Vancouver food crawl... dougieDOG's, WINGS and La Belle Patate Poutine!

As we hadn't quite had enough junk food from Vegas, we thought hey why not have another afternoon of beer and good Canadian fast food?!

Starting off our mini crawl was dougieDOGs. We'd seen this guy on the Canadian version of Dragons Den. He didn't get the money, but his dogs looked and sounded amazing! Dougie had re-invented the hotdog and introduced all-natural dogs, free of hormones, preservatives and chemical additives.

Styled on the European hotdog recipes using only meat and seasoning and married these beautiful wieners with weird and wonderful toppings, like their signature DougieDOG with Italian Pastrami, grey poupon, mustard, horseradish and cheddar cheese – you can check out all their weird and wonderful concoctions here on the menu.

The Coney Island dog was the dog of choice. All natural hotdog slathered in homemade beef chili, chopped onions and mustard.

The first thing you notice when you bite, is the "pop". mmmm just tasted so good, and I didn't have to worry about biting on a piece of something I wasn't sure of - which is generally what puts me off eating that type of meat. The chili in a Coney Dog should be bean-less - just meat and spice, which it was here. Even though I do prefer beans, I was happy Dougie is keeping it real!

Next was WINGS. Yes the actual place is called WINGS, so I'm sure you can guess what their specialty is...

We also hit the jackpot when we arrived as between 3-5 is happy hour for wings, only 35 cents a wing - woohoo!! Not only are they award winning wings, but they also offer 21 flavours ranging from mild to the Bobby Wing where you have to sign a release form to eat them.

OK, so we weren't that brave, but opted for the original Buffalo wings ( I just can't get enough of that flavour) and some Texas Dry Rub. All washed down with a pitcher of Sleeman Honey Brown lager.

I'm sorry this picture doesn't quite do the wings justice, but to be honest the wings were so damn good that I couldn't wait another minute before I shoved them in my mouth. You could tell these wings were not cooked in the fryer as the meat just fell off the bones, and as good as the dry rub was, the Buffalo style sauce is still my favourite.

We had a bit of a break after to watch the Canucks (Vancouver's nhl team) vs the Predators, which they won. I'm starting to really like watching the hockey...

After the game victory and another pitcher of beer, we needed another food high and what better that Canada's own Poutine? We had walked past La Belle Patate a few times who boasted 24 different types of poutine, so we just had to make a stop there. You can get anything from smoked meat poutine to breakfast poutine.

Lots of places have game day deals, where of the Canucks are playing they have awesome deals on food and drink and La Belle Patate was no exception. Two poutines for $8, we slightly considered the "all you can eat for $19.95" but decided you would need to be able to eat a lot of poutine to make that worth while!!

We sat and waited and after about 5 minutes a very red eyed guy came over and said he had forgotten about the fries and burnt them. Hmmm, I think this sort of thing must happen quite often in Vancouver judging by the general green aroma. But we didn't mind at all and he even offered us two larger sized portions to say sorry for the wait.

Now the picture below may or may not tickle your taste buds, but until you have tried poutine... you just don't know what you're missing. I'm totally hooked.

Snowshoeing at Mount Seymour

We had wanted to try out snowshoeing since we got to Canada. We hoped we would get a chance at Christmas but there just wasn’t enough snow. There was an offer on Groupon for 60% off Full-Day Snowshoe Rental and Snowshoe Trail Pass at Mount Seymour and as that mountain, well like a lot of the mountains in Vancouver, was accessible by public transport – we jumped at the chance.

Sunday was the day. 

The shuttle bus up the mountain runs from Parkgate Community Centre but it’s not really regular so we headed off early.  As we boarded the bus, we both commented that there probably wasn’t too much snow as we were already quite high and there was no snow around. Wrong! As the bus climbed the mountain road the amount of snow by the side grew and grew. I had never been anywhere before with so much snow.

When we arrived, it was all pretty easy and we exchanged our Groupon vouchers for our snowshoes with ease.  We were handed a map of the trails, attached our trail passes and headed off.



The atmosphere was great even with a DJ spinning 80’s tunes! There are several different trials to choose from.

