It has been just over a month since I started this blog and I am already very happy with how things are going. CheapDude.com is currently getting around 25 unique visitors per day, which isn’t too bad for a blog that is only a month old and doesn’t even have that much content yet. To celebrate, I have decided to give away some raptors tickets that I purchased as well as some other Raptors swag while at the same time helping spread the word about my blog.

THE PRIZE

One lucky person will win a pair of tickets to watch the Toronto Raptors vs. Atlanta Hawks on January 31st, 2012 at 7pm at the Air Canada Centre. I will also include a size large Toronto Raptors T-shirt (given to all fans on opening day) as well as a rally towel that was given to fans on opening day.

The seats are located in section 306 row 4 and will be emailed to the winner as they are electronic tickets. The value of the tickets is $41 on ticketmaster and each ticket shows a face value of $20. Here is the view from the seats:

View from the FREE Raptors tickets

As mentioned above I will also be including these Raptors opening day prizes with the tickets:

Raptors Opening Day T-Shirt & Towel

HOW TO ENTER

1. You MUST be following @beachrockinc on Twitter.
2. Tweet EXACTLY the following phrase just once (without the quotations): ” I want to see the Toronto Raptors play FREE thanks to @beachrockinc. Contest giveaway details: https://www.cheapdude.com/cheap-dude/free-raptors-tickets/ #Raptors4FREE ”
3. Leave a comment on this post with your Twitter username so that I can verify your entry.

RULES

1. You must follow ALL of the steps listed in the HOW TO ENTER section above.
2. You may only enter this contest 1 time from a single Twitter account.
3. Your Twitter account must have a real name listed. Twitter accounts for companies will not be eligible.
4. If I determine you are trying to enter from multiple accounts or abuse the rules of this contest in any way I reserve the right to disqualify your entry.
5. Contest is open to Ontario residents only (or people currently in Ontario that can pick up the prize in person).
6. Contest is open as of 3pm on January 10th, 2012 and will close in on January 17th, 2012 at 3pm. Winners will be announced on January 18th and will be selected using TwitterTwitterChickenDinner.com or a random number generator should this not work correctly.
7. If I am unable to contact the winner within 24 hours of announcing the winner, a new winner will be selected.

Good luck everyone and depending on the success or failure of this contest I will look into running some future contests. I have lots of great prizes for giveaways including TFC CCL tickets, Autographed merchandise from various sports teams, as well as lots of other great swag!

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UPDATE: The winner has been drawn, here are screenshots and video of the draw:

Congrats to @Anita_Chauhan

One of my favourite things in the world is a really well made coffee, but lately I have been finding it harder and harder to come accross a shop that can make one that I really enjoy. I have scoured all accross the city trying to find the best coffee in Toronto, but it wasn’t until a few days ago that I realized I could make the best one right at home with minimal effort. (NOTE: I understand that many people get coffee while at work so this method doesn’t always work but even if you typically purchase a coffee on the weekend or in the morning this can be a great way to save some money).

It all started about 6 months ago when I was in Italy. I wanted to bring back a souvenir that would remind me of my trip so I decided to buy a Bialetti stove-top espresso maker. I picked up a small 2-cup maker for 18 euros (roughly $27 CDN). Prior to this I had a Breville Cafe Modena Espresso Machine (the most basic one) but never really got around to using it because I felt it was somewhat complicated and required lots of work to clean after each use.

Bialetti Moka Express

This actually sat in the box in my house for almost 6 months after my trip because I never took the time to really figure out how it worked. Knowing that I would like to really try this thing out one day I also invested in a coffee grinder, which I purchased from The Bay for around $20 (on sale for half price from about $40). The reason I purchased my own grinder was I had heard that to make the best coffee it was important to grind the beans just before you used them. This is what I bought: Continue Reading »

Last week I finally made it out to a new Toronto restaurant that I have been dying to try, Grand Electric. After reading an excellent review of the restaurant by Stella (aka @foodieyu on Twitter), I knew this was a place that I would probably love! I couldn’t have been more right and can now confidently say that Grand Electric is one of my top 3 places to eat in Toronto.

I arrived at Grand Electric just before 6pm (when they open since they don’t take reservations) with my girlfriend Amanda, which is super early by my eating standards, but after skipping lunch I was fine with an early dinner. While waiting for them to open the doors I quickly popped in to visit Community 54 (a hot new clothing store across the street which also has old video games if you need to kill time waiting for a table) to see if anything new had come in since my last visit. By the time we left it was about 6:05pm and we made our way across the street to find the restaurant had already filled up! We took a seat at the bar which was a cool place to sit as you can watch the bartenders assembling cocktails while enjoying your meal.

Grand Electric Bar

To set the mood of how it feels in the restaurant picture a very dimly lit room blasting old school hip hop music (borderline too loud for some, but I didn’t mind it). There are no menus, just various chalk boards (drinks, food, liquors) posted around the restaurant which can be difficult to view depending on where you are sitting. Overall it is a cool vibe definitely targeted towards a younger clientele that blends in perfectly with where they are located.

Grand Electric Menu (After some photoshop work to brighten it up - too dark to take pictures in the restaurant)

Continue Reading »

After a lot of hype surrounding what some are saying is Toronto’s best restaurant, I decided it was time to go visit County General for myself. The County General is located at 936 Queen St. W in Toronto. I arrived with my brother around 6:30pm since County General does not take reservations and I had heard it can be difficult to get a table. They were full when we got there but said it would be about a 15 minute wait, no problem.

County General Exterior

The restaurant itself is very small and only has table seating for about 18 people plus around 8 seats at the bar. There is a window into what looks like a very cozy kitchen at the back of the bar where I could see at least 3 people working.

Inside County General

Continue Reading »

After several weeks of trying to organize a visit, yesterday I finally made it out to what I think will soon be a very popular Toronto food destination, Banh Mi Boys. Ever since I tried my first Banh Mi (for those that don’t know it is essentially a viatnamese take on a sandwich) around 6 years ago, I have always loved this sandwich that is typically very cheap and full of flavour. Over the recent years the Banh Mi has started to become very popular in big cities such as New York and I knew it was only a matter of time until the trend landed in Toronto. I have actually been thinking for a long time about opening a sandwich place and one of the concept ideas I had was to do banh mi’s though I thought it might be a bit weird for a white guy to do.

I digress… Banh Mi Boys is located at 396 Queen St W. just west of Spadina (about 3 doors in from the Mcdonalds on the corner). They are still very new and have only been open for under a month. Unfortunately this kind of shows right now as the restaurant looks like it was put together in a bit of a hurry and leaves little to be desired in terms of ambience, but rest assured the manager mentioned they have renovations scheduled in the near future which will spruce the place up a bit!

Banh Mi Boys Counter

Banh Mi Boys is set up perfectly as a takeout restaurant, but there is seating for about 20 people should you want to eat in. Their hours are currently 11am to 11pm.  I arrived at the restaurant and met Mackenzie from Fuel House to check this new spot out. The line moved pretty quickly (under 5 minutes for 4-5 people) and it was time to decide what to order. Here is the menu when we were there:

Banh Mi Boys Menu

We both opted to try the Banh Mi sandwich but went opposite ways when it came to side dishes (well mains for some but we treated them more like sides). I opted for the pulled pork steamed bao, while Mackenzie went with 1 of each of their 3 tacos. Continue Reading »