Restaurant Review: El Cortijo at Burlington, Vermont

After a long night, we were all exhausted and got back to shower and rest at 7:30pm at the hotel room.  Not much of a partying group, eh? Well, after everyone was sitting in bed at 9pm, we turned on the TV and landed on the Food Network. It was at the show called Diners, Drive-ins and Dives (or something like that) hosted by Guy Fieri.  We are now forever glaring at this Guy Fieri, something like a love-hate relationship.  My friend started craving all the food she saw him showing on the show at the different joints he visited.  It was then we started searching up the restaurants to see which ones were open.

We eventually ended up jumping out of beds and changing quickly and heading out to get ourselves some tacos at El Cortijo.  On Fridays, this little restaurant is open till 1am.  Which worked perfectly for us 🙂

Here’s a little bit of the menu!

El Cortijo Menu

First up we ordered some drinks.  I went with my craving for Sangria and got a red one.  The girls decided to get a margarita.  One chose Pomegranate Margarita while the other one chose an orange flavored one.  I only got my own in pictures though.

Sangria

I’m telling you this.  If you go to places and you suspect people are diluting your drinks and giving you more fizzy soda or fruit juice than actual red wine, this place is for you.  Mr. Bartender at El Cortijo made this drink in the way that all I really tasted was the red wine.  The girls also had high alcohol content in their margaritas and started getting a tad tipsy by the end, which made for a lot of laughing loudly.  We all learned that we are all happy drunks, if ever we did get to that point.

So did decide to have a light late night snack and took the solo tacos which is just one taco pretty much. The girls eventually took another one because it was going to help the margaritas sit better and get a bit of the tipsy feeling away.

Solo Tacos

I ordered the Chicken one and had to remove one of the ingredients but I think its alright. It was a pretty tasty taco although this one proved to be way messy with the sauce leaking as we were eating it.  Gotta work on those taco eating skills 😉

After sitting for an hour or so, we had to leave.  Suffice to say that Burlington downtown and Montreal downtown is very different at midnight.  This is what it looks like in Burlington!

Night in Burlington Downtown

Empty streets! 😮 Montreal is add packed with people to this scene and less space to walk and there you go.  Granted this place, had a lot of pubs and clubs and bars that had a lot of people inside and loud music blaring and a few people standing outside.  I like the different atmosphere 🙂 Plus those lights are just so pretty!

What do you like to have for late night snacks? What do you crave for in the middle of the night?

Burlington (and Plattsburgh) Finds!

I put “and Plattsburgh” because after a day of shopping in Burlington, we realized we had done most of what we were interested in and decided to head out to take the girls to see an American Target before it hit Canada.  So off we drove to Plattsburgh for the afternoon and do some shopping there.  Most of what you see is in Burlington with the exception of the books and movies that were cheaper in Plattsburgh Best Buy and Target.  Woohoo! I have bought all the movies I had intended to this year which are already released 🙂

Movies and Books…A sneak peek of whats coming up!

Some of them are for my boyfriend but still they are purchases intended for both of us watching it together.  Are you excited? I’ll be reviewing lots and lots of horror 🙂 That side of my blog has been a bit slow. Plus, 3 books that were on special and I’ve been wanting to check out. I`m looking at this and it looks like a weird mix: animated versus horror.

Fancy Oreos!

There are always cool and different Oreo flavors. Last time for Christmas there was a lot more. My boyfriend loved the Limited Edition Oreos for its birthday.  I guess those were super successful so now we have them in Golden Oreos but with Birthday Cake fillings which tastes like cupcakes.  I ate 2 when I got home and gave the rest to my boyfriend.

Oatmeal Pop Tarts ?!?!? with funky marshmallows!!

The marshmallows and fun flavors will do well for baking or making some sweets.  I’ll see what I can do with them.  I love Pop Tarts.  But the ones I liked Brown Sugar Cinnamon or something are my faves but they were same price as in Montreal so instead, I bought these ones which are not available to me in Canada.  Haven’t tasted them yet but I’m hoping that it’ll taste awesome 🙂

Baker’s Dozen of Bagels from Panera Bread! Good to share with family!

13 bagels to share between my mom and my boyfriend’s parents. Food is always a good gift.  I have other gifts as well but I’m not showing off everything I found..or else this post would be crazy.  I have some ornaments as well and some sample Yankee Candle which were on special.  Back to the bagels, I took one of every kind with Cinnamon Crunch being doubled.  I had the blueberry one yesterday morning and it was delicious!

My favorite soft drink: Sierra Mist! Yummy!

Now for my favorite soft drink. I always pick up one bottle when I got to Plattsburgh–Sierra Mist.  Its like 7up or Sprite but its not as sweet and more natural.  I personally like the taste more.

