I've got t-shirts for every letter of the alphabet featuring beasts and the treats they love. If you know someone who's name starts with "N", this one will make the perfect gift.
CC
Thursday, November 30, 2023
My Cake Confession
I have a confession to make, I think my favourite cake is actually carrot cake. This isn't really as simple as it sounds, and it's something I've just realized, but I need to get it off of my chest. I made this discovery about myself while eating lunch at a Cheesecake Factory. We were on vacation and we had eaten several times at the Cheesecake Factory and each time I had tried out a new cheesecake. The thing is, I kept seeing that they offered other cakes as well, Including a carrot cake. I kept telling Allison that some time I should try one of their non-cheesecake choices, and she just became more and more impatient as each time we visited I would just get cheesecake. On our last day I told her that barring any amazing cheesecake choice, I was going to get the carrot cake.
There were no other cheesecakes that really appealed to me, and I wanted something a little lighter than a brick of cheesecake, so I finally decided to get it. I should explain why I chose the carrot cake over their chocolate cake or one of their other desserts. Carrot cake often comes with a cream cheese icing, I figured that a place that sold cheesecakes would probably have a killer cream cheese frosting. I was also fond of many carrot cakes at other restaurants we've gone to in the past. At one place it actually became my go to cake so much that I once requested one for my birthday. So it only made sense that for this non-cheesecake experiment I would go for the carrot cake.
As I was eating it, and enjoying it a lot, I made the realization that carrot cake might be my favourite cake. There are a few stipulations to this claim however. Most importantly, I'm not saying that the best cake I've ever eaten in my life was a carrot cake. While I can't really place the best cake I've ever eaten, I'm assuming it's likely a chocolate cake. I'm also not saying that I will from now on only order carrot cakes when available. Seeing as I review sweet things, you would imagine that variety when it comes to desserts is important to me, so I'm most likely to try something new. I'm also more likely to try something if the restaurant or bakery has a specialty.
What I'm saying is this, in my opinion the carrot cake is the safest cake to order at any restaurant or bakery. I've tasted carrot cakes that are cheap and I've tasted fancy and wonderful hand made carrot cakes, and they're always good. The cheap ones are different than the more expensive ones, but they're always good. So if I'm in a situation where the selection is really nothing that exciting, if I'm bored with what's on offer, or if the cakes are known to be rather low quality, I think carrot cake will be the cake I go for. It's consistently good all the time, maybe not the best, but never the worst. Every other kind of cake I've tried has fallen into the worst category at least once, but never carrot cake.
If you happen to not like carrot cake, I completely understand. The idea of a cake made of carrots is a little weird. Carrot cake often has dried fruit and even raisins which I understand many people don't like. I even understand that some people don't like the kinds of spices found in a carrot cake. I actually like all of the above, and I really love a good cream cheese icing. Carrot cake is just the taste and texture combination that works perfectly with my palette.
Wednesday, November 29, 2023
Make Christmas Awesome This Year For Someone
I've got t-shirts for every letter of the alphabet featuring beasts and the treats they love. If you know someone who's name starts with "M", this one will make the perfect gift.
CC
New Junk Fud on the Road From UAE!
In this episode of Junk Fud on the Road, Allison and Chris return to the UAE after a long time. They talk about the proliferation of western restaurants, Warner Brothers World and modern rules for Ramadan.
CC
Tuesday, November 28, 2023
Love The People In Your Life With This Awesome T-shirt
I've got t-shirts for every letter of the alphabet featuring beasts and the treats they love. If you know someone who's name starts with "L", this one will make the perfect gift.
CC
Pick Up A Fun Book For The Holidays!
CC
Monday, November 27, 2023
Kick Off The Holidays With This Awesome Gift
I've got t-shirts for every letter of the alphabet featuring beasts and the treats they love. If you know someone who's name starts with "K", this one will make the perfect gift.
CC
Just Great Chocolate
Check out this very tasty, and fruity chocolate treat.
