We were invited to the PNE Food Tweetup this past Tuesday. An event planned by @mis_sy to round up a bunch of Vancouver’s popular Twitter personalities and bloggers to hang out at the PNE and try out a bunch of the food. We weren’t too sure what the exact details of what was going to happen, but we were excited to meet a bunch of the bloggers and people that we tweet with.

We were told that 24Hours and CTV were going to cover the event, making me a bit nervous. I’m pretty camera shy haha.. Anyways, at about 6PM we were lead into the grounds and brought to our reserved seating area where we were told what this event was about. We were given 3 vouchers worth $10 each to try out the food at the PNE. Being that there are 2 of us writing for MePlusFood, Beipas got 2 extra vouchers. $50 of food for us! There were some additional prizes to get us more adventurous and to help out with the tweeting to add a little bit more fun to the event.

I haven’t been to the PNE or Playland for close to 4 years, I just remember eating hotdogs, corndogs, burgers, and mini donuts. We went to the Calgary Stampede in July and was amazed by all the different types of foods that they sold. Well, the PNE has way more different types of food to satisfy any of your cravings. While searching for food we really wanted to try something adventurous. Besides your regular hotdogs and burgers, they had a bunch of ethnic food there which I never paid attention to a few years ago. So some of these places may have been there for a while, but I certainly never noticed them, so it was a pleasant surprise.

Dish 1: Curry-in-a-Hurry – Muttar Paneer with rice and  papardam ($8). I’m not too familiar with Indian food, but I’ve started to try it a lot more. Muttar Paneer is a pea and paneer (cheese) curry. I was really disappointed with it because there was no paneer to be found. It was just a slightly spicy tomato-based pea stew. The papardam (I think it’s really spelled pappadam) is a really thin and crispy flat bread which was pretty good. *½~~~ (1.5/5)

Note: They had a lot of other food there. I was just being adventurous and trying new stuff. They have the favourites like butter chicken, chicken tikka, and samosas there too.

Dish 2: Vina’s Special of the day – Spicy Basil Chicken with Spring Roll, Salad, and Vermicelli ($12). The chicken, was flavourful, but was dry and overcooked. My favourite part of the dish was the spring rolls which were still really crispy and packed with pork and vietnamese flavours. ***~~ (3/5)

Dish 3: Jimmy’s Lunch Deluxe Cheese Burger – It was loaded with sauteed onions, cheese, and some other stuff. I only took a bite out of it, but it wasn’t bad. Just very messy!

Dish 4: C-Lovers Fish & Chips – ?? I’m allergic haha. One piece of fish and fries was about $8. I heard this was decent.

Dish 5: Whales Tails Deluxe Apple Pie – A Whale Tail is pretty much a Beaver Tail (which I’ve also never had). It’s big deep fried piece of bread that was topped with a cinnamon sugar topping. Probably already good by itself, you can get toppings on it. We got the apple pie, and added whip cream and chocolate. The apples were very tender, and of course tasted really good with the cinnamon sugar. The bread was kind of crisp along the outer edges. They supposedly used to be puffier. This is something that I’d buy next time I go to the PNE, but maybe a different flavour. ***½~ (3.5/5)

I was glad for this tweet up because it brought me back to the PNE after so many years away. It also opened my eyes to all of the different food you can eat there. I really wanted to try the poutine, funnel cake, turkey leg, and wiggle chips. Many of the people got food from a Ukranian places that was really close by and raved about the food. I’m sad I missed out. That was the sleeper hit I think. I also wanted to try the Roaming Dragon Truck because they had some asian spiced fries that looked good in pictures, and a lychee-basil lemonade. Sliders, and Korean tacos too. Checkout the pictures of just some of the different food vendors at the PNE. There are plenty more.

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August 18 is the Third Annual Pirate Pak Day. To celebrate the occasion adults can get an Adult Pirate Pak complete with those awesome dubloons that we craved as a kid. Two dollars from each Pirate Pak sold on August 18 will go to the Zajac Ranch for Children. So, make your way out to White Spot on August 18 and support this great cause. I’m definitely going to a White Spot to be a pirate for the day and support the Zajac Ranch.

For the Adult Pak’s you can choose your entree which includes coleslaw, endless fries, soft drink, the awesome chocolate coin, and a scoop of ice cream for a great price. With the Adult Pirate Pak you have the following options:

Legendary Burger – $9.99

BC Chicken Burger – $11.99

Veggie Burger – $10.49

Substitute Sweet Potato fries for $1.49

Add extra toppings to your awesome burger for only $0.99 each or 2 for $1.49.

