Lay's Canada Chip Challenge 2014

Last year Lay’s Canada started an annual competition called “Do Us A Flavour”. Jenny Fines and I were pretty pumped up and tried the four chip flavours competing for the first championship title. Our (and our entire office’s) least favourite chip “Maple Moose” ended up winning the contest, before flopping in the real world potato chip market. You can check out the 2013 edition of the competition here.

“Do Us A Flavour” is back again this year as I am sure you have noticed if you frequent gas stations, pharmacies, grocery stores or well pretty much any place that sells food in Canada. This year at my Grandmother’s 72nd birthday party I thought it would be fun to throw the chips on the table and see what everyone thought of the four new flavours.

This year there is a new twist to the competition; two of the proposed new flavours are featured in different Lay’s textures (wavy and kettle cooked). Over a million flavours were suggested; here are the four that made it into production:

-Lay’s Wavy Jalapeno Mac’N’Cheese created by Randall Litman from Calgary, AB.

-Lay’s Kettle Cooked Tzatziki created by Denise Vella from Cambridge, ON

-Lay’s Cinnamon Bun created by Gloria Melanson from London, ON.

-Lay’s Bacon Poutine created by Guillaume Lorrain from Trois-Rivières, QC.

Last year everyone agreed that Maple Moose was the WORST. Maple Moose chips actually made it into the office garbage can. Clearly we were all surprised when it ended up winning the contest.

This year there is no clear worst chip. Honestly we all thought the Lay’s Cinnamon Bun bag of chips would be gross, but they actually were not that bad. They were more sweet than cinnamony and the balance between sweet and salty was not that bad. People had warned us against them, but they were not even close to being as gross as “Maple Moose”.

My favourite (because I cannot choose just one) are the “Lay’s Wavy Jalapeno Mac’N’Cheese” and the “Lay’s Kettle Cooked Tzatziki”. This may just be because I like the different textures. Honestly, I don’t think I would choose any of these chips over my go-to favourite simple ketchup chips. I think they could have done better with the flavouring for them all.

If the house votes say mean anything it will be a battle between “Lay’s Bacon Poutine” or “Lay’s Wavy Jalapeno Mac’N’Cheese”.

You can vote for your favourite in the 2014 “Do Us A Flavour” contest by clicking here. The winner will receive $50,000 and 1% of their chips sales.

Lay’s is all over Twitter and Instagram and you are able to use the following hashtags: #VoteBaconPoutine, #VoteCinnamonBun, #VoteJalapenoMacNCheese and #VoteTzatziki.

Or you can text your vote to 101010.

Voting closes October 12, 2014.

In case you are wondering, here are the finalists for the 2014 American version of the contest “Do Us A Flavor”:

Lay’s Cheddar Bacon Mac & Cheese

Lay’s Cappuccino

Lay’s Wavy Mango Salsa

Lay’s Kettle Cooked Wasabi Ginger

Calgary Hosts Canada's Only Lego Kidsfest 2014

Over the weekend I got to take part in an amazing event in Calgary. It was Canada’s first Lego Kidsfest at the BMO Centre. On the one and only stop in Canada (ever), the Lego Kidsfest sold-out every session over the weekend of brick-filled fun.

The model museum is one of the highlights of the stop on Lego Kidsfest. It is an incredible display of what Lego can build. Darth Vader, Batman, Lightning McQueen, Gandalf, R2DC, C3P0 and Boba Fett are just a few of the full-size models on display in this part of the festival. Throughout the over three acres of Lego related fun there are many full-size models.

As you can see, I managed to find Lego Cinderella in the Disney Princess display.

I spent my days hanging out in the Brick Battle Zone with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I think this is the most fun of all the Lego zones. The Brick Battle Zone is an area where kids take part in Lego related activities for prizes. Lego pizza relay races, Duplo bridge building contests and tower races were my jam for the weekend. It was a lot of fun, but Lego sure is hard on the hands. If you are taking in Lego Kidsfest on one of its tour stops make sure you keep an eye on this section of the festival so that your kids get to take part and take home some great prizes.

Other really cool parts of the festivals are the Lego Super Heros and Lego Disney Princesses areas; both of these zones have free photo booths!

Creation Nation is an interactive section of the festival where kids build inside a template of the Canadian flag to make a pretty cool version of Canada in Lego inside the flag.

Another thing you need to check out while at Lego Master Builder Academy. Sign up as soon as you arrive to insure you get a session with a Lego Master Builder. These sessions run about 40 minutes and teach you skills that the people who create the most impressive Lego works have developed. On top of learning the art of crafting the most magnificent Lego works you can enter a raffle for Lego MBA prizes. There are limited spots in this zone so make sure you get in on it quickly!

