Spicy Chicken McNuggets and Trying Li'l Donuts from McDonald's

Happy Saturday! I have wanted to try the Spicy Chicken McNuggets ever since it was released, but we only eat out once a week, and we usually have plans during the weekends, so for the first time in a while, we have a weekend with zero plans.

The only plan for this weekend is to be cozy at home (since it's raining outside) and order in.

Delivery from McDonald's

Is the Spicy Chicken McNuggets spicy?

A year ago, hubby and I ordered a lot (is way too much possible?) from McDonald's. We tried all three Spicy McChicken®, and only the Ghost Pepper had substantial heat to be a little painful.

The Spicy Chicken McNuggets have the same flavour as the non-spicy version, but when it reaches your throat, that's when you feel some heat. It's not painful spicy by any means, but definitely delicious.

What's up with the Li'l Donuts?

McDonald's Canada introduced the Li'l Donuts a couple months back. My brother said he liked it better than Tim Horton's donuts, so I am keen to try it. According to the website, there are six different Li'l Donuts flavours, but there were only three available when we placed the order in DoorDash.

McDonald's Li'l Donuts: Sprinkle Donuts, Crème Brûlée, and Boston Cream

The dough is a bit better than Tim Horton's donuts, for sure, but nothing will beat the freshly made donuts from your favourite neighbourhood shop.

BLT with Grilled Chicken Meal

As if the 10 pieces nuggets are not enough, I ordered a burger for hubby and me.

BLT with Grilled Chicken and Large French Fries

BLT with Grilled Chicken

Quarter Pounder BLT

This is hubby's order.

Quarter Pounder BLT

Quarter Pounder BLT

Aside from lunch/dinner (I ordered too much for two people), I also got 14 Monopoly stickers. In addition, I won a Li'l Donut and a cheeseburger.

October 21, 2021 Update

I think I "peaked" as an Instagram foodie. 🤣 McDonald's Canada's account sent me a direct message asking if they could use my picture. I don't mind, of course. I showed the screenshot of their message to our only brother who created the Instagram account for Smooch Food and he said you could ask for food next time. LOL My younger sister said I should have asked for free coffee for our dad who enjoys McD's coffee.

McDonald's Canada sharing my picture in their Instagram story.

Happy Thursday!

Lunch from Kulinarya Filipino Eatery

Today is my third time ordering from Kulinarya Filipino Eatery, and we have enjoyed all their dishes so far. Today we ordered three dishes and two desserts.

Lunch delivery from Kulinarya Filipino Eatery

For lunch, we enjoyed the fried Daing na Bangus and Kaldereta. Then, we'll have the Batil Patong in the next couple of days. For desserts, we ordered Ube (purple yam) Brownie and Cassava Cake.

Batil Patong
Menu Description: From Roy's hometown, Tuguegarao. Stir fry egg noodles, pork belly, egg, cabbage, carrot, bean sprouts, and ground beef

It is the reason I love trying new dishes. Batil Patong is so delicious, and I hadn't heard of it before hubby pointed it out in the Kulinarya Filipino Eatery menu. It's saucy, and as you can see from the picture, the serving is tremendous - definitely good for sharing.

Daing na Bangus
Boneless milkfish with tomato and onion Ensalada

The Ensalada is so delicious, and of course, boneless milkfish is my favourite fish from the Philippines.

Beef Kaldereta
Hearty beef stew in a tomato-based sauce with potatoes and vegetables

The Beef Kaldereta is spicy and delicious, but the serving size is the smallest among all the things we have ordered from Kulinarya Filipino Eatery. But what it lacks in serving size, it makes up in flavour.

Ube Brownie
Purple yam brownie

Hubby and I can't decide if we liked it or not. It does have a nice ube flavour, and it's not overly sweet, but it feels more like a pudding than a brownie, and I think they should serve it with ube ice cream.