Add a slice of Blueberry pie for $3.00

MePlusFood is having a contest for two Pirate Pak Complimentary Gift Cards. Pirate Pak’s are for children 10 years and younger. Retweet our Pirate Pak message on Twitter for your chance to win. Contest will be held on the morning of Wednesday, August 18, 2010.

The past couple months I was really lucky to be able to visit a couple new places outside of Vancouver, and try  a few new things.

I celebrated my birthday in Las Vegas with my amazing friends and had a total blast. I also had the best steak of my life at Del Friscos Double Eagle.

I visited Chicago, and had some amazing deep dish pizzas and Italian beef. I also learned that it is very possible to find healthy, fresh, and tasty food in America land. I had an amazing breakfast at a cafe in Chicago, that made me really happy for the rest of that day. I visited Eat Chicago, it was such a crazy food event. Live music, with miles of food stands, it kind of put Eat Vancouver into the biggest hole of shame. Oh yah, there is such a thing as Meat Cupcakes.

I visited Calgary for the stampede, and had deep fried Oreos. That was pretty big deal for me to eat it, because well, it’s deep. fried. oreos. It just sounds so wrong, but it actually turned out to be pretty good.

I just got back a super rad surfing trip from Portland, I’ll be posting good eats in Portland up soon too.

We are planning a couple new things for MePlusFood, and I’m super excited about them. Lots of work will need to be done, and I can’t wait to get it happening.

Finally, THANK YOU SO MUCH for supporting us. You da you da best!

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This past weekend we went to the Calgary Stampede and was excited to try out the different food.

The Stampede is a big venue with a lot of different food stands, I’d say more than what we had at Playland/PNE. We walked through this one section with tons of food, which gave of us ideas of what we wanted to order at a bar. How was the food we tried? Read more to find out.

Corn Dog – $5

Honestly, this is the best corn dog I’ve had. We got it from a place that says Jumbo Corn Dogs. We got a regular one for about $5, but they also had foot long ones for $6. What was so awesome about it? The batter. It had a nice corn meal batter, freshly fried. Crisp exterior, nice and airy inside. It was really good and not oily. I saw some other people with Corn Dogs from other places, and they looked dead, and the batter looked way too thick. I recommend this one.

Mini Donuts – $5 / 2 bags

Yum, how can you go to a Fair and not have these cinnamon-sugar mini donuts? It’s a must for me. We got “The Best Little Donuts Around”. And they were just as good as I remember. I think each bag had a dozen donuts. Of course, they are only really good when they are hot.

Fried Oreos  – $5

This was a first for me. And it wasn’t half bad. After biting into it, you could tell it was definitely an Oreo. It was nice and warm, and the cookie was a bit melted and gooey. I enjoyed it. I think it was either 4-5 deep fried oreos for $5. The same stand had deep fried snickers, twinkies, cheese cakes, and strawberry short cakes from about $4-7.

Steak Sandwich – $9

We got the steak sandwich from a stand called London Broil. They had a ton of meat grilling all day. This was pretty big sandwich, but pretty pricey at $9. You could top it off with cheese, peppers, and mushrooms, it’s your choice. I may recommend staying away because the peppers and mushrooms don’t really add much. They are very bland, and seemed like they were canned, or boiled for a really long time. Very dead. Not much flavour. The meat was sliced thin, and stacked high on the sandwich. The meat was pretty good, but some of it was charred a little bit too much.

Lemonade – $6 / jumbo – $3 / small

We got our Lemonade from a place inside the Convention centre called Lemon Heaven. They were freshly squeezing the lemonade infront of us. I think they squeezed the juice of one or two lemons into a cup, and sliced that lemon and threw it in the cup, then added some water and sugar? It was really good and refreshing. Just the right amount of sweetness and sourness. $6 is quite a lot for some lemon, water, ice, and sugar though. But it was a pretty big cup. They also have stands outside on the fairgrounds. It was good.

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There were a lot of other food we wanted to try out too, but we didn’t have time or big enough stomachs because we also wanted to eat downtown too. Things were noting were Pizza on a Stick, lots of different french fries, Turkey Legs, boneless wings, and donairs, just to name  a few. There were probably a lot more. So if you are there, let us know what was good. Overall most of the food we had were really good, and I’m probably going to binge eat on everything I see next time I go to Playland. I’ll post my adventure for that too.

I’m a little late on the monthly check-in this time. As you have probably already noticed, I fell off my one-day-a-post wagon. Things had gone a little hectic in May, but I’m still glad my resolution lasted a solid 3 months.

