Month: July 2009

August in Edmonton is for Celebrating the Outdoors!

  • Latitude 53’s annual 12-hour Drawing Marathon runs from noon to midnight on August 1, and will offer family-friendly activities during the day, and music and bar service in the evening on their rooftop patio.
  • It’s BYOC (Bring Your Own Chair), as always, to the latest Movies on the Square instalment on August 1. They will be showing Kung Fu Panda.
  • An Edmonton mainstay, Heritage Days, runs August 1-3 at Hawrelak Park. Remember to bring a donation for the Food Bank! I wrote about our visit last year here.
  • It really shouldn’t be on this list, but I know many people are looking forward to the grand opening of Southgate Shopping Centre, August 5-9.
  • Another city favourite, the Edmonton Folk Music Festival is on from August 6-9, but the only tickets still available are for the special Sarah McLachlan and Tracy Chapman on August 5 – I’ll be there!
  • Cariwest, which bills itself as “the hottest fest in de west” runs August 7-9 and is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year! Join the party to sample some food, dance to lively music, and of course, catch a sensational parade.
  • Animethon is in its 16th year, and boasts the distinction of being the longest running anime festival in Western Canada. It all goes down at the MacEwan City Centre Campus, August 7-9.
  • Who doesn’t love free? The Winspear Centre is hosting a free noon hour concert on August 12.
  • My absolute favourite of the city’s festivals kicks off mid August – the Edmonton International Fringe Festival brings 10 days of theatre madness into Old Strathcona from August 13-23. Check out a play or two this year if you can.
  • The Rutherford House is hosting its annual penny carnival on August 16.
  • Louise McKinney Park is always a nice place to visit, but all the more so when there’s a race on the North Saskatchewan – catch the Edmonton Dragon Boat Festival on August 21-23.
  • Also August 21-23, the Heritage Amphitheatre is hosting the Labatt Blues Festival.
  • Edmonton will see the dawn of a new festival on August 22 – the East Meets West Festival will be closing down 107A Avenue from 95 to 97 Street to accommodate fashion shows, a street sale and market and a talent contest. It sounds like it will be a good time!
  • Under the Big Top, a festival “for the whole community to gather, learn, and experience magic, puppetry, and physical theatre” continues in its second year in Sherwood Park, and includes theatre shows and a free puppet picnic on August 23.

A Labour of Love: Soul Soup

There are a handful of eateries I wish I could patronize more often, but due to short operating hours or hard-to-reach locations, I am unable to. Soul Soup falls into the first category, only open from 11-6pm from Monday-Friday, which is convenient to those in close proximity to the core, but becomes a destination spot otherwise.

As a result, I’ve only been to Soul Soup a few times, even though I have enjoyed my past experiences there. As the name suggests, the restaurant primarily serves soup (although they were also offering one rice bowl alternative during my last visit). With numerous varieties on endless rotation, the magnetic menu board above the order counter changes daily, displaying one type each of vegetarian, fish and meat soups. A small 8 oz. serving is $4.75, a medium 16 oz. is $7 and a 32 oz. sells for $11. Each bowl comes with a fresh roll. For those looking for a post-work meal, Soul Soup also sells containers of frozen soup, as well as Culina’s TV dinners.

The interior is chic, brown neutrals accented by pops of pink. I particularly love the light fixtures fashioned out of ladles.

Interior

Between the day’s mulligatawny with apple and pistachios, tomato and shrimp with tarragon and Asian ginger braised pork with rice noodles, the latter won my vote. And though I did feel somewhat hungry that day, I decided to order the small, thinking that the bread would help fill me up. I asked for my order to stay, and settled in on one of the high tables to the side of the counter (the table was even equipped with a built-in purse hook!). Three other stools along the narrow divider that doubled as a table were still up for grabs, but nearly all customers who walked in took their meals to go.

My soup was delivered to me almost instantly, on a retro-themed tray accompanied by the aforementioned roll. The plastic cutlery had been neatly tied up, with a small fruit candy tucked inside – a nice touch. The soup itself was lovely – creative to start with (not your usual beef-and-pasta variety), it was clearly a labour of love. The carrots were tender and soft, and the broth had a full flavour to it, something only attained from lengthy low and slow simmering. Later in the afternoon, I did regret ordering the small, however – I should have upgraded.

