This is a ‘mock’ ad I made for McDonald’s. It uses the familiar sound of the chickadee. It implants subconsciously the familiar sound of the chickadee with the word ‘cheeseburger’. Now every time you hear the bird sing you will automatically think cheeseburgers and by association connect that with McDonald’s. Play the video below. IMPORTANT: Allow the video to fully load before watching.

This was our second meal at Harrison Hot Springs and once again the customer service was excellent.

The typically German-themed restaurant was nothing special, but fitting for a very small town. The food was authentic and really satisfied the hunger groans in my stomach. The waitress was amazing, personable and made a personal connection with our child and was very accommodating.

As we ordered she said they would get on to our child’s meal ASAP knowing that she was hungry. This was very thoughtful and a great touch.

Interior: 7 out of 10

Food: A good 6 out of 10

Customer service: 8 out of 10

Design company Turner Duckworth (clients include Amazon, Coca-Cola, Virgin Atlantic and Palm) recently designed Honey Packaging for Waitrose supermarket in the UK. “Bee or honey twizzler – whatever you see, it makes you want toast and honey” says the London and San Fransico design firm.

Simple and clever.

The Duckworth site is a little clunky, but it was interesting to read that their London and San Francisco studios collaborate on every project. “Work flows freely between each to give clients a rich and nuanced perspective from both sides of the Atlantic”.

On the Waitrose site there is a value added page about their Scottish heather honey, an interesting read.

I had the opportunity a few years ago to design juice labels for Happy Planet. Yesterday on a hot sunny day I enjoyed a chilled ‘Extreme Purple’ (it was so good). On review of their website I discovered they have grown as a company, now offering a variety of drinks and soups. Great quality produce makes for a great product. They are also heavily involved in supporting the community and over the years have donated in excess of one million bottle of juice.

Night one: I had been marinating my large (2” thick) pork chop in a marinade I had made earlier. The marinade was made from Salsa, ketchup, balsamic vinegar, soy sauce, Chinese 5 spice and the very hot Rick’s Hot Sauce.

I sliced partly through the chop on both sides to allow the heat to cook thoroughly through the whole piece of meat. This enabled the whole chop to be nice and tender, as well as it was late in the evening and I wanted it to cook quickly. It was my stomach that made me cook quickly, honestly.

I cooked the pork over hickory wood in the BBQ. Heated the taco shells, stuffed them with lettuce and Thai basil from my garden, added BBQ orange pepper, and finished with the sliced BBQ pork.

I normally hate eating with my hands and getting messy (give me a knife and fork any day). But on this occasion it was good, the juice of the hickory flavoured pork running down my chin and all over my hands. It was one of those times where licking the plate clean afterwards was necessary to savour every last bit.

Night two: And then there was the next night. I was cooking for my daughter and I, she is two years old and was on the mend after suffering with a tummy parasite (from a non food related incident) for the previous three weeks. As her appetite was starting to get better, I thought I would try her with a little meat. We had some sliced ham, that I cut finely into slices. Boiled some potatoes and mashed them with margarine and a little milk.

Then came the best bit. After mixing the meat with the mashed potatoes I mushed it into taco shells. It was great. Mashed potato taco shells (I am sure there is a Mexican cussing me right now). For my potatoes, I also added a healthy tablespoon of Coleman’s English mustard (extra yum). My daughter had never eaten taco shells before. She really enjoyed the mash but sucked eagerly on the taco shells wondering what hell they were and what she should do with them – so cute.

Originally posted on Foodists.ca

When you only have one child everything is a learning curve. So, when I thought it was time for my 21 month old daughter to learn to cook, I really thought she was ready. Pizzas seemed like a good idea. Fun and interactive, I thought she could get her hands in there and experiment.

Well, it didn’t quite go as planned. Maybe she isn’t old enough yet, or maybe I just left it too late as she was already really hungry. Instead of helping her dad, she sat on the counter taking bites from the pizza base and stuffing her mouth with sliced cut meat (bless her).

In the end, I had to ‘help’ and make the pizza for all of us. I took a breakfast pitta, spread ketchup and chilli sauce all over it, added spring onions, red peppers, fresh basil and sliced bacon. Lastly I grilled it for 10 minutes. At this point, my daughter took interest again in the pizza and ate it all up.

I will definitely try to cook with her again, I love the idea of cooking side by side, teaching her to be creative and to have fun cooking together.

Originally posted on Foodists.ca

I was spoiled as a kid, having grown up in Yorkshire (England) I ate my fair amount of fish and chips (fried in lard for extra flavour). For those not in the know, the English ‘chip’ is like a fatter, more substantial American ‘fry’. Not many people here in Canada sell ‘chips’ as I know them, instead they sell the slim, normally limp and rather pathetic Northern American ‘fry’ which is as pleasurable as a wet handshake or soft tappy tap hug. It wasn’t until the other day that I tried a fry that I have to say was the best I have had in 10 years living in Canada.

Before I say where it was from I have to say I like good food. I have high expectations and enjoy a fancy restaurant. Maybe this is why the fries I had were so good because from where I got them I was not expecting them to be good at all. It is like going to see a movie that has been slated by reviewers, you are expecting a mediocre movie. Your expectations are set low often resulting in a surprisingly enjoyable movie.

The fries were from, wait for it … Costco. Yes, I admit it, I ate there. And they were amazing. They were crispy, fresh out of the oil, and not as limp as other fast food fries. Coupled with hot gravy, I was in fry heaven.

Where do you think the best fries in town are? Maybe we should have a fry off?

Originally posted on Foodists.ca

I’m a Yorkshire lad (pronounced York–sha) born and bred. Grew up eating scotch eggs and lard sarnies with crisps (chips) for Saturday (pronounced Sat-day) tea (evening meal).

So when I learned there was a British Butcher in town selling delights of my culinary childhood I was excited to visit.

The shop is located in North Vancouver (703 Queensbury Ave), a little off the beaten track, but is easy to find if you have a map. As soon as I walked in I noticed that it sells lots of meat products, pies as well as condiments and sweets (candy) from the mother land.

I was like a little kid who had been transported to their English youth. They sold Hula Hoops, which are crisps  in the shape of a band (like a wedding band) that you put on all your fingers and then bite them off. They sell English Mustard, like no other in the world. If you like wassabi you MUST try this, it’s amazing (my mum always brings me a jar from England when visiting).

They sell 36 different varieties of sausages. It was difficult to choose but I decided to be patriotic and buy the Yorkshire variety.

Then there was why I went, I had a craving for a Scotch egg. Put simply, imagine a circular lump of cooked sausage meet with a hard boiled egg in the middle, covered in bread crumbs, this is a Scotch egg. It was absolutely amazing. Great flavour and consistency, good quality meat, and was big enough for a small meal.

The one thing you realize when you visit the shop is how great the quality is of the products. On the website they say “we have found that it is not worth cutting corners to meet the demand as our customers have come to expect a high quality product”.

The website could do with a wee polish, but the food is first rate. Go there and spend lots and eat lots and then tell me how great it was.

Originally posted on Foodists.ca

Recently my wife purchased a spiral vegetable slicer made by Paderno World Cuisine. Last night I thought I would try it out. It is so easy to use and the results were fun. The slicer gives raw veggies a whole new interest.

I took a beet that was going a little soft and one zucchini and made veggie spaghetti out of them using the slicer. Next I made a dressing from extra virgin olive oil, lemon juice and honey and finished the dish with roasted sesame seeds.

A great raw starter or snack on a sunny day. Simple, tasty and very quick (less than five minutes).

Originally posted on Foodists.ca