This month was a little bit better, but still pretty busy. It’s already mid June and I’m glad that I have already gone to a few really awesome restaurants. The next month or so is going to be pretty exciting for me. I’m going to have lots of food that I had never tried before. I can’t tell you what the plan is just yet, but you guys will definitely find out soon.

Finally I want to thank everyone for reading. And also to  all our twitter followers for retweeting our posts, thanks for spreading the word, you’re awesome, much appreciated!

Favorites
Japadog on Burrard and Smithe
Hokkaido Ramen Santouka
Bo Laksa King
What’s Shakin

Favorite Recipe
Matcha Cake

The Fail List
Thai Rin Restaurant and Bar

I saw this on 604 Foodtography’s site just now, and I thought I’d join in on the fun:

Note: I don’t know what a lot of these foods are, so since I’m too lazy to search for what they are, I’ll update it tomorrow.

1) bold those you have tried
* 2) Asterisk any items you’d be interested in trying but have not yet.*
3) Italicize any item you’ll never eat again.
4) Strikethrough those you wouldn’t eat on a bet.

1. Venison
*2. Nettle tea  – huh?
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare
*5. Crocodile – would I die? Is this seafood?
6. Cheese Fondue
*7. Black Pudding
8. Carp
* 9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari
12. Pho
13. PB&J sandwich
*14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart
*16. Epoisses
*17. Black truffle
*18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Steamed pork buns
*20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
*23. Foie gras
24. Rice and beans
* 25. Brawn, or head cheese
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper
* 27. Dulce de leche
* 28. Oysters – yes even though I’d die
*29. Baklava
*30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas
* 32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
* 33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
*36. Cognac with a fat cigar
*37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka jello
*39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
*41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects
*43. Phaal
* 44. Goat’s milk
*45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. Fugu
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut
50. Sea urchin
*51. Prickly pear
*52. Umeboshi
* 53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal
56. Spaetzle
*57. Dirty gin martini
*58. Beer above 8% ABV
59. Poutine
*60. Carob chips
61. S’mores
*62. Sweetbread
*63. Kaolin
*64. Currywurst
65. Durian
66. Frogs’ legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
*68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain
*70. Chitterlings, or andouillette
71. Gazpacho
*72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe
*74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. Roadkill
*76. Baijiu
*77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snail
*79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini
* 81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky
*84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant
*85. Kobe beef
*86. Hare
*87. Goulash
*88. Flowers – really? any kind of flower? or like crystallized flowers, etc? I’ll just leave it red.
*89. Horse
*90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam
* 92. Soft shell crab
* 94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
*96. Bagel and lox
*97. Lobster Thermador
98. Polenta
*99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee*
*100. Snake

Additions by 604 Foodtography

101. Balut
*102. Herring
*103. Natto
*104. Vegemite
*105. Escamoles
106. Dinuguan
107. LIVE Octopus

May is here! Wow April went by real fast. It’s so true that time flies when you’re having fun.

As I mentioned on my last blog post, I went on a vacation. The vacation was great, I got to eat a lot of my favorite things. I also got to try a lot of new things, some of the things I ate I also swallowed part of my consciousness with it; for example: raw fish liver. Hey, gotta try everything at least once right? I also ate uni (sea urchin) for the first time, it didn’t taste as weird as it looks, but still an acquired taste to me. I think these experiences definitely helped me to be more open minded about food.

Coming back home, I was welcomed with more food. I came home just in time for my first Food Bloggers and Writers Event with the team, that was super cool. I hope we get invited to more of those things.

I also think Dee did a great job for keeping this site awesome and getting us invited to the Food Bloggers Event while I was away. Good Job, Dee!

May is starting out with Dine Out Vancouver. Make sure you read our reviews for the Dine Out restaurants we’ve been so far here: MePlusFood DineOut

There’s already a bunch of restaurants on my wish list. I’m ready for more foodwalking, and more food blogging.

Thanks for reading MePlusFood!

Favorites
Island Lava Java
Da Poke Shack
Zakkushi Charcoal Grill

The Fail List
Lulu’s

The MePlusFood team got invited to their first Food Blogger and Writer event at the R.TL (Regional Tasting Lounge) hosted byDanica of Divine Writes.

I was really excited to go because just the week before I wanted to try out the restaurant for my sister-in-law’s birthday but had to switch locations because our 9 month old nephew was coming along. They currently have food from South America and British Columbia with some really unique dishes that sound really good. The event started at 5PM, but unfortunately due to work, the team arrived at about 6:15. We were able to just walk in, and was greeted by the Alain, the manager who was really kind. He introduced himself and called Danica over so we could finally meet.

