Food Notes for October 8, 2012

In all the craziness since returning from vacation and getting caught up on things, I realized I forgot to thank everyone who voted for me in Vue Weekly’s recent Best of Edmonton poll (the issue came out while we were away). This site came in second in the “Best Local Blog” category, thanks to you (if you’re wondering, Mack came in first)! I really appreciate your votes, and even more, that you’re all still reading! On to this week’s food notes:

• LitFest has a couple of great food-themed events lined up, including a Roaring Twenties party on October 17, 2012, complete with a whisky tasting, and a great hands-on/lecture titled “Food Matters” on October 27, 2012 which will not only introduce the audience to examples of local food production, but will also encourage participation with a pie making session!
• Jacek Chocolate will be celebrating their new storefront location in Sherwood Park on October 20, 2012 with a grand opening!
• Normand’s Bistro received a surprisingly muted review from the Journal. I haven’t yet tried it myself, but if a recognizable name in our local food scene can’t animate the space, who can?
• Some recent shutters: Kiwi Kiss in Edmonton City Centre (as noted in the comments; a bit of a surprise given the seemingly upward rise of other frozen yogurt shops in Edmonton), and Nola (one has to wonder if the restaurant was really as bad as this review made it out to be, or if it just scared potential diners off).
• It’s disappointing to see that not a single made-in-Edmonton beer made the fall brewing feature in Where Edmonton’s September-October 2012 edition. What does it say about us if we don’t even promote our local brews to those visiting our city?
• Short and to the point, I heartily agree with Wade Sirois’ post on the XL beef crisis. Similar thoughts are captured in Liane’s post as she interviews Sherry Horvath of Sunshine Organic Farm.
• It’s amazing how the Cheesepalooza challenge just keeps on growing. Keep tabs with what the group is up to on Valerie’s blog.
• Mack and I attended a cooking demo on Thursday night, put on by Meridian Plaza, a newer condo building downtown. Suburban developments seem to host mostly family-friendly events to attract buyers, ranging from hockey tournaments and bouncy castles, so it was interesting to see a different strategy employed by Meridian in an attempt to appeal to a different kind of clientele. Only time will tell if it worked, but we enjoyed the half hour demo led by Chris Hrynyk, the head catering chef from Sorrentino’s (of the three dishes, the makeshift tiramisu was my favourite).

Chris Hrynyk clearly loves teaching classes

• I was able to check out the St. Albert Farmers’ Market on Saturday, their last market day of the year. Boy, was it busy, packed with Thanksgiving shoppers.

St. Albert Farmers’ Market

Cute pumpkin arrangements

• We’ve been meaning to go on a walk through the river valley for ages, and finally had some time to do so on Sunday. We wove our way down into Louise McKinney and Cloverdale, enjoying the beautiful autumn scenery. Hope you had an equally lovely Thanksgiving weekend!

Our river valley in the fall