I've been going to Swiss Chalet since I was a child, I even had the dress to wear whenever we went. Very Swiss in nature. However it blew my mind when I first found out there was a St. Hubert. I was so excited to try it, and to find out it was actually the original in the rotisserie chicken with odd red dipping sauce department. Now that I've moved to Montreal, there are even more competitors in the ring. Two I know of are Scores (a pretty big chain still) and Au Coq. I will attempt to compare the three I have tried here.
Sauce - The Swiss chalet is almost like a spicy tomato soup style gravy. Probably abhorrent to anyone not accustomed to it. St. Hubert sauce is similar except far thinner. Scores sauce again, has a somewhat tomato taste but much more like gravy. I prefer the Swiss Chalet sauce the most but if you haven't grown up on it, you will probably like the St. Hubert one better.
Price - They are all almost the same price, actually within pennies ($10.50 for white meat), but they include different things. Swiss chalet is just the quarter chicken and one side (and the bun). St. Hubert is the same but you get unlimited coleslaw (at Swiss Chalet this is $2 and not unlimited). Scores throws in the above sans coleslaw but you get unlimited access to the soup, salad and fruit bar. But don't get too excited. The soup is good, salad is average, but the fruit is unwashed whole fruits like apples, pears etc. and then a few sliced ones, pretty disappointing.
Chicken - St. Hubert probably has the best chicken. The breast gets you a lot of meat, the skin is tasty and it's moist. It's a reeeeally close call from the Swiss Chalet. Scores is good too but you definitely get less meat.
Fries - I prefer the Swiss Chalet fries the most. But they are odd, sort of weathered, broken down bits of browned fries, like they spent too long in the cooker. Apparently that's how I like them. St. Hubert and Scores have your average, normal fry.
Coleslaw - Swiss Chalet has the best coleslaw, but you only get one with a creamy sauce. St. Hubert you can get a vinaigrette or mayonnaise sauce.
Overall, St. Hubert is probably the best quality and ambience. But I'm still a sucker for Swiss Chalet. And Scores well... if I was in the neighborhood, maybe...
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Friday, November 13, 2009
Montreal Shopping - Chabanel Street (Rue Chabanel)
I had read about this great, factory-direct shopping available on Chabanel St. and also read some pretty poor reviews. The area of Chabanel is from St. Laurent to L'Acadie. It is cheaper from St. Laurent on and luckily only one side of the road so you can make your way along. I had been under the impression that the deals were had because you got samples etc. directly from the factory in which they were made. It's worth checking this out just for the oddity.
Imagine a deserted office building, where each "office" is a bare room just like a factory. However, every piece of clothing is unpacked from boxes, not created on site, and most often, made in China. It was getting pretty depressing making my way along the street. Some of the items seemed to be throwbacks to the 80's and not the fashionable retro look. However, there were a few gems along the way.
111 Chabanel on the ground floor, there is a nice store with fabulous discounts on luggage. For example, a spinning Atlantic suitcase is $50, whereas at the Bay, it is over $100, I think approaching $200. They are floor models, or ones with a flaws, so you have to watch out. Nevertheless, they had some genuine brand name items at good prices.
353 Chabanel advertises Groggy clothes and the front of the store is rather pricey. However make your way to the back and you will find the sample room. Hoodies for women are $5 and up, but $10 gets you a really nice Dickies brand hoodie. Most are extra small or small, since they are samples so won't work for everyone. I picked up 2 great $5 hoodies there.
Keep going down the road to L'Acadie and on the other side of the street you will see a block of stores. Some are outlet stores, but not all. Here you will find all the big names like Aldo, La Senza, Tommy Hilfiger etc. Also a Costco.
So is it worth it? Knowing what I know now, I would go back if I needed luggage or more $5 hoodies but I wouldn't go to any of the other stores on Chabanel. However it is a really unique experience, so I would recommend it if you have never been.
Imagine a deserted office building, where each "office" is a bare room just like a factory. However, every piece of clothing is unpacked from boxes, not created on site, and most often, made in China. It was getting pretty depressing making my way along the street. Some of the items seemed to be throwbacks to the 80's and not the fashionable retro look. However, there were a few gems along the way.
111 Chabanel on the ground floor, there is a nice store with fabulous discounts on luggage. For example, a spinning Atlantic suitcase is $50, whereas at the Bay, it is over $100, I think approaching $200. They are floor models, or ones with a flaws, so you have to watch out. Nevertheless, they had some genuine brand name items at good prices.
353 Chabanel advertises Groggy clothes and the front of the store is rather pricey. However make your way to the back and you will find the sample room. Hoodies for women are $5 and up, but $10 gets you a really nice Dickies brand hoodie. Most are extra small or small, since they are samples so won't work for everyone. I picked up 2 great $5 hoodies there.
Keep going down the road to L'Acadie and on the other side of the street you will see a block of stores. Some are outlet stores, but not all. Here you will find all the big names like Aldo, La Senza, Tommy Hilfiger etc. Also a Costco.
So is it worth it? Knowing what I know now, I would go back if I needed luggage or more $5 hoodies but I wouldn't go to any of the other stores on Chabanel. However it is a really unique experience, so I would recommend it if you have never been.