CC
Sunday, November 26, 2023
Jump On Your Chance To Get This For Someone You Love
I've got t-shirts for every letter of the alphabet featuring beasts and the treats they love. If you know someone who's name starts with "J", this one will make the perfect gift.
CC
Saturday, November 25, 2023
I'd Really Like This Shirt For Christmas
I've got t-shirts for every letter of the alphabet featuring beasts and the treats they love. If you know someone who's name starts with "I", this one will make the perfect gift.
CC
Friday, November 24, 2023
Hey, It's A Pretty Cool T-shirt!
I've got t-shirts for every letter of the alphabet featuring beasts and the treats they love. If you know someone who's name starts with "H", this one will make the perfect gift.
CC
Thursday, November 23, 2023
Get a T-Shirt for Someone You Love
I've got #tshirts for every letter of the #alphabet featuring beasts and the treats they love. If you know someone who's name starts with "G", this one will make the perfect #gift.
CC
Wednesday, November 22, 2023
Finish all your Christmas Shopping!
I've got #tshirts for every letter of the #alphabet featuring beasts and the treats they love. If you know someone who's name starts with "F", this one will make the perfect #gift.
CC
Tuesday, November 21, 2023
Everybody on Your Christmas List Should Get a T-shirt!
I've got #tshirts for every letter of the #alphabet featuring beasts and the treats they love. If you know someone who's name starts with "E", this one will make the perfect #gift.
CC
Treats and Beasts For The One You Love
For kids or kids at heart, pick up Treats and Beasts, the alphabet book featuring Beasts and the Treats they love. The perfect gift for anyone this holiday season.
Order Your Own Copy Of Treats and Beasts From Amazon
CC
Monday, November 20, 2023
Don't Forget to Pick Up Some Fun Gifts!
I've got #tshirts for every letter of the #alphabet featuring beasts and the treats they love. If you know someone who's name starts with "D", this one will make the perfect #gift.
CC
100 Grand Is Not Common
Check out my latest 100 Grand review, and try and find one right now.
CC
Sunday, November 19, 2023
Can you get This T-Shirt for Someone You Love?
I've got #tshirts for every letter of the #alphabet featuring beasts and the treats they love. If you know someone who's name starts with "C", this one will make the perfect #gift.
CC
Saturday, November 18, 2023
Bee Sure to pick up this Gift
I've got #tshirts for every letter of the #alphabet featuring beasts and the treats they love. If you know someone who's name starts with "B", this one will make the perfect #gift.
CC
Friday, November 17, 2023
A Perfect Gift for the Holidays
I've got #tshirts for every letter of the #alphabet featuring beasts and the treats they love. If you know someone who's name starts with "A", this one will make the perfect #gift.
CC
Thursday, November 16, 2023
My First Experience With A Black Tap Milkshake
I should start this off by saying that I'm not a big fan of extreme milk shakes, or at least that was my opinion of extreme milk shakes when I walked into a Black Tap Craft Burgers in Dubai. We were visiting Dubai with some friends and we decided we wanted to explore some of the chain restaurants we'd never tried before at home. None of us had been to a Black Tap before (keep in mind that two of us are Canadian and all of us have been living overseas for most of the last 10 or so years), but I had heard of it. As far as I knew, and as I explained to my friends, Black Tap is known for their burgers and crazy milkshakes.
As I mentioned before, I'm not a big fan of extreme milkshakes. I've had one or two of them in the past, and it was never too impressive. I've also seen pictures of them on the internet, and I often see the extra stuff as making it harder to drink the milkshake, rather than being a bonus. I also question the quality of a milkshake that has to decorate itself up so much. Basically, my few experiences with this where not great, and nothing online made me think it would get better. The reason I wanted to try this is because from what I understood, Black Tap was the place that made its name with these milkshakes. I figured that I'd give it a try and if they couldn't pull it off I would never bother again.
