Turducken Arrival

To celebrate the holiday this year, the Urban Foodie has decided to host a Turducken feast on Boxing Day!

To get everyone up to speed, a Turducken is a deboned turkey (except for the legs and wings) stuffed with duck, chicken, and stuffing.  This particular Turducken, ordered from the Costco.ca website and sourced from Canadian company Echelon Foods, also has spicy Italian sausage in the mix!  When cut correctly, a serving yields a cross section of all te delicious components.

The ordering of this $124.99 behemoth was easy and pain free.  The order was placed on the 17th of December and a UPS shipping confirmation was received the same night for overnight delivery from Vancouver to Toronto. It was sitting on the front porch the evening of the 18th. Fantastic for an estimated delivery window of 3-7 days especially over the holidays!

Inside the cardboard box was a styrofoam container containing dry ice and the beloved Turducken. 

First impression?  

Honestly, it looked pretty dinky.  

The first inclination was to check to see how heavy this bird was but it was surprising that it didn't have any indication of how much it weighed - crucial prep info!  A huge miss on the company's part...

Regardless, figured out the Turducken weighs 10 pounds. It's heavier than the minimum advertised size of 8.8 pounds but this is supposed to feed up to 15 hungry people???  I hope so... I mean it is deboned right?

Stay tuned...

Get Hooked!

After seeing billboard after billboard promoting the double fillet-o-fish at McDonald's, I finally decided to get hooked!

If you are a fan of the fillet-o-fish like I am, you would know the best bite of the sandwich is the gooey hot centre. The tartar sauce melts the cheese and takes an otherwise sub-par fast food fish fillet and turns it into magical goodness! Accordingly, I ordered mine with extra tartar sauce to drench those fillets. It turned into a beautiful thing!

Complaints About Apo-Salvent 100 µG CFC Free Brand of Salbutamol Inhaler

According to the Ontario Drug Benefit Formulary, Apo-Salvent brand of salbutamol inhaler is considered "interchangeable" to the Ventolin brand. Therefore, in Ontario, when a doctor prescribes Ventolin, Apo-Salvent can be dispensed instead since the Ontario government has deemed both equivalent in active ingredient, mechanism of action, and most inportantly effectiveness within a small margin of error.

However, when I am working at my full-time store or my part-time stores, I encounter numerous complaints about the Apo-Salvent brand of salbutamol inhaler relative to the Ventolin brand. In a nutshell, patients complain that it does not work as effectively per puff as the Apotex brand does not relief their asthma symptoms as well. Patients also complain of failing mechanisms preventing the puffs from being dispensed properly as well as having the puffer run out of puffs well before the number marked on the box. Interestingly, patients have never compained about the Ratio brand of salbutamol inhaler.

Whether these reports are true or not, a simple solution for patients complaining about the Apotex brand is to purchase the Ventolin brand of inhaler since the cost difference is negligible. Please post your comments if you have had issues with this Apotex brand!

iPhone Alarm Clock Glitch to Ring in the 2011 New Year

Despite being one of the few individuals who had to work New Year's Eve to 10pm this year as well as the morning shift the next day at 9am, I was still determined to ring in the New Year with friends and a couple of drinks.

My only saving grace was an iPhone that would wake me up after only a couple hours of sleep to get ready for my shift on the morning of January 1st. But to my dismay, my iPhone alarm clock did not activate!!! Luckily, I slept over at a friend's with my fiancee on an uncomfortable twin bed. I woke up almost hourly that night and my internal clock sensed something was wrong.

Furious at Apple, I googled, "iPhone alarm clock not working" and to my surprise there was already a post on PC Magazine outlining the issue. Apparently there is a glitch on iPhones running firmware 4.0 or later for the alarm clock where the alarm does not activate on January 1st or 2nd, 2011 unless a reoccurring alarm is set. How is this possible?

I work as a pharmacist and if I missed work, they would not be able to open the store at all let alone the pharmacy in our jurisdiction. There would have be a lot of explaining to do to my employer from all the lost revenue!

Damn you Apple!

A Taste of Victory

Last Friday, on the 19th of November, I attended a Raptors home game against the Houston Rockets. Then, at an abysmal 3-9 record, the Raps were hurting for a win. Fortunately, they came out on top in convincing fashion with a 106-96 win. As the clock ticked down to 0 in the fourth, I screamed at the top of my lungs, "FREE PIZZA!" We all know that when the Raps score more than 100 points in a home game regardless of winning or losing, the fans attending the game at the ACC (Air Canada Centre) receive a free slice of pizza at Pizza Pizza. Winning is just icing on the cake :). So I cashed in on these free pizza slices the next day... and you know what? They tasted like victory!

You know what else tasted like victory? The food that I had the night after the game. When downtown, I can't think of better places to go to than Burrito Boyz and Smoke's Poutinerie for late night munchies. How convenient that they are both located in the same building? I went downstairs first to devour a halibut burrito at Burrito Boyz.