Cassava Cake
Pudding made of freshly grated cassava, egg, coco milk, and sugar

I enjoyed the cassava cake. The top has the texture of egg pie, while the cake itself is moist. The inside is filled with cassava. It's delicious. At this point, we have tried four out of the five desserts that Kulinarya has to offer. I'll wait for Leche Flan to be at DoorDash, and we'll order that next.

I also can't wait to visit them in person.

Lunch from Kulinarya Filipino Eatery

Happy Thursday! I ordered from Kulinarya Filipino Eatery nine days ago, and I love their food so much I ordered again today. However, since it's already Thursday, I only ordered three items to enjoy hopefully until early next week, and I'm most likely order from them (or another Filipino restaurant in DoorDash) by Monday or Tuesday.

As mentioned in my previous Kulinarya post, there are no nearby (within 1-2 km radius) Filipino restaurants to our current place. As such, I need to use DoorDash or other delivery apps to enjoy Filipino favourite dishes.

Backstory: I live in a 2-person household - it's just hubby and me. I used to (still sometimes do) cook one Filipino dish (ulam) a week to reheat and eat with rice for the whole week for breakfast and lunch. For dinner, we usually eat pasta, bread (sandwich), or toasted bagel. I always thought that going to the groceries, lovingly preparing a meal is saving us money. And I think that's still true. But since I'm not feeding more people, I am trying to balance cooking (when I feel like it) and ordering family-style dishes that we can enjoy for a few days and have more variety. 

I am testing it for a few weeks, then see if I'll go over budget with the ordering in strategy or if it would be the same. 

For context, I grew up in a household of six people where weekly trips to the grocery and cooking a family-style meal almost daily are the practice growing up. It makes sense because we're a big household. But, the same strategy won't work for a household with just two people. I tried it, and eating the same dish for more than four days, even with variety (changing side dishes), is not fun. I could try changing the recipe for two people, but that means cooking more frequently, and I don't wanna do that.

Kulinarya Filipino Eatery

Hence, we're here. I ordered two dishes for today: Pork Sinigang (pork tamarind soup) and Filipino-style pork BBQ in skewers. I already cooked brown rice this morning, so we have the perfect partner for the delivered deliciousness.

Pork Sinigang
Pork with vegetables in tamarind soup

The serving of Pork Sinigang is big! I can't believe it. They didn't skimp on the pork and vegetables. I am so happy. I reckon we'll have it for three days (including today). 

Hubby loves Sinigang (I don't), and I attempted to cook it just once because I want him to have it. But finding ingredients is a challenge, and it takes a lot of effort (to me at least) to make it right. So now, I have a source of sinigang for future winter days.

Pork BBQ (4 Skewers)
Grilled pork skewers

The pork BBQ is delicious as well. One order comes with four skewers, so we had one stick each for lunch today, and the other two will be breakfast tomorrow.

Thank God the Dashers delivering our food is handled things with care and all dishes so far arrived in one piece.

Halo-Halo

On top of the two dishes, I also ordered Halo-Halo. It's so delicious, I wanted to cry. I am so happy. I can't believe I haven't had halo-halo for who knows how long and didn't realize how much I missed it.

Halo-Halo
Shaved Ice Dessert

For those who don't know, halo-halo is essentially a Filipino version of shaved ice dessert, but instead of just one type of fruit (like you'll see in Korean and Japanese shaved ice desserts), our version is a mix of different ingredients. Thus, the literal English translation of halo-halo is mix-mix.

I guess you should expect another Kulinarya post by next week. 😋

Dinner from KFC

Happy Sunday! We're watching the Gold Cup games today, and I am seriously craving fried chicken. We ordered KFC using the DoorDash app. I love the Popcorn Chicken Poutine and will order it again.

Boneless Box for hubby

Popcorn Chicken Poutine

Zinger Sandwich

Zinger Sandwich Box

It's the perfect meal to end the weekend.

