"Dairy Queen" - Fan Food not Fast Food

...and now!

The world famous Blizzard

 Hmmm... I love Dairy Queen. It's got to be one of the best places for treats. I walk into Dairy Queen and I think to myself, "It's taste bud time!" And seriously, where else can you get a delicious lunch including a drink and a dessert for $5? My first taste of DQ (as it is often referred to as) was that ice-cream cake in previous post "A BBQ in the Park" and I thought, "I'll take some more from where that came from!"

"You are what you eat." So, if you eat too
much of this and you'll soon feel round and
squishy like this burger...

 Dairy Queen was born from the product "soft serve" (an ice-cream recipe) created by a father and son in 1938. After convincing a friend to sell their product in his ice-cream shop, "soft serve" sold 1,600 servings in only two hours! Clearly, it was hit. Within two years the first official Dairy Queen store was opened in Joliet, Illinois, which is where I stayed at the beginning of this trip. Though it is no longer operational, it stands as a landmark to this day.

Then...

 In the first year of business, there were nine other Dairy Queen stores opened which in seven years grew to a hundred. It would seem that Americans liked this new restaurant and everyone else must have too because by 2010, thanks to an ingenious, pioneering system of franchising, there were 5,700 stores world wide! 

I like the fact that DQ have still kept
that almost retro vibe

The very first Dairy Queen

 Dairy Queen is the proud home of the "Blizzard" which is an ice-cream dessert usually consisting of a blended name brand candy bar or a seasonal flavour such as the October Pumpkin Pie. (This American lingo is rubbing off...) I read that the idea for this dessert was inspired by the way that the DQ founder's daughter ate her ice-cream. She would smush it up with chocolate and sweets. Well, in the first year of it being on the menu, DQ sold over 175 million of these for the then extravagant price of 10 cents a portion! Nowadays, you can even join the "Blizzard" Fan Club right HERE! During the writing of this post it consisted of 4,209,300 fans... Yep, a lot of people like them and I dare you not to!

Seasoned with RiDQulousness,

Jacob

A caramel sundae, fries...

P.S. If you're after a sugar rush then click the tabs Ice-cream or Dessert below this post.

Is it too good to be true?

There is also the chilli-cheese dog option as well as a
chicken strip basket

...an ice cold Coca-Cola and a 1/4 pounder
gill cheese burger all for $5!

"To glorify my Savior, Jesus Christ, the Creator 

of the universe and spread further abroad His glorious gospel." - Yours Truly

"Costco" Food Court

 Yep, I know. Not the first place that you might think a wanna-be chef would choose to eat out. However, I'm a huge fan of IKEA and as a kid, one of the bits I always looked forward to (and still do!) was getting an ice-cream and a hotdog from the food court when we'd finished shopping. Costco is a huge wholesaler in the States and reminded me a little of the bit in IKEA at the very end as there is a food court in Costco too! Out of all the places I've had a pizza on this trip, (this is quite sad...), Costco was actually one of my favourites. We're talking 18 inches of awesome!
 A point to note: If you're living a healthy lifestyle and fuel your body nutritionally then I believe there is nothing wrong with enjoying food like this in moderation, once in a while. Just watch out for those free re-fills. You don't have to re-fill!

 It was quite fun to watch the guys out back preparing all of the food too. Actually, during my observance, I made a fascinating discovery. Are you ready for this? Check this photo...

And now for somthing completely different: a record player that makes pizzas...

 Yep, this gizmo is saucing pizzas like a record player. In seconds! Brilliant idea.

 Anyway, enough of that. Shopping makes me hungry. To the food! 

If there's something we can learn from
American's, it's free re-fills. Or maybe not...

And the mouth waters...

Prepping pizzas out back...

...and here's one they did earlier!

This guy saw I was taking his picture! I'd like one of
those ice-cream machines...

Oooh, boy! If ever you want to buy me a pizza...

 Time to tuck in!

...pepperoni is the best all the way.

"To glorify my Savior, Jesus Christ, the Creator 

of the universe and spread further abroad His glorious gospel." - Yours Truly

"HuHot": Mongolian Grill

"How hot do you like it?"

 Sadly, it was time to leave Canada. However, that meant returning to...Montana! Yay! So, after a long drive from Calgary and checking in to my motel, finding somewhere to eat was the next step. Due to it being a special occasion, I went somewhere very different indeed: "HuHot".

 "HuHot" (me!) is a Mongolian grill and I've never been anywhere like it! It was a brilliant experience and great evening out. The buffet works like this:

1. Take a bowl and select a meat, noodles and vegetables
2. Top the whole bowl with a premade sauce or create your own (A must try is one called "Khan's Revenge")



My meal cooking away

3. Take your bowl to the grill, stand back and enjoy the show!

Options for sauces...

 Once you've given your bowl over, prepare for an experience. There were two chefs with grill spatulas, flipping them up in the air and doing these really mean tricks as they cook everyone's food on a huge circular grill! If you'd taken an egg from the buffet, they toss it up in the air, and catch and crack it with the spatulas. That's pretty cool! As some of you know, I love playing drums and it turned out that the guy who did my bowl was a drummer too so I'm sure that helped in training! 

