Though we still have numerous boxes scattered throughout the condo, I feel more settled now than I did on the weekend. We even cooked our first meal last night in the kitchen! And I have to say, nothing’s better than being able to walk to the office in less than fifteen minutes – beats waiting for the bus any day! On to this week’s food notes:
- Doors Open Edmonton takes place this weekend, with numerous events celebrating Edmonton’s “built history”. Of note is their Speakers’ Studio, a new series for this year’s festival, which features a talk titled “Incarnation of the Edmonton City Market” on July 10.
- Ever want to know what goes down at a barista competition? Transcend is opening up their internal barista competition, where the top two winners will earn the right to compete in the Prairie Regional Barista Competition. Check out the action July 11 at 2pm at the original Transcend.
- Look for Original Fare’s semi-annual Fork Fest July 18 – 22 and 25 – 29. I’d prefer it didn’t coincide with Taste of Edmonton/Capital Ex, but then again, it’s difficult to avoid double booking with a festival in the summer.
- Tickets to Slow Food Edmonton’s annual Wild Boar and Beer BBQ, taking place on August 8, are now on sale! I’m a little biased because I’m one of the co-organizers this year, but I think it’s going to be a great event – Hog Wild is supplying the boar; Tree Stone Bakery, Cafe Haven and Leva Cafe will be providing the sides; and of course, Alley Kat beers will be on tap. Look for a scavenger hunt to be released later this week on my blog for a chance to win two tickets!
- From the City Market: “The City Market is launching a recipe blog and is looking for local recipes that celebrate the City Market’s great vendors and delicious products. A blog will launch on July 31, 2010 as a part of their celebrations marking Food Day Canada.” E-mail your recipes here.
- Speaking of the City Market – Vue Weekly wrote a profile on Eva Sweet Waffles this week (I love that they are at the market every Saturday now).
- BruleeBlog (aka Sherene) reviewed mrkt, which should become a destination lunch spot for the core crowd.
- Chris posted about a second Crepeworks that will be occupying the space vacated by Le Papier on Whyte Avenue.
- The second location of DeLux (on Bourbon Street at West Edmonton Mall) opened its doors on June 30. It’s bigger and better, according to those who have been, and even has a take-out window.
- A second Twisted Yogurt location is set to open in Southpark (along Calgary Trail) soon.
- Eat and drink al fresco: Avenue Magazine published a spread about the city’s best patios this month.
- It was only a matter of time before urban beekeeping was given the same profile as urban chicken coops (which was covered in Vue this week) – some are hoping the City will allow for a small pilot to allow for urban beekeeping.
- I still can’t believe I missed Valerie’s epic taste tripping party last week, but reading the recaps from Chris, Sherene, LeQuan and Lea, among others, was a bit of a consolation prize. And, well, Valerie was nice enough to provide us with two miracle berry tablets for our own use…
- On the heels of Tea Desire closing, David’s Tea is opening up their second Edmonton location in Southgate.
David’s Tea
- I took a break from the moving madness on Monday to have dinner with Valerie at Wild Tangerine. Wilson took good care of us, though I probably should have mentioned to him how cold I was – I must have been sitting under an AC vent on full blast!
Crispy pork spring roll
Judy’s famous Thai Green Curry with Prawns & Tortiglioni (loved the use of pasta instead of a traditional rice starch)
Asian Chili with Tofu and Rice Cracker (Valerie loved it)
- We’ve were eating out a lot last week, between late nights and a lack of kitchen equipment. One day, we stopped for lunch at the Italian Centre for one of their hunger-busting paninis. The best thing about the sandwich? The bread.
Giant panini @ the Italian Centre
- While Mack’s dad was in town this weekend, he wanted to take us out for dinner. Satisfying his request for Indian food, we directed him to Origin India (we think their naan is the best in the city). Martin loved it.
Plate #1 at Origin India
- After the gluttony, we took a walk around downtown to help the digestion process along. It was a good opportunity to check out the progress of Shaw Conference Centre’s garden.
Great use of space!