Lunch from Kulinarya Filipino Eatery

Happy Tuesday! I am too lazy to cook or even grab groceries yesterday. So today, we ordered a lot of food from Kulinarya Filipino Eatery for the whole week. The only downside of our neighbourhood is that there are no Filipino restaurants or a food source nearby. As such, I have to use DoorDash to get my favourite Filipino dishes delivered.

Feast from Kulinarya Filipino Eatery

If you know us by now, we have a consistent list of Filipino dishes we almost always order: Kare-Kare, Filipino-style pork BBQ, and lumpiang shanghai (Filipino spring rolls). Unfortunately, Kulinarya doesn't have pork BBQ.

The food arrived on time and was well packaged. For lunch, we ate a portion of the Beef Kare-Kare and Laing. Next, we finished the Spring Rolls and Turon. Finally, I placed the Canton Bihon Mix and Chicken Adobo on the fridge.

Beef Kare-Kare
Beef and vegetables in a thick savoury peanut-based sauce

I am so happy that Kulinarya can now deliver to our address. It means I can order Kare-Kare anytime I crave for some. It's a good Kare-Kare, and since the Facebook vendors where I used to get delicious Kare-Kare is no longer available, this has become the best Kare-Kare in Vancouver.

Laing
Dried taro leaves cooked in coconut milk, shrimp paste, and smoked fish.

I don't order Laing from restaurants because it's something I can cook at home. However, when I order it, it ends up being so good that I feel terrible for not cooking this well. It's spicy and perfect with rice.

Lumpiang Shanghai (Spring Rolls)

I have a pretty high standard for spring rolls, and the best one with a physical location is still from Little Ongpin in Richmond. From the taste of their lumpiang shanghai, it's obvious that it was frozen the night before because it has that weird after taste. Thankfully, it's fried to perfection and did travel well.

Turon
Caramelized fried plantain banana and purple taro jam spring rolls

I love turon in all shapes, forms, and sizes. But having turon so easily available is a luxury, so this discovery is making me happy. I guess you'll see more Kulinarya Filipino Eatery posts in the future.

Canton Bihon Mix
Stir-fry egg and rice noodles with chicken, shrimp, and vegetables

I will update this post once I have tried the Canton Bihon Mix.

Chicken Adobo
A twist on tradition. Chicken leg and thigh simmered in cane vinegar, soy sauce, and garlic. Then, deep-fried for an extra crunch.

Here's the thing. I didn't order adobo. I ordered Tamarind Chicken, but they don't have it available, and I was on the phone with a customer, so I couldn't answer their call to see what I want it replaced with. I would have said dinuguan, but by the time I was done on the phone, it's too late. It's all good, though, since the adobo did look good. I will update this post once I have tried it.

Overall, I will order from Kulinarya Filipino Eatery again.

Lunch from Triple O's

Happy Friday! Hubby's team is having team lunch today, and their team manager gave them each a $30 DoorDash gift card (Yay!). We decided to order from Triple O's.

When I was thinking about what to order, I looked at old blog posts to see what I have already tried. There's just a lot of blog posts, so I made a list to help me decide (refer to the end of the post).

Limited Time Pizza Burger

Holy smokes! We love ordering limited-time dishes from basically anywhere. Last year, we tried Triple O's Chicken and Waffle. This year, it's time to give their Pizza Burger a shot alongside their limited-time Chocolate Espresso Milkshake.

Triple O's Pizza Burger
Our NEW Pizza Burger is made with our delicious 100% fresh Canadian Beef, Genoa-style salami, mozzarella sticks, banana peppers, mayonnaise, and a zesty pizza sauce.

The Pizza Burger is spicy because of the salami and banana peppers. The mozzarella sticks provide crunch and cheese to tone down the spice from the peppers. It's a delicious burger, but the patty on this one was overcooked and dry - not the juicy beef patty we usually get from Triple O's.

Chocolate Espresso Shake
Made with hand-scooped, premium, rich, vanilla bean ice cream. Contains caffeine.

I was expecting more coffee taste in the espresso shake, but it just tasted like their chocolate shake.

