New Products, Shortcake & Pigeon Update

A few bloggers have been asking me what kind of camera I bought. When I first went looking, I had in my head that I wanted a camera made by a company that is known for cameras - Minolta, Olympus, Kodak, etc. When we arrived at the store and started looking there were a few models that I liked the look of, but once we started investigating them a bit more and talking to the guy behind the counter, I found this one most appealing. It seemed to suit all of my needs and for all the added extras, it was the best deal. It's made by Panasonic, which I don't associate with cameras, but I'm loving this one. It's a Lumix TZ3. I found quite a few reviews on-line, and if you're in the market for a compact camera, you might want to check this one out. It comes in a couple of different colours, but I chose black.

OK, now a couple of product reviews. First up, more Gardein Chick'n.

Remember how I like the dijon chick'n and wanted to give the Tuscan Tomato a whirl?

I did and wasn't overly impressed. It was just OK. There wasn't a whole lot of flavour to it and the chick'n seemed to be really pressed, dense and difficult to chew. I didn't overcook it. I microwaved for the minimum amount of time given. So...I'm sticking with the dijon.

This next product I just happened to see in the frozen section one day while wasting time before work browsing around Ultra Mart.

I'd never seen or heard of these veaty bites. There were these ones, an Indian flavoured one, a Thai and a BBQ. I looked in the package and they looked like bite-sized nuggets. What the hey, I decided to get them. I wasn't sure what to expect, so I used them in a stir-fry.

Holy crap were they delicious! I fried them up a bit first, then proceeded with the vegetables; added the bites back to the pan along with a sauce I made from tamari, garlic, ginger, maple syrup a big squeeze of lime juice, a dash of sesame oil, some cornstarch to thicken a bit and served the whole thing over brown rice. I was so impressed with these veaty bites that I promptly bought more including the Thai flavour. These are a vegan product to boot! There's a website, and you can download a brochure here using Adobe and that gives more info. If you look at the site you'll see that you can also download information on their flatbreads. I saw those at the store too, so I want to try them as well. I love finding new vegetarian products. Canada is so lacking in that department. I guess we just don't have the population like USA to make it worthwhile for companies to sell here. WAAAAA!!! So not fair!! I hope these stick around. Boca Burgers came with 2 available flavours but after a year, they were gone. Muir Glen has also left.

My favorite part of the beginning of summer -

STRAWBERRIES! I think I must have bought 12-15 quarts of strawberries. A lot got eaten and a lot got frozen for winter time when the fruit options are dismal. Jim bought these for me one day on his way home. He said he drove by this strawberry farm for days and the smell wafting out of the place was like a giant strawberry. This picture are of berries that had been picked only hours before. OMG! They were soooooo good. And what is strawberry season without shortcakes.

I used small angel food cakes, lots of strawberries and some blueberries that I simmered with a bit of lemon juice and sugar to make a blueberry sauce. It was all held together with Cool Whip of course.

On the pigeon front - the eggs have hatched!! I'll post some pictures soon.