Archive for February, 2008
Office Lunches: New York Deli Style Philly Cheesesteak, Sesame Snaps and Dole Fruit Bowl
I don’t really care much about lunch. I know I should have proper lunches but I really cannot stomach a full lunch everyday. Even with all the running that I am doing these days, my weight would still hover around the 4 kg overweight region. I know what the real problem is … I pig out during the weekends.
For today’s lunch, the appetizer was sesame snaps, the entree was the Philly Cheese Steak sandwich and dessert was the Dole fruit bowl.
I had sesame snaps yesterday too. That is the big problem about shopping in Costco. Almost everything we buy comes in bulk packaging and that means that we end up eating the same stuff for a while.
We came across the Raybern New York Deli Style Hot Sandwich while shopping in (where else?) Costco. It came in very bright and delightful packaging that one cannot miss. We bought the Philly Cheesesteak but they also have others such as:
- Pastrami and cheese
- Italian Chicken Club
- Chipotle Southwest Steak
- Chicken Bacon Ranch
Preparing this is simple … just pop it into the microwave and it’s all ready.
There are six in a box and each sandwich carries 420 calories. It was much much better than I expected form frozen deli sandwiches. As a matter of fact, it really tastes like the real stuff although texture-wise, I could really tell that this is not freshly made. As a frozen sandwich, I’ll rate this 4.5 of 5. I am not sure if they do have this in Costco Canada though, as we got it from Bellingham, WA.
I enjoy the Dole Fruit Bowl. They come on several types. The one I had was mandarin oranges. I am amazed how they managed to peel the membrane off so cleanly. I am pretty sure the membranes are removed mechanically because if they were done by hand, it would not be that perfect and would have costs a lot more.
Popularity: 11% [?]
Office Lunches: T&T in Metrotown
LOL!
I see I had busted some myth about myself with this series on Office Lunches. Oh yeah, David … it is true … I eat these stuff and they are not bad too.
I had planned to run after work again sometime last week. So Suanne gave me a bowl noodle soup to bring to work. She threw in a mandarin orange and sesame snaps. I don’t quite like this bowl noodle but at least it is convenient.
I like Mandarin oranges and like it more than any other type of oranges. Tell me how you eat this. For me, I pick off every single vine and split the segments. It is Chinese New Year season and we see a lot of these in the Asian stores these days. BTW, did you know that China produces half of the world’s supply of mandarin oranges?
I’ll be having sesame snaps for a long time to come. Suanne just bought a big box of it and from the looks of it, it will last us at least a couple of months. I would think it is pretty healthy, after all sesame seed does have calcium and some nutrition. Taste wise, it is quite sweet. Actually it is more sweet than it is sesame.
You can get this in pretty every store and price wise, there are very little else that can beat sesame snaps. You will find it many times in the check out counters.
Well, I did not eat the bowl of noodle soup. Grant asked if I wanted to go out for lunch and seeing that I am running today, I thought why not since too I have no meetings for the rest of the day. It’s good to get out once in a while.
I reasoned that at least if I eat more than usual today, I’ll burn them off during the run. That way I don’t have to feel so guilty. We went across Kingsway to Metrotown. Hey, I heard that Metrotown is the second largest mall in Canada, is that right?
We decided to check out the new food section in the T&T supermarket. This place used to be a small food court until T&T took over this place and made it a to-go food court. If you have never been here before, you absolutely must check it out. Although you see T&T’s all over Metro Vancouver, this place is simply the biggest of them all and no where else beats them in terms of variety.
Although most people buy them to-go, there is a small section for people who choose to eat-in.
I bought myself a BBQ Mackerel Lunch Box. I absolutely dig this stuff. And it costs only $4.99. I like the way the rice is cooked, not soggy but dry. That piece of mackerel too was a tad too dry but otherwise quite tasty. On the sides were carrots, eggs, rolls and some vermicelli.
You know what is the secret ingredient here? It’s the Kikoman Soy Sauce, I kid you not. There are no better soy sauce than Kikoman’s and at home, I insist on buying only Kikoman’s sauce. T&T gives only 1 pack of the soy sauce. Additional ones are 10 cents each … that is daylight robbery, if you ask me. Soy sauce should be free, just like ketchup in a burger joint.
Popularity: 8% [?]
Did You Subscribe to Chowtimes’ Feed?
Hey All:
If you had been reading chowtimes.com via a feed reader, could you please remove your old subscription and resubscribe again? I am going to discontinue the old URL address and use a new one which is this: http://chowtimes.com/feed/
Thanks, Ben
Popularity: 4% [?]
Office Lunches: English Muffins, Fruit Parfaits and Krispy Fruits
This office selection is a bit more filling. At least there is a sandwich. You will notice that Suanne generally packs my snacks and lunches in threes. I think the constant is always a snack and something fruity.
For lunch today it is another Krispy Fruit snack, a Dole Fruit Parfaits and something I look forward to, a English Muffin Sandwich.
We bought the English Muffin Sandwiches from Costco. We had been buying a lot of these kind of microwaveable lunches from Costco in Bellingham. The selection in the Costco in the US is more wider than what we find in the Costco in Vancouver.
The English Muffin Sandwiches cames in a box of ten and in two flavours:
- Bacon, Egg and Cheese
- Sausage, Egg and Cheese
Each of them had 390 calories. So, it was not too bad, I guess. It is equivalent to McDonald’s McMuffin breakfast sandwiches.
