The red snack box

I just recieved this box of snacks today from a PR company today on behalf of CAMA to advocate their move towards healthy snacking.  In other words, they’re announcing that they’re offering healthy snack products in vending machines across Canada (as opposed to all the chips and chocolate bar ones).

I know this is just a way to get some cheap advertising (which I believe I just gave them) into a decent initiative, but I try not to snack too much myself.  That said, I’m going to throw out some of the fluff in this box, buy a few more non-perishables to fill it, and drop this box off downstairs where they are preparing a huge crate of donations which is getting shipped to Haiti tonight.  They need this much more than I do.

I know donating food isn’t as great as donating cash, which I’ve already done, but with a huge shipment heading out tonight, I thought it’d be a good idea just to fill this box up and drop it in there.

It’s apparently been noted that I’m a bit mum when it comes to Winterlicious and Summerlicious.  Well, the fact is I’m actually a fan of both.  I was in China during Summerlicious last year but this year I did in fact participate in Winterlicious at a wonderful restaurant.

I think it’s a great idea that people who can’t afford to pay $150+ a head for a meal in a 4 star restaurant can get a similar experience for a fraction of the price.  The problem is, the day the Winterlicious reservations are made available for booking, all the big named restaurants are full within 1 hour of opening their phone line.  Consider yourself lucky if you got through and weren’t hit with the busy signal.  Oh and this is on top of having to be an American Express card holder to qualify for the early reservation option.

When I ask people about their thoughts around Winterlicious, they usually sigh and say “small portions… smaller than what you would usually get at the same restaurant”, though in my experience portions are smaller at gourmet restaurants, but they’re usually not any smaller if you’re ordering off of the Winterlicious menu.  Actually, my party was stuffed after our Winterlicious experience, but stay tuned for that which I should have out in a day or two.

So my take is it’s a great idea, but the execution could use some work.

It's actually a lot smaller than it looks

It looks like it comes from Japan, but according to the bottom of the packaging, it comes locally from Toronto.  Helen got this for me as a Christmas present which I ponder whether it’s a reference to her frustration with me accidentally referring to her cupcakes as muffins during one of our baking adventures.  Still, it’s small, awesome, and I love the look of it.

You may be slightly confused by the title, but these sets of muffin kits are called “Baking Paradise” and are available at the Blue Banana Market in Kensington Market.  They come in small, medium, and large sizes which also pan out into baby muffins, boy muffins, friends muffins, girl muffins, and unisex muffins.  Honestly, I have no idea what the distinction is between the sizes and the gender/age/social group separation as I haven’t seen the display in person and actually acquired this information from the manufacturers website.  The one here is the small baby muffin, the tiniest of the bunch.

The contents of the box

When I first cracked open the box, I saw a small bag of white powder crunched into a mini terra cotta pot.  On the box it says to follow the instructions but I actually couldn’t find them til I tore the box apart – they were written on the inside of the bottom flap.  Also, if you’ve got poor eyesight, then I hope you’ve got a magnifying glass.

Step 2. Stir in a tbsp of water -- Step3. Pour it into the pot

First you gotta wash then grease the terra cotta pot, then  you have to mix the powder with a tablespoon of water.  Afterwards, you shove it in the oven at 375 degrees.  Pretty simple and easy though I recommend not mixing the mix in the terra cotta pot as it tends to go everywhere.

The finished product inbetween a quarter and a *real muffin

After 10 minutes in the oven, you’ve got a mini baby muffin.  I had to shove it back in the oven for a few more minutes though because it was incredibly gooey in the middle.  Now, I didn’t expect it to taste like it came from Dufflet, but it was as tasty as something coming out of an EasyBake Oven.  Oh wait, things coming out of an EasyBake Oven aren’t supposed to be tasty, are they?

*This larger muffin may or may not be real.. Honestly!  I’m really not sure since it was from a random grocery trip from Chinatown and tastes like sponge but it is the size of a regular muffin so it works for size comparison.

Cirque du Soleil Mug.. completely unrelated to this post but still nice

Apparently, I stand corrected on referring to afternoon tea as high tea, but you may have noticed my hesitation in using either throughout the article.  Antony, who is of both British and Hong Kong descent, claimed both were interchangeable.  Once again, the internet has proven me (and Antony) wrong but I’m okay with that.

Though that’s not why I’m making this post.  I actually started this one because I wanted to share a post that Jenn left in the comments below the original post, pointing out that the scandal of the experience wasn’t just our misuse of high tea.  I felt if I didn’t post this on the front page that it would just sink down into the dark abyss that is the comment section of T.O.bites.

Afternoon tea, we stand corrected.
Eddie’s fine review failed to mention the backdrop of “amateur modelling limbo,” as if we were caught in the background of an absurd newbie food-porn shoot, during the first third of our time at the King Eddie. A very young, spindly asian model, and her equally fresh-faced photography fan-club counterparts not-so-discreetly spent their time moving from table to table; she, legs visible in hot-pink Deisel dress, posing in front of carefully arranged tea service, awkwardly beside the chef in full regalia, and finally, folding the brand-new dress and reorganizing her “normal” wardrobe into plastic bags plain site of our table.

And after our tea-party had ended, there was the 25 minute wait to get our bills after having requested the total split amongst guests sans birthday boy. And onto Eddie’s last point; I usually enjoy visits to the pristine chambers that are hotel bathrooms. The surprise of cloth or monogrammed heavy napkin, the scent of the air freshener…the unexpected gift of fancy lotions and toiletries, gratis…all are part of the 5 star bathroom experience. But sometimes, some people just enjoy themselves in the women’s room a bit too much….

Jenn H

Thanks Jenn!