Let me start by saying, outside of the milkshake, my experience at this particular Black Tap was amazing. The burgers are actually very good at Black Tap, better than I thought they would be. I'll admit that the price was pretty high, but honestly none of us felt ripped off at all. The food was also matched by the service. Our waiter and the entire staff were amazing. They were there when we needed them, but let us have a good meal amongst our friends as well. I rarely find this perfect a balance when eating out with friends. The best part is that all of the staff seemed genuinely happy that we wanted to watch them make our milkshake.
We decided to order our crazy milkshake as a dessert, because we're getting on in the years, we understand the importance of hydrating and we understand that a milkshake does not provide any kind of real hydration. For those unfamiliar with Black Tap, often (I assume often because I have not been to every Black Tap) at the front of the restaurant they have a bar like area where they make the crazy milkshakes. It looks like a cross between a dive bar and a candy store. From what I understand they have a milkshake specialist on staff that makes the milkshakes there in front of people. I feel like it's used more for attracting people to the restaurant than as a place for people to gawk at the person making their food. Fortunately, as I said before, the staff at this Black Tap in Dubai was more than happy to let us walk up to the milkshake bar and watch the milkshake specialist make our dessert/drink.
The process of making the milkshake was mostly good, in particular our milkshake expert seemed to really know what she was doing. There were a few parts of the process however that disappointed me a little. First of all, there's an implication that the milkshake is entirely made fresh for you, I feel like this is only partially true. Sure I don't expect them to bake cookies or cakes in front of me, but there were certain parts of the process done in advance that I feel would have made the treat better if done live, as well as would have made the show a little more entertaining.
Most notably is the fact that the ice cream sandwiches and the mug decorations were all pre-done. She basically just pulled them out of the fridge/freezer. The ice cream sandwiches even came out of packages, which tells me they're probably not even made in store. Both the menu, and a lot of the advertising implies that these two features might be made live in store, but alas they were not. The only other part that disappointed a little was the fact that at this restaurant, the milkshake makers were at the back of this bar. I mean, the main part of this dessert/drink is the milkshake, and for the most part that process remained hidden from view.
While I feel like these improvements could have made my milkshake better, I was not disappointed at all. Every other element of our Snickers themed milkshake was pretty darn good. It looked great, and was actually a little less messy than I expected. At least messy for us, the table was a disaster, but the staff was totally fine with that. They also provided the right tools to deal with this milkshake, including plates and spoons. The surprising part that I enjoyed was the stuff on the rim of the glass. I used to assume that they used chocolate to rim the glass and adhere the various treats to the rim, but it's not. Or if it is, it's tempered in a way that makes it very easy to get it off. I thought scraping this off of a glass would have been annoying, and that I would have just not bothered and left it on the glass, but instead it was actually kind of satisfying and we cleaned off our glass fairly well.
The milkshake was also pretty good, and was surprisingly not too rich. I feel like they might go a little lighter on the milkshake to balance out the crazy ingredients, and that's a really great way to do it. In the past when I've had crazy milkshakes, they tend to go heavy on the milkshake and I'm pretty sick halfway through. Instead the milkshake provided a nice refreshing break from the cookies and treats. I'm not sure that I'm completely turned around on this whole crazy milkshake trend, but I feel like this Black Tap milkshake won't be my last. I believe there is hope for this trend, but it takes a lot of thought and a lot of work on the people making it.
CC
Wednesday, November 15, 2023
Soft and Squishy
I would argue that the marshmallow is a very important #holiday treat, after all, hot cocoa just wouldn't be the same without them.
CC
Tuesday, November 14, 2023
Monday, November 13, 2023
Jolly Gummy Bear
Now that's one happy gummy bear, and you could make some candy fan happy if you buy them this shirt.
CC
Sunday, November 12, 2023
Saturday, November 11, 2023
Santa Might Gum Drop This To You
For the love of gum drops, someone must want this t-shirt for Christmas!