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Boeuf Bourguignon - "Julia Childs'" Style
Like many people, after watching Julie and Julia, I felt compelled to try the one dish they kept babbling about in the movie. It wasn't hard to find the recipe: http://cooking.knopfdoubleday.com/2009/07/13/julia-childs-boeuf-bourguignon-recipe/
or should I say recipes, as it relies on three. However most people know how to sauté mushrooms. However I usually don't do so with butter AND oil. Extravagant.
Anyways, if you don't know the history, I feel that Julia Childs got a little too much credit for this dish. I spent some time reading the wikipedia entry, which describes in detail the exact way her book indicates (which I don't think is from her book, rather Auguste Escoffier should be credited). And if you've seen the movie, you know she pretty much just wrote her name on someone else's cookbook (after rewriting it over and over again in simpler words) to sell it to Americans. A job well done I might add.
With that out of the way, some comments about the recipe. I didn't have a chunk of bacon, but I did have breakfast bacon so I used that instead. It worked out perfectly. However I read that since meat these days is well marbled with fat, you don't necessarily have to use bacon, but I mean c'mon, bacon makes everything better right? You also don't need to use wine but then the recipe is totally ruined. No bacon, no wine? It's not even a French dish anymore!
From then on, I followed the recipe word for sometimes confusing word. In the end it was upwards of 3 hours before I had a completed meal (and I enslaved my mom and Andreas to complete it). It doesn't look like much but it was really worth it. The meat was unbelievably tender. The taste very complex. I would do it all over again.
La pièce de résistance...
or should I say recipes, as it relies on three. However most people know how to sauté mushrooms. However I usually don't do so with butter AND oil. Extravagant.
Anyways, if you don't know the history, I feel that Julia Childs got a little too much credit for this dish. I spent some time reading the wikipedia entry, which describes in detail the exact way her book indicates (which I don't think is from her book, rather Auguste Escoffier should be credited). And if you've seen the movie, you know she pretty much just wrote her name on someone else's cookbook (after rewriting it over and over again in simpler words) to sell it to Americans. A job well done I might add.
With that out of the way, some comments about the recipe. I didn't have a chunk of bacon, but I did have breakfast bacon so I used that instead. It worked out perfectly. However I read that since meat these days is well marbled with fat, you don't necessarily have to use bacon, but I mean c'mon, bacon makes everything better right? You also don't need to use wine but then the recipe is totally ruined. No bacon, no wine? It's not even a French dish anymore!
From then on, I followed the recipe word for sometimes confusing word. In the end it was upwards of 3 hours before I had a completed meal (and I enslaved my mom and Andreas to complete it). It doesn't look like much but it was really worth it. The meat was unbelievably tender. The taste very complex. I would do it all over again.
La pièce de résistance...
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Jailbreak Iphone 3.0
I tried this for quite some time before I got the tricks down. I kept getting an ITunes 1600 and 1604 error. So here is what worked for me:
Download Pwnage Tool 3.0 (sorry only works on Macs for now)
Go through the stage of creating the IPSW. It will then tell you to close the tool, start itunes and restore from the custom IPSW.
DO NOT CLOSE PWNAGE TOOL!!!! If you do, then you will always get the errors above. Just leave it open once you've entered DFU mode and don't touch it!
Then when ITunes comes up, (btw, beforehand I went to preferences and unchecked the check automatically for updates option, not sure whether this makes a difference) it will say found an iphone in recovery mode. Hold down the option key on the mac and press restore (or the shift key on windows). Then select the custom IPSW and away you go.
Now I simply wait for ultrasn0w to be released so I can unlock this thing!
As a side note, I have an AT&T phone that I use with Fido. In order to complete the 3.0 installation through ITunes, I had to put my AT&T sim back in otherwise I kept getting an incorrect sim error in ITunes. Hopefully this doesn't mean my sim is reactivated and I have to pay AT&T again!
Download Pwnage Tool 3.0 (sorry only works on Macs for now)
Go through the stage of creating the IPSW. It will then tell you to close the tool, start itunes and restore from the custom IPSW.
DO NOT CLOSE PWNAGE TOOL!!!! If you do, then you will always get the errors above. Just leave it open once you've entered DFU mode and don't touch it!
Then when ITunes comes up, (btw, beforehand I went to preferences and unchecked the check automatically for updates option, not sure whether this makes a difference) it will say found an iphone in recovery mode. Hold down the option key on the mac and press restore (or the shift key on windows). Then select the custom IPSW and away you go.
Now I simply wait for ultrasn0w to be released so I can unlock this thing!
As a side note, I have an AT&T phone that I use with Fido. In order to complete the 3.0 installation through ITunes, I had to put my AT&T sim back in otherwise I kept getting an incorrect sim error in ITunes. Hopefully this doesn't mean my sim is reactivated and I have to pay AT&T again!
Friday, March 6, 2009
Canadian Intern Doing US/Canada Taxes
I wish I had been able to find a step by step guide on how to do my taxes, so here's my try at helping out. A bit of background, I did my internship in California and am a BC resident.
