Week Five: Canadians call Soda "Pop"

This week has been hard. I knew that the trip to Canada would be hard on my diet, but I am feeling especially low this week.

We literally ate out for every lunch and dinner, and I definitely was really excited to eat some real food when I got back.

I am really self conscious of my gut this week, and now that my fat pants are too dirty to wear in good company, I had to wear my regular, very unforgiving pants. I tell ya, nothing motivates you like being disgusted with yourself. Seriously. Up to now, it's been all fun and games. But now I am REALLY cracking down.

RULES FOR THIS WEEK AND EVERY OTHER WEEK FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE:
-Fast

Just kidding. But it has been rough.

Besides the waistline troubles, Canada was marvelous. The poutine was delicious, and the Pizza Pizza was cheep. And I found that I have a love for Guinness. (153 cal/12oz.) It has been said that "a Guinness a day keeps the doctor away". I'd believe it. It's delicious.

Sorry I don't really have anything to talk about other than Canada, but that's what I did all week! I'll give you the low down on the places where I ate.

On the way down:

- McDonald's
  -- I tried their Fruit and Maple Oatmeal (145 cal per serving) for the first time, and it was actually delicious! It has been criticized for not being "wholesome" To the people saying that, all I can say back is DUH! It's still McDonald's.

- Big Boy
  -- Yeah, this is the second time I've ever eaten there, and probably the last. It took forever, and it didn't taste good. I feel like it was made to order, but it tasted like I ordered 4 hours in advance.

While there:

- Pizza Pizza
  -- Made popular by the awesome movie Scot Pilgrim vs. the World; and the fact that they sell 2 pieces of pepperoni and a pop for $3.99. The food itself is decent. Worth all 399 pennies. It's the service that really sucked for us. BUT if you ever get the chance, I suggest the chili with the garlic bread. It was ridiculously tasty. And then try the poutine there, and tell me if it's good or not because I got it elsewhere.

- Molly Bloom's
  -- This is a local bar in Stratford. The food was disappointing, and the service bad. (I'm going to mention now that the service was pretty bad everywhere. It's a tourist town, but only 3 months out of the year, and it seems like all the restaurants in town were unprepared). The drinks here were pretty good, and the cheapest I saw. This is where I had my first poutine (reminder, that is french fries, topped with gravy and cheese curds). It was only ok.
I will give it credit though: I had my first dark beer there last year, my first poutine, and my first scotch and soda. We've been through a lot. And I had the best night there with 3 close friends, a couple drinks, and a big bowl of sweet potato fries. Awesome.

- Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory
  -- This was the exception to the bad service. They had delicious food: fudges of all kinds, tons of ice cream flavors, carmel apples, bon bons; basically, it was an awesome candy shop. You could even watch them make chocolate in the window. Sam and I split a piece of cheesecake on the a stick dipped in dark chocolate. It was so good! (although, I don't even want to think about the calorie content)
5 Stars for them.

- Tim Horton's
  -- I very much enjoyed that experience. I'm not much of a coffee drinker, but I had only heard rave reviews about the coffee, so I had to try it. IT. WAS. DELICIOUS! I also had soup, a sandwich, and a cruller. It was all really good, but it had a long line.

- Backstage
  -- This was a bar that sold a ton of different shots, so Sam and I tried two: a Sicilian Kiss (amoretto and SoCo), and a Sour Jack (Sour Puss and Jack Daniels). I'll be honest, I didn't like it. But I do not like shots. I like to enjoy my drinks, not swallow them as fast as I can and wait to get drunk.

- Bentley's
  -- Probably the most expensive restaurant I've ever been to. The food was alright, but not worth how much we paid for it. And their mixed drinks seemed outrageous to me. Granted, I don't go out drinking here, but I got 2 mixed drinks for $10 a pop! The poutine there though, was excellent. ($8.95 I think, which isn't terribly expensive).

The Way Back:

- Tim Horton's (US style).
  --Still good coffee, but the experience wasn't as good.

- Steak 'n Shake
  -- This was the most disgusting place I've ever eaten. I seriously wish I knew what town I was in so I could warn you to never go there. I will admit, I thought the "Steak" part of Steak 'n Shake was actual steak. Not just burgers. I got a avocado burger, and the actual burger part was so gross, that I just ate the avocado off of the bun. The food was gross, and the shakes were lack luster. The service can only be described as incompetent. Someone asked for a certain kind of shake, and the girl at the counter couldn't seem to wrap her mind around the flavor combo. AND flavor combos were advertised there, so it wasn't like that person was being picky or anything. Then she got it wrong anyways. And the bathrooms were disgusting. The smell in there. . . I don't know how to describe it. I have never smelled anything like it. It didn't even smell like poop, it smelled rancid. I gagged. I literally gagged while trying to pee. It was just bad.

Sigh. I was going to post some pictures of the trip on here, but my computer refuses to acknowledge that my ipod is plugged in, so I will just have to post them next week (3 weeks of Canada in a row?! Awesome Sauce).

Feel free to comment below, or send me a Facebook message. OR you could follow me on twitter! (Olivia Ludwiczak).

Tune in next week, it will be funnier!