Wendy's introduces Homestyle French Toast Sticks

This week (January 9), Wendy's Canada made the NEW Homestyle French Toast Sticks available. After offering a competitive breakfast menu, the Homestyle French Toast Sticks is the first sweet breakfast item offered at Wendy's.

NEW Homestyle French Toast Sticks from Wendy's Canada

Because they released it on a Monday (and I work a regular day job), I can only go to Wendy's today for breakfast. We arrived at the closest Wendy's location at 10:00 AM and ordered the Homestyle French Toast Sticks. We waited 30 minutes until the lunch menu became available to finally try their Bacon Portabella Mushroom Melt.

NEW Homestyle French Toast Sticks fr Wendy's Canada

Soft inside and crunchy edges. The golden brown colour is impressive. Though, there are not a lot of flavours. I was expecting sweet, but I'm not getting that. There's a subtle taste of egg, but that's about it. Great texture, only a little flavour.

Unless you're highly challenged in the kitchen, you can make this better at home. So that's my short review of the NEW Homestyle French Toast Sticks from Wendy's Canada.

Meatless Monday: Tuscan-Inspired Tortellini from HelloFresh Canada

We successfully did meatless Monday today. Hubby prepared oatmeal and tea for breakfast. Meanwhile, I cooked white basmati rice and reheated the Karahi Paneer leftovers for lunch. Then, I prepared the Tuscan-Inspired Tortellini with Roasted Red Peppers from our HelloFresh box for dinner.

Tuscan-Inspired Tortellini with Roasted Red Peppers from HelloFresh

The cheese tortellini cooked for 3 minutes came out perfectly al dente. The sauce was a bit saltier than I'd liked but creamy and buttery. I like the melted shredded parmesan cheese on top. 

Unfortunately, the roasted red pepper didn't add anything flavour-wise but provided a different crisp texture. The spinach added bitterness and a pop of colour to the dish.

Tuscan-Inspired Tortellini with Roasted Red Peppers from HelloFresh

Below is the HelloFresh description for this meal.

Tuscan-Inspired Tortellini with Roasted Red Peppers

HelloFresh Description:

Sun-dried tomato pesto, fire-roasted red peppers and creamy Parmesan await with every bit of this Tuscan-inspired cheese tortellini. Get ready to be whisked away to Italy.

Tuscan-Inspired Tortellini with Roasted Red Peppers from HelloFresh

Preparation Time: 25 minutes

Calories: 970 calories per serving

Do you need an oven to prepare this meal? No

Do you want a discounted box? Then, click my referral link and get a HelloFresh box.

Lunch Date at Bombay Kitchen + Bar

We arrived at Bombay Kitchen + Bar at 11:30 AM when they opened. It's a beautifully designed restaurant. I love the fountain and fireplace; the wall decorations and lighting are exquisite.

The beautiful interior of Bombay Kitchen + Bar at 11th Avenue.

We were seated and given the menu. After five minutes, our waiter returned to inform us that the chef had just arrived and it'll be a few minutes before they could take our order and asked if we could wait. Thankfully, we're not famished and just had breakfast at Blenz Coffee.

At noon, the server returned and took our order of Honey Chilli Fries, Butter Chicken, Karahi Paneer, Garlic Naan, and Mix Biryani.

Honey Chilli Fries

The first to arrive at our table is the Honey Chilli Fries. It was sweet and a bit spicy, and the fries were soggy because of the sauce. However, the portion was surprisingly generous and perfect for sharing between 2-3 people.

Honey Chilli Fries from Bombay Kitchen + Bar
Sweet & spicy fries tossed in a special chef's sauce.

Butter Chicken

The Butter Chicken arrived next, and we ordered it with a medium spice level. It was sweet. I don't know what's wrong with me because I never knew butter chicken was sweet until I tried some at New India Buffet. I can only taste the savoury sweetness (I'm not sure if that made sense as a flavour). I expected it to be creamy and savoury with minimal to no sweetness. It's so amusing. I blame my love for Vindaloo, which is tarty and spicy, so maybe that's why butter chicken tastes sweet.

January 12 Update: We had butter chicken leftovers and it still has a lot of sweet flavours but there's a more subtle heat going on. Eating it with plain rice seems to be the way to go to appreciate the full flavour.

