See Dave Do

Category: Lifestyle

  • Cooking With Yves

    Cooking With Yves

    Being the one that cooks at home, I’m always looking for new recipes and ingredients to try out in my food. Honestly, who wants to eat the same thing every week? Mel and I partnered up with Yves Veggie Cuisine to try out some of their products. I have never cooked or really had eaten any Veggie meat replacement product before so I really wasn’t sure what to expect. We made 2 recipes which you can find below including Pizza, Taco Salad. All of which way surpassed my expectations as far as taste and texture.

    CLASSIC VEGGIE PEPPERONI PIZZA

    First off was the Classic Veggie Pepperoni Pizza, I know what you’re thinking. But in all honesty we used the Yves Veggie Pepperoni was actually really good and since we made pizza more or less from scratch. It tasted like home! I would def make this again, and see how sometimes it’s hard to come up with things to cook when we have our vegetarian/vegan friends over. This is an easy alternative that everyone can enjoy!

    You can get the entire recipe –>HERE<–

     

    TACO SALAD

    This is a perfect meal to prep and put in the fridge for a quick grab and go meal for when you’re running late but still have to eat! Prep everything in a mason jar and get ready to be transported. I used the Yves Original Veggie Ground Round for this recipe. This was a product that really interested me as it tasted great and made the entire meal taste great and is a fantastic substitute for ground beef or pork in my opinion.

    You can get the entire recipe –>HERE<–

     

    Creamy Vegan Carbonara

     

    Carbonara has been by far my favourite pasta recipe to make and eat. So this was definitely one I HAD to try! Using some Yves Veggie Bacon to replace the normal bacon I would use to make this. It was a pretty easy recipe to follow, and although everything contained in the pasta was vegan, it tasted quite good. The consistency of the bacon is a little different from animal bacon but once cooked it’s very similar. Flavour wise, the carbonara tasted indeed like carbonara which is exactly what we were going for. For me at the end of the day, that’s all that matters. I would be more than happy to make this dish again, especially if i was having a dinner party with people that have dietary restrictions.

    You can get the entire recipe –>HERE<–

     

    Honestly, this was my first time cooking veggie/vegan food and I really wasn’t sure what I would think of it all going in. However, I will say i was pleasantly surprised at how good everything tasted despite my preconceived notions of what veggie/vegan food was supposed to taste like. It just goes to show you that if you’re willing to try you may find some hidden gems you never knew existed beforehand! I would encourage you guys to try out at least one of the above recipes and let me know what you think of them.

  • Best Piece Of Furniture You Didn’t Know You Needed

    Best Piece Of Furniture You Didn’t Know You Needed

    When it comes to decorating and buying items for the perfect office, I feel like one of the most overlooked things is a good office chair. Sure you spend big money on a powerful computer to get your work done, but then you spend hours sitting at it and half the time, it’s in a cheap $50 office chair from Ikea ~ NO BUENO. I’ve been seeing more and more gaming chairs online from various you tubers and I wanted to see what all the hype was about. Are they really as good as people say? The short, YES, yes they are! Everything from the firmness of the built-in cushioning, to the articulating padded armrests, to the fact that you can fully recline the chair and literally take a nap if you want. Not to mention the accessories that come with it including a removable/adjustable lumbar support and head cushion!

    Literally took 30 minutes to put together straight out of the box without any extra tools. I spend hours every single day editing, writing, gaming, whatever I may be doing. I’m always in an office chair, so sitting in one of these has been some next level stuff. So let me give you a quick rundown.

    • Padded armrests with adjustable height, as well as articulating left and right.
    • Fully reclinable (this is bananas).
    • Standard Adjustable height.
    • Firm but comfortable cushioning in the chair much like a racing seat in a sports car.
    • Included removable lumbar support and headrest.
    • Super smooth casters extremely mobile.
    • A multitude of styles and colours to choose from.

    Honestly, I have been recommending these to everyone and for the people that have picked one up, they have had nothing but good things to say about it. Especially when compared to the chairs they were using before. Also, you don’t have to be a gamer to get one lol! So to check out DX Racer and the chairs they have on offer, you can thank me later!