Buffalo Chicken Burger

Where has this burger been all of my life? It's like eating buffalo chicken wings in a burger! It's so delicious.

Triple O's Buffalo Chicken Burgter
Our spicy, seasoned, crispy breaded chicken breast drizzled in Franks RedHot™ sauce, topped with naturally smoked Canadian bacon, aged Canadian cheddar, crisp iceberg lettuce, fresh vine-ripened tomatoes, and ranch dressing.

Slicing the Buffalo Chicken Burger in half

Buffalo Chicken Burger - look at that hot sauce and ranch dressing on the juicy burger

I also discovered that Triple O's toast their bun. I never noticed them before, but I love how crunchy the edges of the bun.

Sides - Cajun Fries and Garlic Parmesan Fries

Garlic Parmesan Fries is still my favourite side. I didn't enjoy the Cajun Fries. They both use the creamy Caesar sauce, but the Garlic Parmesan Fries have that extra yum, which I could only attribute to the salty parmesan cheese.

Cajun Fries
Our signature Kennebec fries are tossed in a Cajun spice blend and drizzled with our Cajun Mayo and creamy Caesar. These savoury fries are bold in flavour and perfect for snacking.

Garlic Parmesan Fries
Our signature fries are made from fresh local Kennebec potatoes, topped with garlic seasoning, creamy Caesar dressing, and Parmesan cheese

Trying all Triple O's Burgers

I am going over my old post to find out which burgers I have tried from Triple. O's. I'll summarize it here.

Chicken

• B.C. Chicken
• Buffalo Chicken Burger
• Southern Buttermilk Chicken Club
• Spicy Ultimate Crunch Burger

Beef Burgers

• Bacon Cheddar Burger
• Chipotle BBQ Bacon Melt
• Monty Mushroom Burger
• Original Burger
• Original with Cheese Burger
• Double Double Burger - I don't think I'll try this 🤣

Lifestyle Combos

• Crispy Fish Burger
• Fish (3) and Chips
• Original Impossible™ Burger
• Veggie Burger

Limited Time Offer

• Chicken and Waffle
• Pizza Burger
• Chocolate Espresso Shake

Sides

• ✓ Garlic Parmesan Fries - my favourite!
• ✓ Sweet Potato Fries - the signature chipotle mayo is the bomb!
• Poutine - I can't remember the last time I ordered this to make a comment.
• ✓ Fries - I am actually not a fan of their fries. They're thick-cut, so it doesn't get crunchy, although the inside can be chewy.
• ✓ Onion Rings - It's good onion rings. Not as awesome as A&W, but you know it's onion rings.
• Pickle Chips - I haven't tried, and I don't know if I want to try.
• Cajun Fries - I think it's new since the last time I ordered from Triple O's (October 28, 2020).

Cinco de Mayo lunch from Salsa and Agave Mexican Grill

It's the fourth year in a row that we enjoyed Mexican food on Cinco de Mayo (May 5).

• 2018 - We had nachos, quesadilla, burrito, and churros from Sal y Limon
• 2019 - We had nachos, tacos, and churros from Tacofino Taco Bar in Gastown
• 2020 - We had nachos, quesadilla, burrito, and churros from Las Margaritas in Kitsilano delivered at our home.

This year we ordered the same dishes from Salsa and Agave Mexican grill. The best part of the celebration this year is I paid only with DoorDash credits.

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

Nachos

We ordered large beef nachos. I chose Salsa and Agave because they're part of Daily Hive Dished Vancouver's list of Best Nachos in Vancouver. True enough, the best dish from today is the nachos! The chips arrived still crispy, and the pico de gallo on top is delicious.

Large Nachos (with extra beef)
Chips, cheddar cheese, beans, jalapeño peppers, pico de gallo, fresh homemade sour cream, topped with feta cheese

Chicken Quesadilla

It's dry. Extremely dry and cold. I want to blame it on delivery, but who knows. We reheated it in the air fryer, and the tortilla got fried and was crunchy like chips while the cheese at the edge of the quesadilla became fried; it's much more tolerable.

