VanAussie Daily

Milo in Canada sucks.

Sunday, January 24th, 2010

So I’ve been stewing on this one for a while, but I’m just going to come out and say it.

Milo in Canada sucks.

No other words for it. Well, there’s actually quite a few other words for it, but no positive ones… It’s really just drinking chocolate with a slight malty flavour.

About the coolest thing about it is the french on the tin

“Hot Milo” becomes “Milo Chaud”

“The Energy Drink” becomes “La Boisson Energetique”

“Chocolate Malt Drink Mix” becomes “Melange pour boisson au chocolat et au malt”

It all makes it sound so much more exotic, really

This has actually inspired me to start a new section of the CanAussie.com forum: Aussie Food Tips! In there you can tell the world if you found Tim Tams somewhere, or whatever… It’s all about the important stuff!

UPDATE: Don’t be tempted to buy Ovaltine as a Milo substitute! It tastes like a mix between Vegemite and home brand drinking chocolate… and it’s not good!

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Posted in Different things in Canada, Food | 11 Comments »

Coffee coffee coffee…

Tuesday, December 22nd, 2009

Three things about coffee in Canada:

1. They don’t tend to do instant coffee. I’ve known friends to have cravings for Blend 43. Sicko’s.
2. Canadians drink rocket fuel coffee. I think it’s drip stuff, or brewed or whatever, but you can use it to strip paint. They love it though.
3. It’s tough to find somewhere that does a good latte.

It’s always hard to find a good coffee when away, particularly if you want to find a good local. I’ve taken to getting my morning latte’s (don’t laugh) at JJ Bean, which is a mid size chain in Vancouver. They’re pretty reliable and the lattes are usually damn good, with bonus crema art or whatever you want to call it.

In Vancouver there’s pretty much a Starbucks on every corner, which really is a good/bad thing. Good in that you can get coffee pretty much wherever you want. Bad in that they usually seem to put their newbies on the machines, and the coffee tends to suck. Over 18 months at my previous job, the Starbucks on the corner only occasionally got the coffee right. Shows me as a fool for going back!

I wasn’t kidding about the rocket fuel either – I got Nat’s dad one of those when in a rush and I asked for a flat white, got handed black and stuck milk in it. He was buzzing for the rest of the day, and couldn’t even drink the whole thing!

Here’s a happy snap of my local JJ Bean, where I usually tend to go before heading out to work now. More reliable than the multiple Starbucks on the way

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Posted in Different things in Canada, Downtown Vancouver, Food | No Comments »

Cereal… you don’t need to add sugar!

Wednesday, December 9th, 2009

Here’s something that really grinds my gears about the food over here… Breakfast cereal! It’s almost impossible to find one that isn’t loaded with sugar or blander than the cardboard boxes that beige comes in.

Here’s a pic from our trip to Safeway this evening… remember I did say I would try to put in pics where ever I could:

In a section that takes up most of one side of an aisle, it’s difficult to find something that won’t make your eyes twitch for the rest of the morning. I was on a search for a good Weetbix substitute and found there was a couple. Something that was pretty close but felt to bits and tasted like poo, and I can’t remember the name of it, and Post Shredded Wheat, which does a reasonable job but is still over processed.

Be careful of the muesli you find over here, as if you ask for that they’ll have no idea. Granola is the closest thing, and it’s mostly toasted and loaded with sugar, but you can find some pretty good muesli substitutes though… I found that the “Maple Nut” granola from Save On Foods was pretty good, as it wasn’t too sugary, and there’s a good raspberry one from a more boutique manufacturer.

While I’m on the subject, Safeway actually has big bags of their own name cereal… it’s cheap, pretty much the same as the name brand stuff (except the corn flakes, they’re a bit more average), and does the job.

