Cows Ice Cream at Banff

I'm on the road in Alberta, Canada! I'm now in this beautiful town called Banff, which is nestled right among the Rockies - I see mountain peaks everywhere I go.

I had COWS Ice Cream earlier. I was really excited about it because the couple of times I passed by the shop, it had this long line of customers; also, it was really easy to spot someone holding a COWS Ice Cream around town. According to Maryam, Banff is famous for COWS. Or is it that COWS is famous in Banff? Whatever it is, some COWS for me it is!

Dinner/Dessert:

COWS Ice Cream, Single Cone

Flavor: Cowberry

I sampled two other flavors: Don Cherry and Mint Chocolate Chip. Those were good and flavourful; of course I would have ended up choosing Cowberry, which frankly is just bland and underwhelming. The berries in it are kind of frozen as well - and frozen fruit is my least favourite thing in the world.

Why did I choose Cowberry? It's only because the berries were "from Prince Edward island". and I thought, I can get Cherry and Mint Chocolate Chip anywhere in the world; but one does not get Prince Edward Island berries everyday.

So much for local flavour, eh? It was so bland it actually tasted like sorbet gone cheap.

On second thought; it might actually be sorbet or some form of froyo, mistaken by me as ice cream. In that case, minus further five points from COWS for doing such a bad job with their menu. Their menu was actually kind of hard to navigate and unintuitive; how more ambiguous can you get with "Single Cone", "Double Cone"? While "Single Cone" is passably understandable (okay... single scoop on single cone...), what on earth exactly is a "Double Cone" ... for all we know it can be two cones on ice cream, you know? (Now wouldn't that be funny...)

They have a board of "Today's Flavours" up; however no distinction whatsoever between the sorbets and real ice creams. I'm fairly sure that they have frozen yogurt in the mix, it's just that we wouldn't be able to tell that by the flavour name.

Also I think it's fair to expect to learn right off the bat, from any world-famous ice cream parlour's menu, how many scoops and flavours one can get with one serving.  But no, I had to ask!

I'm fine about asking; but dear God, the answer didn't please >.< It's really about 4 CAD per scoop per cone, per flavour... That's pretty expensive...

Anyway, COWS may be Banff or Canadian famous, but it's nowhere competitive enough for the ones we have in New England - yep, not even the Ben & Jerry's food court stalls haha. It's such a given among New England ice cream vendors to distinguish between ice cream, gelato, yogurt, sorbet - which I think is important to show a sort of expertise in the dessert making process.

Also, while it may seem that COWS had a wide array of flavours for us to choose from, they were really all just about the same: same old chocolate peanut butter chips fudge candy pieces caramel etc... it's like COWS mixed the same ingredients differently and called it a different flavour.

Whereas New England ice creamers are hardcore about churning out new, exciting flavours by the month. Hemp, watermelon, cucumber... you name it!

Finally - New England ice creams sell so much cheaper, for more scoops, with better flavour choices, with fancier cones.

New England ice cream culture for the win! COWS got nothing on them.

However, COWS are good at one thing - making a brand for themselves. Half of the shop is for selling COWS merchandise and tees - which I admit are pretty fun to look at :) They pretty much exhausted the world's supply of pop culture references.

Tomato Chutney Recipe

Got this from the Copley Square Farmers' Market Facebook page. Can't wait to try it:

I just made a tomato chutney that's really easy to make, and you can use it instead of sugary ketchup. 

3 large tomatoes, skinned and smushed up.
1/2 onion, finely chopped
1 1/2 Tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
Dash of cinnamon
Dash of allspice

Combine ingredients in saucepan and simmer for 15-20 minutes until the mixture reduces. Makes about a cup.

Shrunken Chicken

Breakfast:

I mindlessly stuck one of the leftover chicken piece in the microwave for 2 mins. This is what became of it -

- shrunken, hard, and hence inedible. :(

Lesson: Guys, never stick cold chicken into the microwave for two minutes straight...

So I microwaved the last piece for a considerably shorter time (forgot how long), and with a wet kitchen napkin over it (to provide moisture). I ate this on-the-go with some grape jelly. The grape jelly was kind of imperative given how tasteless the chicken was...

Grape Jelly on Baked Chicken

(Come on, it's not that weird... or is it?)

I also had a whole avocado prior to the on-the-go chicken. It was a bit too ripe so it became quite a task to peel and cut it without squishing all the flesh...