Chicken Quesadillas
Flour tortilla with melted cheese and chicken

Burrito

I added beef to the burrito, but somehow it's still mostly rice. Don't get me wrong, the rice was good (the one from Las Margaritas last year is still better, though), but the rice to other ingredients ratio is way off.

Mar y Tierra
Diced steak, grilled shrimps, rice and cheese

Churros con cajeta

Churros with caramel sauce are delicious! The outside was crunchy, and the inside is still so chewy. I wished we reheated it as well. I guess that's really the downside of delivery - the food is not enjoyed directly from the kitchen.

Churros con Cajeta
Fried-dough pastry dusted with sugar and cinnamon.

Overall, I am happy to have food from a restaurant again. It's been more than a week since we last ordered because of a new food rule hubby and I created.

Lunch from KFC delivered by DoorDash

Happy Thursday!

It's unusual for us to order food during weekdays, but today is an exception. Hubby's employer gave him a $30 DoorDash gift card because he's part of the team that completed an important feature in their app. Today for lunch they had a townhall of a sort where the CEO said thank-you and congratulations to everyone involved.

2x KFC Famous Chicken Sandwich Ultimate Box Meal

As for me, it's yay for free food. We decided that since we're forced to use a delivery app (DoorDash), we should only order from big chains that can most likely afford the exorbitant fees.

I love KFC from the Philippines and Malaysia, even China, but I've always said that the KFC here is subpar. I would have no idea if they changed their recipe in the last 12 months, but my last two KFC orders were unexpectedly delicious.

We both ordered KFC Famous Chicken Chicken Sandwich Ultimate Box Meal. I got the spicy version of the chicken sandwich while hubby got the regular one. I loved it! The buns are soft, the sauce was spicy, the chicken has a bit of crunch on the outside and juicy on the inside, and there are pickles to cut through the fat.

KFC Famous Chicken sandwich fillet drizzled with buttery garlic oil, three sweet pickles and double mayo.

I think there are more than three sweet pickle slices in my sandwich.

I chose poutine as a side while hubby had French fries. I also got the seasoned corn while he got macaroni salad. We both ordered Brisk Iced Tea, but got 7-Up instead, which is disappointing since we don't drink carbonated beverage.

Update: I got DoorDash Credits.

I ordered Brisk Iced Tea and received 7-Up. I sent a message to DoorDash informing them of the mistake. I wasn't expecting a lot of credits, at most, like $5.00 or something. However, I got $38.01 DoorDash credit in my account. I sent a chat to their customer support to make sure it's not a computation mistake. Below is the transcript.

Tarun r (4/15/2021, 3:20:23 PM): Hi! My name is Tarun. Give me a few seconds to pull up your account info
Me (4/15/2021, 3:20:28 PM): Thank you.
Tarun r (4/15/2021, 3:20:37 PM): Hi, thank you for contacting us! Glad that you chatted. I'll be more than happy to assist with your concern today, and apologies for any inconvenience!
Me (4/15/2021, 3:20:51 PM): I just got an email from DoorDash issuing a credit for $38.01
Me (4/15/2021, 3:21:18 PM): I don't mind getting the credit, but it seems too big
Me (4/15/2021, 3:21:39 PM): Our only "complain" was we got 7-Up instead of Iced Tea and we don't drink carbonated beverage
Me (4/15/2021, 3:21:50 PM): But I didn't expect to get such a big credit
Me (4/15/2021, 3:22:05 PM): Could you please check that the amount is correct?
Tarun r (4/15/2021, 3:22:44 PM): Yes, I can see here we have issued credits to your account in the amount of $38.01 for the inconvenience. These credits are available immediately and will automatically be applied towards your next order.
Me (4/15/2021, 3:23:04 PM): Yes, I see that and thank you. However, why is the amount so big?
Tarun r (4/15/2021, 3:24:30 PM): Our system decide that.
Tarun r (4/15/2021, 3:24:45 PM): If there's anything else I can help you with, please let me know.
Me (4/15/2021, 3:25:09 PM): No. I just want to make sure you, the Dasher, and the Merchant didn't get screwed over by a computation mistake
Tarun r (4/15/2021, 3:25:53 PM): Don't worry, Doordash will take care of it.
Me (4/15/2021, 3:26:43 PM): Okay. Sounds good. Thanks, Tarun!