I even got a baking tray, a workout sleeveless top and some granola (for baking) and two DS games, one of them I’ve been searching for EVERWHERE: Professor Layton and the Curious Village. Oh right, and I got some sweat pants and capri sweat pants and actual pants for work (not black too).  Success! I love productive trips like there where I can get better prices and fulfill my wants and needs 🙂

Plus, I managed to get some really nice shots of the scenery in Burlington.  That will be up tomorrow! And the drive to Plattsburgh was pretty nice, but no pictures since I was driving..haha!

Burlington Restaurant Review: Magnolia Breakfast and Lunch Bistro

I`M BACK! Yeah, I posted up two posts yesterday because I was feeling guilty about not doing anything constructive (blog wise) on the weekend.  Anyways, I have great things for you this week.  I did PIG OUT like mad.  When I got back home, I didn`t even want to look at food, but I had my birthday dinner.  Yes, I turned 27 yesterday 😉 The border was beautiful because I had expected a 2 hours wait and it was 15 minutes instead.  The drive was fabulous!

Before I get carried away, I`m here to talk to you about the first restaurant we went to after we had arrived and settled in earlier than expected in Burlington, Vermont.  The receptionist at suggested Magnolia Breakfast and Lunch Bistro so we went off to check it out. It was a cute little joint tucked away in a corner.

Magnolia`s Breakfast and Lunch Bistro

The menu was pretty interesting because it featured food with gluten free and vegan options and it stated it clearly.  I was super happy when I saw a choice called Magnolia French Toast.  I haven’t had french toast in eternities and I missed it so much.  I tried to pick that but they said that the menu had just changed and that choice was no longer there and suggested the alternative Cinnamon Swirl French Toast.

Cinnamon Swirl French Toast (Vegan)

Cinnamon Swirl French Toast sounded a lot better than it tasted though.  I believe they used some form of oat bread that had a funky taste.  I ended up drenching it completely with maple syrup before I could eat the whole thing.  I’m not one to waste food and it wasn’t totally disgusting.  However, I determined that this was the worst meal of my trip and from here on out, it is going to get better! 🙂 Just a preview of what is coming up.

Lets take a look at what the girls ate!

Bo Knows Breakfast: Oatmeal pancakes, home fries, two eggs, sausage, toast

One of my friends (and past co-worker) took this plate called Bo Knows Breakfast and it consists of oatmeal pancake, two eggs, home fries, sausage and toast.  I don’t think I’m missing anything. She didn’t really enjoy it too much either.

This is the Classic with two eggs, home fries, sausage and banana bread

One of my newer friends who works at my old job now in the position I used to have took this one: The Classic breakfast with two eggs, sausage, home fries and she chose to replace her toast with banana bread. She said that the potatoes had a weird taste to them but aside from that the banana bread was delicious and she enjoyed her meal.  Always nice to have some positive feedback, right?

Not sure..I think this is the California Omelet. Its vegetarian 🙂

Her sister came along on this trip as well.  She took this one.  Looking at the menu online again, I think its the California Omelet but I’m not exactly sure.  I has to be one of the meatless choices.  Other than complaint of it being too big and she only ate half of it, she seemed to have really enjoyed it as well.

The service was a bit long because it took ages to pay and for us to leave.  The food at mixed reviews but if you drop by, I’m saying that you should try out the banana bread and the omelets.  Maybe its just our Canadian tastes are different and to us, breakfast places in Montreal are way more delicious and on top of that with more fruits on the side. Kudos to it using some organic and healthy ingredients though, the effort was noted and appreciated just not really for me.

I wasn’t particularly impressed with it but trust me, things get a lot brighter quickly 😉

**Note: This post included, if there are online links to the restaurant, I will link it to the name at the top so that you can head on over and check it out also **

P.S. I have 5 more food/resto reviews coming up this week 😉 So prepare to feel hungry!

On the Road..Take 2!

Its the long weekend starting today! Woohoo!

Its ridiculously early here in Montreal at 5:30 or so am (when I post this up).  Why am I up on Good Friday so early?

Well, I’m on the road again, my friends! Like last time in Toronto, I never abandon you so its just a short post to tell you that I’m out of town.  I know I haven’t been totally answering everything on reasonable delay this past week because its been crazy busy, I will be likely answering slow also to any comments during the day.  I’m out with three girls so as they told me that we’re intending to pig out..I’m foreseeing lots of food reviews ;).  We’re doing shopping so maybe I’ll have some Burlington finds. You’ll know all about it if not during the trip, when I get back 🙂

It’s only a less than two hour drive but I’m hoping that leaving so early that the border will be less busy.  Here’s me hoping, right? Going into the States for long weekends is something I tend to avoid but I’m sure it’ll be fun.

If you get bored, I rushed in a book review last night and a movie review will be going up once I get internet later today!

You know I always end these things to set off the awesome long weekend no matter what you do with some music to pump up the energy!

Have an awesome long weekend! 🙂