Pages

Monday, August 27, 2012

St-Hubert Express Pass to Fredericton


St-hubert Express, Fredericton NB.
Yesterday I met with the owner of the brand new St-Hubert Restaurants here in Fredericton, NB. His name is Barry and co-owns the eatery with his brother Denis Pope. After not having a day off since they opened, Denis was home for some much needed relaxation. Barry however, had things in full swing with clean surfaces, great employees and a smile to match.

Not only is St-Hubert new to fredericton, but so is Barry. Coming over from Halifax he started on a great foot with the help from his brother Denis. From what I could see everything was in full swing and the place was in tip top shape. Now this may also have been because the place is brand new, but hey, its the small things that count.

Inside dining area.
By constantly being on the lookout for new business opportunities, brother Denis found the sign for an opening at St-Hubert on a government business website, and seized the chance. After having his brother on board and the ok from the experts, the duo went ahead and joined the metropolis of new businesses coming to fredericton.

Inside and outside of the building. 
This was my very first experience with St-Hubert, so I had no idea what to expect going into it. Just a couple days ago however, I received the St-Hubert menu in my mailbox, conveniently timed for growing curiosity. I took a peak and it didn't look too bad. It basically reminded me of an everyday fast food chicken place. Mind you, that's not always a bad thing because you know their chicken is going to be good. Anyway, I couldn't help but be shocked when I drove up to the actual building. It wasn't your old classic chicken shack like I was expecting, instead it was a very modern design with almost a Boston Pizza feel to it. It has nice tables with big umbrellas if you like to eat outside and a glass fence to keep it all together. The inside was even better. It is a very modern look with classy mirrors, paintings and flatscreen tvs illustrated across the walls. Everything looked new (as it should) and well put together, which for me, is a definite plus.


Possibly one of my favourite qualities of St-Hubert was how well organized they are. I am a very organized person myself and took a huge appreciation for both their ordering system as well as their garbage disposal.

As a walk in customer you follow a sign to the right side of the ribbon and for take out or pre-ordered meals you go over to the left. This way everyone doesn't have to wait in the same line and you don't get a jumble of people.




The garbage is my favourite part. What they do is have you bring your tray of food over to what they call their "Eco Station". At this point workers take over and sort your garbage for you. Instead of cleaning your plate and worrying about putting the right piece of waste in the right container, St-Hubert does it for you. This way it gets done right every time and and you (the paying customer) don't have to worry about a thing. You simply drop your tray off and hit the road! To me, this is great. All of the waste is being sorted the way it should and you don't have to lift a finger. For those who know me, know that dishes and I are not friends. St-Hubert and I, on the other hand, now are.


Now for the part you've all been waiting for: the food. They have a variety of different meals you can get, as well as the classics everyone loves. It has every type of meal you can think of, chicken wise. There is something for everyone too, whether your eating by yourself or you have a family to feed. You could get anything from a hot chicken sandwich to a family pack meal. I have a link to their menu at the bottom of the page if you would like to check it out and see what you can find! (I was so busy eating mine that I completely forgot to take a picture! Crap...)

http://www.st-hubert.com/menu/envedette.en.html

Something you can't find on the website, is the presentation of the food. All meals are served on a tray with a plate and fork. It gives a nice "going out to dinner" feel without having the wait or the waiter. I'm a plain Jane type of girl when it come to ordering out, so I decided to get the Chicken Breast Fillet Wrap. It came with two halves of a wrap, your choice of side (French fries, baked potato, sweet potato fries, rice pilaf, julienne vegetables, Caesar or garden salad), naturally I went with the unexpected French fries, coleslaw and a choice between fountain or bottled pop. Everything was really, really good but you are somewhat paying more for quality rather then quantity. All in all (the presentation, the good chicken, and fast service) was awesome, BUT I really was expecting just a littleeee more chicken.

If you've read anything on my blog before you know that I'm always looking for a bargain. St-Hubert is reasonable in their pricing considering the quality of the chicken and the presentation/service that you get. My meal came to a little over $12.00 in total, which really isn't bad for good quality chicken and a nice place to eat (especially where you don't have to clean off your dishes).

At the end of the night I left feeling like a million bucks with a full stomach. When it comes down to it, what more could you really ask for?          
:)



X
Sarah                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   

Monday, August 6, 2012

D.I.Y. Stencil Poster

Recently I've been Pinteresting like it's my job. I came across this really cool D.I.Y. That I've been wanting to try for myself and so just a couple weeks ago I actually did it! I used a couple different materials, but I found that they were A) cheaper then the original and B) worked just as well if not better then the original, so all-in-all it turned out to be a success!


Here is what I used:

Adhesive foam sheet - Michael's
Paint Brush (small and large)
Ruler
Paint (I chose white) - Dollar Store
Scissors
Painting of your choice - Value Village










Steps:

1) Pick a painting. For mine, I went to Value Village and chose one of the most colorful landscape pictures I could find. This is good because you know that later for the finished product the letters and words are going to stand out and add a nice contrast to the color your going to be adding. You also want to look for a picture or painting that you don't really care for. This is because in the later steps your going to be painting over it with your own design, so whatever is in the background won't really matter. This is the one that I chose:

(I got lucky because I found both a cool frame and a colorful background)

2) Pick the phrase you would like to use and cut the foam to the desired letter and words. This is where I found the advantage to using the adhesive foam rather then the pre-made letter stickers because this way you can cut them to whatever shape and size you want. With other stickers you may find that they are too small or too big, but here you are in complete creative control. The phrase that I picked was, "Born to Die". I chose this because it's the title of the latest Lana Del Rey Album that my roommates and I have recently become obsessed with, and also because it's such a thought provoking sentence that I can't seem to get it out of my head. So, what better way to show my interest for it then to plaster it onto the biggest piece of artwork in my living room? 


3) Peel off the back and stick. Make sure you place them exactly where you want them because this is where the letters are going to stay. To make sure that everything was straight and I will have piece of mind, I measured out the centre of the frame and made sure everything was aligned right. I would highly recommend doing this as well because if your anything like me, the slightest offset will totally ruin the final project. So, to avoid being displeased with what you come out with, just take the time to make sure everything is in it's rightful place. Once you've done this all that's left to do is paint! I used my large brush to paint over the whole middle and the small brush to get the corners. 


4) Peel away! Now for the fun part. Once the wait for the never ending paint to dry is over, slowly start to peel back the corners. If everything has worked out the way it should there will be a nice clean line where the foam used to be and where the paint starts. You'll also want to peel the letters off slowly because you don't want to rip off or damage the background picture you've been trying so hard to preserve. When it is all done you will have a brand new masterpiece for you and your friends to enjoy. 


And that is it my friends, a simple solution to a rainy day problem.

This is the original blog from which I found the idea. Have a look!
http://abeautifulmess.typepad.com/my_weblog/2011/08/song-lyric-wall-art-diy-project.html


X
Sarah