When you reach the trail you instantly hit quite a steep hill, which at first is pretty daunting. But you just have to trust the shoes and go with it. When you do it’s pretty awesome. It’s also actually easier to run downhill that it is to walk – or slide.

The weather was pretty cloudy and as we were in the clouds the visibility wasn’t great, but the trials are in the trees so we didn’t miss much scenery. It was just great to see so much snow.

I even built a snow man!

The Discovery Trails we walked are maintained really well - there are even bridges constructed out of snow.



It started snowing quite heavily also which was pretty ace. All in all we walked about 5k, which doesn’t sound that far, but hills in snowshoes take their toll on your calves… great work out for your butt. We were pretty shattered by the time we finished and with my waterproof walking shoes turning out to be not so waterproof I was also pretty cold.




But who cares, it was so much fun, I had a constant smile on my face, even if I did look like Gene Simmons by the end of it with my mascara all down my face, I loved it and so did Dave.

Next stop, ski slopes.

You can see the full set of images on Flickr.


Created with flickr slideshow.

My first Canadian Beaver Tail

So I've eaten Poutine, drank Tim Hortons but I was still yet to try a beaver tail. Don't worry it's not actual beaver tail, they're a type of fried dough in the shape of... a beaver's tail!



You can choose from an array of flavours from maple butter, skor bar, Oreo cookie, rieces pieces, chocolate and banana. We went for a hazlenut chocolate spread.



It was so delicious, I thought it might be too greasy being fried but it was just really crispy and quite light - well the dough not the Nutella!!



I also ended up looking just like this little girl... Mmm beaver tails rock!

First days in Vancouver – Stanley Park

Arrived in Vancouver after a heavy week of goodbyes in TO, Chicago and Vegas, we were greeted by Vancouver with glorious sunshine. As soon as you step outside you notice how fresh the air is and then you see the mountains. Bam. What a sight and all around you.

We took a walk around Stanley Park an evergreen oasis of 400 hectares (1,000 acres) close to downtown Vancouver with a 9km seawall walk which starts by the harbour.

With great views of the city skyline.

The view is just amazing and the clouds form in great shapes even under the bridge.

For the second half of the walk was the most stunning sunset. I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves…

 

Hello Vancouver! 

Doing Chicago "Doggy Style" at The Wieners Circle and The Dog Joint in Lincoln Park

Before we arrived in Chicago, I carried out a little research into what a real Chicago dog is all about. I wanted to ensure we were up to speed on what we should expect.

From several sources, I discovered that a real Chicago hot dog consists of:

A poppy seed bun

All beef steamed or simmered hot dog

Sweet relish (the green kind)

Mustard

Chopped onions

Pickle spear

Small pickled chillies

Dusted in celery salt

Some have cucumber and some include fresh mint.

But under NO circumstances is there to e ketchup... Oh no no, ketchup is a sin for the dogs of Chicago. (although all the vendors seem to offer it, so I'm sure they don't mind that much).

First place we hit up was the Wieners Circle by Lincoln Park.

The Wieners Circle Chicago

It was a bit like a trailer inside a building and they offered both redhots and char dogs. But the red hots it what we were after, with all the toppings - mustard, relish, onions, pickles, tomato, celery salt, sport peppers.

The Wieners Circle Menu

And this is what we got.

 

Wieners Circle Chicago Hot Dog

Oh momma! It was Gooood with a capital G! So fresh, with all the toppings. I thought I might miss the ketchup, being an avid lover of the red stuff, but I didn't even notice it's absence. I think the secret ingredient is definitely the celery salt.

Delicious Chicago Redhot hot dog

Later on in the day, hunger struck and I still had the faint taste of the celery salt lingring on my tongue, reminding me of how delicious the dog was. So, we had another.

This time, we went to The Dog Joint, not far from the Wieners Circle.

The Dog Joint Chicago

The dog was slightly cheaper than the Wieners Circle, and the main difference was the addition of cucumber. I must say it was a very much welcomed addition and we both preferred this dog, although they were both pretty special. Let's here for the Chicago Redhots!!