CC
Friday, November 10, 2023
Bars-o-Chocolate
Some of us love chocolate bars, and we'd love to get this fun t-shirt for Christmas.
CC
All You Need To Know About Red Velvet Cake
All I know about this cake is that I don't really get it and I can't say I've ever tried one that I love.
CC
Thursday, November 09, 2023
Wednesday, November 08, 2023
Tuesday, November 07, 2023
Monday, November 06, 2023
Cups Of Chocolate
CC
Sunday, November 05, 2023
Saturday, November 04, 2023
Friday, November 03, 2023
A Churro Well Worth Trying
I feel like this simple churro shop might understand churros better than anyone else.
CC
Thursday, November 02, 2023
A Look at The Junk Food and Snacks at Warner Brother's World in Abu Dhabi
On a recent trip to UAE, Allison and I decided to take a little road trip to Abu Dhabi. We had several reasons to make the trip, one of them being to visit the world's largest indoor amusement park, Warner Brothers World. In the UAE they're really known for two things, the dessert, and making things bigger than anyone else. They also have a lot of money to spend, and are willing to make things to the extreme. That's probably the best way to describe this massive indoor theme park. The park is split up into different themed lands, with a general city square in the middle. There's Metropolis, Gotham, Cartoon Junction, Dynamite Gulch, and Bedrock.
This is not just a mall dressed up with a few themed elements, this is a full on indoor theme park. While there are many attractions that are crunched into small spaces, there are also full sized attractions in huge rooms. I was pretty impressed at how immersive every single land was. Just walking around and taking in the atmosphere was really great. That's not to discredit the rides as many were state of the art and very entertaining. As far as if you should visit, my answer is this, if it sounds like something you'd want to check out, and you're in the area, it's well worth it.
There was however one part that really didn't live up to the hype, and that's the food. There were a few highlights, but for the most part I was kind of disappointed. The quality was all okay, and everything we ate satisfied our hunger, but I feel like there was something missing, and that's theming. Considering you have the entire Warner Brothers, Hanna Barbera and DC comics library to choose from, I was really surprised at how little themed food was available.
There were a few nods to famous foods in the theming of parks, but when it came down to actual themed foods, there was very little. Most of the food was just basic theme park treats, with a few restaurants scattered around. Most of the stores, even the ones that looked like they might have fun themed treats, where just fronts for general merchandise (t-shirts, mugs and that sort of thing). The restaurants had some nice looking and tasting food, but nothing to theme the food except a few logos thrown on.
There was one store that was a little better, and it actually had more than just a façade of a candy store. In the Gotham section there's a candy store based on Harley Quinn. Visually it was beautiful, well designed and fit the theme of the land perfectly. Having not read too many Harley Quinn comics lately, I'm not sure if she actually has a sweet tooth, but her esthetic does work well for a candy store. The candy inside was nothing amazing, but at least it looked cool.
For all my complaining about the food, there was one exception, and it was the one place that was a must visit for lunch. When we planned this trip, I noticed on the map that the Bedrock section of the park had a restaurant, and the first thing I did was check for Bronto Burgers. Fortunately they totally had them, they also offered ribs and other barbeque, which is perfect when it comes to theming a restaurant for a Flintstones themed land.
I can't say it was the best burger, or barbeque, but it was really fun to eat a Bronto Burger and barbeque in this well decorated restaurant, surrounded by Flintstones stuff.
The food at Warner Brothers World is fine, it's just not that creative, with one exception. As a writer, artist and food lover, I feel like there's so much more they could have done, particularly on the snacks and candy front. As it stands, the most common themed treats are just chocolate bars and lollipops with images of various characters. Don't let this harsh criticism change your mind about visiting this huge indoor theme park. The food is fine, and just be sure to have lunch in Bedrock.
CC
Wednesday, November 01, 2023
Ice Scream For a T-shirt For Christmas
Pick up this fun ice cream shirt for yourself, or anyone on your holiday list.
CC
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