Soup

I did have a chance to ask the owner whether or not Soul Soup plans to join Twitter (I’ve mentioned in the past that they are the ideal restaurant to do so – a tweet before lunch about their 3 soups du jour). She said I was the “eighth person” to ask them that question recently, but because they are only a two-person operation, she doesn’t have the time to update their status. She said their phone line recording system was working just fine as a way to provide information to customers. I don’t think the “time” excuse is valid, but with Mack’s help, was able to locate an unofficial Soul Soup account which seems to do a pretty good job of listing the day’s soups.

If you’re looking for a fast but homemade lunch downtown outside of the food court recesses, I’d highly recommend giving Soul Soup a try.

Soul Soup
140-10020 101A Avenue
(780) 409-8272
Monday-Friday 11am-6pm

I Heart the Fringe

For some people their yearly stampede moment happens when the fall fashion magazines arrive. For me, it is the day the Edmonton International Fringe program is released.

I got my copy yesterday (thanks, Mack!), and everything about it – the smell, the texture, the weight – infuses me with anticipatory glee for ten days of glorious theatre.

Mack just contributed a piece to Edmonton Stories centering around his discovery of live theatre in the city. It got me thinking about my own history with Edmonton’s theatre scene, which happens to be tied very closely with the Fringe Festival.

Back in high school, I was offered free tickets to a show by Marty Chan called The Bone House. Never being one to turn down anything complimentary, I accepted, and headed down to the Arts Barns for my first theatre experience. Centered around the hunt for a serial killer, The Bone House blew me away. The chills I felt were real, enhanced by the intimacy of the venue and the script’s dexterous ability to exploit the audience’s imagination. I couldn’t believe live theatre could be so exhilarating.

Actor Chris Fassbender was a standout in that play, so it was natural that when his name appeared in the cast for a Fringe show the following summer, I wanted to see it. That same year, I decided to volunteer for the Festival – it seemed like a great deal, the trade-off of time for Fringe dollars that could be redeemed for show tickets. Well, there wasn’t a better way to get to know what would soon become my favourite festival of the year – I volunteered for the next five Fringes. My fellow volunteers were fantastic, and I gained an appreciation for the festival as a whole as I worked through several teams over the years, including KidsFringe, Information, and Front of House.

I did stop volunteering a few years into stepping full-time into the workforce; it was easier to find the time when I was a student in high school and university. What didn’t stop, however, was my presence in Old Strathcona in mid-August, a time I look forward to every year.

Let’s not overlook the shows – my first Fringe show, Esther’s Hands, included a deafening gun shot, which left an indelible impression of tools available on stage to heighten tension. Or how about Stewart Lemoine’s Cocktails at Pam’s, for which I dragged a poor friend of mine to wait in line for nearly three hours, only to be faced with joke after joke involving 70s references that we did not understand. A year later, I gave Lemoine a second chance (Shocker’s Delight!), and by golly, I fell in love. I’m a Teatro la Quindicina subscriber now. And I will always remember Nighthawk Rules, the first Fringe play I took two of my good friends to – and believe me, they will never forget it either.

This year’s theme is Stage a Revolution – Executive Director Julian Mayne wanted to draw attention to the relative affordability of the Fringe when compared with some of the other festivals in the city, and is encouraging all Edmontonians to embrace live theatre by taking in at least one show. Though festival attendance numbers have been good (with the street performers, craft and food vendors, and vibrant atmosphere attracting crowds), our ticket sales have levelled off and seemingly reached a plateau at around 77,000. The Winnipeg Fringe, which has always been second to ours, just broke the North American Fringe ticket record this year, selling 81,565 tickets.

So for those new to the Fringe – I encourage you to explore the shows on the website (a program is handy, but I understand paying $6 for the guide isn’t economical for those seeing just one or two plays). A few to watch for:

Of course, the fun of the Fringe is to pick based on instinct. Recommendations are a place to start, but taking a chance on something different is what the Fringe is all about.