The Dog Joint Chicago Hot Dog

Travel from Toronto to Chicago via Buffalo

After six months in Toronto, we decided after much deliberation that we would live out the rest of our visa on the west coast in Vancouver. We’re sorry to say bye, bye to TO but we’ve got to see a lot of Ontario and the city while we’re here so we think we did it justice. 

The one place however, that we didn’t get to see was Chicago. After looking at prices of air fare we thought we would look at options to include Chicago in our journey. The Amtrak was a really good option to Chicago, but it seemed impossible to buy a through ticket from Toronto through as they are two different companies. So we booked the Megabus from TO to Buffalo Airport. It’s only about $17 each one way. Our train left at five to midnight but as you can get caught up in customs we allowed ourselves (probably too much time) at Buffalo. 

If anyone thinks they might hang out at Buffalo Airport to wait, maybe have some food while you wait? Well don’t there’s literally nothing there! Luckily there was a sports bar where we managed to get a microwaved sandwich (bleugh) and sat and watched UFC on a big screen. I’m not sure if any of you have seen UFC, but it’s a lot of oiled up muscly men wrestling with each other. Not really my idea of a Saturday night – ha!

Finally, headed over to the Amtrak train station. There was a massive group of people waiting in the station also. I thought that there must be another train or something as we were so early. The big group were hanging out eating pizza and looked like a mix of ZZ Top and truckers. After a train went flying by and they all got out their pads – I realised... they’re not waiting for a train they’re train spotters!! A very distant cry to those dweebs at the end of the platform at London Bridge recording all the commuter trains. I was glad they were there however, as there was also this guy who was sat near to us swearing to himself every other second who was just off his head. Oh how bus stations are just a magnet for alcoholic weirdos, no matter where you go in the world. 

One great thing with Amtrak is that you can check your luggage so you don’t have to worry about it if you fall asleep or go to the buffet cart.

The train arrived and we were escorted down a snowy platform along the side of this huge train in the dark. It was a little bit like something out of a Harry Potter film.  After the others had disembarked we were guided onto the relevant carriage to match our “boarding pass”, which was basically our end destination scribbled on a piece of card to stick on top of your seat so they can wake you if you fall asleep. 

All I could think when I got on the train was wow! After traveling Asia and also living in England your expectations of trains isn’t generally very high. Especially when you have paid for the lowest price ticket (in this case $70). We settled down in our massive seats and the next thing I knew I woke up 10 hours later and we were in Chicago! Best night transport ever.

Toronto Distillery District – Free Mill Street Brewery Tour

We’d been in TO for nearly six months but we hadn’t both made it to the Distillery District yet.

As on their website “you must experience it for yourself. The Distillery District is an internationally acclaimed village of brick-lined streets and dozens of vibrantly restored Victorian Industrial buildings.”

55 Mill Street is claimed to be one of Ontario’s hottest tourist attractions - home to live theatres, galleries, fashion, design and jewelry boutiques, unique cafes and award-winning restaurants and of course the Mill Street Brewery! The area has a real historic vibe to it, which you don’t really tend to find in many places in TO.

There was even an English bakery which sold proper meat pies, we tried to get a cup of hot chocolate from the chocolate shop, but the queue was ridiculous and filled with staff who acted as if there were only two people in line.

There are also great art instillations around the area which contrast with the old bricks and cobbles.

We made our way over the Mill Street Brew Pub.

We had thought about going to the Steam Whistle brewery tour, but neither of us like Steam Whistle that much (although I was slightly tempted by the ride on the train!) but $25 vs free, we went with free!

The tours are available on weekends at 3pm and 5pm. We congregated in the retail store to the side of the bar at 4.45 and waited for our “tour”. At 5pm we were all walked through the busy bar and restaurant into a tiny microbrewery at the back of the bar. As we all shuffled into the small area we all listened in to a great talk on the history of beer.

How it’s made. The different stages it goes through to create the different types. It was really interesting. I never knew the reason why the Irish drank stout was because dark beer never used to be taxed.

We also found out the Mill Street bar was actually built for a set for the film Chicago! So all in all, it wasn’t really a tour, but more of a talk, but a really great one at that. We then washed our new found insight down with a nice pint of Mill Street Organic. Ahh.