Butter Chicken
Chicken breast cooked with light cream and tomato with fenugreek.

Karahi Paneer

It's our first time trying karahi paneer. It has a subtle sour flavour because of the tomatoes, while the onions provided sweetness, and the paneer was creamy.

Karahi Paneer
Homemade cheese pieces are served in thick gravy with big chunky pieces of onion, capsicum, and tomatoes.

Mix Biryani and Garlic Naan

We ordered the Mix Biryani and Garlic Naan because those two were my favourite things when we had food from Bombay Kitchen + Bar in 2021. The naan has a nice char and is slightly bitter, especially on the edges. There is crushed garlic on top, providing so much garlicky flavour to the naan.

Garlic Naan
White leavened bread flavoured with garlic.

Meanwhile, the Biryani is perfectly spicy and seasoned. The chicken and lamb are tender, and the prawns are perfectly cooked. I love it!

Mix Biryani
A rich combination of veggies, chicken, lamb, & prawn spices & basmati rice.

Gajar Ka Halwa

I wanted Kheer, but it's unavailable. So we tried the Gajar Ka Halwa for the first time. It's made with fresh carrots. It's not overly sweet. The bowl and dessert were warm and had a lot of coconut flavour.

Gajar Ka Halwa
Indian pudding made with fresh carrots, milk, sugar, ghee, & nuts.

We stayed here until 1:30 PM and enjoyed our meal over gossip. We discussed the latest in Philippine news and chismis and our dreams and goals. Weekly dates with my husband are always a heart-fluttering experience.

Blenz Coffee's Holiday Drinks and Breakfast Sandwiches

Happy blessed Sunday morning to you! We changed our Sunday routine today. Instead of grabbing breakfast before the 9:00 AM Mass, we did it afterwards. Instead of Tim Hortons, we went to a quiet Blenz location.

It's the last weekend of their holiday drinks and I am having instant regret. Hubby ordered the Cranberry Dark Hot Chocolate while I went for the Matcha White Hot Chocolate.

Breakfast at Blenz Coffee

The Cranberry Dark Hot Chocolate tasted like cranberries. It hits you right on the face. It's so unique! On the other hand, the Matcha White Hot Chocolate is as usual. Matcha flavour overpowered by the sweetness of white chocolate.

For our sandwiches, we shared a Bacon English Muffin and Breakfast Bagel.

The best part of the Bacon English Muffin is the perfectly salted egg on top of soft English muffins. It seems like hubby ate all the bacon because I didn't find any. 😂

Bacon English Muffin from Blenz Coffee

Meanwhile, the Breakfast Bagel has a generous serving of ham. I wish the bagel was slightly toasted but it's good quality sesame bagel. It's soft and feels freshly baked.

Breakfast Bagel from Blenz Coffee

We're hanging out at Blenz until our lunch reservation nearby.

Tex-Mex Beef Bowls from HelloFresh Canada

Happy Saturday evening! After a long day running errands and eating at fast foods (Tim Hortons, McDonald's, and Starbucks), we cooked the Tex-Mex Beef Bowls with Guacamole and Feta from our HelloFresh box.

Tex-Mex Beef Bowls with Guacamole and Feta from HelloFresh Canada

This meal arrived messy. A hole in the tomato salsa pouch made all vegetables and other food containers sticky.

Tex-Mex Beef Bowls with Guacamole and Feta from HelloFresh Canada

Besides the messy start, the meal was a breeze to prepare, and the food tasted well.

The basmati rice was well-seasoned, the peppers crunchy, and the green onions provided a subtle oniony flavour. Meanwhile, I added too much sugar to the beef, it's sweeter than I think it should be, but the juicy tarty tomato helped balance things out. Finally, the guacamole was bland but provided creaminess to the dish.

Tex-Mex Beef Bowls with Guacamole and Feta from HelloFresh Canada

Below is the HelloFresh description for this meal.

Tex-Mex Beef Bowls with Guacamole and Feta

HelloFresh Description:

Tonight, tuck into this bowl of punchy Mexican-inspired flavours! Beef gets boosted by salsa and our Enchilada Spice Blend, while rice gets sautéed with bell peppers to give it a subtle sweetness. A dollop of ready-to-eat guac brings loads of flavour with little effort in the kitchen.