They were showing off some of their dishes, as well as giving small little plates for us to try them out, and also some drinks – San Gria’s and Wine. There were a lot of people there mingling, and taking pictures. We went to the bar where they were showing off their food and making drinks. While taking pictures we got to meet their new Chef Daryl Crumb. He’s a really cool dude who’s going to bring out some cool new ideas and keep with the unique feature of the restaurant. That is, they update their menu every few months with brand new food from a brand new region of the world. I think he told me he was going to bring in some Middle Eastern, or Mediterranean flavours in next. Completely revamping the menu every few months is a good way to keep people coming back. I love trying out new food.

Coming in late, we got to see a few of the dishes. When we got there they were showing of their Trio of Venison Sliders and Prawn Ceviche. We were able to try one of the sliders which was the wild mushroom and cheddar. The juicy burger was served on thin slices of toasted bread. The venisor burger was awesome, and so were the mushrooms and cheese. The only thing I disliked about it, was that it was really oily There was olive oil on the bread, and fat oozing out of the burger, it was really messy. The taste was delicious, but a bit too oily. Need to tone down on that. Later on in the night they had the blue cheese and bacon venison slider. Stupidly, I told the watiress that we already had it because I thought it was the same one. Sigh. I definitely had my eye on this dish when I saw it on the menu. I guess I’ll have to try them when I go back.

They were also showing off their wild mushroom risotto, and the sweet & tart apple duo dessert.  We got to try the risotto after and I thought it was just alright, though I’m not that big of a risotto fan. I’m sure if we had a full portion we would get all the flavours.

The front of the restaurant is brand new as they opened up the front of the restaurant, hopefully more people will go in! The promoter, manager, and chef were really good to talk to, and learn some cool things about their restaurant. I hope to see good things happen to their restaurant because the food that we tasted was pretty good, and everyone was genuinely nice and seemed liked they really loved what they were doing.

I’m definitely going back to try out their menu. And hopefully in the next few months when the menu gets updated, I will go back.

R.TL wish list:

- Crisp Peruvian Chicken
- Crispy Skin Pork Belly
- Smoked Duck
- Venison Burger Trio

- Beef Tacu Tacu
- Beef Tenderloin

- Sweet & Tart Apple Duo

They are participating in Dine Out Vancouver 2010, so go take a look at their menu.

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R.TL (Regional Tasting Lounge)
1130 Mainland St
Vancouver, BC

(604) 638-1550

http://www.r.tl

So Beipas has gone on her trip and will be back in a couple weeks… so it’s up to me, and hopefully Wheel to continue to update the site with at least a post a day! Good luck to me, seriously. I’m going to need it.

Not sure what you guys will get more of – Restaurant Reviews, Recipes, or Food Reviews. I have a few things lined up that I can write about, but not much. That means I’m going to have to eat out a lot more! Who’s going to eat with me?

I’m also going to try to improve the site a bit more and hopefully make Beipas proud by the time she gets back.

Although it’s been less than a day, I guess my adventure has been pretty good. First Food Blogger meet up on Wednesday, new Vietnamese place in Surrey as recommended by Sherman, and awesome Lasagna baked by my friend. Let’s hope the good food keeps coming.

April is here! That marks month Three for MePlusFood yay!

March was madness for sure. There were so much food. Dee and I invented a new activity called FoodWalking. It was basically walking around a neighborhood and going to 2 or 3 small food shops, all on the same night. It was a pretty fun thing to do on a nice evening, and we planned on doing more FoodWalking from now on.

We were also invited to a dinner with other food bloggers in Vancouver by Kim from I’m only here for the Food.  That was a really fun dinner meeting other foodies, and cool to be surrounded by people who get really excited about their food. You know the foodies were all in serious business when they all had a camera with them. I’ve never see so many camera flashes on a plate of food. I was the paparazzi of them paparazzi-ing the food, it was great. I look forward to have more food outings with them again. Thanks Kim! for the invite.

Another thing, I’m going on vacation, yay! So.. that means I’m going to have to break my one-post-a-day new years resolution. I was doing so well. I think it should be fair to say that to make it up, I’ll bring back reviews from other parts of the world, yes? In the mean time, I have faith in Dee and Wheel to give you guys fresh reviews on a daily basis until I come back.

That’s it for now, Thanks for reading MePlusFood!

Favorites
Beefy Beef Noodles
Guu with Garlic
Hanako Sushi
Elysian Coffee
Viet Sub
Qoola Frozen Yogurt + Fruit

Favorite Recipe
Spinach and Ham Quiche

The Fail List
Komi Sushi

Our first food outing with Vancouver food bloggers:

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