- On Canada Day, we were invited to Mack’s friend Reg’s house. His penthouse suite overlooking the Legislature allowed for fantastic views of the fireworks, but even more notable were the appetizers he served hungry guests. He had concocted a Big Mac salad roll, which to our surprise, tasted exactly like a Big Mac encased in rice paper (complete with special sauce and sesame seeds). Bravo, Reg!
Beautiful view
Only Here for the Food 
Jeepers you are quick. I just posted that!
Sharon!
You MUST be exhausted. How did you do this? And the other post? And the other one? And move? And eat out? And go to the fireworks? OMGosh! I get tired, and energized thinking about you, all at once!
First – so sad to see LePapier going. I was sad when the first owner sold it. I loved him. Second, I am SO SAD to miss all the city summer fun while we are away. That is the only negative bit about going. Third – I am really excited about this: I am headed out to Linda’s farm on Wednesday night to see and learn about caring for chickens. I would definitely love to have them here in the summer (once I retire and can travel at other times of the year, so I could be here to care for them). I did write my letter. I was quite sad to hear our lone urban beekeeper had to give up his bees. Vancouver allows urban beekeeping… and I think it is coming. Tough, as with chickens, there has to be some very specific guidelines. Like, my neighbours would probably have to agree – and share in the goods, for me to have them! Could you just walk over to the Shaw’s garden? It is a brilliant idea there. And your pics of the food at the Wild Tangerine were incredible. All with that little camera. WOW! That was incredible food. Seeing the pics makes me crave that shrimp… and I have to write Channin and remind him of the recipe… I did forget that in the message. You got a copy, I hope.
🙂
Valerie
Oh no! Le Papier has closed? All my favourite stores are biting the dust.
Holy smokes, I was up till 12:30 catching up on blogs last night and I swear I didn’t see this post. My google reader must be a little slow. Thanks for the mention.
Man, I envy you living downtown. If I didn’t have two small NOISY kids, I’d be condo hunting right now. Lucky ducky!
I taste tripped at Valeries and it was wild; please post your experience, I would love to hear it.
Oh Sharon, how I look forward to your food notes every single week!
My husband and I went to Wild Tangerine on Friday afternoon for lunch to try it since everything I’ve ever read was positive. Not sure if it was because we were there around 2pm-ish (so in between lunch and dinner) or what… but we found it very disappointing for a $50 lunch.
The shrimp popsicles were great as everyone mentions… However, the Thai Green Curry…. All I could taste was over cooked, very soft, watery pasta and far too much green curry that eventually over powered any other flavor that might have been there… It was sadly disappointing.
My husbands appetizer, mushu salad was great too, but his main, the lemongrass thai basil lentils was mushy and watery tasting…
Bruleeblog – it’s all about timing :).
Valerie – yeah, we push it on occasion, but I think being busy keeps us sane at the same time, heh. I agree – Le Papier is a big loss. Notables is another favourite, but it’s nice having more stationary shop options. I do think a lot of the resistance from the public has to do with a lack of understanding, and I’ll admit that I don’t yet know enough about caring for chickens either. I look forward to reading your post about your visit to Linda’s farm!
Debra – indeed, it’s a shame.
LeQuan – the concrete building definitely helps with the noise!
Bianca – will do when we get to it! Thanks for reading :). I hope to meet you at a food gathering one day.
Eva – sorry to hear your entrees at Wild Tangerine were less than stellar. I’m hoping Wilson will read your comment, as I would think they are the kind of restaurant that would try to earn your business back…would you go back?
Sharon – I’m hoping it was just a bad fluke cause we went at a weird time where the restaurant was totally empty except for us. I’d probably go back, just not for a while.
PS. My husband commented that it tasted and felt like his meal was microwaved as the temperature of his was all over the place. He said some places were cool while other places were really hot.
How about the recipe for the Big Mac Salad rolls?! I haven’t been able to eat a Big Mac for 20 years (bread & sauce) but rice wrappers?! I’m interested!
Looks like Canada Day we were down a few floors from you! Glad you came for the fantastic view. It’s our annual tradition on the balcony.
Eva – I think it’s good to know the specifics, so thanks for being honest about the meal.
Monica – we can check with Reg to see if we can get you the recipe!