Overripe Squishy Avocado

Lesson: Guys, ripe avocado is tasty and soft, but peel it with a knife or slicer - not by scratching with your fingers...

Also I realized this: for a fruit, avocado is a ridiculously filling. It's packed with 300 calories each, which is a lot, but considering how it suppresses your appetite for the next... six hours or so... it can be a pretty helpful for dieters!

Dinner at Five Napkin Burger:

Thankfully my dinner was a normal affair :) Weird girl needs some normalcy in her diet once in a while!

5N Cheeseburger and Fries

Menu desription:

raw onion, lettuce & tomato,

5N sauce, sesame brioche roll - $13.95

I shared the burger with boyfriend, that's why the other half is gone. Fries were out of picture too because it was the boyfriend's domain. Boyfriend generally disapproves of food picture-taking :( calls the practice lame.

The "5N" sauce, to my untrained amateur tastebuds, is a lot like any regular thousand island dressing sauce. I loved the roll - it was toasted crunchy, and it felt like I was eating chips :p I had fun breaking them into bits and eating them with 5N sauce or ketchup!

I usually do not enjoy burgers because I like my meat seasoned and flavoured. However I got so distracted with the 5N sauce this time so I forgot to gauge if the patty on its own had good flavour...

Boyfriend did not finish the fries, so I had them packed in a box for...

Next Day's Breakfast:

Leftover Soggy Fries

Warmed in the microwave.

Boyfriend calls me weird for liking soggy fries but I think they're the best. Fresh-out-of-the-broiler fries feels like firecrackers in my mouth, and makes me feel like I'm going to get ulcer right there and then! Soggy fries on the other hand are soft and squishy and cool, just like the potatoes they used to be...

I also finally got round to eating the mango I bought last week -

Weirdly-Sliced Mango

Spot the core at the top left corner. (Minus 10 points for lazy presentation) Some mango pieces were out of the photo because I saved those in another box for boyfriend, who, in hardcore-New-Englander fashion, never tried mangoes in his life...

Baked Chicken & Alta Strada

Breakfast:

Baked Chicken coated with

Crushed Bits of Post Grape Nuts Cereal

Discounted chicken breast meat from Roche Bros; deboned, deskinned, frozen for a couple of days.

Melted some butter in the microwave. Didn't melt it enough (only 10 secs on the microwave) so I was just forcing hard butter bits on the chicken meat with my fingers haha.

Then I poured those tiny crushed cereal bits (that gets left at the bottom of the bag) on the chicken. Baked for about 35 mins.

Chicken was tasteless; had to use some Grape Jelly on it to make the experience more enjoyable.

At least it was a filling protein-rich meal! Didn't feel the need to snack for the next 5 hours :D

Also, I'm saving the other two pieces for the next couple of days. I'll be ready with Grape Jelly...

Dinner at Alta Strada, Wellesley:

Spicy Chitarra with Lobster, Shrimp, Tomato and Basil

Price on Menu: $ 23
(We used a voucher though)

I asked for no spice because I generally don't take spicy well.

Dish was really satisfying for me especially after the underwhelming breakfast and lack of proper lunch. The chitarra had a nice springy texture to it - like instant noodles cooked properly :p Also there was enough shrimp and lobster bits in it to pass. One complaint though - it tasted a bit too salty. I suspect it's because I asked to take the spice out; perhaps the saltiness would have gone well with some hotness.

Lesson: Guys, if it says "spicy" on the menu, know that it's probably there for a good reason... Instead of no-spicy, ask for light- or toned-down spicy.

Boyfriend had Fresh Cheese Ravioli with Tomato and Basil Sauce - he said it was good. Which is saying a lot because he's the pickiest, most high-maintenance eater I know.

He also ordered coke, which turned out to be 3 dollars. =.= He didn't finish the drink, because it wasn't real Coca-cola. "Probably some expensive, high-class variant of it. And it's also Diet."

While CVS, just right across the road, is selling full-litre bottles of Pepsi at 88 cents.

Commencement Catered Lunch

Starting off with a not-so-lousy lunch at Commencement back in May, catered by the campus food service company.

Basically, regular dining hall meal but done outdoors, in a tent.

Yep, I'm calling a dining hall meal decent :) My standards are easy.

Clockwise from top:

Some Sub with Squash and Raisins

Biscotti

Angel Biscuit
"Seven Layer" Nut Bar

Brace yourself guys, it's going downhill from here :)