Oct 042010
 

   

My hubby celebrated his birthday today. Yesterday, he told me that he wanted to go to Denny’s for a free breakfast. Sad but true. Regardless, that got me thinking. Where else could we get our hands on free food? It became a bit of an obsession for me, as I scoured the Internet into the night, looking for leads.

The result: Darryl ate a 13 oz T-bone steak, 2 eggs, hash browns and 2 pieces of toast for breakfast at Denny’s. His meal was free (regular price around $19). That was followed by a free BBQ Burger (regular price $9) at Vera’s burger shack for lunch. Later that afternoon, he downed a free scoop of key lime ice cream with blueberries from the Cold Stone Creamery (regular price around $4).

Unfortunately (or you could say fortunately), we had a birthday dinner to attend that night or we would have continued on our free food quest. We were on a roll (no pun intended).  Thankfully, we still have a week to use the Baskin Robbins coupon. Whew!

Next year, we’ll be more organized, so watch out. We’ll start earlier, travel farther and eat more. Why not, your birthday only comes around once a year. As a friend of mine likes to remind me, “Free is the best price”.

Let me know if you come across any more deals in Metro Vancouver area, I’d love to add them to the list.

Free Food (on Your Birthday) Guide

Note: Some of these deals require you bring another person to dine. Others want you to sign up well before your birthday; so sign up earlier so you don’t get left out in the cold.  Also, be sure to bring picture ID with you, just in case.

  • Dairy Queen – Free Blizzard if you upload your photo onto their facebook page. BOGO (buy one, get one) coupon upon joining the Blizzard Club, plus an email coupon for a blizzard on your birthday
  • Baskin Robbins – Free 2.5 oz scoop or 3 oz soft serve cone
  • Denny’s Restuarant – Free Grand Slam breakfast if you are alone OR you can choose anything off the menu if you dine with someone that orders an entree
  • Pajos Fish and Chips – Free small fish and chips and drink OR a burger, fries and drink
  • Vera’s Burger Shack – $10 gift certificate which you can use towards anything on the menu
  • Red Robin Restaurant – Free burger
  • Boston Pizza – My “spidey sense” tells me they have something (appy or dessert thing) but I can’t find it on their website. Can anybody confirm this one?
  • Milestones Grill and Bar – Free dessert (just ask, at least we did) or go online to get a birthday coupon where you eat free as long as you bring 3 friends with you who buy entrees ( I use the word “free” lightly).
  • Boathouse Restaurant – $25 coupon (I have a feeling that they ask you to bring paying customers with you…I’ll look into it)
  • Cold Stone Creamery – Free scoop of ice cream with one mix-in
Sep 152010
 

Let’s make some monkey cupcakes, shall we?

First, I used my Mom’s chocolate cake recipe (the same one I used for the boob cupcakes).  It’s super yummy and a snap to whip together…only one bowl required!

Truth be told, I bought the icing (yes, I know). I could have made it but decided my sanity was more important.

My inspiration for these playful primates came from Amy and her wicked blog, Serving Pink Lemonade.

 

 

How to Make Those Marvelous Monkey Cupcakes

Monkey Cupcake Instructions

Decorating goes something like this:

  1. Ice cupcake with store bought chocolate icing
  2. Position a vanilla wafer at the bottom of each cupcake for the muzzle
  3. Place a mini ritz cracker on either side of the face for the ears
  4. Cut miniature marshmallows in half with scissors and reshaped into circles for the eyes
  5. Place narshmallows in the center of the cupcake against the vanilla wafer muzzle
  6. Press mini M&Ms against the marshmallows to make the pupils
  7. Use a piping bag with melted chocolate or an icing pen, or Candy Writer to draw the nose and mouth on the wafer.
  8. Add chocolate sprinkles on the top of the cupcake for hair
  9. Do the happy dance!

Monkey Cupcake Tips

  • Get help, invite a couple of friends over. It’s much more fun that way.
  • Apply marshmallows sticky side out, then your M&M pupils won’t budge
  • M&M’s go dull if refridgerated (important to note if you care about that sort of thing)
  • Make slits on either side of the cupcake to insert the ears
  • Mini Ritz crackers come in a few sizes within the box make sure the ears match

(Thanks to Lerae and AC, who took this picture)

Related posts
Thinking of Planning a Monkey Party?

Calling all monkeys…calling all monkeys

More monkey music…Mommy!

Banana cookies – best of the bunch

Monkey party menu made memorable

Sep 132010
 

 

The assignment: banana cookies.

No, not cookies made with banana but cookies that look like bananas. Ohhhhhh…

Once again, it’s Mom’s famous sugar cookie recipe to the rescue. The trick was to find the right cookie cutter. I read on another blog how one Mom used a large circular cutter to cut out bananas “freehand”. A good idea but I didn’t have a large cookie cutter. So, I made the illogical decision and bought a banana cutter (like I’ll ever use that again?!?).

I found a 4-inch banana-shaped cookie cutter at cookiecutter.com. In addition, I bought the cheapest (potentially useful) thing I could find (a Candy Writer) in order to reach the minimum order dollar amount ($5.00US). What, you ask, is a Candy Writer? They describe it as the following:

Squeezable candy in a tube makes decorating cakes, cookies, and candies extremely easy! Simply warm in a microwave or hot water, snip off the end and decorate. Dries hard. 1 – 5/8 oz tube. 

 Sounds a little sketchy but it worked beautifully. I used it to add details to the banana cookies and to add a nose and mouth to my monkey cupcakes. The little tube went a long way and I still have half a tube left. I sure if will last forever (kind of like a twinkie).

The banana cookies were a nice accompaniment for the monkey cupcakes.

Related posts
Classic Sugar Cookie Gallery

Thinking of Planning a Monkey Party?

Calling all monkeys…calling all monkeys

More monkey music…Mommy!

Monkey cupcakes made easy

Monkey party menu made memorable