  • Welcome To My Living Room

    Welcome To My Living Room

    Being someone who loves spending time watching great movies, when Mel and I bought our house having the perfect living room space was really important to me. Above the day to day, we love to host people whether it’s friends or family! I find that the party ends up in one of two places, the kitchen, or the living room. Being an 80’s kid, nothing beats company with some board games. It’s one of the most effective ways to entertain guests and disconnect from our electronics addicted lives. For me having a space that’s modern, functional, and most importantly comfortable is so important. Choosing the right seating, and coffee tables can be quite the challenge. Luckily I recently discovered Structube and their offerings. I wanted to find a place that wasn’t your standard furniture warehouse, that had modern, yet comfortable pieces. But of course, I’m always trying to be conscious of what I spend.

    Originally I wanted a full sectional, and all the fixings to go with it, however like a lot of initial wants when you are trying to furnish any room there are limitations. Mine being space, Mel and I agreed it just wouldn’t be functional and would literally take up the entire room. So we opted for a couch with a built-in chaise which ended working out quite well. We picked up the Kinsey Leather Sectional in grey so it would match the house aesthetic regardless if we decide to change it in the future.

    As for the coffee table, I wanted something a little more functional than a standard table, we were able to find an EVO Coffee Table which is PERFECTION! It’s got a top that rises so it transforms into a pullout eating table for those nights you just want to watch a movie with dinner. It also has ample storage space, which I was pleasantly surprised with.

     

    These were the two major components we needed I left the rest to Mel to decide on the fixings to go with the table and sofa. She ended up going with a set of Taj Nesting Tables to hold our table lamp as well as a scent diffuser. We opted to save space seeing as how our house is quite narrow, I wall mounted my TV and opted out of getting a standard media unit.

    Adding some artificial plants, some baskets to hold our blankets, a couple of throw pillows for accents and we were off to the races. I’m super happy with how it all turned out and spend quite a bit of time enjoying the space and comfort of having a living room that I actually wanted!

  • Editing Photos For Instagram [FREE PRESETS]

    Editing Photos For Instagram [FREE PRESETS]

    Hi there!

    Guess you came here to find out either A) how I edit my stuff or B) Improve your editing skills. Or maybe you just came here because your bored and feel like reading something I wrote haha. Ok, well let’s get into it then!

    Regardless if your platform is web, Instagram, print there are a few things you can do to ensure your photos are awesome from the start. First is probably the biggest one, START SHOOTING IN RAW! I find too many people still shoot in JPEG, and I mean it’s fine if you’re just shooting for fun and messing around. But if you want to get the most of out of your shots and your edits, shooting raw will give you the range to do so. The dynamic range you can get is incomparable to JPEG for those that don’t know. you can save a lot of photos that are underexposed or overexposed. Especially if you are shooting with a flat colour setting. You can always bring colour back into your shot if you’re shooting raw, and you will save a lot of the blacks and highlights.

    Here are some examples of before and after shots I took as well as the settings I used to shoot them.

    This is the power of RAW, I”m sure some of you are saying “Yeah I can do that with a regular jpeg image too!” Well yes and no, you can still brighten and edit and bring it up. However due to the limit in information captured, once you start pushing the whites and black in the image you’ll start to see banding and much less dynamic range.

    I will make a video soon just to go over my personal workflow and how I go about editing photos using Lightroom soon, so stay tuned!

    But for now, I will save you some time and give you guys a few presets you can use for your raw files. Note that presets aren’t a magic solution! Learn how to make your own and you’ll be better for it. Also, be mindful that presets won’t magically make your photos better, I’ll have a few presets for lighter photos as well as a few presets you can use for darker photos. Please leave a comment below if these helped you out at all, also let me know if you guy would want some editing tutorials or more presets to help you guys out.