Tex-Mex Beef Bowls with Guacamole and Feta from HelloFresh Canada

Preparation Time: 25 minutes

Calories: 770 calories per serving

Do you need an oven to prepare this meal? No

Do you want a discounted box? Then, click my referral link and get a HelloFresh box.

Heart Sugar Cookie from Starbucks | Valentine's Day

Celebrating the love month early, Starbucks sells Heart Sugar Cookies and Valentine's Cake Pop. So naturally, I opted for the cookies.

Heart Sugar Cookie from Starbucks Canada

It's surprisingly soft with a slight sweetness. The icing on top is not as thick as the Snowman Cookie last Christmas, so it has a better cookie-icing ratio. I like it!

I took a bite of the Heart Sugar Cookie from Starbucks.

If you need a simple emergency gift for someone special, get them a Starbucks Heart Sugar Cookie.

One of the best ways to someone's heart is through their stomach.

It's also available with white icing instead of pink.

HOT! Ghost Pepper Dip for Spicy Chicken McNuggets and Waffle Fries from McDonald's

After hubby's errand, we had lunch at McDonald's to try their Spicy McNuggets, Waffle Fries, Ghost Pepper Dip, and Ranch Dip. All items are available for a limited time only and at participating McDonald's locations in Canada.

Spicy Chicken McNuggets and Waffle Fries from McDonald's Canada

SPICY! McDonald's did something right with that Ghost Pepper Dip. It's borderline sweltering! My husband is more sensitive to spicy food than I am, and his reaction is my barometer in determining how spicy a food is and that Ghost Pepper Dip is sweat-inducing spicy. It's so hot that my tummy still feels warm an hour later, which is perfect on this rainy Saturday.

10-piece Spicy Chicken McNuggets from McDonald's Canada

The Spicy Chicken McNuggets are the usual McNuggets with little to no heat. If you can't handle any amount of heat, you can use the new Ranch Dip. It's your typical ranch dip. Nothing special.

Spicy Chicken McNuggets covered in the Ghost Pepper Sauce for a painfully delicious bite.

Lastly, the Waffle Fries are also unremarkable. It's your usual salted McDonald's fries in a different shape.

Waffle Fries and Ranch Sauce from McDonald's

Tim Hortons Canadian Bacon Breakfast Sandwiches now available!

Happy New Year! Tim Hortons features the Canadian Bacon Breakfast Sandwich with naturally-smoked Canadian bacon. The menu and the app offer two main sandwich options: the Canadian Bacon & Egg Breakfast Sandwich and the Canadian Bacon BELT.

Tim Hortons Canadian Bacon and Egg Breakfast Sandwich from Tim Hortons

This is separate from the Maple Bacon Sandwiches which they announced last year. The Canadian Bacon sandwiches were first introduced in 2019 (source: Chewboom.com).

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Happy Saturday morning! My husband has errands in Downtown Vancouver, so we visited a Tims location nearby to try the new Canadian Bacon breakfast sandwiches.

Tim Hortons Canadian Bacon and Egg Breakfast Sandwich from Tim Hortons

I ordered the Canadian Bacon and Egg Breakfast Sandwich with the recommended English muffin. On my first bite, it was saltier and more flavourful than their usual bacon. The egg was creamy and muffin soft.

Canadian Bacon BELT from Tim Hortons

Meanwhile, the Canadian Bacon BELT (bagel, egg, lettuce, and tomatoes) didn't work as well. It's hard to taste Canadian Bacon because other things are going on.

Canadian Bacon BELT from Tim Hortons

The Everything Bagel was toasted, and the edges were slightly bitter burnt. Meanwhile, the lettuce was crunchy, the tomatoes were juicy, and the egg yolk was creamy. It was a good sandwich, but the Canadian Bacon wasn't the star.

Old Fashioned Sugar Donut from Tim Hortons

This Tim's location offers donut variants not available in other branches. I ordered the Old Fashioned Sugar Donut. It's dry. Reminding me that Tims still has sucky Classic donuts.