After that, I went upstairs to Smoke's and picked up a large poutine. I opted to go with the classic combination of fries, Quebec cheese curds, and gravy. While extras such as bacon or sausage make poutine that much heartier, often they take away from the simplicity of poutine that makes it so darn good.

I was having a bit of difficulty in finishing my poutine. I wasn't sure if it was because I just demolished a halibut burrito or the fact that I wasn't too fond of the herbal-esque quality of the gravy. Don't get me wrong, I would return to Smoke's in a heartbeat but I'm not entirely sold on this signature gravy. In my opinion, it needs to be meatier. Perhaps, this is why I prefer the gravy at Poutini's House of Poutine at Queen Street West, where the owners pride themselves on traditional gravy made in-house everyday by roasting bones and fresh vegetables. These ingredients are simmered for at least 8 hours, and from that comes a thickened, seasoned gravy.

Regardless, I am just ecstatic that there are pioneer poutine joints popping up in Toronto. Keep them coming!

The Double Down Craze

Hoo-Ray! Great news... 2 weeks in and KFC Canada has sold 350, 000 Double Down's since its inception on the Canadian market on October 18th! You know what this means? I'm not alone in enjoying this bun-less wonder! Who could deny oneself of 2 original recipe boneless chicken breasts, crispy bacon, processed pepper jack cheese, and the Colonel's special sauce? My quest for the elusive double down started even before it's Canadian debut. Having heard of a new sandwich that didn't have room for a bun in America, I knew I had to have it. I had a 6 week window and I was lucky enough to have scheduled a trip to Sin City. The closest KFC I could find near the Strip was in the Fashion Show Mall. My dreams were answered! But, to my dismay, when I ordered a double down, the man didn't have the slightest clue of what I was talking about. My trip was ruined, it was a disaster! How could the state of Nevada not have a double down? Las Vegas is the capital of double downing!!! You mean to say that I couldn't eat a double down whilst doubling down on an 11 at a Blackjack table? Preposterous! Weeks later, back in Toronto, I was down but not defeated. I convinced my future-to-be fiancee to go on a road trip to Buffalo, a 2 hour drive, to get a double down. No exaggeration. I Googled the closest one to the U.S. / Canadian border and went for it. On arrival, the place looked run down... but I didn't care, we had arrived! It was like I found El Dorado! Unfortunately for me, after tasting the double down, I was in denial. It was ... ... dry? It wasn't as moist as I had hoped. The cheese wasn't melted. The bacon was limp. I was in shock. I drove all this way for this??? I blamed it on the location. What kind of KFC runs out of ketchup? I returned back to Toronto in silence. No stories would be told. But, when I heard the double down was coming to Canada, I had to give it a second chance. I casually dropped into a KFC at Vaughn Mills mall a week before its debut and oddly enough it was already on sale. I'm sure you'd know why I didn't question this. Here I was, with my double down. Round 2. I closed my eyes and took a bite... IT WAS MOIST... everything came together. It was magical. Caution: It was hot! One beef: It wasn't as big as I remembered it the first time... So I couldn't resist downing 2 Teen burgers for $5. :P Anyways, if this food adventure does not convince you to try a double down before it's gone for good, I don't know what will... TAKE ONE DOWN!

The McRib: Chalk it up to Good Marketing

Recently, my friend e-mailed me a link to an article at NY Daily News regarding the beloved return of the McRib nationwide in the States. The reason? They quoted Jenny Wu, a fan of the McRib, who apparently sounds a lot like me when I rant about food. In the article, she is quoted, "I'm going to eat as many as I can until I throw up. It's so tasty! We don't know what animals McDonald's killed to make the McRib, but we don't care because it tastes so good. The McRib is so elusive. It comes out sporadically and then it's gone again, like a unicorn." Well said! But I do disagree with the comment about throwing up. While it emphasizes her point about how delicious the McRib is, it does not do the sandwich justice to expel its contents. Instead, it must be kept down. Only in that manner can the McRib become part of your soul!

I would also like to point out that the article wrongly claims that the McRib returns after 16 years. That would place the last McRib release during the summer of 1994 when it was co-released with the Flintstones live action movie. But don't we remember the McRib Farewell tour in 2005? And subsequently, there have been numerous farewell tours. In Canada, I remember picking it up at the Eaton Centre in Toronto during the spring of 2008. Perhaps we can attribute this forgetfulness to good marketing on McDonald’s part.

But alas, I don’t see what the fascination is about the McRib. To me, it doesn’t have that certain “it” factor or the “je ne sais quoi” that I find even with the regular McDonald’s line-up. Or perhaps, I don’t like how it masquerades as a rib sandwich. More like rib shaped pork if you ask me. If I wanted rib shaped pork, I’d nuke up a Hungry-Man Backyard Barbeque.

Now that I have alienated all McRib lovers, I’d like to apologize. Really, my opinion doesn’t count. Rejoice why you still can!!! You have about 6 weeks! GO NOW!

P.S. It seems that this offer only stands nationwide in the States. For my Canadian McRib lovers, you got some driving south of the border to do to get your fix.