasoned. There was also a spoonful of sour cream topping the soup. This was served with a toasted bun.

Autumn Vegetable Soup

Next I tried the Atlantic sea scallops, served on a carrot and late-harvest-vidal reduction, topped with curried parsnip and served with vegetable tempura.
The presentaton for this dish was very nice and the scallops were a nice size and very fresh. Tempura was made up of five pieces and was mushroom, carrot and zuchinni.
The carrot reduction was very tasty and the parsnip was also nicely seasoned. The tempura was nice and crisp and the pieces were a nice size.
This dish was very enjoyable!

Atlantic sea scallops, served on a carrot and late-harvest-vidal reduction, topped with curried parsnip and served with vegetable tempura.

 Guest had the: Vegetable hot pot with cheddar cheese triangle.
I thought this would be like the Asian hot pot where you dip your items in some broth,but this was based on the British hot pot which is more of a casserole and served in a baked dish.
This dish seemed very hearty and a good dish to have for the fall on a cold day! The vegetables were very fresh and the cheese triangles topped the hot pot and added a lot of extra taste.
Serving size for this dish was quite good and generous.
This was the only vegetarian option for the main courses at the moment.
*A part of the hot pot-it is much bigger than this picture.

Vegetable hot pot with cheddar cheese triangle

Overall my meal at Todrics was very enjoyable.
The decor was very nice and modern. Very clean restaurant too.
It was rather quiet as this is a holiday weekend.
I do plan on going back to try the lunch and weekend brunch options.
The restaurant also had some frozen dishes you can take home and some jams for sale.
There were also some cookies and biscotti for sale and the chocolate biscotti was quite good.
The website for Todrics can be found at: 
http://www.todrics.com/

Should You Sell Uncovered veggies at the grocery store? In Water?

I have passed by this grocery store in Ottawa many times and there is always these containers of cut up vegetables in water and there is no cover on the vegetable containers.
Would not be surprized if people put their hands in them!
There is a "sneeze guard" part but it is not enough when the products are displayed at such a low level.
Everything else that is sold in this case is in closed containers, wrapped up half melons,cut up pineapple.
What are your thought on this.