And on a side note, The Bone House – where my love of theatre began –  is returning to an Edmonton stage in the fall – it will run at the TransAlta Arts Barns October 22 – November 8, 2009.

See you at the Fringe!

The 28th Edmonton International Fringe Festival runs August 13 – 23.

The Cooking Chronicles: Pizza Stone Attempt #1

Have you ever been wooed at the store by a kitchen gadget only to bring it home and allow it to gather dust? A pizza stone I had picked up at Winners last year fell into that category, even though I had the best of intentions when I bought it, with visions of crunchy, thin-crust pizzas overtaken by the reality of time and effort. Well, I hoped to reignite some of those visions and made it a point to finally make use of it.

The stone itself came with a serving rack, but Mack and I weren’t sure if the rack itself was meant to be put in the oven. We decided it would be safer to avoid potential melting and put the stone directly into the oven. The instructions directed us to preheat it for 40 minutes in a 450 degree oven.

We assembled the pizza using a tried and true recipe (Giada de Laurentiis’ dough base, though I wish I could toss dough like Chris instead). As instructed, we sprinkled some corn meal on the hot stone, lay our rolled pizza dough on top, and assembled our favourite assortment of toppings, including prosciutto, roma tomatoes, mushrooms and fresh basil. And into the oven it went, for about 15 minutes.

Out of the oven, the pizza was looking good – the crisp brown edges were just beginning to curl. When we dug in though, we found the crust to have an odd consistency. While crunchy on the bottom, the centre of the crust was chewy, almost undercooked. We weren’t sure if this was attributed to our mangling of the dough recipe, or perhaps a mistake of our first pizza stone try, but we were disappointed the pizza didn’t quite taste as good as it looked.

Pizza stone + pizza

We weren’t disheartened though – we will be making use of the stone again (with a different dough recipe), optimistic for better results!

Food Notes for July 27, 2009

The countdown to the 28th annual Edmonton International Fringe Festival begins – programs go on sale Tuesday at noon! I’m looking forward to it. Onward with this week’s notes:

  • News was released this week about Loblaws acquiring T & T. I actually shop at Superstore less than I have in the past, so I can’t report firsthand whether or not their distribution has improved as they had set out to do, but if not, I hope it doesn’t affect T & T’s ability to be a reliable source of Asian goods.
  • Paula tweeted about a new bubble tea shop in Chinatown called, well, Bubble Tea Cafe located at 97 Street and 106 Avenue. It seems Flirt Cupcakes on Whyte will also have a new neighbour called Bubble Juice, which is coming soon.
  • Liane posted about the new cafe in the recently renovated Muttart Conservatory. On that note, I can’t wait until the new Art Gallery of Alberta opens in the fall with a brand new restaurant/cafe. Places to dine without need to pay admission will make age-old city attractions appealing again to residents and not just tourists.
  • Richard Helm reviewed a new-ish Turkish restaurant called Istanbul Mediterranean Cuisine (12918 82 Street, 780-478-8881) on Saturday. A “rebuttal” of sorts was posted on Chowhound the same day.
  • Anyone know what happened to Cargo and James in Edmonton? Though the Whyte Ave store looked closed indefinitely, I just passed by the “for lease” signs in the window this week.
  • The Greater Edmonton Alliance is currently looking for a local food systems research intern, to help, among other things, prepare a presentation to Council and expand the Good Food Project.
  • Cupcakes have officially jumped the shark in Vancouver: the W Network is casting for a reality show about the pint-sized treats at Cupcakes by Heather and Lori.
  • Elana Safronsky over at Food for Thought posed an interesting question about “unladylike” food, and shared her experience about being chastised for having a big appetite.
  • I have to admit I don’t know much about the subject of food irradiation, so I appreciated this primer.
  • I must admit I like to occasionally wander through supermarket aisles just to see what new products are greeting our aisles. When confronted with smiling images of Wolfgang Puck on cans of soup, I had to wonder – cookware lines are one thing, but soup at $3 a can?

