Willie and Juan’s is a fairly new restaurant that took the location of Mexicali Rosas at 2401 St-Joseph Blvd here in Orleans.

I was really excited when I first saw it, because hey, the name Juan is an authentic Latin name, this place MUST be good.

Unfortunately, I was highly mislead. Not only is this place  not authentic, but it is way overpriced with horrible service to boot.

The first time we went there, we went for lunch. While the service wasn’t horrible that day and just slow, the food was not good, and again, overpriced. We ordered the Chorizo entrée, and it was very very dry, with little to no flavour. I’ve cooked some mean chorizo sausages before, and this was crap. Handmade my ass!

The second time we went was for a friend’s birthday dinner. We were a large group of people. Some people arrived at varying times, but everyone was ordering drinks and appetizers until everyone got there.

I don’t understand how you can get snotty attitudes from servers and management when you’re spending a lot of money. The two just don’t go together in my eyes. They gave us evil looks like ‘how dare us cause them to work a little harder’. Some of us had to go to the bar to get a drink because they were not coming back. We weren’t even being rowdy. I mean, we were a bunch of 30-year olds, and two very young children that were being well-behaved.

When we finally ordered, they messed up many people’s dishes, and charged extra for things like hot sauce, when in most Mexican places, those things are unanimously free. I do not think that this was a one-time bad experience. I wasn’t one member of the staff, it was all of them.

I will not be going back there ever. Not only do I not recommend this place, but I pray that you do not go there, so we can finally get a decent Mexican place in Orleans. Until then, I will stick to my wonderful Pancho Villa downtown.

(side note- I saw the new Mexican Café on St-Joseph, but I have yet to try it so I’ll keep you posted)

~Darleya~

I have been eyeing the various Smuckers ice cream toppers for quite some time now. I mean, they just scream unhealthy and all, but, who doesn’t want some smooth syrup on their vanilla ice cream?

I went a little nuts and tried three different kinds because they were on sale.

Smucker’s Butterscotch

The Smuckers Butterscotch topping is my favourite out of the three. The sauce is thicker than the syrups. It’s very sweet, and goes very nicely with french vanilla ice cream.

One thing you should not do with this butterscotch topping, it top it on your ice cream cone. It seemed like a good idea at first, but, one little dabble goes a long way…down the side of your cone.

A sticky mess indeed.

I found a recipe that uses this butterscotch off the Smucker’s website that sounds very delicious that I’d love to try. Pumpkin Roll with Butterscotch Cream. Check it out and tell me that doesn’t sound devine.

Smucker’s Strawberry Sundae Syrup

The strawberry syrup was the one I was the most skeptical about, but, I bought it for my husband. I was actually pleasantly surprised by its flavour because I typically don’t like any artificially flavoured strawberry things.

This syrup tastes much closer to your average strawberry jam, which tastes like real strawberries. It was very flavourful, and again, very sweet.

I decided to find a recipe for this as well, and the smuckers website offers a few. They called this one, the Canada Day Strawberry Trifle, but, I think it would be delicious all summer long. It also looks very easy to make! Yummy.

Smucker’s Chocolate Sundae Syrup

The Smuckers chocolate sundae syrup was actually my least favourite of the three. I found that sort of tasted like Neslté’s Quick and perhaps a little too strong and not chocolaty enough.

It’s still better than having nothing on your vanilla ice cream.

The recipes aren’t as enticing either. I think I’ll try their microwaveable hot fudge topper next time.

These three smuckers ice cream toppers are not something that you give to your kids all the time, but, once in a while it’s a great treat to make them happy, or keep them quiet.

Enjoy!

~Darleya~

Grooveshark is an internationally available Internet-based free music provider. You can listen to full albums of streaming music for free simply by performing a search for your favourite artist or song.

The website is very user-friendly, and you don’t need to download anything in order to use their service. You can create and save as many playlists as you like if you create a free user account.
You can even steal your friend’s playlists if you know their usernames.

I like it especially for the office, because I get tired of the music I bring in, so like this, I can continue to be entertained while working by listening to brand new music.

I highly recommend this website, especially if you can listen to music at work, and have access to the Internet. It’s wonderful, and it’s free! There are no lags, you’d think you were listening to the CDs themselves.

For more information about Grooveshark, check out their wiki page here.

You can look up my playlists under username ‘stuffedashes’.

Enjoy!

~Darleya~

When I first tried Eden by PixelJunk on the PS3 I was both baffled and awed. This game is incredibly beautiful, yet at first glance you don’t really know what you have to do.

A while back I was at Murale just browsing and waiting for a friend.

Mistake number one. Do not wait for a friend in a store that sells skincare and makeup.

Mistake number two. Just because something is on the same table as some clearance stuff, does not mean that it will also be cheap.