KFC Poutine

For future me, this is what the KFC Famous Chicken Sandwich Ultimate Box Meal contains:

• 1x Famous Chicken Sandwich Fillet drizzled with buttery garlic oil, three sweet pickles, and double mayo. (Regular or Spicy)
• 1x Original Recipe Chicken Tender
• 1x Individual Chicken Popcorn
• 1x Individual Fries (you can upgrade to Mega Individual Siz Fries or Poutine)
• 1x Individual Side (Choices are coleslaw, macaroni salad, potato salad, and seasoned corn)
• 1x Regular Drink
• 1x Chocolate Chip Cookie
• 1x dip (Choices are buttermilk ranch dip, sweet n smokey BBQ dip, Carolina honey mustard dip, and southern plum dip)

Overall, it's a happy and extremely filling Thursday lunch. We're going for a walk after working hours to burn calories. Can't wait!

Hubby's Birthday Lunch delivery from AJ's Brooklyn Pizza Joint

Happy birthday to my dearest husband! I asked him what he'd like for his birthday and he said ice cream cake because he hasn't had it. He also wanted pizza and he's very specific that it needs to be from a small, local business and not a pizza chain. I have no idea where to order from, so I made a search for the best pizza in Vancouver and found AJ's Brooklyn Pizza Joint.

Spicy Four Cheese
Mozzarella, Gorgonzola, Ricotta, Fresh Parmesan, Topped with Mike's Hot Honey

The Spicy Four Cheese is sweet because of the honey and salty from the different cheeses. It was perfect.

The Supreme New Yorker
Calabrese, spicy sausage, pepperoni topped with tomato sauce and ricotta cheese.

The Supreme New Yorker is flavourful and spicy because of the meat. Somehow, I prefer the Spicy Four Cheese.

I can't believe it took me this long to order New York-style pizza that you need to fold to eat. It was delicious! It's nothing compared to the pizza I get from pizza chains.

Meatball Trio
Beef, Pork, Veal Marinara, finished with parm.

I ordered the Meatball Trio just as a fun side and it was delicious. I love the tomato sauce! 

I look forward to trying pizza from other local restaurants.

Lunar New Year Lunch delivery from Grand Chinese Restaurant (Yaletown)

Happy Lunar New Year! We ordered our favourite Chinese dishes for lunch today from a new restaurant - Grand Chinese Restaurant in Yaletown.

Beef Rolls

We love beef rolls! The best one is still from Peaceful Restaurant, but this comes a close second. What's the difference? This one has a thicker wrap, but the beef and sauce are as delicious.

Xiao Long Bao

It's hard to judge the Xiao Long Bao when it's delivered and not fresh from a restaurant kitchen, but it's still good.

Pan-Fried Pork Buns

Inside of the Pan-Fried Pork Buns

I discovered that I prefer pan-fried pork buns over steamed ones. However, this one has more dough than filling. 

Shanghai-style Chow Mein

This is my favourite dish from Grand Chinese Restaurant and I give this the "award" of becoming my favourite Shanghai-style chow men. It's slightly sweet but has that great flavour. I don't think I have tried a Shanghai-style chow mein which I will crave and would want to eat again.

Dan Dan Noodles

My favourite dan dan (tan tan) noodles is from Szechuan Chili because the sauce obviously has peanut butter which adds another depth of flavour I haven't encountered before. This one though has a lot of crushed peanut, but not as delicious as the one from Szechuan Chili.