The microwave instructions is quite complicated. There are quite a number of steps. Here are the steps:
- Remove sandwich from wrapper.
- Separate the meat and egg from the rest of the sandwich and heat:
- For Sausage & Egg: 80 seconds.
- For Bacon & Egg: 50 seconds.
- Place the meat and egg back in the sandwich between the cheese slices and English muffins.
- Microwave for another 35 seconds.
- Turn sandwich over and microwave for another 35 seconds.
Despite the multi-step instructions, the result was pretty good and taste almost like Mickey D’s Mc Muffins. It is not at all dry and was pretty moist. I like it.
For dessert, it was the Dole Fruit Parfaits. It has real fruit on top of a smooth layer of deliciously light creme. The cream layer taste like vanilla yogurt.
I love the Krispy Fruit tubes from Krispy Kernels. They have a good variety of nuts and fruits. Again, we bought these in Costco. I munch on them all morning long and does a good job of staving away the hunger pangs until lunch time.
Popularity: 8% [?]
Office Lunches: French Twists, Beef Jerky and Banana
This may come to you as a shock but really, this is what I normally have for “lunch” almost everyday. People in my office do at times is a bit taken aback at what I had. I generally snack throughout the day. Suanne will prep different things for me every morning before I go to work.
So, breakfasts and lunches are generally light for me.
For this day, I had French Twists, beef jerky and a banana. I start snacking normally at about 10AM when I start feeling hungry. I’ll have a twist, followed by a piece of jerky and hour later and then the banana …
We bought the French Twists from Costco. It comes in two flavours and it’s sweet and light. This seems like a healthy snack from the packaging. I like it … it’s tasty.
Here are some words from the founder we found on their site:
At the age of 42, I suffered a major heart attack. After bypass surgery, my doctors instructed me to limit my cholesterol intake, to exercise more, and to stay within the Heart Association’s recommended diet. To stay committed to a healthier lifestyle, my diet needed some excitement. As a sweet lover, I searched for a treat that I could enjoy without guilt. After months of experimentation, the Original French Twist was born. Layer upon layer of puff pastry dough sprinkled with cinnamony sweet goodness. The only things we have left out are cholesterol, eggs, butter, and yeast.
The French Twist can be frozen in their bag if desired. Just let them defrost to room temperature before eating.
We had blogged about this beef jerky before. This one came from Polly who often gives us packets of Jerkies to try. You know, I don’t think we had ever bought Soo Jerkies before and all the jerkies we had was from Polly. The most popular jerkies in Vancouver is Soo Jerkies which has a factory in Richmond near Steveston.
Banana is a great source of Vitamin C and fiber. We always had a bunch of banana at home. It’s not always eaten and when it gets too ripe, Suanne uses that for baking. Most bananas that we have in Canada is from Ecuador who is the largest exporter of bananas in the world. Ecuador supplies a whopping 30% of the world’s export market.
Popularity: 6% [?]
Office Lunches: My Office
Bear with me for one more day. I have a few more things to share with all of you before I embark on the Office Lunches series proper. Yesterday, I showed you my desk. Today, I am going to show a bit around the office. I’ll stay off sensitive areas, of course.
Being an aviation systems company, there are lots of plastic plane models all over the office. We get them from the airlines we support. I wish I had one but I don’t. If there is one I really covet, it is the Singapore Airline’s Airbus 380. I guess I could buy one myself but they are really expensive, like $50 bucks or so.
The office has an almost great view from the north side of the building. I said almost because there is this two residential building that is blocking the view of the north shore mountains. I am proud of our north shore mountains because on a clear and bright day, the mountains never fail to make every new visitor to Vancouver drop their jaw.
The snow this year had been a lot more then the past previous years but I think we had seen the last of them already. I am so looking forward to spring and spending more time outdoors.
We have a small kitchenette, if you can call it a kitchenette. I don’t wanna complain but it is often quite messy. The sink always have dirty dishes, cups or cutlery in it. Most people are neat and cleans up after themselves but a handful does not. Let’s see, we have a fridge, a dishwasher, a kettle, a toaster, and two microwaves.
It’s quite well equipped but we keep on losing cutlery. We just had a brand new set a few months ago and what I can see now is a couple of spoons and forks. Some people must have stashed in in their desk and forgot about it.
Just a month ago, we found that someone had food in their drawer for months. It created a huge stink throughout the office when it was discovered and someone opened up the plastic bag containing the bad food. Yucks! Made me throw up.
We love our coffee machine — errr, espresso machine. I remembered that it was a big deal when this was first bought and how the previous boss raved over the fact it costs $2000. It is fully automatic … grinds the beans only when you want a brew and makes all kinds of coffee. The only thing this can’t do is to discard the ground coffee.
I used to have several cups a day and my favourite is the latte. I don’t drink coffee here anymore. Wanted to cut down on this stuff and have water instead.
The office is pretty good … well except for the washroom. Firstly there are only ONE stall for the men’s in the entire floor. I don’t know how they plan this at all. That is not my pet peeve.
My pet peeve is that the sensor is super-sensitive. It flushes by itself every time you twitch a muscle. It is supposed to flush only after use. You can imagine how annoying this is when it flushes five times doing your business. The splashes gets your bum quite wet too. You know what I mean.
Some smart alec (don’t know who) creatively stuck a “Windows Vista” logo on the sensor unit. I thought it was kind of funny.
There is a technique around not getting yourself flushed five times. I know it’s crude but it works.
Tomorrow, I’ll tell you about food … honest.
Popularity: 5% [?]