 

Wolfgang Puck soup – seriously?

  • I also noticed that Safeway has started labelling “organic” products with small white text tags. I wonder if stores will begin migrating towards using the new CFIA-sanctioned logo as markers at some point?

 

Organic labels at Safeway

  • And just for fun – this sign outside Polly Magoo’s made me laugh. I wonder if any restaurants would instigate such a discount?

 

Cluck like a chicken, fool!

Capital Ex 2009

No particular reason drew us to the Capital Ex grounds on Thursday, except perhaps a sense of homegrown duty to visit the city’s annual excuse for gluttony. Although we enjoyed ourselves last year, the attractions were somehow less interesting this year.

Sand sculptures

That said, I do still enjoy the sights and sounds of the midway – the exhilarated screams from thrill-seekers, enthusiastic pitches from the amusement carneys, the wafting smells of deep-fried everything and flashing neon lights that never fail to transport me to nights of Ex’s past.

Midway

We did make a point to go see the Cirque Shanghai troupe. Entertaining, we were surprised at how young some of the performers were. We also walked through the Sip! wine and food experience, but decided not to sample any of the food. Though we arrived too late to see David Adjey in person (I was curious to see if his arrogance held up off the screen), we did see Brad Smoliak and Mary Bailey in their nightly “dessert and nightcap” feature. Their dessert of a ginger cocktail and sautéed nectarines with mascarpone cheese and amaretti cookies was quite nice (and best of all, free!).

Mary Bailey and Brad Smoliak on the CookTop stage

Dessert

Chris’ extensive inventory of Ex eats was helpful in knowing what was available (and what to avoid). We opted for the tried and true favourites, namely – Those Little Doughnuts, corn dogs, and Deli Manjoo custard-filled treats.

Mack hearts corn dogs!

Deli Manjoo cakes

We stayed for the fireworks that night, and were quite impressed! While not as spectacular as the Canada Day offerings, the show at least exceeded our expectations.

Ferris wheel at night

It’s hard to avoid one of Edmonton’s most popular summer festivals – but I wouldn’t want to. Despite it’s shortcomings (and year-to-year fluctuations in interesting acts), the Ex is an Edmonton institution of frivolous fun.

Ringing in the City Centre Market!

A few weeks ago, I was invited by the City Centre Market to ring the opening bell to kick off the July 25 market. I had drawn their attention primarily because of the scavenger hunt I recently put together on behalf of Slow Food Edmonton, but also because of my efforts in promoting the local food scene. I was honoured to have been asked, and happily accepted.

I was told that past bell ringers have included Mayor Mandel and more recently, Geoff Linden of Credo Coffee, but to be honest, I haven’t personally been to the market early enough to witness any of the early morning festivities – I’m lucky if I get to the market by 11am (it is a Saturday after all!).

The calm before the storm

Saturday was a beautiful (but hot) day, and Mack and I were glad that arriving early meant we would be spared the heat of a midday market spree. Ten minutes before 9am, I met up with market staff Maria, Susie and Robin, who provided me with a reusable bag, apron and  bell, all of which I could keep. They told me that the vendors had been given a newsletter containing a short paragraph about me and why I had been chosen as a bell ringer.

Ready to ring!

At 9am, Robin led me up and down each of the vendor-lined lanes as we chatted about the market and her role as the site manager. Not someone who usually likes to draw attention to myself, Mack told me I should have probably been greeting the vendors more thoroughly as I walked, but I figured the ceremonious ringing was enough.

Robin & I

Mack’s short Flip video of the ringing

Thanks to the City Centre Market for the opportunity – it was fun!

Lunch at Taste of Edmonton 2009

I was reluctant to go to Taste of Edmonton this year because not only is the value for dollar not there, but I’ve been shown the light for tasting events (in the forms of Taste of Summer and Indulgence). That said, it’s undeniable that the festival is ingrained in the city’s culture (it celebrates it’s 25th anniversary this year), and sampling small plates outdoors on Churchill Square can be the cure for the common lunch. So when a few coworkers asked if I wanted to join them, I gave in.

