Nothing like a long weekend to refresh the spirit! Hope you had a good Family Day as well. On to this week’s food notes:
- Twyla blogged about her epic Valentine’s Day dinner at Bistro La Persaud – it looked amazing.
- I love sneaking a peek into people’s kitchens, especially for the day-to-day stuff, so I love Marianne’s recent posts about her “meal planning sagas”. She and Charles are exemplars that you can eat well at home, even without a lot of time to cook!
- Are you intimidated by the prospect of making your own sausages? (I know I am.) Valerie’s photo essay helped somewhat – at the very least, it looks like a lot of fun!
- Culina’s TV Dinners are now available gluten-free.
- Chris Kourouniotis, a designer that brought us the interiors of Hundred and Press’d, among others, was interviewed for the Journal. It was interesting to read about his thoughts behind decor, such as “If you want to sell more liquor than food, say, 60 per cent versus 40 per cent, we tend to darken the colours, provide richer reds and earth tones, with red being the driving flavour, and we have way more millwork and wood in a bar or a heavy liquor space. We really try to warm up the space, because psychology shows that’s what sells the beverages.”
- The Journal also had an article about Cheemo Perogies – they’re an amazing success story (they produce half a billion perogies every year!), but I had no idea they used locally grown flour, canola oil and potatoes in their products.
- Vue Weekly’s issue this week focused on brunch in Edmonton. One standout article – a piece that finds out the brunch favourites of Jacqueline Jacek (of Jacek Chocolates), Michael Harvey (of Cafe Haven) and Nate Box (of Elm Cafe).
- Perhaps it will be Transcend Coffee that will raise tea to a new level in Edmonton?
- Speaking of coffee, Calgary’s John Manzo wrote about a recent experience in Good Earth Cafe that gets one thinking about the quality control in place at successful third wave coffee shops.
- Mack and I stopped by Crave Cupcakes (7929 104 Street) on Saturday. It’s a bright little store, with pretty display pedestals. We tried the Va Va Vanilla (vanilla cake with vanilla buttercream) and the Lemon Lime Twist (lemon cake with lime buttercream). The lemon cake was the standout – moist, light, and subtle.
Interior
Cupcakes
- My office celebrated Black History Month with a potluck last week. It’s hard not to love a place where we not only regularly gather around homemade meals, but the lunch also dissolves into a dance party!
The potluck spread
Only Here for the Food 
And everything looks HOMEMADE at your staff potluck. I had given up at school. Teachers USED to be excellent at homemade potlucks, but if we have them anymore, most buy something and bring it. They have missed the entire point of the meal together when they do this (IMHO). But, I do understand busy. I just also understand the importance of cooking at home. Great update. Thanks so much, and thanks for the shout out, too. Appreciated so much: UBER appreciated.
😉
Valerie
I found the Chris Kourouniotis article interesting too. I’m doing a research project for my anthro of the senses class on design aesthetic and how it shapes our sensual experience in restaurants, so this was perfect timing.
Thanks for the shout out, Sharon! Cheers!