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Showing posts from November, 2021

Is Air Canada Bulkhead Seat worth an $80 upgrade

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I took a flight from Ottawa to Vancouver. I could see from the seating map that the flight was fully booked. I usually pay to book a window seat and then try and get a seat with no one beside me at the last minute it works 50% of the time and the planes that I have been on leaving from Ottawa are not usually full. This time was different the airport was busier than I have ever seen it. I could tell from the seating map the plane was full. It cost $40 to book a window seat. I saw a last minute opening for a bulkhead window seat and decided to try it. It cost $80 to upgrade to the bulkhead seat but the $40 I already paid would get credited. I liked the idea of having a wall in front of me on such a packed flight.  I have free check in luggage with my credit card so I usually only take a backpack to leave under my seat on the plane. If I was in the back of the plane I wait until the last minute to board. I knew I would have no storage at my seat but this seat comes with early zone 3 b...

Vegan mac and cheese using leftover cheese

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I had a lot of vegan cheese in my fridge so I thought it would be a good time to try and vegan macaroni and cheese it turned out delicious.  All you need is some vegan butter, vegan cheese, and plant milk. I thought the barista blend would make it creamier but it didn’t do any plant milk will work.  The presidents choice vegan butter i found at no frills is one of the best vegan butters I have tried highly recommend. Melt a little butter in the pan add cheeses and keep stirring. The cheese co cheese and Violife Parmesan block melted really well. The Violife shredded was harder to melt and the slices did not melt at all. Keep stirring and add some vegan cream cheese and plant milk as necessary to get a smooth sauce.  Add some spices for flavour I added curry powder, salt, and pepper. Add macaroni and stir. I added fried onions and basil for more flavour.  Then I added some of the Violife Tex mex and baked it in the air fryer oven. This cheese actually melted well the ...

I Tried Starbucks Vegan Sugar Cookie Latte with Coconut, Almond, and Oat milk

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This is an update to the post below. I finally tried the sugar cookie latte with almond milk. This is my favourite out of all three that I have tried. I had requested 1 pump of syrup the grande usually comes with 4. It was missing some sweetness but that was my fault I recommend having 3 or 4 pumps of syrup if you try this. The drink was still really good. This is going to be my favourite Starbucks drink while it lasts.    The sugar cookie latte from Starbucks is their first vegan holiday drink. In Canada it comes with Oat Milk and in the US it comes with almond milk in Canada. I don’t like oat milk so I substituted coconut milk.  This drink was good it taste like a perfectly sweetened latte. It has sprinkles on it other than that it didn’t remind me of a cookie at all. I liked it though it had a perfect sweetness to coffee ratio. Since most people will not order their drink with coconut milk I will try it with other plant milk. I tried the sugar cookie latte the way it c...

Vancouver Planted Expo 2021

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I won tickets to planted expo formally veg expo. Prior to the pandemic I went to veg expo every year. This is the first time I have gone as a vegan in the past I was vegetarian I didn’t check but I assume everything was vegan this year. I was hesitant to go to a convention during a pandemic they checked vaccine passports, and masks needed to be worn if not eating. The booths were spaced out but it was a bit awkward eating samples having to take the mask on and off especially if a booth got a little crowd around it. It never got uncomfortably crowded but I did miss a few booths. I felt there were less wrapped samples than at past events but foodie buddy said she thought it was the same as the past. It was nice to be able to attend this kind of an event after a long time. v When you walk in they had reusable bags with gummies  from Herbaland to take. I liked that they laid out all the coupons/promotional materials on the table so you could take what you wanted. In the past I have vol...

Cereal Tasting

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It has been years since I have bought any Kellogg’s or General Mills cereal. I stayed in a hotel that had breakfast included they had these small cereal boxes so I thought I would try them. I notice the ingredients have changed since the past. The Kellogg’s ingredients are pretty simple now grains, sugar, some are using fruit and turmeric for colour some have artificial colour. There is a separate section on the ingredients for vitamins and minerals The first cereal I tried was FruitLoops. It taste exactly how I remember crunchy, slightly sweet, with a slight fruity flavour. It’s really delicious.  The next cereal I tried was Frosted Flakes. I was expecting it to be sweeter other than that it tasted exactly like I was expecting. It wasn’t insanely sweet but definitely had sweetness to it. The flakes had a nice crunch to them and it wasn’t insanely sweet but does have a sweetness to it. This wouldn’t be my first choice in cereal but I liked it.  The next cereal was corn flakes....

Cheesy vegan baked pasta

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I cook everything in the instant vortex plus air fryer oven. I just got a new loaf pan that fits perfectly inside. Vegan feta was on sale so I decided I should make the TikTok viral pasta. I have made it once before with tofu and used a cake pan. The past one was good but I only made it once.  I recently became vegan so I remember what dairy cheese tastes like. This is the first time I have tried vegan feta it tastes more like cream cheese to me but it’s good. Cherry tomatoes were too expensive so I got fresh San Marzano tomatoes they will be a good substitute.  I put tomatoes, olive oil, half a block of feta, and some za’star spice. I got the spice as a free sample and I don’t have other dried herbs so also a good substitute. I cooked this in the air fryer oven at 350 for fifteen minutes.  The feta was all nicely melted but I probably should have cooked the tomatoes for another ten minutes. I have no patience so I added fresh basil and mixed it.  I had already cooke...