So now you know my state of mind the day that I picked up Bioderma’s Crealine TS H20 cleansing solution. I needed a new make-up remover so I thought, why not?

I applied the Bioderma cleansing solution as I would my regular eye-makeup remover, with nothing else than my Shiseido cotton pads. This solution does feel refreshing, as it is strictly water based, but it did not remove my heavy eye makeup nearly as well as Neutrogena’s Oil-Free kind that I normally buy. I had to re-wet the cotton pad numerous times, and rub much harder than I’d like to rub my eyes.

This 500ml bottle was $22.00. I wish I’d have looked at its price before buying it. That very same day I also bought the Cargo Texas Lash mascara, so it was clearly a bad day as far as shopping went. I should pay attention to the mistakes mentioned above next time.

Based on the fact that this Bioderma cleansing solution is expensive, and on the fact that it simply does not work as well as the cheaper Neutrogena eye-makeup remover; I will not be buying it again, nor would I recommend it to anyone.

~Darleya~

Ryobi is a brand of cordless power tools, outdoor products and accessories that offers great flexibility in that all of its tools use the same battery system.

The Ryobi products are affordable and offer the most variety when it comes to their tools. They have a cordless tool for everything. I mean everything. We have many of them, including the drill, the weed whacker, the flashlight, the air pump, and many more that I cannot remember and would have to ask the husband. We also have saws of sorts, but I do not know their proper terms.

The Ryobi line is very easy to use. You can either buy the lithium ion batteries, which I recommend because of their much lengthier lifetime, or you can get the regular batteries, if you’re not planing on many DIY projects.  The batteries are interchangeable if you ever wanted to upgrade. The lithium batteries are of course pricier, but definitely worth it, AND they’re fluorescent green. HELLO!

The fact that all the Ryobi tools use the exact same batteries is great, because you can just own 1 or 2 batteries, and use them for everything. We own two lithium ion batteries, which is ideal because as one may potentially run out, there is always a back-up charging. I actually enjoy assisting in DIY projects on the house with Ryobi tools, because not having a cord makes it much less cumbersome, to say the least. AND, fluorescent green!

I recently had my close friend buy herself the Ryobi drillset because she bought herself a condo. We hung pictures, a huge mirror and put together some furniture. Afterwards, she got really excited about it and exclaimed ‘I don’t need a man, I have a Ryobi drill!’

Really.

Ryobi products are found at Home Depot, among other places.

~Darleya~

So I’ve finally decided that I shouldn’t be spending $40-$60 each of my shampoos and conditioners. Really, unless there’s something wrong with your hair, you shouldn’t need to spend that much.

Upon this realization, I’ve come to trying various ‘cheap’ shampoos and conditioners. After many failed attempts at finding cheaper hair care that I love, I recently came across the new line by TREsemmé called Naturals.

This line by TREsemmé has lower sulfates, and contains natural ingredients such as USDA certified organic Aloe Vera and Avocado, which hydrates your hair naturally and protects it against breakage and damage.

I absolutely LOVE the way both the shampoo and conditioner make my hair feel. It isn’t weighed down in the slightest, feels incredibly soft, and is much less tangled after the shower, it’s unbelievable.

I was actually pretty sceptical that I could find good hair care for under ten dollars, but alas; here it is!  The TREsemmé Naturals line(which also has a mousse and hair spray, which I will buy once mine run out), can be found at all major drug stores, department stores, and grocery stores. Basically it is found wherever you’d normally find shampoo.

The product claims that your hair will feel ten times stronger. Mine actually does. I’m extremely happy, and so is my wallet.

Enjoy!

~Darleya~

B. Kamins chemist is a skincare brand that is offered at Sephora among other places. The brand was created by Canadian chemist Ben Kaminsky,who sought to use only the highest-quality, proven ingredients to solve everyday skin issues with gentle, yet effective formulas.

The matte moisturizer with spf 15 did not wow me; and for a 50 ml bottle that costs $80, I think I should be more pleased with the product.

There’s nothing necessarily wrong with it, but it’s definitely not a moisturizer for Canadian winters. In the winter, I’d apply it, then not 10 minutes later my skin felt dry again. I don’t have complicated skin or anything either. I’d say it’s pretty non-temperamental.

When I realized this cream was not adequate for winter, I gave it another chance and saved it until the warmer less dry weather of Spring/Summer. While it now doesn’t leave my skin dry 10 minutes later, I still find that it isn’t moist enough so that my concealer doesn’t crease and cake.

Maybe some of B Kamins other products are better, but this Matte Moisturizer is not going to be purchased again. I will stick to my Caryl Baker cream until I find a magical wrinkle preventative cream that works.

~Darleya~