 In one evening I tried, all for the first time, calamari (don't try it raw...), crab (it could definitely grow on me), scallops (pretty good, I'd love to cook them myself sometime), bamboo shoots and Thai noodles ( both not that impressive)! I also got the knack of chopsticks too. In fact, I was able to pick up a single grain of rice with chopsticks by the end of evening. 

Make sure you use plenty or it can
end up very dry when cooked.

Why not create your own signature
sauce?

Seasoned with Surprises,

Jacob

P.S. If ever you're at "HuHot", ask for the "Dragon's Fire" when you take your bowl to the grill...

The "Dragon's Fire"!

For an authentic Mongolian experience, you
must learn to use chopsticks.

My wonderful waitress

Noodles of various sorts and sizes...

Trying calamari...

...and scallops for the first time.

I didn't have to ask to see the kitchen...it was right there! These guys were absolutely awesome!

"To glorify my Savior, Jesus Christ, the Creator 

of the universe and spread further abroad His glorious gospel." - Yours Truly

The World's Biggest Truck is GREEN!

Meet Titan. He's green!

 OK, everyone, check this! This right here is the world's biggest truck. It's called Titan and...it's bright green! Whilst driving south again, this time through British Columbia, I saw a sign for it on the road and thought, "That's a must for the blog!"
 I understand, it's slightly random, unorthodox and nothing to do with food but it was well worth a photo. After all, we are talking about the world's biggest truck here!

Seasoned with Nonsensicalism,

Jacob

P.S. I've also included below a few other really cool green things I've found along the way...

"Gigantuan", "Mahoosive", "Hunormous"? You pick!

If automobiles, engines, grease and the such like are your thing then check out my brother's blog: The Mechanic BHP

Yes, I probably would wear it.

I'm sitting in a restaurant and spy this super-awesome-cool
car. And then...it turns into the carpark!

I like the "Possibilities" thing in the background. What are
the possibilities of me owning one these sometime?

A little friend of mine...

Now, those are sunglasses!

And last but not least...my new green hoodie!

"To glorify my Savior, Jesus Christ, the Creator 

of the universe and spread further abroad His glorious gospel." - Yours Truly

Canadian Thanksgiving

Corn and turkey "dressing". (We would know it as
stuffing back home.) It was the best by far!

 Surprise, surprise! I again had the privilege of enjoying food and fun with friends with the Berger family! (See previous post "Music, Ice-cream Cakes and Line Dancing") Being invited once is something but being invited back is really special. Especially for a celebration like Thanksgiving. It was absolutely brilliant!
 Thanksgiving has been celebrated on and off in Canada for a few hundred years but didn't become official until the January 31st of 1957 when the Parliament of Canada declared,

 "A Day of General Thanksgiving to Almighty God for the bountiful harvest with which Canada has been blessed – to be observed on the 2nd Monday in October."

 Well, I'm sure glad they did that! 
 What are the differences between the American and Canadian Thanksgivings? Not a whole lot. If I'm correct, the Americans originally celebrated it as thanks to God for the generosity of the Native Americans whereas the Canadian Thanksgiving is celebrated as thanking God for the harvest. (If anyone could help me out at all, that would be great!)
 After eating, we went for a walk and I was offered to try "wheat gum". It's where you chew on raw wheat grains until it has the consistency of gum. I had to try this three times but thanks to the insistence of Alex, Abby and Alethea, it eventually worked! If Extra or Wrigleys brought out a sawdust flavour gum then you'd have some idea of what it was like...

Enjoying a slice of pumpkin pie.
Thanks goes to Alex Berger for this one...

 Now, I'm used to knives of most shapes and sizes due to working in kitchens, however, I've never had need to throw them. Thanks to Hans and Abby I got the chance to do just that! It was great fun and I really enjoyed it. Thanks guys!
 Then we had another dance party! I've noticed a pattern. When friends get together to enjoy food a fun times, dancing is never usually far behind... (See previous post "Music, Ice-cream Cakes and Line Dancing") After all, this was a day of celebration, right?
 Unfortunately, it was soon time for goodbyes. It was sad but hopefully it wasn't a "goodbye" as such but rather a "see you soon". (I hope there are more of those...) I have sure learned a lot from spending time with this flat-out amazing family! Our time together won't be forgotten. Many thanks to all of you for your incredible hospitality!
 However, I had one last thing to do. It was time for a little taste-testing. Yep, you guessed it: Marmite! A few brave volunteers gave it a try and some actually liked it. It's always great fun seeing someone try something for the first time, especially when they actually like it. (Although, it is fun when they don't like it too!)

Seasoned with Thanksgiving,

Jacob

Steaming turkey, green sprouts and buttery mash

"Wheat gum" anybody?

Let's have a hand for these brave Canadians!

"To glorify my Savior, Jesus Christ, the Creator 

of the universe and spread further abroad His glorious gospel." - Yours Truly