If you have not watched the Lego Movie yet I strongly recommend it, even if you are not a huge Lego fan. I watched it with a bunch of twenty-something guys stone sober and absolutely loved it. It is hilarious and features some of the funniest actors in Hollywood right now. My favourties Chris Pratt and Will Ferrell start in the movie along with the amazing Elizabeth Banks and Alison Brie. Also, Liam Neeson and Will Arnett are hilarious as Good Cop/Bad Cop and Batman/Bruce Wayne. The star-studded cast really delivers for adults and kids, see this movie now!

Another cool thing about the Lego Movie and the Calgary connection is that Canadian songstresses Tegan & Sara sing the theme song for the Lego Movie, “Everything Is Awesome” with the Lonely Island. I don’t think I have ever heard the word awesome used more over the span of a weekend than at Lego Kidsfest. It was a very appropriate descriptor for the weekend.

On the left is the HUGE pile of free play Lego for kids to go wild in. Seriously, kids went CRAZY over this massive pile of bricks. It was like a day at a multi-color bricks. I saw kids building and burying themselves in this huge mound of Lego. It is crazy to see how much kids love and respect the patterns and models, but still want the freedom of free play.

Get your tickets early if Lego Kidsfest is coming to your area, it is well worth your time!

The 51st Annual Trail Silver City Days

Our Street Team ready for the parade!

This is my first Trail Silver City Days.  I feel like Summer 2014 has now started and is out in full force. Right now the weather is absolutely beautiful downtown for the last day of activities.

As a resident of Trail I have seen the all the hustle and bustle getting ready around down for days. I walk around town and climb the staircases in the evenings to get some sunlight and exercise, one day all of the carnival gear showed up and everything quickly started transforming.

The highlight of Silver City Days weekend (for me) was driving in the Firefighter’s Parade was a lot of fun. Actually Jenny drove. I rode shotgun and jammed with her the entire time. I have been a part of many parades; I was Princess Middleton 2009 and had to be in parades pretty much every weekend that summer. I have never been in a parade as long as the Silver City Days Parade.

A car view of the streets full of people at the parade.

Not only was the parade filled with an impressive group of floats (including the City of Trail’s beautiful new float) the streets of Downtown Trail were PACKED with people. Luckily the rain started as soon as the parade ended.

The parade was like a second Halloween for the kid’s watching, we were entry #54 and by the time we reached the kids most of them had semi-full bags of candy. It is a good thing those sugared-up youth did not revolt, there was so many of them they would have taken over Trail!

After the parade the midway and food mall was the place to be until the evening when ABRA Cadabra played the arena. I had another work function (I’ll tell you about it later) but driving back into town the fireworks filled the sky beautifully!

On Sunday Country Divas took the stage at Gyro Park for Family Day and a Mother’s Day celebration.

Sunday we spent the day going on rides and playing games at the West Coast Amusement Carnival and treated ourselves to the food mall. My roommate from university came and visited for part of the weekend so she experienced the perfect first weekend in Trail.

I had a great time at my first Trail Silver City Days, I got to meet new people and celebrate Trail for my first Silver City Days! Thanks to everyone who helps make this incredible event happen, I can't wait until next year!

For a look at the entire schedule of events for the 51st Annual Trail Silver City Days click here.

My 2014 New Years Resolution

This year my new year’s resolution is committing to processes. I have a couple big things I really want to work on so it is more of continuation of what has been working in 2013 and making a few more improvements. Improving my budgeting skills is a big one, nothing really interesting there. Crossing more firsts off my bucket list and travelling are more general things I want to do. 

My big one, the process for 2014 that I want to really commit to may sound a little silly but I say thing being completely serious, I want to quit snacking. Once a week, sure I will destroy some candy or maybe a bag of chips. But, over all I want to be done picking at food into the evenings and weekends. I have always done it, watched tv and plowed some nachos or popcorn. I feel like something is meant to be my hand (and about to go into my mouth) whenever I sit down in the evening. Its not a weight thing, I am totally fine with the calories; to me it is all about that control snacks have over me and destroying that weird feeling I get when I am not eating something casually while watching a movie or tv show. 

How do I plan on doing this? Well, this is the fun part. I am going to knit. Yes, I will be keeping my hands busy by knitting in my down time. The first project I am working on is a grocery tote; this is WAY more advanced than the last thing I knit which was a lop-sided dish towel. 

In 2014, I will knit and knit well (and not snack).

What is your New Year's Resolution for 2014? 

UPDATE: Vote Red Mountain for Powder Magazine's Ski Town Throwdown 2014

Ski Town Throwdown 2014 is on! 

Help Red Mountain take home the title again this year by voting today on Powder Magazine's Facebook page!

Here is the bracket to see everyone Red has taken on so far, it will help you size up the competition!

At the time of my very early morning vote Red was leading by votes. Red had 6 votes at 6:59 am and Alaska's Eaglecrest had 2 votes.

Get your vote in now!

Update: 10:47am -> Red leads with 738 votes to Eaglecrest's 601 votes.

Update: November 19, 5:32am -> Red is down with 2130 votes to Eaglecrest's 2250 votes.