NEAROF

There have been far too many stupid Coca-Cola flavour sideshows in the past decade: Diet Coke with Lemon, Diet Coke with Lime, Vanilla Coke … yeesh. What’s been sorely lacking north of the border is the one variant Coca-Cola flavour that’s been around for ages: Cherry Coke. In fact, I can think of only one [...]

I’m going to go right ahead and call New York Fries’ Butter Chicken Poutine what it is: fusion food for the Canadian masses. So what is it? First, for our American friends: Poutine is a Quebecois fast-food delicacy that combines French fries, cheese curds and gravy. It’s a life-shortening concoction that’s slowly becoming a national [...]

The package is what caught my attention. Wrapped in a triangular wedge of pinkish red paper, it looks more like a tiny bouquet of flowers than a candy. Inside, there’s a conical plastic bag with a handful of plastic-wrapped caramels (12 in all). The reason I bought Sockerbageriet “pepparkakskola” gingerbread toffee is the same reason [...]

Oven mitts have a rough time in my household. Between my wife accidentally burning them and the inevitable wear and tear on the lining through repeated use, they start to get ratty. And once they get ratty, your chances of getting burned through an unprotected patch goes up. Looking for an alternative, my wife picked [...]

The key requirement of dessert is to be delicious, not healthy. Yet somehow, Activia’s Lemon Merengue yogurt manages to be both. Yes, that’s “merengue,” like the dance, not “meringue,” like lemon meringue pie. Curious choice of name, but whatever. The taste is wonderfully lemony, with actual chunks of lemon pulp and zest mixed into the [...]

The only good thing about Molson Canadian 67 is that my wife hates it so much, I can safely keep a case of it around the apartment without any fear of it vanishing. Canadian 67 is clearly a light beer aimed at a market segment eager to enjoy a drink with their friends, but unwilling [...]

I know what you’re thinking. “What could possibly be more romantic than giving a special someone a large plastic bag full of cinnamon hearts from Bulk Barn?” Given the seasonal choice between cinnamon hearts and those awful chalky hearts with the printed words on them, I’ll pick the cinnamon, thanks. I can’t handle a whole [...]

As you scoop So Delicious Chocolate Coconut Milk frozen dessert out of the tub, it becomes apparent that it’s not a standard ice cream. Using an ice-cream scoop, it doesn’t want to curl around and stick together to form a pretty ball. It’s airy and flaky, for lack of a better word. In terms of [...]