Wow, a blog post about cereal… riveting stuff! Tune in, same time, same place tomorrow for more exciting developments as they unfold

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Posted in Different things in Canada, Food, Shopping | No Comments »

Meetup groups

Monday, December 7th, 2009

So today I realised something about Vancouver that is a bit of a mindset thing – there are so many “networking” groups over here it’s quite ridiculous. Pretty much anything you can think of there will be a networking group for.

Not that it’s a bad thing of course! If you’re coming across here to work and you’re in sales, business or marketing, joining a few of these groups in the first week you’re here, getting to know the folks there and telling them about yourself could be a great move for your time here, particularly if you’re looking for a “real” job rather than something up in the snow or just to fill in the time when your not off adventuring.

The other day, courtesy of my new boss, I went to a networking breakfast thing for small business owners, and it was really constructive stuff for them. It’s the sort of thing that you have to go to for a while and you’ll probably get some deals out of it eventually, but it helps you with your contacts… and when you’re looking for work having contacts is going to be a great thing.

My suggestion though is to do your homework on the groups and be prepared to walk if need be. This evening I headed along to an Internet Marketing workshop (it was recommended to my boss by an internet marketing guru) which sounds like, up until this point, it has been great with lots of nuts and bolts information. Tonight, however, it degenerated into a sales pitch for a pyramid scheme, you know, one of those “we all put $250 in and get $10k out the other end” deals that are usually sent to you by nice people in Nigeria or wherever. We were the first to walk out of that meeting, and I’m sure we weren’t the last.

So, networking meetings = good, most of the time. You can usually find them on Google or Meetup.com, and it’s quite funny how much attendees will take you under their wing if you rock up and are looking for work or whatever.

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Posted in Different things in Canada, Downtown Vancouver, Musings | 2 Comments »

Drug stores?

Saturday, December 5th, 2009

One of the interesting things in Canada are the “drug stores”, which I guess started out as pharmacies or whatever, but now sell pretty much anything from computer stuff to groceries to white goods and outdoor stuff. They’re good places to get cheap stuff for every day life, particularly if you’re just setting yourself up for a year or two… I picked up a mixer to make a pavlova the other day for $30.

On the other side, you get Canadian Tire, which started off selling auto stuff, and now pretty much meets in the middle with the drug stores at outdoor goods. Again, they’re cheap and good for setting yourself up if your only here for a year or two… most of my tools are from Cambodian Tire

Here’s a snapshot of the London Drugs downtown on Granville st, we braved the chill for a walk this evening and cruised through there looking for some new earphones… btw, it’s supposed to be -3c tonight!

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Posted in Different things in Canada, Downtown Vancouver, Shopping | No Comments »

Right hand turn rule

Friday, December 4th, 2009

So no time for pictures today, but I thought I’d take a moment to briefly mention one of the stranger things about driving on the road over here: You’re allowed to turn right at any time, providing you give way to oncoming traffic.

This is a great rule. One of the things about Vancouver is that there are no real highways in the more central districts, and all of the blocks are set up in north/south and east/west streets, where for the most part the east/west streets are numbered (starting at 1st just south of the downtown core) and the north/south streets are named. If you’re heading straight in one direction that is great. If you have to cross town diagonally, it can suck!

When we first got here, we decided to live near Metrotown in Burnaby because some friends lived in that area. I then got a job in the depths of Richmond which necessitated buying a car as public transport was a pain.

It took me anywhere up to an hour and a half to get to work in peak hour, when it would take only about 20 minutes to get there on the weekend… this was until I really started using the turn right rule. Instead of lining up to turn left onto the Knight street bridge, I would go past the entrance, turn right into the city blocks, turn right again, hang another right onto knight street, and I would be onto the main road faster than those who were already at the top of the on ramp.

I guess it shows that traffic in Vancouver can suck, but it also shows that there is usually a better way to do things. Of course, now that I’m living downtown and work in the north end of Richmond, it’s pretty much a straight shoot and much better for my mental state!

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Posted in Different things in Canada, Musings | No Comments »