Since US taxes are due before Canada taxes, and you have to claim US taxes on your Canadian taxes, you should do those first (and as soon as possible).
What you will need to fill out is your local state taxes and the federal 1040NR-EZ (NR for non-resident and EZ is for easy and will apply to most situations).
I found the easiest way was to use a web program to do the California taxes and then e-file them. I used taxact.com for $7. You have to mail in the federal tax form and they don't support it so you have to do that completely separately.
For federal taxes (1040NR-EZ), I found this site: https://www.visataxes.com/software/forms/Form1040NR-EZ.php, and it's free and will generate a pdf for you. Watch it though because on line 23a, it will not tick that you want it either held for next year or given back. Make sure to check one! (probably that you want it back :) ).
Don't forget that anything you paid on your income form is tax deductible. For example I had to pay a California State Disability Insurance (CA SDI) that I declared on my federal tax and that saved me $40.
Once you mail that back and hear back (from state and federal), then you are ready to move on to your Canadian taxes.
Moving on to your Canadian taxes... I am using ufile.ca which is free for students, and basically how it goes is that you enter foreign income made, and any foreign income tax paid and also any donations you might have made in a foreign country. The program will fill in the accepted exchange rate (about 1 this year) and also calculate a foreign tax credit on your Canadian taxes, so that you're not double taxed.
Hope that helps!
Since US taxes are due before Canada taxes, and you have to claim US taxes on your Canadian taxes, you should do those first (and as soon as possible).
What you will need to fill out is your local state taxes and the federal 1040NR-EZ (NR for non-resident and EZ is for easy and will apply to most situations).
I found the easiest way was to use a web program to do the California taxes and then e-file them. I used taxact.com for $7. You have to mail in the federal tax form and they don't support it so you have to do that completely separately.
For federal taxes (1040NR-EZ), I found this site: https://www.visataxes.com/software/forms/Form1040NR-EZ.php, and it's free and will generate a pdf for you. Watch it though because on line 23a, it will not tick that you want it either held for next year or given back. Make sure to check one! (probably that you want it back :) ).
Don't forget that anything you paid on your income form is tax deductible. For example I had to pay a California State Disability Insurance (CA SDI) that I declared on my federal tax and that saved me $40.
Once you mail that back and hear back (from state and federal), then you are ready to move on to your Canadian taxes.
Moving on to your Canadian taxes... I am using ufile.ca which is free for students, and basically how it goes is that you enter foreign income made, and any foreign income tax paid and also any donations you might have made in a foreign country. The program will fill in the accepted exchange rate (about 1 this year) and also calculate a foreign tax credit on your Canadian taxes, so that you're not double taxed.
Hope that helps!
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Germans and their Print on Demand
About a year ago, I was approached by a german printing company (VDM-Verlag) that wanted to create a book out of my master's thesis. It has recently gone to print (or atleast the template has since it's print on demand), and I should be getting my copy soon and it will be on Amazon. Pretty cool, I will post the link. However, Andreas recently discovered a much more compelling print on demand than that scientific mumbo jumbo.
Some of you may know that I was trying my hand(s) at writing a novel myself. I thought it would be easier to get in with romance since it's responsible for something like half of novel sales, and eHarlequin is a pretty good place to start. I have indeed started something but it needs a lot of work.
These tacky romance novels definitely all follow the same format and we even discussed using a generator, similar to the one used to create CS papers: http://pdos.csail.mit.edu/scigen/
But now it gets really cool, it's not exactly a generator, but it is print on demand and you can edit the results. Check out this site: http://personalnovel.de/py/taggenre?Genre=English%20Books
Great gift for your friend, just change Dr. Troy to Dr. Matthews and you're all set. Even change the names to be something really disturbing, like their name and the name of their boss for a great April Fool's day joke. But what is really enjoyable is reading the synopsis'.
"Heavenly emotions with one love scene at the end"
"Vampire story with phantasy background, two love scenes"
and now... with that being said, what is with this one?!?
"Mysterious events in an exotic location, without love scene, with one dog"
what does the dog have to do with it? Almost makes me want to buy the book to find out!
Some of you may know that I was trying my hand(s) at writing a novel myself. I thought it would be easier to get in with romance since it's responsible for something like half of novel sales, and eHarlequin is a pretty good place to start. I have indeed started something but it needs a lot of work.
These tacky romance novels definitely all follow the same format and we even discussed using a generator, similar to the one used to create CS papers: http://pdos.csail.mit.edu/scigen/
But now it gets really cool, it's not exactly a generator, but it is print on demand and you can edit the results. Check out this site: http://personalnovel.de/py/taggenre?Genre=English%20Books
Great gift for your friend, just change Dr. Troy to Dr. Matthews and you're all set. Even change the names to be something really disturbing, like their name and the name of their boss for a great April Fool's day joke. But what is really enjoyable is reading the synopsis'.
"Heavenly emotions with one love scene at the end"
"Vampire story with phantasy background, two love scenes"
and now... with that being said, what is with this one?!?
"Mysterious events in an exotic location, without love scene, with one dog"
what does the dog have to do with it? Almost makes me want to buy the book to find out!
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