I decided to buy just 10 tickets ($1 per ticket), and planned my meal accordingly. While I admit it isn’t the best way to go about the event, I was looking for a full stomach as opposed to the full experience.

I decided on the sweet potato fries from Zen and the cheese empanada from Roma Bistro, both only 3 tickets each. The sweet potato fries were good, particularly with the accompanying dip. I couldn’t complain about the portion size either.

Sweet Potato Fries from Zen

I actually remembered to pull out my reusable container for my second course, and was pleasantly surprised when the attendant at the Roma Bistro booth took the time to cut the empanada so it would fit into my container. The deep-fried pastry didn’t lack cheese, but it wasn’t anything special either.

Cheese Empanada from Roma Bistro

With 4 tickets left, I could have gone for something slightly more substantial (the dry spicy chicken from The Lingnan was tempting), but I ended up with a dessert. On the Rocks’ apple crumble with Jack Daniels caramel sauce won my vote because of the ice cream. It melted much too fast for me to enjoy it, but some fruit was a nice way to end an otherwise deep fryer-heavy meal.

Apple Crumble from On the Rocks

Have you made it to Taste of Edmonton? What were your favourites?

Taste of Edmonton runs until July 25.

Teatro La Quindicina: “Mother of the Year”

After the disappointing Teatro La Quindicina season debut of Connie in Egypt, Mack and I were looking to the mid-season romp Mother of the Year to help redeem our hope for the season. It did, somewhat.

Mother of the Year is a companion piece to one of the shows playing at the Free Will Shakespeare Festival, Titus Andronicus (a nod to the current economy, ticket holders gain a $10 discount to Titus). From the website:

“Set in Edmonton during the 1980’s, Mother of the Year unfurls the dramatically hilarious saga of a pair of rival meat packing companies and the families who run them. It’s a fast-paced, shockingly Shakespearean display of simmering resentments, disastrous marital alliances, quiet double-crosses, and bold betrayals, all played out in a world strongly reminiscent of such classic Reagan Era prime time soap operas as Dynasty, Dallas, and Knot’s Landing.”

I was a little afraid all of the 80s references would turn us off (in the same vein as Cocktails at Pam’s), but thankfully, they weren’t overdone. There were just a few references to neighbourhoods that had the over-40 set laughing.

As a whole, notwithstanding the outlandish personalities and ridiculous plot twists, Mother of the Year was fairly enjoyable. The Lemoine-ian quips were out in full force, and the Teatro regulars spun them into gold. In particular, I enjoyed Sheri Somerville as the satisfyingly blunt escort Mrs. Jones, and Davina Stewart as the dutiful Persis Renshaw (what a name!). At the same time, although I know the second half was meant to satirize the inane plot twists inherent in soaps, the rapid-fire way in which they came made it seem like Lemoine just didn’t care anymore – a contrast to his usual whimsical, but clever endings.

Mother of the Year runs until July 25 at the Varscona Theatre.

The Cooking Chronicles: Curried Chicken, Potato and Rice Soup

Though Saturday started out scorching hot, the night hosted one of the city’s most intense thunderstorms in quite some time, and it turned out to be a perfect occasion for a comforting bowl of chicken soup.

A recipe for a curried chicken and rice soup in Food Network Magazine had caught my eye – the thought of fragrant dill simmering with chicken stock was all it took. And though it wasn’t quite a one-pot wonder (two, in fact), the work required was minimal. I threw in some halved baby red potatoes from Greens, Eggs and Ham that we had in the fridge for additional heartiness, but besides that, kept to the ingredients specified. I also couldn’t be bothered to puree the rice.

The result was a lustrous yellow broth filled with tender onions, moist chicken and perfectly soft carrots and potatoes. Mack would have liked a little more rice, but other than that, had no complaints.

Curried Chicken, Potato and Rice Soup

We had enough leftover for lunch the next day, served with fresh-from-oven dill-icious cheddar and dill scones (sorry, I couldn’t help myself). The soup is great recipe that would work well with leftover rice, chicken and vegetables and we’ll be keeping it in mind in the future.