    Orange Teal Presets

    Dark Photo Presets

  • That DIY Life With The Ford F-150

    That DIY Life With The Ford F-150

    What’s up guys?! back at it again with some auto goodness. As many of you know Mel and I are almost done our house renovations. But we still have a few odds and ends to polish up before it’s all FINALLY finished. Ford was kind enough to lend me the F-150 Limited to help me with a DIY. Since we had our laundry appliances delivered, I still hadn’t added any storage to the laundry itself. So since I had the F-150 for the weekend I figured I would hit up the local Home Depot and get some work done! But before that I decided to enjoy some time inside this wonderful pickup.

    A little backstory about me and trucks. My dad is a general contractor as are a good portion of my extended family, so trucks have been in my life for as long as I can remember. It’s been cool growing up with them and seeing the technology advance as far as it has. The main difference these days of course being luxury. Incorporation comfort into a vehicle that can handle loads, towing, and off roading is always welcome! Honestly living in the city I was a bit worried about getting around in it, but to be honest, it was a breeze to drive around in once I got used to being above everyone. The Ford F-150 has a BUNCH of bells and whistles that make it a great vehicle for anyone. From massage chairs, Sirius XM, park assist, 360 camera, Built in GPS, Key fob with remote start and push start as well. I almost forgot I was in a pickup truck. I think the other big surprise was how much room there was inside the cabin, we fit so much stuff in the back, reserving the truck for the countertop and shelves. The truck be had some of it’s own cool features including these handy dandy tie off handles! They allowed me to tie off my cargo so it wouldn’t slide around.

    We decided on a simple laundry DIY, adding a acacia wood countertop above the washer and dryer. We also opted for shelves instead of cabinets for the wall behind the machines. All in all it’s a pretty simple setup I think anyone with a drill and a few hours to kill can easily accomplish. Shelving is a breeze, literally i feel like ANYONE can put up some shelving. Bought two white MDF Shelves, nine shelf brackets, one 2×4, and of course the acacia wood countertop.

    First up was the brackets for the shelves, chose an appropriate height, making sure it was level. I predrilled 6 holes and filled them with drywall anchors to help support any weight the shelves would hold. Once the brackets were in place, I just needed to cut the shelves to size and screw the into the brackets.

    Next up was the counter top. Pretty straight forward stuff, i cut the 2×4 in order to create a bracket of sorts around my washer and dryer. Screwing the pieces of wood into studs in order to help support the weight of the counter. Next I cut the counter to size and slid it on. screwed the counter into the 2×4 pieces I have Attached to the wall. and I was all done and ready to go! and the laundry was complete.

    I had a blast checking out the new F-150 and for those looking to pickup a new car and need some towing capacity, or room to put things in, or even if you just want to upgrade to something bigger but still with the luxuries youve come to expect. The Ford F-150 Limited might be for you.

  • NYC With The Lincoln Aviator

    NYC With The Lincoln Aviator

    So last week Mel and I were lucky enough to be invited to a preview of the New York International Auto Show where Lincoln unveiled the new 2019 Aviator.

    We stayed in Manhattan which is super dope, I love New York! So many cool places to shoot, eat, and play! Going to the New York International Auto Show a few days before it opened for the media preview was super cool. Getting to enjoy all the new vehicles coming out without the hustle and bustle of all the people being there.

    Overall first impression of the Lincoln Aviator was great! It’s got smooth lines, and overall has a very sexy look, especially for a midsize. Speaking of midsize, living in the city, as much as I LOVE the Navigator, it’s just a touch too big to be driving around narrow streets. This is where the Aviator finds its place in my opinion. Lincoln did a great job with the design, representing the whole idea of effortless. They introduced a pretty dope feature, being that you can use your phone as a key FOB! For someone like me, technology is king and almost every aspect of my life has tech built into it. So I’m excited to check it out with a hands on experience when it’s released.

    The entire look and feel of it is very pleasing, from the new front grill, which gives the car presence to the aeronautical lines leading to the rear of the vehicle. The inspiration was taken from flight, and aircraft. So it’s pretty cool. MSRP hasn’t been announced just yet but stay tuned, i’m sure it will be out soon and i’ll have all that info for all you looking to buy a dope midsize!

    I’m totally stoked at the release of the Lincoln Aviator and can’t wait to get my hands on it! For for all of you that will be in the market for a new midsize, stay tuned the Aviator is coming!